The comparative study of civilizations and religions requires a reformation of knowledges and a coining of a new language of apprehension (i.e., perception and cognition), for which traditional Patristic and Kabbalistic four-leveled hermeneutics may be adapted. It may thus be useful to distinguish, not only between "exoteric" and "esoteric" readings or levels of a text, whether in the form of a life-career, a civilization, or a spirituality (exoteric = outside view; esoteric = inside view), but also between eso-exoteric (exoteric B, or tropological) and exo-esoteric (esoteric B or specular) readings or levels. Exoteric B indicates the apprehension of intelligible structures of nature or of human and/or divine nature; esoteric B indicates the perspectives of the humanities. The first level of differentiation-that between the exoteric and esoteric modes of apprehension, with their respective concentration on spectacle, on the one hand, and mysticism, religious experience, or spiritual inwardness, on the other-is useful for establishing the nature of the cultural, religious, or sociological material that is being studied. The second level of differentiation offers further refinements of understanding, especially appropriate to the natural and social sciences, on the one hand, and humanistic thought, art, and expression, on the other. While each mode of apprehension tends to be limited to its own sphere, and often tends to deny the validity of other modes, there is the ideal possibility of a reconciling mode which validates each and all of these modalities, not excepting the humble level of exoteric apprehension.
目次
I. General Considerations 186 A. Debunkers and Mystery-Seekers 186 B. Trial Definitions 187 C. Settled Definitions 188 II. Case Studies 188 A. Varieties of Spiritual Traditions 188 B. Esotericism in Judaism and Islam 189 C. Esotericism in Hinduism and Buddhism 193 III. The Experience of Realization as "Plenitude" 197 IV. Alternative Models 198 V. Extrapolations 203 A. Sacred and Profane Studies 204 B. Model F: The Final Model 204 REFERENCES 207
