In his book "The Perennial Philosophy" the philosopher Aldous Huxley proposed the idea of all major religions sharing a common source, mostly of the so-called nondual nature, making this perspective on the religions available to countercultures and new age audiences which would follow. However, he was certainly not the first to notice such similarities between religious and spiritual systems of different continents, and certainly not the last. One of the modern day scholars who explore this topic (and others) in a very humane and collaborative way is Zevi Slavin, with his amazing Youtube-channel Seekers of Unity.
Shalom Zevi! How are you on this day of December 2021? Are you currently based in Israel, as a student?
I’m well, thank you Antti. We’ve just celebrated the eight-day festival of Chanukah and it was an illuminated time for me. Thank God.
Yes, i'm based primarily here in the holy city of Jerusalem, a city waiting to be rebuilt and reunited (Psalm 122:3) in our hearts. And yes, i am here as a student; a student of mysticism.
Without going into the politics of modern day Israel, I am curious about how you personally find living there? It has been quite tumultuous after the happenings on the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque this spring, and Benjamin Netanyahu getting ousted?
I can only speak for myself, Antti. In my heart i feel a lot of pain, division and suffering. Conflict. Violence. Hatred. Helplessness. Sadness. Fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the ‘other.’ Maybe if i/we learn to heal our wounds and traumas, we can show up as effective ambassadors of hope, love and kindness. We can be the messiah to redeem a broken world and city. We must, because no one else will.
I think we have to re-think our approach to questions facing us, and the methods we’ve gone about interacting with them, because they don’t seem to be working and we desperately need solutions which will work and fruitful avenues with which to pursue them. Two things which seem really broken at the moment are our media and politics. The foundational axioms and practices upon which they’re functioning seem to be deeply broken and incapable of producing something whole and healthy.
A media predicated on a zero-sum need and greed for our attention, will and must keep scaring us into watching, into making us captives, captivated to our own devices with bonds of fear.
A politics predicated on zero-sum struggle for power, will produce politicians who care not even for their own constituents, but only for their re-election, consolidation and conservation of power at all costs. Not servants of the people, but slaves to the structure. With such politics, policies and politicians, what kind of policy do we hope to produce but one divided against itself?
We must re-think and re-invent our mediums of media, the middle-men mediating our encounters with ‘reality’.
We must re-envision and recreate a politic emerging from the heart, from a center of care, compassion, deep love, service, responsibility, humility and humanity. One whose entire aim is to serve the people, to secure their flourishing and to hold the necessary checks-and-balances in place to prevent pride, power, ego or greed from warping the walls of powers.
We must not partake in corrupted systems, rotten from the inside. We must boycott the news and politics, burn it down and rebuild a better vision.
And it won’t even take a single match-stick. The beast of our own creation depends on our undying attention for its very existence. If enough of us chose to put down our screens, to turn instead to the eyes of the humans next to us, turn our thumbs from the keys and buttons and run them through the ground, through the hair of our loved ones for long enough, we will deprive the beast (of our creation) of its oxygen. And from this embargo we can embark on a new start, with fresh eyes, a renewed vision.
I beg you. Please don’t believe what the news says about Jerusalem. Listen to me, your brother, your friend, Jerusalem, our collective heart, is broken and hurting, she needs healing, and she will only heal with love.
Jerusalem needs us to be brave for her, to cross enemy lines within ourselves for deep encounter, understating and empathy. She needs us to listen, to hear, to hold hope. And she will hold us.
I don’t know if I answered the question, but I know that deep enough, the rocks, the domes, the mosques and the springs want this too. Maybe also Bibi (and Putin, Trump, Obama and Abbas, after all, they were all children not too long ago.)
You were raised in the Chabad community of Sydney, Australia. Born out of the larger Hasidic movement, the Chabad emphasizes generosity, charity and outreach to people, something which I have personally always admired in people like Menachem Mendel Schneerson (without knowing very much about the actual movement). I suppose the solidarity you show in your videos was planted there from the start?
I suppose so. Sometimes we have to read our traditions for themselves, sometimes for ourselves, sometimes against themselves and sometimes against ourselves, and sometimes all at once, as one.
Those that are familiar with the bodies/texts of the Chabad movement (and their herculean/sisyphean struggle with the dialectics of particularism/ chosenness/essentialism and universalism/equality/pluralism) will hopefully understand and maybe even agree with me.
How would you compare the Australian Chabad community to for example the Northern American ones, are there any major differences? I know there is one working here in Helsinki as well, might just be a single rabbi though?
We’re way more chilled. Well i should qualify that. The Sydney Chabad community near Bondi beach (where i grew up) is way more chilled than the northern east-coast concrete jungle communities. The Cali Chabad community is pretty chill too, probably more chilled say even than the (concrete jungle) Chabad community in Melbourne, Australia. I don’t know about the Miami Chabad community because I’ve never been there but i hear it’s pretty chill too, which checks out.
(The running hypothesis here is that there’s a direct correlation between the relative distance to nearest beach and body of water and the chillness of the given Chabad community. It’s still just a hypothesis thought, don’t take it personally. You’re probably the exception if you’re reading this interview from within the confines of a land-locked Chabad community.)
One of the things which defines the Hasidic and Chabad life-philosophies is the spiritual nature of the Judaism they practice, which leads us into your personal interest in global spiritual systems. Should we separate spirituality from religion? Is it useful to use terms like esoteric and exoteric, dogmatic and experiential, etc.?
Words and terms are definitely useful, we often need to distinguish, to disambiguate before we can extinguish or ambiguate. We should exercise our magical, game-changing capacity for language before we shoot off and soar to that place where words no longer reach. We spend a lot of time at the channel using and saying words (it’s actually pretty much the main thing we do most of the time), and we try using and saying them carefully (albeit quickly because there’s a lot to say and so little time to say it all). We use them (words) to get beyond them, and they like that. They like being constructed, drawn and spelled into cliffs, diving boards and precipices from which we can jump off, ladders and canoes to be left behind.
In more direct response to your question however (after re-reading it): There’s a famous saying attributed to the great Zen master Ch'ing-yüan Wei-hsin: “Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after an initial glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after finding rest with more Zen, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”
The same process, i think, is true for religion, (at least insofar as it’s conceptualized by the mystical tradition of the Hasidic community into which i was born and raised). Before learning Chasidut i did not realize that there was an inner soul to Judaism, a secretive and seductive side of Torah. After studying a bit of Chasidut i learned that Torah, Judaism and religion (like everything else in existence), comprised of an inner and outer component, the esoteric and exoteric, nistar and nigla, pniumut and chitzoniut, batin and zahir, nishmata d’oraita (the soul of Torah) and her body. After studying more Chasidut, (and davening (praying) a little), i realized that “Torah achat he” that it is all one Torah.
The secret is the revealed and the revealed is the secret, for it is all God (and God is One).
For someone who has studied the major religions of the world, even from a totally academic perspective, it is no secret they have a lot in common, especially with currents related to mysticism. While someone might go down the "a shared source for every religion" path, some like to use the term "perennial" made famous by people like René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon and of course Aldous Huxley, and these notions of common traits was already written by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, and others before them. Where do you think these studies appear first, among the known writers of the classical world?
Before answering the question, I’d like to distinguish between Guénon, Schuon and Huxley. While they’re all called perennialists, we’re much better off being a little more specific and referring to the first two as traditionalists and the latter (Huxley) as simply a perennialists. I’ll spare you all the boring academia (for now), and justify this distinction with this one point: if you need to figure out whether similar(ish) sounding authors belong to the former or the latter camp, just ask, ‘how angry does this author sound’ at any given movement? If they’re above a five, it’s safe to assume they’re a traditionalist. But… if their words melt you with love, compassion, hope and intoxication for the One and the All, then it’s a safe bet they’re just regular perennialistic mystics. That’s just a rough and ready heuristic. I’m not going to tell you who i personally prefer of who you should spend your preciously limited time on this tiny rock-hurling-through-space reading, that’s for you to decide.
Regarding your question. Yea, so I think you can find precursors and traces of it in Philo of Alexandria and other early writers, inevitably. But the form it takes as we know it today, with all the characteristics that make it “it” clearly emerges from that great moment of rebirth in human thought we call the renaissance, at the hands of those beautiful (and flawed) men you mentioned. I can elaborate on what i mean here if anyone cares to know.
As the idea of non-duality is often associated with the spiritual systems of the east, such as Advaita Vedanta of Hinduism, the idea of a single or unifying source of all creation, also known as the absolute, was present among the Greek thinkers as well. Do you think this is a conclusion people have come to through reasoning, meditation, psychedelic substances, or all of these?
Yes, all of the above and more. “The paths to the One are endless” (הרבה דרכים למקום). It’s always right in front of us, under our very noses.
If, and that’s a big ‘if,’ but if the truth is true it stands to reason that it should be discoverable by anyone who has a capacity for it (i.e. all humans, Genesis 1:26) and makes the genuine effort to uncover it. (Psalm 145:18, Megilla 6b).
After the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library and the so called Gnostic gospels, especially the "Gospel of Thomas", many have liked to see Jesus Christ as a nondual teacher. While there is no actual proof of anything what the Jewish social activist most likely called Yeshua preached before his apparent crucifixion, can we find clear examples of nondual ways of thinking in for example Hellenistic Judaism before his time?
We will construct and reconstruct beautiful, enigmatic and challenging people from within our collective historical memory over and over, again and again, each day according to its needs and desires. A monk, a guru, a magician, sage, healer, prophet, a messiah, redeemer, king, father, a lamb, a sacrifice, a hope, a traitor, a betrayal, a victim, a martyr, a hippy, a vagabond, a fisher, a carpenter, a rebel, a mystic, an anarchist, a socialist, a communist, a republican, a Jew, a Palestinian, a rabbi, a heretic, a performance artist, an incarnation of Logos, a child of innocence, a traumatized child of a victim and an occupied people… a social activist.
See the scholarship of Franz Overbeck, Johannes Weiss and Schweitzer contra Harnack on this last one for example.
This game will never end, and will say everything of us, little of him.
I think the best possibility of finding such examples of unitive thinking in Hellenistic Judaism before his time, would again be in the towering figure and beautiful mind of Philo (Yedidya Hakohen) of Alexandria. See Adam Afterman’s chapter on Philo in his 2016 "And They Shall Be One Flesh": On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism. (First published in his 2013 paper: From Philo to Plotinus: The Emergence of Mystical Union.)
Good work Adam btw, keep it up. The world needs more good readings like this. You’re welcome to come on the channel anytime and talk our pants off with your delicious research.
One of the examples of Platonist thought is of course the Kabbalah (and it's cousin the christian Cabala), which I have personally always found to be an everlasting source of inspiration for all things psychological and metaphysical. Although the Etz Chaim wasn't always in the form we popularly know it today, do you still think it is an extremely useful tool, or do you prefer others systems of symbolism in your work?
I think it’s a really nifty tool, symbol and map. It’s wildly versatile. It’s like the swiss-army-knife of mystical symbology and metaphysics.
It’s dynamic (always changing), relative, relational, erotic, gender-bending, ascetically-pleasing, growth-oriented, multi-purpose, reusable, economically circular, environmentally friendly, organic, world building, character developing and… a work in process, (there is a lot of double and triple innuendos going on here, have fun).
All available at your local Sefirot store. Each sold separately. Batteries not included. Here’s a free class from us on the Tree if you want to learn more before purchasing:
Having meditated for years, as well as dabbled with psychedelics, I have of course my own theories and experiences of the so-called higher spiritual states and perspectives, and there are of course multiple. How would you personally describe what most of the systems describe as "enlightenment", and have you had many of these experiences described in spiritual classics yourself?
I would describe it as a process and journey of losing the self and finding the Self. Of death and rebirth (reincarnation), all in this one lifetime, even sometimes multiple times in one day.
The spiritual classics, that i know, describe this experience as a non-experience, because an “experience” assumes a dichotomy and distinction between the “experiencer” and the “experienced.” We would like to go beyond (and within) all dichotomies and distinctions, beyond experience. To that which always is. That which always must be so. And so it is.
By the way, i don’t mean to downplay this thing we call experience. I’m just hesitant when it becomes construed as an end in itself, a ‘thing’ worth chasing. For then it becomes like all other things which people chase, which aren’t really worth chasing at all.
What people refer to as the experience certainly has its place however, both (theoretically and existentially) in providing a grounding for the mystical in something empirical and experiential, and secondly for the role it plays in “waking people up” and for that it deserves our gratitude. But never our glorification. For all the glory is to God. Amen selah.
How present is the actual practice of spirituality in your daily life? Is it something that comes across in your daily prayers perhaps, or do you take time for exclusive practices as well? Or is it mostly intellectual and scholarly for you at this point in your life? God knows my personal path has had it's highs and lows when it comes to actual practice, kinda like with physical exercise actually, which usually comes with the culture so to speak.
I’ve been really weak and lacking discipline in my own practice recently, i’ve been trying to find a new place to rest my weary bones at night on a consistent basis and it’s left me quite literally unsettled, emotionally, psychically and mentally. I would like to have more routine, more consistent practice, also some community to practice with would be nice. I feel lonely. Sometimes God comes to hold me in my loneliness. Sometimes She doesn’t.
Praying is important to me, both saying the words, sometimes dry and sometimes delicious, and also being in a state of prayer. You know that space of vulnerability and concern, of intimacy and silent closeness, of insanity and hope, of drunkenness and bliss.
Writing is also a similar beautiful spiritual practice i like to partake in, to write to the point of intoxication, to write like we’re drunk. It’s an old writing style among mystics and philosophers (and philosopher mystics). It’s not too hard with a little practice, words themselves are quite seductive and intoxicating.
Being there for people, for the Gods we call strangers, to hold them when they’re crying. To love, to listen, to care. These are spiritual practices.
To hush our egos. To channel them and harness them for the good of ‘others.’ It takes just a drop of clarity to see that your ego is not your amigo, until they’ve been harnessed.
To exercise, to eat and sleep well. To take care of this precious Godly body of ours. All things i fail to do most of the time. Maybe i think i don’t deserve it. I need to punish myself. Be a martyr for the cause. We can stop doing that, ok? Sometimes i think that my work is more important than eating, then two hours later i get a headache and can’t work and wonder why.
Lots of reading, my best friends, books. The ones that smell like velvety roasted dark chocolate and toasted love. Scholarly and intellectual doesn’t mean not spiritual. I hold Abraham Joshua Heschel softly in my hands, i caress the pages of Etty Hillesum, I sit with Howard Thurman, Guru Nanak, Rabia Al Basri and Hamza ibn Ali as they regale me with their wisdom and kindness. Whitehead and Spinoza, Luria and Scholem, Plotinus and Teresa of Avila, Blake and Böhme, Underhill, Schimmel, Simone Weil, Dame Yates and Margaret Smith, all get me to that place, to that good drunk brain hurting, heart melting high. Highlighting and underlining is a spiritual practice, particularly with the intention to absorb, steep and then share those gems and jewels with ‘others’.
You have gotten close to and interviewed people of various backgrounds, such as lately the elusive Druze of Israel. If you would have to pick an attribute shared by people of different faiths and cultures, a trait which you think we should be focusing in on, in order to find common grounds rather than conflict among each other, what would that commonality be?
Hmm, what i’m trying to do with that project is to unite us on two fronts. Firstly, we must come to see each other as human, deeply human, and then we must work on seeing that the human is nothing other than the divine and the divine is indivisible, so we are one. One in the beautiful depths of our divine diversity and individuality. Echad and Yachid, one and (yet) unique.
I think this metaphysical meta-narrative is and has been shared by all humans, expressed in a thousand and one different, beautiful ways.
And i think that our thoughts, our ideas, particularly our highest ideas, our metaphysics and theologies, shape the way we see the world, they sculpt our politics and policies. If we can see our world from the vantage point of our highest shared metaphysics, our highest theological common denominators, we will no longer be able to see each ‘other’ as other, but as extensions of ourselves, as complete fragments of God, as our own limbs and children. How then can we exploit, harm, abuse, demean, scare, round them up and gas them. And the same of course goes for the planet, our mother, our lungs, our food, our home, our sanctuary.
And this is why we’re digging up the corpse of mysticism, because something drastic has to be done in a world lost in psychosis, one which believes it can pour venom into a limb without poisoning the body. It’s only a number of amputations left until we’re heading to decapitation. In psychiatry we have a name for this, it’s called body integrity dysphoria, when the individual fails to identify one of their own limbs as belonging to their body. In society, in the body politic we call this, business as usual. It is very weird and very usual and also kinda very lethal. We need a cure to this collective psychosis. I think, i believe, i hope, the worlds mystical traditions might just hold a cure.
At Seekers of Unity we take seriously the metaphysics of the mystics. We aim to see how they might dictate our actions and how they might shape our worlds.
There is clearly a scene in Youtube of religious scholars, such as yourself, Let's Talk About Religion, Esoterica, Ihsan Alexander, Religion For Breakfast, Angela's Symposium and others. Would you say the camaraderie among you creators is strong? Do you think the channels will be multiplying in the future, meaning do you think there is demand for this kind of discourse?
One of the greatest challenges that no one tells you about before you start creating content online, is just how lonely of a job it is. You brainstorm alone, read and research alone, write and script alone, film and edit alone, you talk to a lifeless camera alone, and then have to stare at your face and edit for a few hours or days (depending on the project), alone. And the irony is that i started this project because i was lonely. 😢
But the other thing they don’t tell you is just how wonderful the friendships one forms with the other creators on the platform are. I’ve received so much support, love and encouragement from the brilliant youtube religion educators community.
Filip Holm, Justin Sledge, Ihsan Alexander, Andrew Henry, Angela Puca, (in the order you listed them) (among others) are all tremendously, tremendously knowledgeable and kind scholars, who I'm honoured to call friends and friends of the channel, with whom we continue to collaborate, review each other's work (on occasion), support each other (where we can), and (clear your viewing calendars) will hopefully have the chance to meet up with (either virtually or in person) for an epic religion youtubers conference sometime in the not too distant future, pandemic permitting.
I certainly think these channels will continue to grow and proliferate, both the existing ones and new ones to come. I think the prodigious growth of both Filip’s Let’s Talk Religion and Justin’s Esoterica are sterling demonstrations of the thirst and demand which exists for this type of quality educational content.
The question just is whether new creators will be driven and passionate enough to slug out the first few months of content creation, with little to no viewers, before the magical algorithm, to which we all pray, does its thing to get their ball rolling.
I could ask you to give the five best spiritual books or classics of your choosing, but instead I'm going to ask you of your personal favourite book which goes into the unity of religions?
Wow, this may be the most difficult question yet. My personal favorites have been kind of involved works which the average reader might not benefit that much from. The first few that come immediately to mind are David Loy’s "Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy", Randall Studstill’s "The Unity of Mystical Traditions: The Transformation of Consciousness in Tibetan and German Mysticism" and Adam Afterman’s "“And They Shall Be One Flesh”: On The Language of Mystical Union in Judaism", which we cited earlier.
You don’t understand, i jumped for joy when reading passages in these books and had certain out-of-body (ex-stasis) experiences, follow by me promptly bombarding all my closest friends with “YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK” 3am messages.
But the one book i want to recommend to a general audience looking to get into this stuff is William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience. It's a straight up classic (you don’t even need to read the whole thing, just his intro, conclusion and chapters on mystical experience.)
As this eMag deals partly with music, I'm interested in what kind of tunes do you like to listen to? I know the festives of Lag BaOmer have many awesome songs, especially about rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and I know the Na Nachs are into psytrance, but how about you?
I hate to disappoint but i’m a really basic bro when it comes to music, (by which i mean i have a taste in music so superb, it wraps right around the chart and ends up back in what most think is basic). If it’s not in the top 100’s blasting on the radio, i ain’t listening to it. I’m talking Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Adele, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Usher, Sia, Alicia Keys, Bon Iver, Beyoncé, Pink, Maroon 5, Billie Eilish, Lorde, Sam Smith. And I'm not even talking their obscurer stuff, just their top preforming, record breaking, best-selling fire tracks, oh yeah.
If anyone has a problem with that, they can wrestle with this bit of logic right here: It’s popular because it’s good. Case closed, end of story.
Okay, but also, i really like Tash Sultana, Tame Impala, Trevor Hall and other chill beats like that.
On a little less serious note, music has played an important part in my Hasidic upbringing, and still plays an important role in my current spiritual life (even in the scattered state that it’s in). There’s a class of Hasidic melodies called niggunin, some with lyrics but mostly just wordless melodies which (when the moment is just right) go so deep inside your soul, they surface back up with things you forgot ever existed, and take you places for far, no passport, vaccine or visa will help you. They’re a trip and i often live on a niggun. That’s a side we don’t get to explore enough on the channel. Maybe one day…
Thank you so much for this wonderful interview Zevi! What are your plans for the year of 2022, for you and Seekers of Unity?
Thank you so much Antti for this beautiful and nurturing public therapy session, for allowing me to come back in touch with myself for a few moments and back in touch with the purpose, the ‘why’ behind this project. It’s really important to come back to that from time to time and not get too lost in the game.
If you or your readers have any more questions or anything you’d like me to elaborate on… please don’t hesitate to ask.
I don’t really have such a conventional relationship with the human construct called time, i'm not sure what year or months some consensus of modern western (?) individuals think we’re in, counting from what to where, i don’t know. But if you say it’s 2022 i'll take your word for it. I prefer to look at the sun, stars and moon to determine when things are starting and ending, they’re much less harsh and more gradual and gradient, they kind of blur and melt into one another, without the sharp and hard edges modern analogy and then digital time presents with. Anyhow. What was the question?
Plans for 2022. Uh, that’s another construct i don’t jive with so much. Plans are really hard to make when existence is so contingent. I can’t play to be the same person i was between when i made my plan to when it would be executed. We live in perpetual flux, motion and change. Identity is viscous when things are cold, but liquid none the less. It’s too presumptuous to plan. This whole sorry joke might come to a crashing end when i forget to look before stepping in the path of a hurling bus. How can i plan? I can only hope. No plans, only hopes.
I hope to have the strength to continue this work which i think is important, necessary, beautiful and most importantly, fun.
I hope to be surrounded by the people who will hold me gently in this work, who will support it and love it as i do. Who will be kind and not scoff. I need good people to work alongside with, i can’t go this much longer myself. (Elissa you’re amazing and most the time i feel like you’re there for me, fighting for me and not against me, although i guess sometimes that’s necessary too).
I hope to stay humble and simple with the work.
To continue to be blown away by the depth of wisdom, knowledge and kindness the Seekers community continues to exhibit. I hope to spend more time engaging with the community, learning about each beautiful seeker one by one, hear about their mothers, sisters, daughters and aunts (if they have one), their hopes and aspirations, their fear and traumas, their wished and dreams. I hope to have the space to hold all them in my hearts. I think of them in the most intimate moments of prayer, on the regular, and ask the mighty One, to guard them like the apple of Your eye.
I hope to be guided by a spirit of truth, kindness, goodness, compassion and beauty, in all the words I read, think, speak and write. I hope to only ever share and promote that which furthers love, peace, understanding, empathy, patience and unity in the hearts of all those who hear my words and in the worlds they go on to create. To God forbid never be a cause of strife, jealously, fear or hatred, to never mislead a single mind or soul. To have the strength to resist temptation and only do that which will bring closer the redemption of all humanity, and never God forbid to distance it through my words, thoughts or actions.
What else do we hope for 2022? We hope to continue our religious minorities series, making epic friends from all the epic religions here and showing people that that kind of thing is possible, and fun. There’s lots more filming, storyboarding and editing to do, so i hope people with enjoy and support us in that project.
We hope to start doing monthly live seekers events.
We hope to continue sharing some epic scholarship on mysticism with the world (in the middle of scripting the next series).
We hope to conduct and share more epic interviews with scholars and practitioners (one already in the bag, just needs some audio and visual back-end cleaning, maybe i’ll get started on that tonight).
We hope to continue with some epic collabs with other youtubers and creators, to induct them into the “deep spiritual web of Indra” (some more already in the works).
We hope to find a physical location or compatible institution in Jerusalem to host the project, to have a space to nurture an intelligent, creative, collaborative community, to reach out to those unsatisfied with the status quo, who dare to imagine a brighter tomorrow, who are exploring alternative possibilities and working to tell a new story, and to provide these young rebels with a space to read, think and work, a place to host, teach and record their content. To help them find their voice and get it out there. To create an army of creators, pushing an agenda of unity and peace.
We hope to finish creating some maps of mysticism, to help people visualize what on earth we’re talking about. We have three maps in the works, one covering the historical depiction of mysticism, a family tree of mystical traditions, the main figures, movements, texts and moments and where they intersect, break off from and influence one another. A second one covering a disciplinary depiction of mysticism, showing the field of study under the branches of various ways mysticism has been studied and analyzed (philosophy, religion/theology, psychology, science, sociology, history, literature, mythology…) (You can see the second draft of this map currently underway on the homepage of our website: seekersofunity.com).
The third map, which is going to be the most original and audacious is going to be an attempt to visually depict the structed and process of mysticism, think of it as a flowchart of mystics, running from experience (visionary, ecstatic, contemplative, or unitive states of consciousness, usually comprised of two sides; death and rebirth, nullification and unification, crucifixion and resurrection, fana and baqa, etc.), through theory (conceptualization, doctrine and philosophy, symbolism and speculation), into practice (techniques (meditation and contemplation, prayer and worship, solitude and wandering, chanting and reading, bodily postures and breathing techniques, diet and fasting, ritual dance and disciplined movement, and the use of intoxicants) and ethics) and back. We’re hoping to bring some epic artists on board to work out the visual and artistic components to this project and then share it with the world.
We hope to eventually build a center, a brick and mortal home, to which we can “download” Seekers of Unity and function from there as a real lived community, a place for thought, discussion and silence, prayer, mediation and action, a beacon and lighthouse putting out those good unitive vibes to the world.
We hope to ruffle some dusty feathers, to agitate a lot of religiously-retentive people in the process.
We hope to make peace in the Middle-East and to end global suffering, inequality and poverty.
And we hope to make some cool sustainable, biodegradable, environmentally friendly, non- consumeristic Seekers swag and merch, for our growing army of unity activists and ambassadors. A boy can dream…
With love,
Zevi
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