Love the recommendations so far!
Indeed it does seem that this topic is explored only in specific contexts. This is a good thing, since any “universal” treatment will only end up imposing a modern/Western perspective, and precisely so to the extent the perspective claims to be universal. This is of course the classical structuralist/perennialist move.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the West, but this specifically modern/Cartesian “universalizing” approach is precisely one – perhaps unique in human history – where ritual fails to show up at all. Instead, ritual practices are recast in terms of explanatory chains of causation; in other words, using concepts such as “belief”, “superstition”, “social function”, “cultural values” and so on, each which completely miss the phenomenon. But this approach is just as hostile to medieval-Christian/pagan/Greek understandings as it is to those of non-Western origin.
Ritual, mysticism etc. are matters that must be thought from themselves, that must be thought out of specific ways of comportment which enable the phenomena to show up, ways which are in turn constituted by the phenomena. This circle cannot be transcended by any proper investigation, any inquiry that purports to reveal something of the phenomenon. Revealing begins with what is most near, but thenceforth becomes a spiraling-out within this circle – never finishing, never getting anything clear, consistent, or complete as demanded by the universalizing approach. Indeed, our own work as musicians and artists, really only comes meaningfully into its own within this circle, within the spiraling process.
Anyway, one book I’m very interested in getting is Owen Coggins’ Mysticism, Ritual, and Religion in Drone Metal. Despite my not (yet) being a fan of the genre, Coggins’ interviews have been compelling in the way everything begins and ends with the raw phenomenon which is the total concert experience – the extreme volumes and durations erasing all distinctions between hearing/feeling, mind/body, self/other – actively creating the space for the phenomena to show themselves . For instance, I highly recommend his recent interview with Erik Davis:
Coggins’ book is available now, but at ridiculous ($115) academic pricing. However, it seems that a paperback will be out in 2019.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/mysticism-ritual-and-religion-in-drone-metal-9781350025103/
Coggins definitely seeks to avoid the universalizing pitfalls I mentioned above, and to which all of us have basically alluded. From another interview (transcript – not as interesting as the one with Erik Davis):
https://religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/drone-metal-mysticism/
Hope this contributes something, and again I’m really excited to be looking at all these recommendations! This is indeed a topic very close to my heart.
