Everyday Mysticism: A Contemplative Community at Work in the Desert

by Ariel Glucklich

Overview

A scholar’s experiences inside a contemplative working community in Israel’s Negev desert

In this thoughtful and enlightening work, world renowned religion scholar Ariel Glucklich recounts his experiences at Neot Smadar, an ecological and spiritual oasis that has been thriving in the arid Southern Israeli desert for a quarter century. An intentional community originally established by a group of young professionals who abandoned urban life to found a school for the study of the self, Neot Smadar has thrived by putting ancient Buddhist and Hindu ideas into everyday practice as ways of living and working. Glucklich provides a fascinating detailed portrait of a dynamic farming community that runs on principles of spiritual contemplation and mindfulness, thereby creating a working environment that is highly ethical and nurturing. His study serves as a gentle invitation to join the world of mindful work, and to gain a new understanding of a unique form of mystical insight that exists without exoticism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300231373
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	10/24/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ariel Glucklich is professor of theology at Georgetown University, specializing in Hinduism, the psychology of religion, and anthropological approaches to religion. He is the author of eight previous books, including Sacred Pain: Hurting the Body for the Sake of the Soul, which won the American Academy of Religion award for best book (2002) and the award for best book in Philosophy and Religion by the Association of American Publishers (2002).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction: What Is Neot Smadar? 1

1 A Search for Religious Experience 12

2 Washing Dishes 30

3 The Oasis of Neot Smadar: An Overview 45

4 A School for Self-Inquiry 64

5 The School after the Death of Yossef 82

6 The Art of Listening 104

7 Everyday Mysticism 121

8 Constructing the Art Center: Communal Project as Ascetic Practice 141

9 At Work in Neot Smadar: Making Wine, Milking Goats, Learning the Lesson of the Bolt 157

10 The Extended Family: Sociality in Neot Smadar 186

11 A Wedding Gift for Dani 206

Conclusion: Looking Forward 219

Notes 223

Bibliography 241

Index 251

Editorial Reviews

The Neot Smadar community has baffled observers for decades, but Glucklich has lived inside it and gotten to know its members intimately, taking  “participant observation”  to a new level. This remarkable book will provide knowledge about the modern search for psychological liberation.”—Benny Beit-Hallahmi, University of Haifa, Israel
 

Benny Beit-Hallahmi

In this important book, Ariel Glucklich depicts, with novelistic sharpness, a hardworking community in Israel with little traditional creed or cultus. Instead, Neot Smadar presents itself as "a school for self-inquiry." Its largely post-religious residents strive to know life better by looking within while living with others.”—Robert Ellwood, University of Southern California
 

Robert Ellwood

Glucklich’s sympathetic, immersive approach to the intentional community Neot Smadar and what it calls “Self-inquiry” is utterly fascinating. This engrossing study is a must read. As a scholar of Christian mysticism, I have learned so much from this engrossing book.”—Julia Lamm, Georgetown University
 

Julia Lamm

Glucklich's intimate narrative and compelling analysis of an encounter with the people of Neot Smadar demonstrate how mystics can communally and corporally embody contemplation. Spiritual practice is intertwined with everyday social and even economic routines.”—Andrea R. Jain, author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture
 

Andrea R. Jain