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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly significant, December 19, 2007
Eric Cunninghan's _Hallucinating the End of History: Nishida, Zen, and the Psychedelic Eschaton_ (312 pages) is a truly significant contribution to the field of Zen Buddhism studies, the philosophy of Nishida Kitaro, the psychedelic movement, and method and theory in historiography. Ambitious and grandiose, Cunningham is nevertheless up to the task in weaving together an impressive array of original research, new insights, and a compelling yarn for the adventurous intellectual.
This work consists of six chapters:
1: The Problem of Nishida Kitaro's Historical Philosophy and an Introduction to the Psychedelic Paradigm
2: The Zen Nexus between Nishida Kitaro and Modern Psychedelic Experience
3: Experience and the Self: The Early Phase of Nishida's Thought (1911-1931)
4: Nishida Kitaro's Historical World (1931-1945)
5: A Psychedelic Paradigm of History
6: Hallucinating the End of History: Reflections on Myth, the Eschaton, and the Problem of Overcoming Modernity
After laying out the problematic of Zen experience, psychedelia, and historiography in chapter 1, Cunningham proceeds in chapter two to delineate the historical intersections and structural homologies between Nishida's Zen-influenced philosophy and the psychedelic movement of the mid- to late-twentieth century. In chapters 3 and 4, he delves into the biographical, cultural, and philosophical dimensions of Nishida's work relevant to the themes of the book. In chapter 5 he defines a psychedelic view of history, influenced by the work of Terence McKenna, that resonates with the historical philosophy of Nishida and criticizes the modern academic discipline of history. Chapter 6 provides a concluding summary as well as enunciation of key themes related to religious experience, the discourse of myth, and the limits of modern historiography.
Some of the key contributions of this work are its examination of the emergence of modern Zen, additional contextualization of Nishida's wartime rhetoric, analysis of Asian-influenced countercultural movement in the sixties and seventies, and presentation of the work of Terence McKenna as a philosopher of time and history:
Cunningham uses the innovative phrase "Bourgeois Zen" to describe the emergence of the modern Zen intellectual as someone who engages in Zen practice to one degree or another, but unlike the traditional scholar-monk lives and works in a modern, Westernized, intellectual culture that is defined in terms of an emerging or dominant middle-class, bourgeois lifestyle. This term is used both descriptively and critically to illuminate the Zen life and thought of Nishida in terms of the philosophical, social, and personal challenges he faced.
This approach to Nishida also adds another perspective to the ongoing debate concerning this Kyoto School philosopher and his and others' involvement in the wartime rhetoric of Japan around the time of the Pacific War.
By identifying the historical connections and homologies between Zen and the psychedelic movement, Cunningham shows the particular constellation of factors that made both Asian religions and psychedelia attractive to and culturally transformative of a wide swath of westerners. He locates the fascination with these phenomena in terms of a crisis in the search for spiritual significance in an increasingly commodified culture and the intrinsic vacuity of a history shorn of religious or mythical meaning.
Terence McKenna's psychedelic paradigm is used to both diagnose the above and to suggest possible venues of reinvigorating history and historiography. Key to this is the idea that in and through both Nishida and McKenna, one gains access to insights concerning the end of history and historiography, and a horizon beyond time that nevertheless unfolds within the temporal order.
In all aspects, Cunningham goes into great detail concerning the historical circumstances, textual evidence, and philosophical logic that is relevant to the several strands of his work. While he draws on recent scholarship, especially on Zen studies and Nishida studies, his own original research combined with his distinctive methodological approach results in a fascinating tale of Zen, Psychedelia, and Time Beyond History.
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