Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach (Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion) - Hardcover

André Braak

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1666906441 ISBN 13: 9781666906448

Publisher: Lexington Books, 2023

Synopsis

Ayahuasca often yields transformative experiences that merge such familiar categories as the sacred and the secular, transcendence and immanence, subject and object, and the human and the nonhuman. However, such experiences are interpreted differently by Western and indigenous discourses. Using the work of French philosopher Bruno Latour, André van der Braak asks fundamental ontological questions in order to reimagine ayahuasca as liquid divinity, shifting the focus from ayahuasca experiences to ayahuasca-based ritual practices that aim to cultivate relationships with more-than-human powers, described by Latour as beings of transformation and religion. Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach describes Santo Daime practices as a contemporary form of theurgy (god-work), as defined by the third-century Platonic philosopher and mystagogue Iamblichus. Theurgical practices aim at drawing down divine action through ritual procedures, using the imagination as an active faculty. Van der Braak argues that ayahuasca religiosity is ultimately not about individual recreation or healing, or even personal visions, but rather about engaging in communal transformative ecodelic practices that let us work as companions of the gods in order to practice solidarity with all sentient beings.

About this title

About the Author

André van der Braak is professor of comparative philosophy of religion at the Vrije Universiteit.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1666906441
• ISBN 13: 9781666906448
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240