Self and Spirit (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781597310574)

What is the basis and purpose of esoteric religion, and what is the self? Self and Spirit answers these questions in depth and in a way true to the spirit of traditional wisdom. This latest book by Robert Bolton illuminates from a new angle the non-dualistic conceptions that have become influential through the work of many modern traditionalist and perennialist authors. For Bolton, a practicing Catholic, gnostic ideas usually taken to support pantheistic religion are shown to be able to provide a foundation for belief in a personal God. Religion is not forced into a preconceived system, because no attempt is made to evaluate all religious doctrines by the standard of one doctrine. Instead, certain profound ideas common to many traditions are invoked, these ideas being of a kind that cannot be identified with any one confessional origin. This in turn sheds new light on the dividing-line between the esoteric and the exoteric, allowing these ideas to combine in ways that are natural and free. The key to this new departure is the true nature of the individual self, a subject largely ignored by non-dualist thought. Here it is given its full weight, however, and its impact on all other realities is made clear. The relation of the self to its world is also here connected significantly to the cosmic role of religion, illustrating how a conversion from worldly to spiritual priorities can have consequences far beyond the personal concerns of those involved. Throughout, Bolton's thinking is daring, yet true to traditional spirituality.