Zaehner expanded on these criticisms in his book Mysticism Sacred and Profane ( 1957 ), which also acts as a theistic riposte to what he sees as the monism of Huxley ’ s The Perennial Philosophy.

Zaehner concludes that Huxley ’ s apprehensions under mescaline are affected by his deep familiarity with Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism.

Later Huxley responded to Zaehner in an article published in 1961: " For most of those to whom the experiences have been vouchsafed, their value is self-evident.

Like Aldous Huxley he had taken mescalin, but Zaehner came to a different conclusion.

Quoting St Paul ’ s proscriptions against drunkenness in church, in 1 Corinthians xi, Zaehner makes the point that artificial ecstatic states and spiritual union with God are not the same.

Holding that there are similarities between the experience on mescaline, the mania in a manic-depressive psychosis and the visions of God of a mystical saint suggests, for Zaehner, that the saint ’ s visions must be the same as those of a lunatic.

Zaehner enjoyed " a prodigious gift for languages " and later acquired reading knowledge of Sanskrit ( for Hindu scriptures ), Pali ( for Buddhist ), and Arabic ( for Islamic ).

Zaehner was perfectly equipped for the job, speaking the local dialects fluently, and much of his time was spent undercover, operating in the murky and cutthroat world of countersabotage.

In the 1960s, MI5 counter-intelligence officer Peter Wright questioned Zaehner about floating allegations that he had doubled as a spy for the Soviet Union, harming British intelligence operations in Iran and Albania during the period following World War II.

Wright notes that " I felt like a heel " for confronting Zaehner.

Zaehner also wrote from a wider perspective in his The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism ( 1961 ), where he explores the era of the founding of the religion by its prophet Zarathushtra ( for whom Zaehner gives traditional sixth century BCE dates ), and later its decline, when there arose doctrines concerning Zurvan i Akanarak Time, and of the savior Saoshyans.

Prominent among his contributions, Zaehner criticized on several occasions the simplistic idea of the mystical unity of all religions ; he based his contrary ideas and proposals on the historic texts written by well-known mystics of various traditions, which contain descriptions of their experiences, often with their interpretive theology as well.

It was probably the criticisms of The Doors of Perception put forward by Robert Charles Zaehner, a professor at Oxford University, that formed the fullest and earliest critiques from a religious and philosophical perspective.

Zaehner has identified two distinctively different mystical experiences: natural and religious mystical experiences ( Charlesworth: 1988 ).

Zaehner argues that the experiences typical of ' natural mysticism ' are quite different from the experiences typical of religious mysticism ( Charlesworth: 1988 ).

The appendices to Mysticism Sacred and Profane include three accounts of mescaline experiences, including those of Zaehner himself.

By Dr. Zaehner, the author of Mysticism, Sacred and Profane, their deliberate induction is regarded as immoral.

" Zaehner relies on Hindu mystics because of their relative freedom from creed or dogma.

Zaehner himself was a convert to Catholicism.

That the longing to transcend oneself is " one of the principal appetites of the soul " is questioned by Zaehner.

# Zaehner, R. C.

* 1967 – 69 Robert Charles Zaehner Concordant Discord.

Zaehner suggest that he may indeed have been an early contemporary of Cyrus living around 600 BC.

in Oriental Studies from Oxford University, in February 1973, with a dissertation on ‘ The Origins of Heresy in Hindu Mythology ,’ supervised by R. C. Zaehner.

Ascent and acceptance below ), it is generally accepted that Zurvanism was a branch of greater Zoroastrianism ( Boyce 1957: 157-304 ); that the doctrine of Zurvan was a sacerdotal response to resolve a perceived inconsistency in the sacred texts ( Zaehner, 1955, intro ; See development of the " twin brother " doctrine below ); and that this doctrine was probably introduced during the second half of the Achaemenid era ( Henning, 1951 ; loc.

Robert Charles Zaehner ( 1913 – 1974 ) was a British academic who specialised in Eastern religions.

Born on 8 April 1913 in Sevenoaks, Kent, the son of Swiss immigrants to England, Zaehner was educated nearby at Tonbridge School.

Back in Britain, Zaehner took up again his academic research on Zoroastrianism, while also continuing his work as an MI6 officer.

Thus Zaehner became engaged in the failed 1951 British effort to topple the government of Iran and return oil production to an entity controlled by the British government, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which had been in effect nationalized by Mossadegh.

In the posthumously published Sense and Sensibilia Austin criticises sense-data theories of perception, particularly that of A. J. Ayer in The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. Central to his case is an attack on a common argument from illusion ( i. e., that cases of perceptual illusion show that on such occasions what we are directly aware of are mental images ) and the " further bit of argument intended to establish that ... always perceive sense-data.

The Socialist Party criticises what it terms the " lavish " compensation given to the bosses of nationalised industries in the past, and links up the demand for nationalisation to demands for the workers to rely on their own control and management of the nationalised industries, and to the need for the socialist transformation of society itself.

Socialist Alternative also criticises the Socialist Alliance for what it perceives to be an over-emphasis on electoral work.

Animefringe. com criticises the protagonist of the series, labelling him as " an annoying brat that cries and moans when he doesn't get what he wants ".

ATTAC is not an anti-globalization movement, but it criticises the neoliberal ideology that it sees as dominating economic globalisation.

In the Williamson report, C. C. Williams criticises the quality of many established programs, and designates a university graduate degree, not a college bachelor ’ s degree, as the appropriate education for professional librarians.

TV Guide ′ s Maitland McDonagh criticises the film for its ending that " drags on, and the fantasy sequences are bluntly obvious ( though Train Man's nightmare vision of meeting Hermes ' parents is pretty funny )".

In his review of " The Morality of Law " Hart criticises Fuller's work, saying that these principles are merely ones of efficacy ; it is inapt, he says, to call them a morality.

Andreas Huyssen criticises attempts to claim Fluxus for postmodernism as " either the master-code of postmodernism or the ultimately unrepresentable art movement – as it were, postmodernism's sublime.

The author of the Chronicle of Fredegar criticises the king for his loose morals in having " three queens almost simultaneously, as well as several concubines ".

He mentions Martin Del Rio's Investigations into Magic and criticises Marsilio Ficino for claiming power for images and characters.

The ambitious new leader of the conservatives, Thucydides, accuses the leader of the democratic faction, Pericles, of profligacy and criticises the way Pericles is spending money on his ambitious building plans for the city.

In particular he criticises Fortescue's assertion that Freytag should have taken position at Hondschoote from the beginning rather than the more advanced line, for reasons that Hondschoote was too narrow a front, too close to Furnes, the position lacked depth, it would have cut communication with York, and the terrain was unsuitable for cavalry.

He criticises psychologists who use the massive modularity thesis for not integrating neuroscience into their understanding.

In his account of the affair, the political journalist Peter Oborne criticises Douglas-Home for his vacillating attitude towards the South African Prime Minister, B J Vorster with whom, says Oborne, " he was no more robust than Chamberlain had been with Hitler thirty years earlier ".

Wesley C. Salmon criticises Popper on the grounds that predictions need to be made both for practical purposes and in order to test theories.

Andreas Huyssen criticises attempts to claim Fluxus for postmodernism as, " either the master-code of postmodernism or the ultimately unrepresentable art movement – as it were, postmodernism's sublime.

Anime News Network's Theron Martin commends the manga for having a " strong storytelling which carries good emotional appeal, fleshes out the original anime " but her criticises it for the unimpressive artistry and " unnecessarily adds on to the ending ".

Taussig, however, criticises anthropology for reducing yet another culture, that of the Cuna, for having been so impressed by their exotic ( and superior ) technologies of the whites, that they raised them to the status of gods.

In this chapter, the author criticises how the sons of rich noblemen do nothing for themselves, but live off their parents.

It also criticises ETS for forcing GRE test-takers to participate in research experiments during the actual exam.

Conversely, he criticises, without naming him directly, Wolfram von Eschenbach for the obscurity of his style and the uncouthness of his vocabulary.

To the contrary, he criticises others for claiming to have demolished metaphysics thoroughly.