Intentional Transformative Experiences - (Religion and Reason) by Sarah Perez & Bastiaan Van Rijn & Jens Schlieter (Hardcover)

About the Book

This edited volume brings together research on religious, esoteric, and philosophical practices that intentionally aim to transform their practitioners. Various analytical tools will be developed to shed new light on "intentional transformative expe

Book Synopsis

This book offers new theoretical insights into religious, esoteric, and philosophical practices and narratives that deal with "intentional transformative experiences." Exceptional life-changing experiences are often believed to be beyond the individual's control--they are thought to "simply happen." However, many individuals actively and self-reflectively search for transformative experiences.

Intentional Transformative Experiences provides analyses of such intentionally sought experiences in different spiritual, religious, and esoteric milieus. Case studies range from South and Central Asian traditions to Western esoteric practices, compare autobiographical narratives of self-cultivation, and explore attempts to systematize intentional transformative experiences.

Next to applying established theoretical frameworks, such as the cognitive science of religion and philosophy, this volume also includes considerations on subsets of transformative experiences such as the dichotomy of intentionality and unintentionality, risk and failure, as well as the transformation of others instead of one's own self. The result is an important contribution for researchers who deal with narratives or practices that include "transformative experiences."

About the Author

Sarah Perez, Bastiaan van Rijn and Jens Schlieter, University of Bern, Switzerland.