The oneness of the manifold: a comparative survey of mystical ontologies east and west

Klotz, Jerome

The oneness of the manifold: a comparative survey of mystical ontologies east and west

Publication Date

December 8, 2021

Creator

Klotz, Jerome

Abstract

This study consists of a two-part comparative survey of mystical ontologies East and West. Part One examines the Eastern traditions of Advaita Vedānta Hinduism, philosophical Daoism, and Zen Buddhism, while Part Two takes for its focus the Western traditions of Kabbalistic Judaism, mystical Christianity, and mystical Islam. The burden of my thesis is to show how these traditions coalesce around a shared conception of existence as simultaneously one and manifold. According to this shared conception, just as many waves “are” only as the restricted articulations of a single ocean, or just as many rays of light “are” only as the diversified modes of a single sun, so all phenomena “are” only as the discrete manifestations of a single meta-ontological Principle or Field. I survey this point of correspondence under the three interrelated headings of existence, manifestation, and knowledge. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate how the mystical ontologies of the East and the West provide the possibility of a mutual understanding among religions at the ontological level.

Item Type

ethesis

Thesis Type

PhD

Supervisors

Cunningham, Conor

Keywords

Metaphysics

Mysticism

Non-Duality

eastern religion

western religion

ontology

Subjects (LC)

BD Speculative philos...

BL Religion

Associated Schools / Departments

School of Humanities

eprints ID

66160

UoN Repository URI

https://repository.nottingham.ac.uk/handle/123456789/60869

Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Name

Oneness of the Manifold_Klotz With Corrections.docx

Type

Full-text

Description

Examined. Anyone

Size

716.51 KB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

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