Consciousness in Oscillation - Worldviews and their Transcendence as Spiritual Practice

The thesis addresses the question of human consciousness in its oscillation between conditioning and transcendence: the impact of cultural worldviews on the individual's lifeworld and their gradual transcendence as a form of spiritual practice. At the centre of attention is a group of individuals and their unfolding life-stories as they move through a journey of transformation, seeking to explore and understand the complexity of their own consciousness. The emphasis is on the embodiment of belief systems and the individuals' inherent existential power to transcend cultural precepts. Methodologically, the study is based in phenomenological anthropology. It thus employs the first-person perspective and includes subjective personal experience as primary data.

List of contents

Contents: Fieldwork setting - Methodology - Existence, cosmology and understanding - On the complexity of a relationship with life - Transformation and the process of embodied learning - Belief system territories and the wiping of horizons - Turning givenness into choice while encountering our own hearts - A critique.

About the author

Sonja Lenk, PhD in Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews (UK); MA in Social Anthropology, University of Heidelberg (Germany); Research interests: consciousness, worldviews, the individual, embodiment, Buddhism, meditation and cosmopolitanism.

Product details

• Authors: Sonja Lenk
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2013
• EAN: 9783631642757
• ISBN: 978-3-631-64275-7
• No. of pages: 179
• Dimensions: 148 mm x 9 mm x 210 mm
• Weight: 250 g
• Series: Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies / Publications Universitaires Européenn; Europäische Hochschulschriften (Reihe 19): Volkskunde / Ethnologie. Abteilung B:) Ethnologie; Europäische Hochschulschriften (Reihe 19): Volkskunde / Ethnologie. Abteilung B:) Ethnologie; Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies/Publications Universitaires Européenne; Europäische Hochschulschriften / European University Studies / Publications Universitaires Européennes
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy; Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Miscellaneous