Ferrando, F.

“Humans Have Always Been Posthuman: A Spiritual Genealogy of the Posthuman”

In: Banerji, D., Paranjape, M.R. (eds.) Critical Posthumanism and Planetary Futures, Springer,
October 2016, pp. 243-256. ISBN: 978-81-322-3637-5 (Print)
Web: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-81-322-3637-5_15

Humans Have Always Been Posthuman:

A Spiritual Genealogy Of Posthumanism

Be free from all dualities

Baghavad-Gita, Text 45

This article argues that spirituality, in its all-encompassing signification, corresponds to the core
meaning of the posthuman post-dualistic perspective. In this sense, humans have always been
posthuman. The posthuman extends over the boundaries of the academic, technological and
scientific domains, and can be genealogically traced in different types of spiritual knowledges and
understandings, dating back to the beginning of recorded civilization. And still, the significance of
spirituality as a genealogical source of the posthuman has not been fully acknowledged in the
contemporary field of Posthuman Studies. The need for such a recognition becomes clear when
entering the field of pragmatics: what does it mean to be posthuman in our existence? How can
we enact post-dualistic non-hierarchical posthuman approaches in the ethics of our daily practices
of living? The notion of spirituality helps us answer these questions, as it dramatically broadens
our understanding of the posthuman, allowing us to investigate not only technical technologies
(robotics, cybernetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, among others), but also, technologies of
existence. This article wishes to recognize the important contribution of different spiritual
traditions in the development of a posthuman standpoint. In order to do so, it first provides an
introduction to the topic of Posthumanism and spirituality. Secondly, it highlights ancient spiritual
traditions which are in tune with the posthuman approach; lastly, it elaborates on the
development of the spiritual politics of the posthuman, by emphasizing the relevance of
Posthumanism as a contemporary philosophy of life.

1. Posthumanism and Spirituality

Spirituality refers to the human tendency to conceive existence more extensively than the
individual perception. Existence, in a spiritual sense, contemplates a non-separation between the
inner and outer worlds. It is a connectedness between the self and the others: within the spiritual
realm, there is no division based on caste, color, creed, gender, age, nationality, religion or
species. The etymology of the term speaks for itself. “Spirituality” comes from the Latin word
“spiritus”, meaning "breath" “life” “soul”, in relation to the verb “spirare”, “to breathe” (The
Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, n.p.). The term “spirit” refers, more in general, to
the animating, or “vital principle” (Ibidem) common both to human as well as to non-human
entities, and it relates to key concepts found in other world traditions, such as “pneuma” in
ancient Greek, the yogic definition of “prana”, and the notion of “qi” in traditional Chinese
medicine. The interconnection of existence is one of the markers of the posthuman post-
anthropocentric approach. Posthumanism deconstructs any fixity, dualism or polarity for a
nomadic trans-subjective, inter-dependent perception of the human. Rosi Braidotti in “The
Posthuman” (2013) proposes a re-evaluation of the idea of subjectivity, as a transversal domain
which includes the human, the non-human and the earth as a whole. This “post-individualistic
notion of the subject, which is marked by a monistic, relational structure” (87) to use Braidotti's
words, is related to her notion of zoe1, that is, life conceived as a non-human generative and
vitalist force common to all species (Braidotti 2006).

Although the spiritual realm is all-encompassing, the effects of the human and humanistic
paradigms are actively enacting in the ways spirituality has been historically addressed. Many
spiritual traditions still hold sexist, ethnocentric and anthropocentric biases. One example can be
found in rituals based on animal sacrifice, which are sustained on the anthropocentric assumption
that human animals are entitled to take the life of non-human animals for divine purposes.
Throughout the Torah, for instance, God consistently requires animal sacrifice (Genesis 4:3-5;
8:20-21; 15:9; Exodus 20:24; 29:10-42; Leviticus 1:5; 23:12; Numbers 18:17-19; Deuteronomy
12:15; 12:27). Another example of discriminatory traditions can be found in the sexist practice of
forming male lineages of spiritual masters, marginalizing women and their spiritual knowledge.
The Roman Catholic Church, for instance, does not allow women to be ordained (Macy 2008); and
still, women have been strong supporters of the Catholic religion, finding ways to express their
mystical experiences within the limits imposed. Think, for instance, of the rich tradition of
Medieval and Renaissance women mystics: from Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) to Caterina of
Siena (1347-1380) and Angela of Foligno (1248-1309), from Joan of Arc (1412-1431) to Teresa of
Avila (1515-1582). More in general, “despite being excluded from leadership positions, in almost
every culture and religious tradition, women are more likely than men to pray, to worship, and to
claim that their faith is important to them” (Trzebiatowska / Bruce 2012). Such contradictions
inhabit the historical outcomes of the spiritual domain. How do we deal with them in mapping a
spiritual genealogy of the posthuman?

1 Note that Braidotti developed such a concept in contrast to the zoē/bios divide set by Giorgio Agamben (1995). Rosi Braidotti
underlines the political and social implications of such a dualism, echoing the hierarchies enacted by other structural pairs, such as
female/male, nature/culture, black/white. As she notes in “Transpositions: On Nomadic Ethics” (2006):
Life is half-animal, nonhuman (zoe) and half political and discursive (bios). Zoe is the poor half of a couple that
foregrounds bios as the intelligent half; the relationship between them constitutes one of those qualitative distinctions on
which Western culture built its discursive empire. (37)
First of all, we shall note that spiritual traditions should not be assimilated to the history of the
religions enacting them: religion and spirituality are not synonyms and they shall not be
assimilated. Here again, an etymological research can be of help. The word “religion” is derived
from the Latin “religio” as “an obligation (as of an oath), “bond between man” (in the sense of
humans - Note ours) “and the gods”, “reverence for the gods” (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of
English Etymology, n.p.). The origins of the Latin term are uncertain. According to Cicero, “religio”
comes from “re-” “ligere” (re-read), that is, to be knowledgable and careful with the cult of the
Gods (Cicero, “De Natura Deorum II”, 28). Following the legacy of Lucretius, Lactantius and
Agustin (Hoyt 1912), modern philologists derive “religion” from “religare” in the meaning of
“placing an obligation on” (Max Müller 1892: 33-36). In both cases, religions are characterized by
an “oath”, an “obligation”, related to the knowledge of a set of principles of divine nature
(dogmas), which specifically define each religion in respect to other religions. They are empirically
sustained by hierarchical structures based on acquired levels of information, which are needed in
order to preserve those same teachings throughout historical changes. The focal relevance of their
legacies is clearly shown by their names, which are often inextricably connected to their prophets,
taking their names from them, such as: Zoroastrianism (from Zoroaster), Manichaeism (from
Mani), Christianity (from Christ). The divergence between Orthodox and Gnostic Christianity in the
Early Christian movement (second century C.E.), regarding the relation between the authority of
clergy and the access to the Divine through the individual experience, is enlightening of what can
be seen as the main difference between spirituality and religion. While orthodoxy highlighted the
Church as the necessary intermediate with the divine, gnostics posed emphasis on gnosis, that is,
self-knowledge as knowledge of God (Pagels 1979). Mary, in the “Gospel of Mary”, clearly states:

“Be on your guard so that no one deceives you by saying, 'Look over here' or 'Look over
there'. For the Child of Humanity exists within you. Follow it. Those who search for it will
find it” (Meyer 2008, 742)

“The Child of Humanity” is Christ, as a symbol of human perfection: the key is searching for it
spiritually, within the self, instead of following other people's rules. While religions, in their
hierarchical outfit and centralized control, do not necessarily comply with a posthuman approach,
the spiritual trends and doctrines present in each religion may. The notion of spirituality is in
perfect harmony with philosophical Posthumanism. Here, I wish to clarify that the posthuman
scenario is composite, formed by different movements which can hardly be assimilated (Ferrando
2013). For instance, although both Posthumanism and Transhumanism radically open to alterity
and extension of perceptions, they do not share the same perspectives nor origins (Ranisch /
Sorgner 2014). The connection between Transhumanism, religions and spirituality has been widely
investigated, both from an historical perspective, (Mercer / Trothen 2015; Tirosh-Samuelson /
Mossman 2012; Tirosh-Samuelson 2014; Cyborg Buddha Project), and also, from a theoretical
one. Transfigurism is one example of a religion based on the syncretization of Mormonism and
Transhumanism; it is being developed by the Mormon Transhumanist Association, according to
which:

Mormonism and Transhumanism advocate remarkably similar views of human nature and
potential: material beings organized according to law, rapidly advancing knowledge and
power, imminent fundamental changes to anatomy and environment, and eventual
transcendence of present limitations. (transfigurism.org)

The Turing Church Unlimited, Transhumanist Religions 2.0. represents a transhumanist approach
to spirituality. As stated in the website:

We are not interested in developing a new, rigid doctrine. We are interested in developing
a loose framework of ideas, concepts, hopes, feelings and sensibilities at the intersection of
science and religion, compatible with many existing and new frameworks. This is why we
call the Turing Church a meta-religion. (turingchurch.com)

On the contrary, the relation between spirituality and Posthumanism (here intended as critical,
cultural and philosophical) is a field of investigation which has not been significantly engaged upon
yet, with some exceptions. For instance, an attempt to rethink Posthumanism through the Indian
tradition of Tantra can be found in “Avatar Bodies: A Tantra for Posthumanism” (2004) by Ann
Weinstone. Overall, apart from sparse cases, no exhaustive study has been done on the
contribution of spirituality to the constitution of the post-anthropocentric, post-dualistic approach
of the posthuman. This article wishes to set a path in this direction. In tune with the
comprehensive terms of philosophical, cultural and critical Posthumanism, this article adopts a
methodology which is inclusive, rather than exclusive (Ferrando 2012), highlighting relations and
points in common, instead of emphasizing why each specific spiritual tradition may not be fully
representative of the posthuman. Let's now explore why the realm of spirituality shall be
recognized as one of the genealogies of Posthumanism.

2. Ancient Sources of the Posthuman

Posthumanism does not recognize humans as being exceptional, nor does it see them in their
separateness from the rest of beings, but in connection to them. In such an interconnected
paradigm, the well-being of humans is as crucial as the one of non-human animals, machines, and
the environment. One of the main characteristics of philosophical Posthumanism is its emphasis
on a post-dualistic understanding of existence. Such an ontological approach finds revealing
parallels in ancient Asian traditions. Advaita, one of the main Vedanta schools of Indian
philosophy, literary means “non-two”, “non-dual” (Rambachan 2006; Timalsina 2009). According
to this tradition, the inner essence of an individual (Ātman) corresponds to the transcendent
existence (Brahman), and no frontal dualism between immanence and transcendence can be
established:

Through the epistemological lens, what is cognized is essentially non-dual awareness only.
Through the soteriological perspective, essentially there is no difference between Brahman
and the individual self. (Timalsina 2009: 3)

Advaita complies with another fascinating distention of dualistic perceptions: the one between
being awake or being asleep (Sharma 2004). According to Advaita, there are three states of
consciousness: waking, dreaming, and deep sleep: “In all three states, Advaita contends, ātman
as awareness is common and constant” (Rambachan 2006: 40). The Advaita doctrine of
“awareness only” establishes the monism of Brahman. One of the main differences with
Posthumanism is the monistic ways Advaita develops such an understanding: “The rejection of
duality can be interpreted in terms of the ontological perspective that there is ultimately no
essential plurality in what exists” (Ibidem: 3). By some schools of Advaita, plurality is seen as an
“illusion” (Ibidem: 9). On the contrary, Posthumanism recognizes diversity as one of the main
technologies of evolution, and sees pluralism as the necessary complement to monism: in this
sense, Posthumanism is both a monistic pluralism as well as a pluralistic monism. Plurality,
according to the posthuman, is the ontological manifestation of the one: it physically represents
what can be symbolically seen as the pure potential of being. Specularly, the one is the ontological
manifestation of the plural: in the post-dual techno-genesis, as well as in the herstory of
conception, there is no pure beginning, everything comes from something else. The passage from
not being to being is marked by a collective effort. In the case of humans, for instance, their birth
is based on the carnal union of two beings, if we consider natural conception; on the effort of a
specialized team of humans and machines, if we consider artificial insemination.

The physics and cosmologist hypothesis of the multiverse is another striking example. It not only
stretches any universe-centric perspective of existence, stating that this universe is one among
many (Tegmark 2010; Randall 2005; Bars et al. 2010), but also, it offers a quantum
understanding of the posthuman ontology. Pluralistic monism, or monistic pluralism, can be
accessed through physics: many dimensions may exist, each depending on different vibrations of
quantum loops of energy called strings 2. The strings may create different dimensions depending
on their vibrations: the one is many, the many are one. The multiverse deals with how the
material materializes, revealing itself inductive for a posthuman ontology in tune with the
posthumanist overcoming of any strict dualisms. The hypothesis of the multiverse resonates with
shamanic understanding of energy and description of parallel worlds (Harvey 2002). Moreover, as
McKenna suggests:

The survival through long centuries in Europe of witchcraft and rites involving psychoactive
plants attests that the gnosis of entering parallel dimensions by altering brain chemistry
was never entirely lost. (1993: 224)

The multiverse can be seen as an inner and an outer plane of existence; it can be explored
cosmologically and existentially. In a similar way, according to the Mahayana schools of Buddhism,
there is no ultimate difference between the samsara (the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and
rebirth) and the nirvana (the perfect peace of mind, acquired by one who is liberated). The
enlightenment, within this context, consists precisely in the realization of this ultimate non-
dualism:

(…) coming to understand that objects and the Self are just a flow of experiences with no
enduring elements set in opposition to each other (no duality), we attain enlightenment
(Williams 2009: 92)

Currently, nondualism is attracting an increasing interest 3 from scholars working on bridging

modern knowledge and ancient wisdom. In Western science, for instance, the term is used to
refer to an interconnectedness which, in tune with the posthuman approach, rejects Cartesian
dualism. Such an approach stands on the path opened by Fritjof Capra with his groundbreaking
work “The Tao of Physics” (1975), which highlighted “the parallels between the worldview of
physicists and mystics” (7), and demonstrated “the profound harmony” (10) between ideas and
concepts as expressed in modern physics and Eastern mysticism. The contemporary attempt to
rethink science, technology and spirituality in a natural-cultural continuum honors the ontology of
the cyborg, to use Donna Haraway's terminology, and highlights Posthumanism as one of the most
suited philosophical platform of discussion in the contemporary academic debate. The posthuman
does not convey in any techno-utopianism, nor engage in luddism: the machine is not the other,
since the human itself is seen as a process developing within a material net, a hybrid, a constant
2 For an understanding of the notion of strings, see note 5.
3 Think of the success of the conference “Science & Nonduality”, according to which:
The Mission of “Science & Nonduality” (SAND) is to forge a new paradigm in spirituality, one that is not dictated
by religious dogma, but that is rather based on timeless wisdom traditions of the world, informed by cutting-edge
science, and grounded in direct experience. (scienceandnonduality.org)
technogenesis. Within the field of Posthuman Studies, the non-separateness between the human
and the techno realm shall be investigated not only as an anthropological (Gehlen 1957),
paleontological (Leroi-Gourhan 1943; 1964), phenomenological (Simondon 1958) and ontological
issue (Heidegger 1953; Stiegler 1994)4, but also, as a spiritual one. Japanese roboticist Masahiro
Mori, in “The Buddha in the Robot” (1974), states:

From the Buddha's viewpoint, there is no master-slave relationship between human beings
and machines. Man achieves dignity not by subjugating his mechanical inventions, but by
recognizing in machines and robots the same buddha-nature that pervades his own inner
self. When he does that, he acquires the ability to design good machines and to operate
them for good and proper purposes. In this way harmony between humans and machines
is achieved. (179-80)

Although delivered in a sexist language (note the universalized use of the masculine “man”
instead of the gender-neutral “humankind”), Mori's message is revelatory: for him, machines and
robots are made of “the same buddha-nature”. His view resonates with Quantum Physics and New
Materialism, a specific philosophical approach developed within the posthuman scenario. From a
physics perspective, anything which has mass and volume is considered matter: humans, for
instance, are made out of matter, as well as robots. The way matter appears on the large scale
might be misleading, if taken as its ultimate state. Matter, on a subatomic level, is not static or
fixed, but is constantly vibrating. Matter is relational and irreducible to a single determined entity:
any reductionist approach has scientifically failed5. And still, the impact of such a historical
redundancy of reductionist and dualistic approaches in human thoughts and actions should not be
underestimated. Posthumanism recognizes its own standpoints as post-dualistic, rather than non-
dualistic, in the sense that, within hegemonic systems of thought, the episteme has been
repeatedly dualistic – think of the classic sets: body/mind, female/male, black/white, east/west,
master/slave, colonizer/colonized, human/machine, human/animals, just to mention a few. In
tune with Derrida's deconstructive approach (1967), Posthumanism is aware of the fact that such
dualistic presumptions cannot be easily dismissed.

Posthumanism does not necessary rely on the death of God (Nietzsche 1883-5) nor on the death
of Man (Foucault 1966), since the assumptions of a “death” are already based on the recognition

4 Heidegger, M. (1953) The Question Concerning Technology.

5 Atoms were thought to be the building blocks of matter until early 20th century, when, passing from the Bohr model
(1913) to James Chadwick's atomic one (1932), it was discovered that they were also composite, made of electrons,
protons and neutrons. Then again, these models were discovered to be composed of still smaller particles, named
“quarks”, which were independently proposed in 1964 by two American physicists: Murray Gell-Mann and George
Zweig. In the late Sixties, this model was again redefined by String Theory. On the history of modern physics, see,
amongst others: Heilbron 2005.
of the symbolic dualism dead/alive, which has been challenged by the posthuman post-dualistic
reflection. Furthermore, if God or Man (note the masculine form) are dead, who killed them? This
is a relevant question, for the simple fact that, if someone is talking about their deaths, it means
that someone has survived: who is the survivor? Dualism keeps coming back, born out of its own
ashes. Such a dualistic mindset creates an unbalance which needs to be acknowledged and
deconstructed, in order to understand where and how it is silently enacting. For instance, sexism,
based on the essentialist dualism female / male, is still uncritically engaged within non-dualistic
schools of thoughts. For instance, Vajrayana Buddhism is a Tibetan tradition which has developed
a highly refined deconstruction of the dual, including death, which, according to the “Bardo
Thodol” or “Tibetan Book of Dead” (14 th Century), is not considered an unredeemable end, but an
intermediate state, or “bardo”. And still, in this practice:

'otherness' is commonly represented as either demon or woman, or as both. (…) women's

'otherness' is considered a real threat to the potential spirituality of the male. The monastic
tradition emphasized the polluting aspect of women, and encouraged celibacy and physical
distance from women. (Campbell 2002: 150)

Biases cannot be simply erased but, once detected, they have to be deconstructed, in order to be
transformed through present awareness and visions of the futures. Awareness is the path towards
enlightenment. Recognizing the contribution of women to the manifestation of the human species
is necessary in order to recollect post-individualistic realizations of the selves. By being excluded
from the linearity of monumental history, actualized in a ongoing list of male protagonists, women
have historically sustained non-hierarchical approaches such as sister circles, oral sharing of
collective knowledge and cooperatives. In “Quintessence... Realizing the Archaic Future”, Mary
Daly states:

For millennia women have been creating Memories of the Future. By performing actions
and generating works that can affect/effect the Future, Wild Women have been creating
Memories that will be Realized in the minds and actions of those who will come after us.
We have been storing treasures of our own creation in the Treasure House of the Future.
(145)

Posthuman ontology, as a monistic pluralism or a pluralistic monism, is free from the

relativist/absolutist paradigm: no single point of view can be regarded as the complete one.
According to the posthuman relational ontology proposed by Karen Barad (2007), there are not
fixed and established points of departure: the subject and the object are interchangeable
cognitive positions reciprocally constituting one another. In her words: “relata do not precede
relations; rather, relata-within-phenomena emerge through specific intra-actions” (334).
Epistemologically speaking, Posthumanism is a perspectivism, according to which every
perspective is valuable and should be acknowledged and respected. It is important to note that
the term “perspectivism” etymologically bears a phenomenological, embodied legacy, coming from
Latin, in the formula: “per” (prefix meaning “through”) plus the verb “specere” (“look at”) 6 (Collins
Latin Dictionary, n.p.); and still, the gaze should not be reduced to the physical sight. The
embodied specificity of perspectivism allows for an agential turn: the embodiment of the
perspective is not be confined to the biological / inorganic / autopoietic (Maturana / Varela 1972)
realms, but it is extended to social bodies and systems (Luhmann 7 2002). Moreover, these
embodiments cannot be considered independently from their environments, which are crucial to
the developed perspectives.

Posthumanism shares a striking point in common with the ancient spiritual tradition of Jainism and
the doctrine of anēkāntavāda (non absolutism) that is, the principles of pluralism and multiplicity
of viewpoints (Sethia 2004). Reality is perceived differently from diverse points of view, and no
single point of view can be regarded as the complete one:

This ability to see the other person as no longer the “other” but as identical to our own
self, underlies the capacity for empathy and sympathy with the other that operationalizes
ahimsā. (Koller 2004: 86-7)

“Ahimsā” is a Sanskrit word which literally means “not to harm” and is considered one of the main
principles of Jainism (Ibidem). For instance, in their outstanding attentiveness to respect all forms
of life, some Jains, in their vegan diet, do not eat root vegetables, because the tuber's ability to
sprout is considered characteristic of a living being. Such a choice displays a sensitivity fully aware
of speciesism and deeply engaged with the significations of a non-anthropocentric standpoint.
Jainism shall also be granted a major role in the development of posthuman ethics of daily living.
Situated in the recognition of the embodied multiplicity of possible perspectives, in tune with
ancient wisdom and contemporary science and technology, fashionable and well-received by
academia, Posthumanism has now set the right conditions for its own development into a
philosophy of life that can have an impact on society. It is time to engage with the pragmatics of
the posthuman: what does it entail to be posthuman in our daily practices of living?

3. Spiritual Politics of the Posthuman

6 It is interesting to note that the Latin words species and speculum (mirror) also derive from specere.
7 Sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) developed his systems theory from Maturana and Varela's notion of
autopoiesis.
Posthumanism is a post-dualism: macro-politics are the mirrors of micro-politics. The politics of
the posthuman are, in other words, spiritual politics. Spirituality has to do with the minutest
things we do: from the food we eat to our thoughts, dreams and actions. Existence is a process,
constantly manifesting, enacting, evolving. Each being is part of such enactment, and thus, has
agency in the existential evolution of spacetime. “I am who I am” God answers Moses in “Exodus”
(3:14): existence is in the present. The present is the act of manifestation, the physics
performance out of pure potentials. Existence manifests itself through memory, repetition and
vision. Posthumanism, as well as Transhumanism, foresees the potentials of partaking in the
process of evolution with full awareness. Since its very beginning, Transhumanism has
particularly focussed on humans being actively engaged in the next step of human evolution. The
closest reference to Transhumanism as the current philosophical attitude can be found in the
writings of the evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley (1887-1975). This is how “Transhumanism”, a
chapter of his book “New Bottles for New Wine” (1957), begins:

As a result of a thousand million years of evolution, the universe is becoming conscious of

itself, able to understand something of its past history and its possible future. This cosmic
self-awareness is being realized in one tiny fragment of the universe - in a few of us human
beings. (13)

Huxley's Transhumanism is anthropocentric, based on human exceptionalism. Such an ontological

primacy will be mostly left intact in the current developments of Transhumanism, for which human
enhancement is the primary goal (Bostrom 2003). Another antecedent of the transhuman is the
term “trans-humanizing”, found in the paper “The essence of the Democratic Idea: A Biological
Approach” (1949) included in the posthumous collection “The Future of Mankind” (1959) by
philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). De Chardin is an interesting thinker both for
Tranhsumanism as well as for Posthumanism. Although his teleological view is not in tune with the
decentralized approach of the postuman, De Chardin's emphasis on the interconnection of
evolution cannot be underestimated. As he states:

Our habit is to divide up our human world into compartments of different sorts of
'realities' : natural and artificial, physical and moral, organic and juridical, for instance. / In
a space-time, legitimately and perforce extended to include the movements of the mind
within us, the frontiers between these pairs of opposites tend to vanish. (1965: 222)

Existence is connected, entangled, relational. The age of the Anthropocene (Crutzen / Stoermer
2000) requires the development of daily post-anthropocentric ethics of living based on an integral
investment of the notion of the posthuman. Eco-feminism underlines the fact that a holistic
approach has never been dismissed within women's practice (Shiva 1988). And still, holism and
individualism should not be seen in controversy (Zahle 2014); instead, according to a pluralistic
monistic approach, they can be viewed as embodied perspectives, symbolic mirrors which,
harmonically placed in front of each other, create infinite reflections, opening the doors to the
multiverse. In this sense, the Tantra tradition is of key interest. According to this ancient style of
meditation, “the practitioner's body became identified with the entire universe, such as all the
processes and transformations occurring to his body in this world are now occurring to a world
inside his body” (White 2012: 14).

New Age movements underlie the fact that significant social changes require deep shifts in
consciousness: evolution is to be preferred to revolution. In this respect, the global impact of yoga
on contemporary society is significant. “Yoga” is a Sanskrit word, meaning “the act of joining”,
“union” (Sanskrit-English Dictionary, n.p.). In the “Bhagavad Gita” Krishna, the Divine, tells
Arjuna: “He whose self is harmonized by yoga sees the Self abiding in all beings and all beings in
the Self; everywhere he sees the same” (6.30). And also, “He, O Arjuna, who sees with equality
everything, in the image of his own self, whether in pleasure or in pain – he is considered a
perfect yogi” (6.32). The growing popularity of Yoga worldwide (Singleton / Byrne 2008) can be
seen as a collective desire of transformation, based on the experience of existential and social
empowerment offered by the practice (Nevrin 2008). In the non-dual tradition of Yoga, as well as
in the post-dualistic tradition of the posthuman, self-transformation corresponds to the
transformation of the entire plane of being. Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), in his integral yoga
approach, focussed at directing the evolution of human life into a “life divine” (1939-40), on the
belief that a spiritual realization would transform human nature:

A change in consciousness is the major fact of the next evolutionary transformation, and
the consciousness itself, by its own mutation, will impose and effect any necessary
mutation of the body. (1963: 10)

This emphasis on a spiritual evolution, related to a bio-technological one, should be more

extensively addressed within the field of Posthuman Studies. Spirituality can be invested as a
technology of the self, to say it in Foucauldian terms 8. It is an open-source technology of
existence, offered to anyone, anywhere. The resisting side of spirituality should not be
underestimated: spirituality destabilizes the hegemonic order through a connected existential
attitude, which can be silently expressed during the most challenging circumstances. A history of
beliefs, visions, prayers and rituals have accompanied the historical outcomes of the most

8 Shortly before dying in 1984, Foucault mentioned his idea of working on a book on the technologies of the self. In 1988,
the book “Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault” was published post-mortem, based on a seminar
Foucault had originally presented at the University of Vermont in 1982.
oppressed categories of human beings, and can be recollected during the most challenging times:
by captives during slavery (Erskine 2014), or by women during high patriarchal times. This is of
great interest for the posthuman, which challenges a hierarchical notion of the human.
Posthumanism is aware of the fact that the notion of the human has been historically constructed
by the same embodied subjectivities who have self-imposed themselves as the hegemonic voices
in normalizing what the notion of the human should imply. To be granted full recognition of human
dignity in the Western exclusivist process of humanizing, the subject had to be: male, White,
Western, heterosexual, physically able, propertied, among other terms. Spiritual practice can be
viewed, from a posthuman perspective, as a technique which offers hybridization in a context
where essentialism has been employed to configure fixed categories and hierarchies. Furthermore,
spirituality may actively destabilize such a state of things through a connected existential attitude.
In the post-dualistic frame of the posthuman, micro-politics are macro-politics. By our acts, our
thoughts, our visions, we are co-constituting existence. In the interconnected rhizome of
existence, what we eat, the products we use, the people we relate to constitute who and what we
are. The politics of the posthuman are enacted in each moment of being, manifested in full
awareness. Posthuman politics are, in other words, spiritual politics.

Conclusions

This article wishes to unveil the relevance, significance and meaning of spirituality in the
genealogy of Cultural, Critical and Philosophical Posthumanism. In its genealogical endeavor, this
article expands the lens of the posthuman outside of Western academia, to Eastern traditions of
thought such as Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoga and Tantrism, although in no terms does it
seek to offer a comprehensive scenario of all the parallels which can be drawn between specific
spiritual traditions and the posthuman standpoint. Furthermore, this article clearly highlights that
no specific tradition can be regarded as fully representative of the posthuman. For instance, non-
dualistic systems are still formed within anthropocentric paradigms: most Hindu and Buddhist
teachings view the human as the highest reincarnation before achieving enlightenment, in a
hierarchical system which does not comply with the post-centralized non-hierarchical perspectivist
approach of the posthuman. This is why, although Posthumanism is deeply indebted to the
spiritual realm, its offerings are unique, original and very much needed. In tune with ancient
wisdom, contemporary science, ecology and technology, Posthumanism is evolving from an
academic theory into a philosophy of life that has an impact on society. In the age of the
Anthropocene, Posthumanism is required to develop daily post-anthropocentric ethics of living
based on an integral investment of its own post-dualistic process-ontological premises. Spirituality
is a precious resource for this important task, as a practice which is enacted in each moment of
being: the ultimate post-dualism of the posthuman resides in full awareness. Envisioning desirable
posthuman modes of existence is a path of self-discovery, once the self has been recognized as
the others within. In a spiritual sense, humans have always be en posthuman.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Ellen Delahunty Roby, Thomas Roby, Renata Prato, Ugo Ferrando, Alisa and Remi
Trumpele-Gletsos.

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