Review

Reviewing Erosology

Erosology is an embodied spirituality that merges the exoteric with the esoteric. It explores exoteric or more naturalistic explanations of the nature of passionate love and human relationships from an intellectual, philosophical point of view (Levin, 1993). In fact, the first stages of Erosology are fundamentally humanistic and rationalistic, concerning questions of why we are here, what the nature of love is and how love has been represented in sacred texts like Plato’s Symposium. Essentially, this element is concerned with what Erosologists do in the physical world, from their physical relationships to their intellectual understanding of those relationships. The esoteric element of Erosology transports adherents from this naturalistic understanding of the world to questions of passion, spirituality and disembodied notions of love (Levin, 1993). In this more advanced stage of Erosology, adherents are encouraged to open their minds and spirits to the sacred realm of the God Eros, a realm of perfect love and perfect altruism. They transcend themselves through an exoteric understanding of this world, and esoteric commitment to love.

In this sense it resembles the tendency of Eastern faiths like Buddhism and Hinduism towards non-theism. In rejecting the notion of a creator deity, it runs contrary to teachings about God in Christianity, for example. While Eros is the only God considered in Erosology, and therefore has a Deity in Deacian sense, he does not exist in the same capacity as the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Gods of monotheism. Instead, he is a symbolic conceptualization of the nature of passionate love that can be interpreted as a literal figurehead or a metaphysical symbol.  The semantically open nature of understanding the God Eros lends itself to the discourse and debate encouraged in Erosology.

As an alternative faith, Erosology offers reprieve from the institutionalization and politicization of spirituality often seen in mainline religion. It takes a fundamentally Weberian approach, whereby religion is seen as inextricably linked to the social, cultural, and economic factors of the institutions in which it operates (Weber, 1963). Erosology does not adopt the inductive approach of mainline religion, where the systems of belief are pervasive in the operation of these factors. Instead it is deductive, encouraging an analysis of these factors to gain a greater insight into humanity and society in general. That analysis, Erosologists claim, reveals the pervasiveness of passionate love as a motivating force and equalizer in all human relations. The relevance of Erosology, insofar as it interacts with our everyday life and social institutions, is therefore self-fulfilling.

The site promotes and informs readers about Erosology by encouraging discourse about it and inviting readers to visit the Symposium sacred centres. These are non-threatening, open environments which encourage community and sharing of beliefs, ideas and aspirations, whatever they may be. The fluid discourse encouraged by Erosology facilitates a brand of “cosmopolitan tolerance” in which “diversity is accepted and truth-claims and identity-boundaries are blunted by the appreciation of individualism” (Beck, 2010, 231). Erosology aligns itself with Beck’s ‘individualization of religion’, or notion of “a God of one’s own” (Beck, 2010, 231). Erosology is about understanding the highly personal experience of love and passion, respecting others experiences as subjective and making the spiritual commitment to living and loving without pretension or self-interest, and with understanding and openness.

 Created by D.A.Young and J.C.Peterson

References:

Beck, Ulrich. 2010. A God of One’s Own: Religion’s Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence. Trans. Rodney Livingstone. Cambridge: Polity.

Deacy, S and Villing, A. “What was the colour of Athena’s ageis?” The Journal of Hellenic Studies 129 (2009): 111 – 129.

Levin, Jeffrey S. “Esoteric vs. Exoteric explanations for linking Spirituality and Health”. Advances 9.4 (1993): 54 – 56.

Weber, Max. 1963. Economy and Society: An outline of interpretive sociology. Trans. Ephraim Fischoff. Boston: Beacon Press.