Abstract This article explores the implicit theory of mysticism in Ciro Guerra’s 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent (Sp. El abrazo de la serpiente). While many theories of mysticism argue that true mystical experience is unmediated and, therefore, universal, Guerra makes a more provocative statement in the film. He depicts two Westerners’ attempts to have an entheogenic mystical experience in...
Abstract:Although Sufism, Ishrāqī philosophy, and other forms of esoteric Islamic spirituality are frequently labelled “mysticism,” scholars of Islam and case studies of Muslim mystics are largely absent from the debates that shape the conceptual understanding of mysticism in religious studies. As a result, Sufi and Ishrāqī models of piety often do not adhere to these scholarly understandings....