Utopian Transindividuation: Aleatory Gnosis and Spiritual-Anarchy

150 Years of Sri Aurobindo: The Pioneer of Integral Consciousness

Sustainability and Contemplative Civilization: The Integral Vision of Sri Aurobindo

Academic conference hosted by Asian Contemplative and Transcultural Studies (ACTS), co-hosted by Journal of Dharma Studies

Utopian Transindividuation: Aleatory Gnosis and Spiritual-Anarchy by Jonathan Kay

Auroville, a spiritual township in South India comprised of people from 60 nations, was founded by The Mother with the aim of integrating the social, political, and spiritual ideals of Sri Aurobindo, addressing the effects of global capital, and forming a model habitat for the future. Banerji states, “The ‘we’ must have an alternative telos of becoming, a will for universality and oneness through deep relationality and intense intimacy. Auroville has been set up with this kind of telos.” This presentation explores this idea as a notion of transindividuation through the transduction of ideas between Sri Aurobindo and Spinoza, developed by contemporary thinkers Banerji and Balibar, respectively. The presentation proposes two strategic postures with the goal of building an alternative transindividual polis. Firstly, to resist neoliberal structures of teleology that define oneself through the psychic crystallization of counter-identity as ‘the other’ in the face of hegemony (the ‘they’), I suggest experimenting with new forms of transversal reticularity through creatively becoming-other, framed as a practice of aleatory gnosis. Secondly, to address teleological problems rooted in ontological dualism and antagonism between self and collective desire, I propose that collective resistance must be rooted in collective becoming-other, creatively inventing new forms of spiritual-anarchy based on an aspiration of becoming-universal. Both are viewed as subversive and radical strategies that build aleatory nodes in the ontogenetic fabric of collectivity, required to activate transindividuation as modes of immanent knowledge based on a radical monism that overcomes the duality between the One and many, transversality, and universality. This calls for us to engage with the cultural problems of our times by cultivating a new kind of consciousness that simultaneously recognizes the ‘I’ and ‘We’ through a shared aspiration of becoming ‘other’ and becoming universal, culminating in a form of (non-)utopian transindividuality.

September 23rd-26th, 2023

Namaste Hall, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco