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The Religion of Reality: Inquiry into the Self, Art, and Transcendence
"Once Gods walked among humans, but, friends, we have come too late! The Gods are... up there in another world." Thus the poet Hölderlin evoked the godlessness in modern life, which, ruled by reason and science, has chased transcendence out of our understanding. Yet is it true that we moderns walk without gods?
The Religion of Reality takes to task this common assumption according to which the modern intellect is devoid of appeal to the transcendental. The book first argues that religious feeling persists in the secular western mind; that it has taken refuge in the unlikeliest of camps, indeed with the supposed debunker of religious the rationalist existential ego. The autonomous, individual self is more than just an it is the pillar of modern times―a deity that anchors our morals, politics, society, and defines what is crucial about human existence. On this score, The Religion of Reality makes two first that the philosophic primacy of the self rests on a leap of faith; and second that its religious centrality cannot ultimately satisfy the transcendental thirst that it kindles.
The book constructively inquires into the artistic paths that lead away from this anthropocentrism. Art, it is often said, is the religion of the modern secular mind. This study argues that there are good reasons for this status. Taking seriously the age-old connection between art and religion, the book presents just how the spiritual is active in the artistic experience, whether of religious or secular stamp. Artworks are attempts to overcome the limits of expression and knowledge, hence of the human standpoint. The Religion of Reality is not an attempt to resuscitate the religion of art; rather it is a demonstration of the religious in art.
The Religion of Reality takes to task this common assumption according to which the modern intellect is devoid of appeal to the transcendental. The book first argues that religious feeling persists in the secular western mind; that it has taken refuge in the unlikeliest of camps, indeed with the supposed debunker of religious the rationalist existential ego. The autonomous, individual self is more than just an it is the pillar of modern times―a deity that anchors our morals, politics, society, and defines what is crucial about human existence. On this score, The Religion of Reality makes two first that the philosophic primacy of the self rests on a leap of faith; and second that its religious centrality cannot ultimately satisfy the transcendental thirst that it kindles.
The book constructively inquires into the artistic paths that lead away from this anthropocentrism. Art, it is often said, is the religion of the modern secular mind. This study argues that there are good reasons for this status. Taking seriously the age-old connection between art and religion, the book presents just how the spiritual is active in the artistic experience, whether of religious or secular stamp. Artworks are attempts to overcome the limits of expression and knowledge, hence of the human standpoint. The Religion of Reality is not an attempt to resuscitate the religion of art; rather it is a demonstration of the religious in art.
318 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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November 2, 2022
The philosophical emphasis is on select works, such as Descartes, Montaigne and Rousseau. Few words are spent on the many scholars that came before them, such as Boethius, Dionysios. Also Aquinas and Augustine are mentioned in passing, but without giving a comprehensive overview of why or how a philosophy of the self and the experience of reality from one period should differ from the next. Speaking of reality, the book also adds some statements which are well out of order with reality:
The reasons for the emergence of the Reformation are entirely different and far less esoterical. A statement similarly void of historical context:
It certainly adds to the narrative, but its veracity is questionable however.
While clearly intended as a philosophical work, the author has a penchant for non-sensical statements, such as:
or:
The more such statements are encountered, the more the work starts contradicting itself.
A spiritual revolution which swept over Europe and changed forever the moral landscape: the Reformation.
The reasons for the emergence of the Reformation are entirely different and far less esoterical. A statement similarly void of historical context:
The Industrial Revolution produced a social entity hitherto unknown: the mass.
It certainly adds to the narrative, but its veracity is questionable however.
While clearly intended as a philosophical work, the author has a penchant for non-sensical statements, such as:
The thinking person cultivates his mind to gain admittance into being.
or:
Thinking is independent of whether there is a world.
The more such statements are encountered, the more the work starts contradicting itself.
Displaying 1 of 1 review