Eric Hermelin and mystical hermeneutics: interpretation beyond itself

Eric Hermelin (1860-1944) translated more than 10.000 pages Persian Sufi poetry, German texts by Jakob Böhme and Latin texts by Emmanuel Swedenborg. In the translation process Hermelin shaped his strategies and perceptions in ways which served their patterns of desire, and what they constructed reflected and served their own unique identity. Added up, the devices which constitute strategies of reading set in motion by the selfs defense of its identity are: Defenses, Expectations, Fantasies, and Transformations. Hermelin's mystical hermeneutics produced not only understanding of texts, but often no less produced an increased awareness, with appropriate hermeneutical sensitivity, of self-perception and self-identity. A self-awareness and a strengthening of an individual and corporate identity as one who has a stake in the texts and that to which they bear witness constitutes an important reader-effect in this case of Sufi poetry. But without any principle of suspicion, in Gadamer's terminology a premature fusion of horizons will take place before Hermelin has listened in openness with respect for the tension between the horizons of the text and the horizon of Hermelin. The textual horizon has col-lapsed into that of Hermelin's narrative biography, and is unable to do more than to speak back his own valnes and desires. Something socio-pragmatical was after all woven into the controversial bon vivant, when he used literary works to replicate himself. At the same time, the texts spoke from beyond the self

Witch accusations, rapes and burnings in South Africa

With new different power systems in Africa, the whole concept of learning, authority and power is affected. To have authority means in many cases to have inherent power which exceeds the power of others. So called wizards,wachawi, in Tanzania have been found guilty of killing their victims and taking parts from the bodies to obtain and secure power.The basic ingredients in the medicines which the wachawi use consists of elements taken from the human body on one hand and parts from animals and trees on the other hand. The parts of the body which are obtainable easily are nails, hair and emission of the body. The shadow of a person is also utilized by taking some of the soil over which the shadow had fallen. Other potent parts such as the sex organs, bone from legs or skin from different parts of the body and the nose or tongue are known to be utilized by the wachawi

This-worldly and other-worldly: a holocaust pilgrimage

This story is about a kind of pilgrimage, which is connected to the course of events which occurred in Częstochowa on 22 September 1942. In the morning, the German Captain Degenhardt lined up around 8,000 Jews and commanded them to step either to the left or to the right. This efficient judge from the police force in Leipzig was rapid in his decisions and he thus settled the destinies of thousands of people. After the Polish Defensive War of 1939, the town (renamed Tschenstochau) had been occupied by Nazi Germany, and incorporated into the General Government. The Nazis marched into Częstochowa on Sunday, 3 September 1939, two days after they invaded Poland. The next day, which became known as Bloody Monday, approximately 150 Jews were shot deadby the Germans. On 9 April 1941, a ghetto for Jews was created. During World War II about 45,000 of the Częstochowa Jews were killed by the Germans; almost the entire Jewish community living there.The late Swedish Professor of Oncology, Jerzy Einhorn (1925–2000), lived in the borderhouse Aleja 14, and heard of the terrible horrors; a ghastliness that was elucidated and concretized by all the stories told around him. Jerzy Einhorn survived the ghetto, but was detained at the Hasag-Palcery concentration camp between June 1943 and January 1945. In June 2009, his son Stefan made a bus tour between former camps, together with Jewish men and women, who were on this pilgrimage for a variety of reasons. The trip took place on 22–28 June 2009 and was named ‘A journey in the tracks of the Holocaust’. Those on the Holocaust tour represented different ‘pilgrim-modes’. The focus in this article is on two distinct differences when it comes to creed, or conceptions of the world: ‘this-worldliness’ and ‘other- worldliness’. And for the pilgrims maybe such distinctions are over-schematic, though, since ‘sacral fulfilment’ can be seen ‘at work in all modern constructions of travel, including anthropology and tourism’

The philosophy of nature as a springboard into social realism: about Ibsen's Emperor and Galilean and a post-secular interpretation of the drama by Hilda Hellwig

Friedrich von Schelling was a significant cultural influence when Henrik Ibsen lived in Germany in the 1850s. However, because of Schelling’s Naturphilosophie, which stood out as irreconcilable with the scientific philosophy of the positivists, Schelling came to be more and more neglected after the mid-nineteenth century. His pronounced idealism, belief in God, and metaphysical comments were branded ‘old-fashioned’ soon after his death. Today, Schelling is mentioned in contexts where ideas about ‘mindfulness’ are of importance. In 1979 a clinic for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was founded and although originally articulated as an element of Buddhism, it is pointed out by committed practitioners that there is nothing inherently religious about mindfulness. It is however about integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness and healing. To a high degree in Western countries, psychotherapists have adapted and developed mindfulness techniques. When it comes to metaphysics, Schelling’s influence on the religious ideas that were accepted by Ibsen was never acknowledged. This text will throw some light upon Schelling as a source of inspiration for Ibsen and his milieu. Is it so, that Schelling’s ideas not until our ‘post-secular’ epoch have come into their own? Ibsen producers and actors are familiar with ‘New World Mindfulness’ and the history of mindfulness in the West

The Alevi and questions of identity, including violence and insider/outsider perspectives

Alevilik is the second largest religious movement in Turkey after Sunnite Islam. The Alevi worship Ali and the twelve Imams of his family. Ali is more or less deified and therefore Alevis are considered as being ghulat (‘exaggerated’, ‘extremist’) and heterodox. The elevated Ali personifies an aspiration to justice and righteousness. He fought on the side of the weak and oppressed against those with power in society. Theologically, Ali is assumed to be blessed by the divine light and is therefore able to see into the mysterious spirituality of Islam. Many Alevis today however totally dissociate themselves from Shi’ism. Still, the degrading­ abel kızılbaş (‘red-head’) is associated with Ali and thus is something alleged to be anti-Osman, since Isma’il fought against the Osman Empire. The colour red represents the blood of Mohammed: he was wounded in battle and Ali saw the prophet’s blood flowing. As Ali grew older, he wanted to remind people of Mohammed’s struggle and therefore started wearing red headgear. Red thus became the colour of the Shi’ites and over time a symbol of Shi’ite martyrdom. Later red also gained political significance for the Alevis. The religious and the political are closely intertwined, but despite this, neither the Left nor Shi’ism does simply stand on one side and the Right/Sunni on the other – there are no such simple dichotomies in reality

The Hula in Hawai'i and the Hawaiian Movement

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Dance as Aggressiveness

The woman who founded Tenho-kötai-jingii-kyö, Kitamura Sayo (1900-1967), publicly announced in July 1945 that the world was coming to an end and that she had been chosen by the absolute deity Tensho Kotai Jingu to be the savior of the world. People began to gather to her banner, a religious organization was formed, and legal incorporation of the group as a religious juridical person took place in January 1947. Teaching that regret, desire, hatred, love and other emotional antipathies were the cause of all misfortune, the founder urged people to free themselves of such restraints by praying earnestly until they attained a state in which the self was completely forgotten. Since the members of the group perform a ritual dance and fall into an ecstatic condition at the group meetings, the movement is called the Dancing Religion

Dance as Aggressiveness

The woman who founded Tenho-kötai-jingii-kyö, Kitamura Sayo (1900-1967), publicly announced in July 1945 that the world was coming to an end and that she had been chosen by the absolute deity Tensho Kotai Jingu to be the savior of the world. People began to gather to her banner, a religious organization was formed, and legal incorporation of the group as a religious juridical person took place in January 1947. Teaching that regret, desire, hatred, love and other emotional antipathies were the cause of all misfortune, the founder urged people to free themselves of such restraints by praying earnestly until they attained a state in which the self was completely forgotten. Since the members of the group perform a ritual dance and fall into an ecstatic condition at the group meetings, the movement is called the Dancing Religion.