ABSTRACT
Various forms of ‘spiritual’ anatomy are found in numerous religions and self-directed spiritual practices, including Asian, Western and Indigenous traditions. Despite the irreducibility of the different frameworks of belief (different subtle body schemas) the perception of these various forms of spiritual anatomy is commonly deemed as requiring the cultivation of the five senses via body-mind training and/or the development of extrasensory abilities. These modes of knowing are often termed ‘alternate:’ defined against dominant modes of epistemology (e.g. reason). Terms designating these alternative knowledges include intuition, esoteric senses, the “sixth” sense and mystic “vision.” Taking as its case studies contemporary artwork and forms of spiritual healing found in western cultures this chapter investigates the ways in which these “alternate” epistemologies are constructed in contemporary society and scholarship and proposes a framework of analysis through which the lived, messy intersections of various epistemological resources can be more consciously considered within academic practice. How does one study invisible bodies? How can one incorporate — with due critical rigor — more intuitive, creative forms of epistemology (implicit in the perception of spiritual anatomy) into contemporary scholarship?
