Non Buddhist Mysticism

NON BUDDHIST MYSTICISM
Performing Irreducible and Primitive Presence
A Reading
Glenn Wallis

Hold on to this and you will know and understand love more and more. But you will not know or learn anything else, ever.
—Juliana of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love

🗓 SATURDAYS bi-weekly, beginning November 9, 2024. See calendar.
⏰ Time: 11 AM to 12:30 PM Eastern US Time.
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🔗 Zoom: available on subscription.
💰 Cost: Three options:
(i) $20 monthly subscription (two sessions).
(ii) Donation of your choice.
(iii) No cost solidarity ticket if you cannot afford to pay at this time (please email us requesting this option; no need for explanation, no questions asked: inciteseminarsphila@gmail.com).
Registration at bottom of this page.

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DESCRIPTION

“Mysticism” is an uncanny word. It epitomizes in equal measure darkness and light. It speaks without embarrassment simultaneously of One, Nothing, and All. Ultimacy — wholeness, completion, finality — permeates its obscure heart. Mysticism gestures furtively towards a momentous yet unspeakable matter. In moments of inwardness, it turns to hidden things. In moments of sociality, it incites secret bands of initiated practitioners. Mysticism is as simple as it is complex. Nothing less than union with ~~God~~ is its passion and its promise.

“Buddhism,” too, speaks of ultimate matters: awakening, enlightenment, knowing reality as it is, peace and equanimity, happiness, bliss.

Could any discourse possibly make grander claims than these two? Surely, they are claims worth taking seriously?

Yet, for many of us, a massive obstacle looms at the outset. The exhaustion of the ancient discourse matrix of mysticism — that of religion traditionally employed — has rendered it inadequate to the task.

The question driving this seminar is this: what happens when non-believers approach mysticism and Buddhism as heretics? Might then (and only then?) something of crucial (ultimate?) value emerge? What form might such a mutation take?

In keeping with the performative conceit of Non Buddhist Mysticism: Performing Irreducible and Primitive Presence, this Reading consists in just that, reading the 100-page tract of that title out loud together. (A pdf file will be shared during the sessions. You can also purchase a hard copy here.) As is done with an initial theatrical script reading, we will pause wherever the performers deem it necessary in order to question, clarify, debate language and approach, suggest alternatives, and so forth. Along the way, participants will be introduced to the non-philosophy of François Laruelle and to the contours of the Laruelle-inspired formation called non-buddhism.

The sections of Non Buddhist Mysticism are as follows:

Part One
Preface
Preliminaries
The Spirit of Heresy
Immanent Performance
Buddhofiction
In Spirit

Part Two
Hard Propositions
Breath
Stillness
Destitution
Love-Compassion
Uchromia

Part Three
Stranger Sutra

REGISTRATION

Monthly Subscription: $20 for two sessions

Donation: pay what you want

For the non-cost solidarity option, email us at inciteseminarsphila@gmail.com