Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity

This compelling book delves into the still underexplored territory of what ayahuasca can mean for human beings and the challenge this beverage poses for interfaith religious studies. Throughout this lucid and thoughtful text, André van der Braak analyses the ontology of ayahuasca as a liquid object/subject relative to social contexts of ayahuasca traditions like Santo Daime, expertly integrating his philosophical observations with references to the anthropological literature. The result is a text that is a pure joy to read while at the same time offering new questions upon which future scholars can build. -- Marc Blainey, author of Christ Returns from the Jungle: Ayahuasca Religion as Mystical Healing (2021) In this clear-headed, thoughtful, and groundbreaking text, the comparative philosopher André van der Braak grapples with the “ontological shock” that can emerge in those who engage, in an ongoing and overtly religious way, with ayahuasca – a mind-altering brew originally found in indigenous contexts in the Amazonian rainforest, and which is now the sacramental center of a variety of religious traditions found across the globe. Van der Braak, drawing upon the “experimental metaphysics” of the French thinker Bruno Latour, argues that the often earth-shattering experiences and transformative practices linked to ayahuasca religiosity should encourage us to create a more “fluid” ontology that makes room for “more than human” entities or powers, even while he refuses to endorse any particular substantive ontology. This wide-ranging, courageous, and self-reflexive text not only directly addresses the philosophical ramifications of the relatively recent encounter between Amazonian ayahuasca religiosity with the secular assumptions of the modern Western worldview, but also underscores the societal relevance of this newly emerging contemplative tradition for a “Gaian” religiosity in which human beings become interconnected participants with the natural world. Read this text and emerge with your own ontological assumptions profoundly shaken. -- G. William Barnard, Southern Methodist University