Psychonauts and Seekers: West German Entanglements in the Spiritual Turn of the Global 1960s and 1970s
Contemporary European History May 4, 2022 DOI: 10.1017/s0960777322000121 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism Meditation |
| Keywords | Seekers Spirituality Consciousness Spiritual practice Aesthetics Refugee Contemplation Hinduism Religious studies Gender studies Theology Epistemology Law |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that West Germany was an exemplary global-local intersection of the spiritual turn in the long 1960s, where consciousness expansion and meditation became pivotal practices shaped by international exchanges of body-mind techniques. |
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.