Clare Carlisle's 'Transcendence for Beginners' Blends Philosophy and Life Writing

Clare Carlisle, a professor of philosophy at King's College London, has published 'Transcendence for Beginners: Life Writing and Philosophy,' based on her 2024 Gifford Lectures. The book argues for a Spinozist panentheism, using biography to explore transcendence as an expansion of awareness through interconnectedness. Carlisle contrasts her continuous, love-centered view of transcendence with the disruptive, ecstatic accounts of mystics like Meister Eckhart, as discussed by Simon Critchley and James K.A. Smith. She draws on personal encounters, including a formative meeting with an ascetic in the Himalayas and the teachings of Ramana in south India, to illustrate how life stories can make philosophy more habitable. The book culminates in a reflection on devotion and love as the ultimate witnesses to transcendence.