Transcendent
Curtis White
Acclaimed cultural critic Curtis White examines current fissures in Western Buddhism & argues against the growth of scientific & corporate dharma, particularly in Stephen Batchelor's Secular Buddhist movement.
In Transcendent, celebrated cultural critic Curtis White, asks what Buddhism will look like in the future. Do we want a secular Buddhism that looks like corporations & neuroscience? Or do we want a Buddhism that still provides refuge from the debased world of money & things? Transcendence is not about magic realms where spirits fly about; the world is, as Shunryu Suzuki put it, its own magic. We only need to reclaim it & reclaim our humanity while we’re at it.
The problem White suggests is a culture that recognizes only "things," capitalist things & science things, & aggressively denies the idea that the world of things has a beyond. We're told by science ideologues like the New Atheists that we live in a secular age & that philosophy is dead, & art is only an amusement, & transcendence is not wanted because science can provide all the wonder & beauty we need.
Transcendent is a call for the re-enchantment not only of Buddhism but also of our Western art traditions. White recalls the risks & the raptures of the English Romantics, Beat poets, & the children of the counterculture, all in the name of a living world, & in defiance of our current world of climate catastrophe, contagious disease, & social collapse.
Curtis White is a novelist & social critic whose works include Memories of My Father Watching TV, The Middle Mind, &, more recently, The Science Delusion, We Robots, & Lacking Character. His essays have appeared in Harpers & Tricycle
In Transcendent, celebrated cultural critic Curtis White, asks what Buddhism will look like in the future. Do we want a secular Buddhism that looks like corporations & neuroscience? Or do we want a Buddhism that still provides refuge from the debased world of money & things? Transcendence is not about magic realms where spirits fly about; the world is, as Shunryu Suzuki put it, its own magic. We only need to reclaim it & reclaim our humanity while we’re at it.
The problem White suggests is a culture that recognizes only "things," capitalist things & science things, & aggressively denies the idea that the world of things has a beyond. We're told by science ideologues like the New Atheists that we live in a secular age & that philosophy is dead, & art is only an amusement, & transcendence is not wanted because science can provide all the wonder & beauty we need.
Transcendent is a call for the re-enchantment not only of Buddhism but also of our Western art traditions. White recalls the risks & the raptures of the English Romantics, Beat poets, & the children of the counterculture, all in the name of a living world, & in defiance of our current world of climate catastrophe, contagious disease, & social collapse.
Curtis White is a novelist & social critic whose works include Memories of My Father Watching TV, The Middle Mind, &, more recently, The Science Delusion, We Robots, & Lacking Character. His essays have appeared in Harpers & Tricycle
Kategori:
Tahun:
2023
Penerbit:
Melville House, Penguin Random House
Bahasa:
english
Halaman:
224
ISBN 10:
1612199941
ISBN 13:
9781612199948
Fail:
EPUB, 1.56 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 2023