American Gurus with Arthur Versluis

Summary

Religious studies professor Arthur Versluis joins Jeffrey Mishlove to explore his book American Gurus and his concept of 'immediatism', the claim of instant enlightenment with little or no spiritual preparation. Versluis traces this distinctly American impulse from Emerson and the Transcendentalists through William James, the Beats, the psychedelic revolution, Esalen, and modern Neo-Advaita teachers. Along the way they examine antinomian gurus who broke society's rules, such as Adi Da, Frithjof Schuon, and Rajneesh, alongside quieter mystics like Bernadette Roberts and Franklin Merrell-Wolff.

Key takeaways

• 1Versluis coined 'immediatism' in his book 'American Gurus: From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion' to describe claims of instant enlightenment without gradual practice
• 2Emerson wrote that one can 'leap at once into the throne,' and Catholic critic Orestes Brownson mocked the Transcendentalist approach as 'arranging your divine plumbing'
• 3Thoreau's time at Walden Pond reflected his deep reading of Asian religious texts, a thesis of Versluis's earlier book 'American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions'
• 4Franklin Jones (Adi Da) set up a religious community in Fiji, outside the reach of American law, and Frithjof Schuon, a Traditionalist follower of René Guénon, revered nudity as a spiritual practice (documented by Hugh Urban)
• 5Rajneesh (Osho) reportedly amassed over $100 million and a fleet of Rolls-Royces, and his community attempted to take over an American town
• 6Thomas Lake Harris, a 19th-century American spiritual teacher accused of sexual impropriety in California, may actually have practiced a celibate form of sexual mysticism

Glossary terms

Source

Transcript excerpt

New Thinking Allowed is presented by the California Institute for Human Science, a fully accredited university offering distant learning graduate degrees that focus on mind, body, and spirit. topics that we cover here. We are particularly excited to announce new degrees emphasizing parapsychology and the paranormal. book four in the new Thinking Allowed dialogue series is Charles T. Tartt, Seventy Years of Exploring Consciousness and Parapsychology, now available on Amazon. Thinking Allowed conversations on the leading edge of knowledge and discovery with psychologist Jeffrey Mishlove Hello and welcome, I'm Jeffrey Mishlove. Today we will be looking at American spiritual teachers and gurus, and in particular, the concept of instant enlightenment. I'm very pleased to be with, once again, Arthur Verse Lewis, who is a professor of religious studies at Michigan State University. Among his many books are American Gnosis, Political Religion and Transcendence, Platonic Mysticism, Magic and Mysticism, an Introduction to Western Esotericism. The New Inquisitions, Heretic Hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism. Wisdom's Children, a Christian Esoteric Tradition. American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions. The Lightwork, a guide to creating cultures of light and spiritual awakening. Today we will be focusing on his book, American Gurus, From Transcendentalism to New Age Religion. Arthur, of course, lives in Michigan and now I'll switch over to the internet interview video. Welcome, Arthur. It is a pleasure to be with you once again. My pleasure, Jeff. In your book, American Gurus, I know it was written well over a decade ago, but you cover the stories of many, many dozens of spiritual figures. They're not all strictly American, but most of them are. I found it fascinating that I have had personal encounters with maybe half of them. ...

Excerpt from New Thinking Allowed, Oct 5, 2026. Rights remain with the original creators. Hear the full episode at the source.