Esoteric here, part of everyday life there

Oracles, prayers, dance – what do these topics have in common? That is what the researchers from the Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (KFG) 17 “Alternative rationalities and esoteric practices from a global perspective” hope to answer, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in its first phase until April 2026.

FAU sinologist Prof. Dr. Michael Lackner about researching esoteric practices  

In our interview, speaker Prof. Dr. Michael Lackner does not only discuss the term esoteric, but also reports back on the objectives and challenges of the KFG and his own personal highlights.

Professor Lackner, the title of the Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences is “Alternative rationalities and esoteric practices from a global perspective”. How would you describe the work of CAS-E? Especially in view of the fact that things classed as “esoteric” are often scoffed at.

Esoteric practices are not only publicly scoffed at in many Western countries, but indeed are often classed as being dangerous. Our focus goes beyond the western world, however, to investigate such practices across the globe. It becomes apparent that not only attitudes toward but even the definition of esoteric practices vary across different cultures. Magic, fortune telling and traditional forms of healing are part and parcel of daily life in many areas across the globe. Whether a religious, political or scientific orthodoxy treats a phenomenon as esoteric, possibly even ostracizing it, depends on the relevant perspective.

What are the objectives of the Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences?

One of the our aims is to map the status of such practices in various national or regional and religious cultures: Where are they accepted, where are they actually encouraged and where are they suppressed? Another aspect we plan to explore is closely connected to the first: What are the reasons for the huge resilience esoteric practices demonstrate in view of the skepticism they face from modern science and other dogmas?

And which of these goals have you already achieved or are soon to achieve?

Our website www.cas-e.de now has a number of blogs documenting the overwhelming diversity of the experiences of our visiting scientists concerning approaches toward esoteric practices worldwide. Our mapping is progressing well. The numerous topics we have explored so far include prayer rituals for court cases in India, healers in Nigeria, liturgies of Taoist lay priests in China, esoteric movements in Russia, the popularity of tantric practices in the West, and many more besides. And in this context we are gaining deeper insights into the reasons behind the resilience of these practices, you only need to think of the widespread popularity of tarot or astrology in Germany or the continued existence of magical practices in many Asian and African countries. Many people have the impression that issues central to their daily life cannot be answered by “science” or conventional ideological beliefs. Our lectures are now available on YouTube under “CASE-E lecture series”.

What are your personal highlights as the director of CAS-E?

CAS-E is run by a board of directors, and I am just the spokesperson. My personal highlights confirm my experiences as the head of the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities from 2009 until 2023: It is hard to find a research format that is more exciting than a learning community of members from different disciplines and cultural contexts. The attempt to find a common language is and remains a daily challenge, but also a daily intellectual delight.

CAS-E thrives on discussion and welcomes collaboration with researchers from across the globe. Are there visiting scientists who have left a particularly lasting impression?

The blogs and the lectures that I have already mentioned demonstrate the strength of our global approach. I was able to take away something rewarding from each contribution, including the presentations given during workshops and conferences, even and especially during those occasions when I found it hard at first to grasp the ideas in a presentation, I came away with surprising new insights: Our Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences thrives from its non-hierarchical organizational structure and approach, meaning that my personal highlights may well differ from those of my colleagues.

CAS-E is now more than two years old. Are there or were there challenges for the Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences that you had not expected?

Certainly! First of all, it was not at all easy to question and put into perspective our more Eurocentric or western-oriented attitudes towards esoteric practices, although this was exactly the approach we had decided on. The first obstacle is the language barrier, as many non-European languages do not even have a word for “esotericism”. Furthermore, there are major differences in the current state of research in the various disciplines and also in the relevant cultural contexts, making it harder to find a common denominator than I had at first expected.

Hawaiian hula dancing, yoga and meditation or communicating with oracles in China – the research topics cover an extremely wide range. Are there moments in which the work of different researchers at CAS-E overlaps?

Yes, there are. We don’t intend to just gather a repertoire or list of individual phenomena, rather we aim to explore the spatial and temporal connections.
Naturally, the problem arises of how to compare one thing to another. We focus on comparing practices on the basis of “family resemblances” according to Ludwig Wittgenstein. We investigate stories revolving around meetings and migrations, for example the transcontinental influences of one practice on another, as well as taking a bird’s eye view of comparable phenomena. Together with the publishing house Brill/DeGruyter, we have started work on a series of volumes that will include a collection of “tandem papers”: Papers written by two or more of our visiting scientists on practices that overlap to a certain extent, demonstrating highly surprising family resemblances.

Is there a future project that you are particularly looking forward to?

There are a number of workshops and other events planned for the academic year 2024/25 that I am particularly looking forward to. I am particularly keen on our series of podcasts on selected topics. So far, we have covered astrology, and are soon to cover magic, with the aim of making our research findings available to a wider audience.

Further information:

Prof. Dr. Michael Lackner
Center for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences: Alternative rationalities and esoteric practices from a global perspective
michael.lackner@fau.de

CAS-E on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@cas_erlangen