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| A Muṭiyēttu performer |
Jeffrey Kripal's 2001 book Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism is both the best and worst kind of academic publication. The book is great because, as usual, Kripal blends a host of sophisticated analytical frameworks ranging from Lacanian psychoanalysis to Robert Forman's insights on pure consciousness events, all for purposes of unpacking the writings and lives of famous mystic-scholars and scholar-mystics ranging from the obvious (Evelyn Underhill) to the oddball (Zoroastrian scholar R.C. Zaehner). The book is somewhat trying, however, because Kripal intersperses the analyses with his own "mystical" experiences, which encompass his personal interfacings with religion, sexuality, and pop culture. Given these not-infrequent autobiographical digressions, the book is likely to turn off traditional scholars, and certainly this is how Roads of Excess has been perceived in the academic community since its release. Nevertheless, these personal reflections provide some of the most lucid, original, and intriguing parts of the book. In one curious insight, Kripal compares the eyes of the Amazing Spiderman to those of the pan-Indian goddess Kālī. This comparison is unprecedented, uncouth, and likely offensive to a substantial proportion of South Asia scholars (it not to Kālī worshippers). But this insight is undeniably edifying, as it raises important questions about archetypes, as well as the parallels between pop culture and folk religion. (Also, Kripal's comparison makes me feel less guilty about my own nagging impression that the burly male actors playing the goddess Bhagavati in performances of muṭiyēttu in Kerala, in their frenzied transvestism, are reminiscent of Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) It's just unfortunate that more scholars of religion haven't been able to identify these merits in Kripal's work. Many have written off Kripal as a purveyor of navel-gazing drivel. It's too bad, for a host of Kripal's unprecedently honest intuitions and impressions remain as-of-yet unrecognized by his field. As a result, Kripal has drifted more and more toward studies of pop culture studies and, more damningly, the paranormal, even penning some popular non-fiction in the process. (See, for instance, his book with notorious hack-cum-crank Whitley Streiber.) Kripal's career, then, has been marked by the same kind of ambivalence as Roads of Excess itself: as Kripal gets a bigger audience, which is much deserved, he does it as the expense of scholarly rigor and respect. Perhaps Kripal was and is bigger than academia. Regardless of the merits of his newer works, Roads of Excess remains an enduring classic almost twenty years after its publication. Maybe it will take another twenty years for scholars to catch on and catch up. I've heard through the grapevine that Kripal commits himself to write three hours every morning without exception. I would advise him to continue with this regimen, as his own literary excesses might eventually help more mainline scholars of religion to wise up.
