Enlightenment is the last host. Beyond it, all boundaries disappear, all experiences disappear. Experience comes to its utmost in enlightenment; it is the very peak of all that is beautiful, of all that is immortal, of all that is blissful -- but it is an experience. Beyond enlightenment there is no experience at all, because the experiencer has disappeared. Enlightenment is not only the peak of experience, it is also the finest definition of your being. Beyond it, there is only nothingness; you will not come again to a point which has to be transcended. Experience, the experiencer, enlightenment -- all have been left behind. You are part of the tremendous nothingness that is infinite. This is the nothingness out of which the whole existence comes, the womb; and this is the nothingness in which all the existence disappears.

Chapter 1 A BENIGN INTRODUCTION -- chapter 2 A PLACE OF EXCEPTIONAL UNIVERSAL VALUE -- chapter 3 A TALE OF TWO HISTORIES -- chapter 4 THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ENLIGHTENMENT -- chapter 5 WHAT DO GODS HAVE TO DO WITH ENLIGHTENMENT? -- chapter 6 A BAROQUE CONCLUSION.

The occult sciences have attracted followers and fascinated observers since the middle ages. Beyond Enlightenment examines the social, political, and metaphysical doctrines of Martinism, a French occultist movement and offshoot of Freemasonry that flourished from the late eighteenth century to the dawn of the twentieth century. The French Revolution and the disorder that followed it convinced Martinists that modern society was on the wrong path. For guidance they looked back not to the corrupt Old Regime but rather to a lost golden age of mankind that existed only in their imagination. The Martinists were closely engaged in the political events of their times, and rightly or wrongly, they earned a reputation for secret intrigue and ubiquitous hidden influence. David Allen Harvey focuses on the Martinists themselves, recreating their own social and political views. He traces the birth of Martinism during the Enlightenment, its revival in the fin de siècle, and the late nineteenth-century formation of a distinctly Martinist project-the synarchy-aimed at the social and political renewal of France and the greater world. The Martinist doctrines formed a unique synthesis of Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment thought. Harvey maintains that Martinists were a peaceful, esoteric society that rejected both secular materialism and dogmatic Catholicism, seeking to reveal the hand of Providence in history, discover divinely inspired laws of social and political organizations, and enact the kingdom of heaven on earth. Seeking to explore and analyze the "irrational" side of the "Age of Reason," Beyond Enlightenment is a welcome addition to recent studies of esoteric movements. Historians of culture, religion, and politics in post-Revolutionary France, as well as historians of esotericism and alternative religions will be interested in this engaging and revealing study.

Important ideas that helped shape 20th-century thought—ideas which continue to hold great significance for anyone interested in the social world—are made accessible in this illuminating volume. Readers will be motivated to delve into the deeper pool of knowledge available on major social theorists and their groundbreaking ideas. A mixture of biographical and historical ideas, this book was written to introduce social theory to a broad audience. It looks at the intersection between the theorist as a social actor and as a reflection of his or her time. The volume's breadth makes it a useful tool for those interested in sociology and its many luminaries.

Enlightenment Beyond Traditions is a unique and revolutionary book. Through this book has been channeled the light of Pure Understanding that brings us to the spiritual wholeness. With an exceptional precision, it leads us through the complex and dangerous realm of awakening, where so many got lost. This book is truly beyond traditions, that is, beyond the past knowledge. The vision of Enlightenment which it presents is multidimensional, embracing doubtlessly, the eternal paradox of Being and Becoming; the human and the eternal. Here the ancient ideal of liberation is itself transcended within the awakening of the Soul, who reaches her final destiny: Divinity. In this new understanding, the evolution into the Ultimate Peace and awakening to the Heart are seen clearly as belonging to different planes of experience, being met, however, within the complete human being. The crucial message of this book is the positive role of the Me, which is the mysterious subject behind all experiences. It is no longer denied, but on the contrary, seen as the only vehicle through which the Universal I AM journeys in the human dimension towards Its own light.

Beyond the witch trials provides an important collection of essays on the nature of witchcraft and magic in European society during the Enlightenment. The book is innovative not only because it pushes forward the study of witchcraft into the eighteenth century, but because it provides the reader with a challenging variety of different approaches and sources of information. The essays, which cover England, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Scotland, Finland and Sweden, examine the experience of and attitudes towards witchcraft from both above and below. While they demonstrate the continued widespread fear of witches amongst the masses, they also provide a corrective to the notion that intellectual society lost interest in the question of witchcraft. While witchcraft prosecutions were comparatively rare by the mid-eighteenth century, the intellectual debate did no disappear; it either became more private or refocused on such issues as possession. The contributors come from different academic disciplines, and by borrowing from literary theory, archaeology and folklore they move beyond the usual historical perspectives and sources. They emphasise the importance of studying such themes as the aftermath of witch trials, the continued role of cunning-folk in society, and the nature of the witchcraft discourse in different social contexts. This book will be essential reading for those interested in the decline of the European witch trials and the continued importance of witchcraft and magic during the Enlightenment. More generally it will appeal to those with a lively interest in the cultural history of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This is the first of a two-volume set of books looking at the phenomenon of witchcraft, magic and the occult in Europe since the seventeenth century.