The renowned philosopher of Western religious consciousness, Arthur Versluis, writes a chapter in the book Introduction to Jacob Boehme and on page 274* makes this amazing statement regarding the possible “...changes in consciousness hypothetically could exist” from reading Boehme.
Although Versluis is careful not to diminish his position it is clear that the insights of
Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) could carry from the page to the reader in a very profound way.
Professor Versluis continues, “Already, this threatens to go beyond a mere ‘suspension of disbelief’; and it is also more than a matter of empathy or seeking to ‘think like’ another, because what is under consideration may include but is not necessarily limited to discursive thought. Such a reading accepts the possibility of changes in consciousness not accessible to (exoteric) discursive thought or analysis. But the second answer to the challenge is more difficult and is suggested by the first. It is the question of how and to what extent one accepts as real or, if one prefers, ‘real,’ the claims of, for instance, Boehme.”
In the same manner as Ted Nottingham and Richard Rohr, Versluis is a Perennialist who sees the Christian tradition to be deep and eternal underlying all of our culture with a richness that has been dismissed or ignored by a century of materialism. The great mystic Boehme creates a platform for today’s thinkers to work from and enables those who perceive the light from this glorious fountain of perennial knowledge to come forward and enrich our culture.
*Introduction to Jacob Boehme, ed Hossayon & Apetrei, Routledge, 2014
Versluis website
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