Evolution Esotericized: Conceptual Blending and the Emergence of Secular, Therapeutic Salvation

The esoteric appropriation of evolution in the sense of self-improvement or personal transformation can be better understood by combining a historical approach with conceptual metaphor theory. The dissertation first evaluates the esoteric appropriation historically as a type of religious response to Darwin. It works backwards from the twentieth-century counterculture (as identified by Theodore Roszak in 1975), to show that esoteric “evolution” had its roots in the late nineteenth-century intersection of spiritualism, Theosophy, and psychical research, with particular emphasis on Hermetic traditions. The historical analysis centers on a fine-grained evaluation of the evolutionary thought of Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, and a comparison of her system with that of F.W.H. Myers, an important contributor to both psychical research and early psychology. It evaluates their positions with regard to Blavatsky and Myers nineteenth-century spiritualism and debates about materialism within the scientific and religious communities, particularly as it related to the phenomena of spiritualism. It demonstrates that Blavatsky had at least an indirect influence on some components of Myers’s system through his acquaintance the Theosophist A.P. Sinnett. The dissertation uses original archival work on the Myers papers. These insights are combined with fresh interpretations of the history of the Theosophical Society and the interactions of psychical researchers, spiritualists, and the scientific community (including Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection). A primary area of focus is the rhetorical connection of evolution with evidence of psychic ability and the recovery of lost (vestigial) or potential talents. The primary thesis of the dissertation is that, as demonstrated by Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory (particularly as it incorporates Fauconnier and Turner’s cognitive blending theory), esotericized evolution today, while it often presents itself as “scientific,” is an imaginative blend of elements from multiple domains, including religious salvation, spiritualist and esoteric forms of divinization, psychotherapy, nineteenth-century biology, and Asian religions filtered through a Western lens—all informed by reference to the great chain of being metaphor. Though esotericized evolution owes something to each of these elements, it cannot be reduced to any of them, which is why it persists as a popular code word for modern (partially) secularized salvation and conceptions of therapy as salvation. Blending theory also explains why elements of these nineteenth-century systems were discarded as the concept was adapted in the twentieth century.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Humanities

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Prophet, Erin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kripal, Jeffrey J.

• evolution as self-improvement
• Western esotericism
• Theosophical Society
• Frederic W.H. Myers
• Society for Psychical Research
• conceptual metaphor theory
• great chain of being
• Helena P. Blavatsky
• Alfred Russel Wallace
• spiritualism

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/105573

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/105573