Aldous Huxley and Alternative Spirituality offers an incisive analysis of the full range of Huxley’s spiritual interests, spanning both mysticism (neo-Vedanta, Taoism, Mahayana and Zen Buddhism) and Western esotericism (mesmerism, spiritualism, the paranormal). Jake Poller examines how Huxley’s shifting spiritual convictions influenced his fiction, such as his depiction of the body and sex, and reveals how Huxley’s use of psychedelic substances affected his spiritual convictions, resulting in a Tantric turn in his work. Poller demonstrates how Huxley’s vision of a new alternative spirituality in Island, in which the Palanese select their beliefs from different religious traditions, anticipates the New Age spiritual supermarket and traces the profound influence of Huxley’s ideas on the spiritual seekers of the twentieth century and beyond.

Describes the Romanian period in the intellectual life of Mircea Eliade (1907-1986). Analyzes his involvement in Romania's social and political debates in the 1930s, and his changing attitudes toward fascism and antisemitism. Relates the influence exercised on Eliade by Nae Ionescu, after 1933 a strong supporter of the fascist Iron Guard. Pp. 727-741 present Ionescu's antisemitic preface to the 1934 novel by the Romanian Jewish writer Mihail Sebastian, "De doua mii de ani" ("For Two Thousand Years"), a literary depiction of the condition of a Jewish intellectual confronting antisemitism in Romania. Ionescu's preface, justifying antisemitism with theological arguments, provoked a passionate controversy in the Romanian and Jewish press. In his articles, Eliade contested some of Ionescu's arguments, but absolved him from charges of antisemitism. Discusses, also, on pp. 903-929, Eliade's xenophobic and pro-Iron Guard articles published in 1936-37, claiming, however, that he did not share the Guard's antisemitism.

The twentieth century saw an unprecedented spike in the study of altered states of consciousness. New ASCs, such as those associated with LSD and psilocybin mushrooms, were cultivated and studied, while older ASCs were given new classifications: out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, psychokinesis, extrasensory perception. Altered Consciousness in the Twentieth Century analyses these different approaches and methodologies, and includes exciting new research into neglected areas. This volume investigates the representation of ASCs in the culture of the twentieth century and examines the theoretical models that attempt to explain them. The international contributors critically examine a variety of ASCs, including precognition, near-death experiences, telepathy, New Age ‘channelling’, contact with aliens and UFOs, the use of alcohol and entheogens, analysing both the impact of ASCs on the culture and how cultural and technological changes influenced ASCs. The contributors are drawn from the fields of English and American literature, religious studies, Western esotericism, film studies, sociology and history of art, and bring to bear on ASCs their own disciplinary and conceptual perspectives, as well as a broader interdisciplinary knowledge of the subject. The collection represents a vital contribution to the growing body of work on both ASCs and the wider academic engagement with millennialism, entheogens, occulture and the paranormal.

Orientalism and Religion offers us a timely discussion of the implications of contemporary post-colonial theory for the study of religion. Richard King examines the way in which notions such as mysticism, religion, Hinduism and Buddhism are taken for granted. He shows us how religion needs to be reinterpreted along the lines of cultural studies. Drawing on a variety of post-structuralist and post-colonial thinkers, such as Foucault, Gadamer, Said, and Spivak, King provides us with a challenging series of reflections on the nature of Religious Studies and Indology.

Yoga has come to be an icon of Indian culture and civilization and is regarded as being both timeless and unchanging. Based on research and an analysis of both ancient and modern texts, this book challenges this popular view by focusing on yoga's cultural production in modern India and its dramatically changing significance in the 20th century.