ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the subtle body, a model of subjectivity drawn from the Eastern tradition, that renders the subject inherently plural, comprised of a number of bodies, infinitely open and, in its entirety, inherently unknowable. The methodology employed, which is grounded in textual analysis, draws together a number of discourses from the disciplines of philosophy, religion and art history, across three philosophical and religious traditions. The book discusses the thinking and experience of simultaneity emerges as a consequence of considering subtle bodies and the Eastern models of ontology that provide their ontological foundation. It explains Irigaray's proposal of dual subjectivity in relation to a model of subtle bodies from the Hindu religious tradition. The book demonstrates that ideas central to both the New Age and the Theosophical Society have a long heritage in the religious and philosophical traditions.
