Knowledge, meditation, surrender: the addicted academic

Dhillon, S. (2026) Knowledge, meditation, surrender: the addicted academic. Journal for the Study of Spirituality. ISSN 2044-0243 (In Press)

Text Knowledge meditation surrender author details clean.docx - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (68kB)

Abstract

This paper offers a critically reflexive autoethnographic inquiry into how academic knowledge production can become an idolatrous practice that obscures, displaces, or suppresses experiential forms of spirituality. Drawing on Vedantic and Buddhist accounts of surrender, Aristotelian formation, Augustine’s ordo amoris, Eckhartian apophasis, Theodor W. Adorno’s critical theory, Jiddu Krishnamurti’s dialogues and contemporary spirituality scholarship, the article argues that the modern academy fosters an addictive orientation to knowledge that functions as a surrogate Absolute. Integrating insights from addiction studies and embodied affect theory, the analysis reframes academic overwork as a form of addictive embodiment shaped by neoliberal norms of productivity and self surveillance. The article explores how spiritual insight may emerge through a destabilisation of the academic ego. The study contributes to interdisciplinary spirituality research by illuminating how spiritual experience, critique, and transformation can arise within ostensibly secular professional contexts.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an author accepted manuscript of a paper accepted on 16th September 2026 by Taylor & Francis for publication in Journal for the Study of Spirituality. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Keywords:	Autoethnography, Academia, Addiction, Embodiment, Idolatry, Knowledge.
Divisions:	School of Social Science
Depositing User:	Sunny Dhillon
Date Deposited:	06 Oct 2026 11:17
Last Modified:	06 Oct 2026 11:17
URI:	https://lbro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1354

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