Subtle Bodies and Ecology

Abstract

This chapter examines the concept of the subtle body – especially as understood in the discourses of the modern Theosophical Society and contemporary esoteric spiritualities – in dialogue with significant mind–body theories of the past 50 years, including recent propositions regarding ontological materiality and other-than-human agency. It aims to articulate the way in which the subtle body – so central to many religious and spiritual traditions – can be understood to offer productive pathways to rethink mind–body dualism and provide important additions and revisions to concepts of intersubjectivity and alterity central to contemporary philosophical debates on embodiment and subjectivity. It considers subtle bodies within the broader conceptual frame of “ecology,” opening out the discussion from forms of religious or philosophical subjectivity to a consideration of its ramifications for broader biocultural worldviews.