Hanegraaff, Wouter J. Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. 224pp. ISBN: 9781472552716.
Introduction
Wouter J Hanegraaff’s Guide for the Perplexed is intended to provide a lucid and accessible overview of the relatively young (academic) field of Western Esotericism and the currents that gave it rise. I found the book to accomplish just that. Wouter J. Hanegraaff’s text is methodical, organized, and thorough. His practical and unadorned prose keep the eye and mind gliding along without undue effort, which is a feat considering that he pays heed to many of the predominant ambiguities: internal and external conflicts of interest and thought that occur within the field whilst also managing to contain them within a rather concise volume. Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed, provides a sturdy and articulate skeleton upon which the flesh of further studies might be hung.
The Chapters
Hanegraaff devotes his first chapter to parsing out and defining the term ‘Western Esotericism’ articulating the problems inherent in language made ambiguous by conflicts of interest and a history muddied by various sorts of ignorance, bias and mnemohistory, (a phenomena described in a later chapter).
Hanegraaff notes that this field of “rejected knowledge” did not materialize overnight, but was rather the outcome of a “long history of apologetic and polemical battles and negotiations” which, over time, accumulated into what is now known as the field of Western Esotericism. Hanegraaff proceeds to provide a well-organized overview of the critical points of this history, beginning with the identification of three perspectives that have dominated the field in recent history. He then assures us that his route does not follow any of these, thus effectively providing a bird’s view of significant boundaries and landmarks which delineate previously cogitated territories – and setting the score for a fresh, academic consideration of the material at hand.
Hanegraaff re-iterates the fact of Western Esotericism's being a wholly modern scholarly construct, built upon criteria and characteristics determined by scholars. He draws attention to the tendency, (on the part of public and scholars both) to subscribe to the assumption that the field was pre-extant as an autonomous tradition, which was then discovered. He traces key historical shifts and events, such as the process of the separation of church and state and points out that it is only after the eighteenth century that esotericism began to emerge as social phenomenon with boundaries unique to the environment of the twentieth century.
Hanegraaff’s re-iteration of the field as a continuously morphing one marked by modern trends and paradigms is well-taken. Human culture and the world-views that accompany it are never static; this is perhaps a defining quality of any living current of philosophy/practice – to be simultaneously cohesive and malleable. Continual adaptation is required to accommodate changing contexts.
In chapter 2, Hanegraaff lays out a kind of conceptual ‘family tree’ whereby significant contributing movements are traced successively and understood by way of the pathways of fertilization and dissemination they emerged from.
In chapter 3, Hanegraaff focuses on how the field has been shaped by the polemics and apologetics of emerging religious movements: specifically tending to the ways in which Platonic and Greek “philosophical frameworks” were absorbed into the Christian perspective. Hanegraaff underscores the important distinction between history and mnemohistory (what happened and how we remember it) and in so doing, makes several salient points including the necessity of an inquiry into the dominant social mores and power structures ruling the given era from which material has emerged, as well as the importance of clarity and academic rigor regarding the nature of any so-called historical sources.
In chapter 4, Hanegraaff draws attention to some key polarities that exist within the field of Western Esotericism including pantheism, (reality is saturated with a ‘generative’ God) and dualism, (God is an absolute and supreme being wholly outside of ordinary creation)
He then describes two dominant structures that have shaped Western Esoteric thought:
1. Platonic - a chain of being spread between poles with humans in the middle and retaining the liberty to choose to move toward spirit and matter.
2.Alchemical - a journey with an undetermined outcome in which one must work towards an uncertain salvation. He differentiates mysticism, (ascending to unite with the Godhead) and magic, (drawing down the Godhead) and makes note that extremism plays a rather minor role in esoteric circles in general.
Chapter 5 deals with the topic of ‘knowledge’, in which Hanegraaff argues that esotericists in general are not claimants of superior spiritual knowledge, but rather proponents of the existence of such knowledge and its accessibility to the human person, (particularly those willing to extend their investigations beyond the covers of books).
Chapter 6 deals with the topic of practice. Hanegraaff offers a sufficient and nearly satisfying answer to why there is a dearth of satisfactory material available concerning esoteric practice. He outlines several categories concerning the nature of the difficulties and awkwardnesses inherent in tracking metaphysical and intuitive undertakings, which also defy the linear process of scholastic documentation. He then divides the wide range of known practices into 8 categories according to their intended goals, which certainly provides an interesting point of departure for the examination of one’s own motives motives regarding esoteric practice and the contexts within which they ripen.
Hanegraaff raises a significant point concerning the problem of the concept of ‘magic’ as traditionally pitted against ‘religion’ and ‘science’. “We cannot hope to understand the complexity of religion in Western culture he says, unless we take leave of this magic–religion–science triad and its ideological underpinnings.” He says. It seems that the issue of the magic category, is the artifact of a time when the term was used strategically to either condemn or condone and does not, therefore, have a place in scholastic research. Very refreshing.
In chapter 7, the discussion Hanegraaff raises concerning Historicity certainly gave me pause. The fact that even scholars within the field are guilty of presenting Western Esotericism as a universal, unchanging worldview that implicitly provides evidence of a divine hand upon it, is fascinating and even a bit reassuring. Hanegraaff makes the point that demonstrable truth is the mark of scholarship regardless of personal preference, not to mention providing necessary protection from unchecked religious dogmas. I admit to a resulting discovery of my own trepidation that examination of esotericism from the cold intellectuality of the historian’s seat will rob of me the sense of enchantment I have so painstakingly labored to restore to my own mind.
Chapters 8 and 9 are address the ‘radical trans-disciplinarity’ of Western Esotericim – that it cannot be contained within, nor excluded from any of the traditional academic fields, and indeed, seems to have long made appearances in many of the less-traditional ones: an exciting invitation to myriad possibilities of research, practice and exploration.
Conclusion
According to Hanegraaff, Western Esotericism is the province of the belief that direct access to a transcendent level of spirituality is available to human beings; that the nature of our human souls provides us with a largely unrealized capacity for such realization. He adds that the field is not limited to concern with salvation beyond all mundane goals. It simply presents the possibility, he says of “more radical avenues for attaining knowledge”. What better introduction to a field than one which suggests such flexibility, potentiality and adaptability in lieu of the (receding?) haze of stasis, materialism and rationalism that conventional academic fields have long suggested was as the only future of human-divine relations?
Regan Drouin Halas
UnSungStudio.net
UnSungStudio@gmail.com