The Spiritual Quest: Transcendence in Myth Religion and Science

About this book

Robert Torrances wide-ranging innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological psychological linguistic and social nature. The quest is not as most have believed a rare mystical experience but a frequent expression of our most basic human impulses. Shaman and scientist medium and poet prophet and philosopher all venture forth in quest of visionary truths to transform and renew the world. Yet Torrance is not trying to reduce the quest to an "archetype" or "monomyth." Instead he presents the full diversity of the quest in the myths and religious practices of tribal peoples throughout the world from Oceania to India Africa Siberia and especially the Americas. In theorizing about the quest Torrance draws on thinkers as diverse as Bergson and Piaget van Gennep and Turner Pierce and Popper Freud Darwin and Chomsky. This is a book that will expand our knowledgeand awarenessof a fundamental human activity in all its fascinating complexity.