Psychonauts and Seekers: West German Entanglements in the Spiritual Turn of the Global 1960s and 1970s

Spirituality as practices and beliefs seeking a closer connection with the divine experienced a multifaceted renaissance in the countercultures of West Germany during the long 1960s. Contemporary explorations in the expansion of consciousness and increasing interest in meditation were pivotal practices. The essay reflects the international exchange of knowledge about body-mind practices from Amazonia and Mexico to the United States, India, and West Germany, showing how actors were influenced by international and national connections. Practitioners found spirituality not in Christian contemplative traditions or Jewish versions, but in various forms of what seekers received and practised as Hinduism or Buddhism, which gave followers a means of connecting to higher truths—to God—without God.

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Abstract

This essay focuses on West Germany as exemplary global-local intersection of the spiritual turn in the long 1960s. It shows how spirituality as practices and beliefs seeking a closer connection with the divine within or outside religious groups experienced a multifaceted renaissance in the countercultures of the long 1960s. In this spiritual quest contemporary explorations in the expansion of consciousness and the increasing interest in meditation were pivotal practices. The essay reflects the international exchange of knowledge about body-mind practices from Amazonia and Mexico to the United States, India and West Germany, showing how actors were influenced by international and national connections. Practitioners found the practices of spirituality neither in Christian contemplative traditions nor in Jewish versions, but in various forms of what seekers received and practised as Hinduism or Buddhism, etc., that gave contemporary followers and seekers a means of connecting to higher truths – to God – without God.