20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

584 Simona Galaţchilevel has been passed, Culianu will make us feel like experts engaged inthe initiatic adventure of his hero-runner.There are only two elements of Oriental influence present in Hesperus,both deriving from the Indian cultural space. The first refers to theaforementioned law of metensomatosis, and the second to the interventionthat Dennis Horton manages to implement in the colony Hesperus 2, in orderto annihilate the centre of emotions and to solve the issue of aggressiveness.“In thousands of years of labour, Horton had managed to discover the entirehuman bio-electrical system, which he had called the «subtle body». Inthis second, invisible body, he had noticed the existence of some centresand of some more or less important connections. He had discovered thatthe basis of our emotions is the so-called «centre of the heart», in whichthe human perceptions acquire pathetic notes.” The quotation illustratesthe definition of the subtle body, as outlined in the classic yoga tradition,which considers that, behind the physical body (subject of the conventionalmedical anatomy), there also exists an energetic body (as per the Yogicanatomy), responsible with the good operation of the physical one and withthe esoteric structures of human mind and body. This “subtle body” is madeup of energetic channels (nadi) and of energetic plexuses (chakra) of thevital force (prāṇa). 12 This system of bio-electrical current is also referredto in the Chinese medicine, when we speak of acupuncture or of Qigongtherapy. Culianu was informed about the scientific researches made inorder to prove the existence of the “subtle body”, as shown by an interviewhe gave during his visit in Romania, in 1991.Conclusions:The abundance of Oriental scenario elements may indicate, at firstsight, that the author considered the use of them – for an initiation throughliterature –, thinking that, with the help of such elements, he may produce theexpected effects. Ioan Petru Culianu’s Orient ceased to be an intangibleland of fascination, insofar as penetrating such field is not performed byexpositive formulas any more. With Culianu’s prose, we simply entera territory that we are supposed to know (and if not, we can managesomehow to make this happen), where, in a complication of names andsituations whose explanation is quite lapidary, we witness unnatural factsin the company of the author’s heroes, who come from the high spheresof superior knowledge, initiation, with the obvious intention to make usunderstand a message about the Essence.The way I.P. Culianu relates to the Orient is original in our literatureand, undoubtedly, bears the scholar’s trademark.12Feuerstein, G. 1997: 60-61.