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Beyond the Interpretive: The Way of Awareness
Author(s) -
Quinney Richard
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1988.tb00257.x
Subject(s) - realm , epistemology , interpretation (philosophy) , rationality , sociology , observer (physics) , mindfulness , conditionality , philosophy , law , politics , political science , linguistics , physics , theology , quantum mechanics
Thought by itself is incapable of arriving at truth. In fact, thought of the discursive form is a source of our incapacity to know. Knowledge‐including interpretation‐is conditioned by the limitations of the thought of Western rationality. However, within the esoteric or perennial tradition there is the possibility of an awareness that goes beyond the conditionality of thought. The path to awareness involves a transformation in our being, a transformation which allows a healing of the separation between the observer and the observed. To enter into this realm requires a mind that is unattached and compassionate. In mindfulness‐in attention to our oneness with all things‐we become aware of things as they really are, here and now.