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Telos
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
1 person is currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Versluis
65 books31 followersArthur Versluis, Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University, holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has published numerous books and articles.
Among his many books are Platonic Mysticism (SUNY Press 2017), American Gurus (Oxford UP, 2014), Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esotericism (Rowman Littlefield, 2007), The New Inquisitions: Heretic-hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism (Oxford UP, 2006), Restoring Paradise: Esoteric Transmission through Literature and Art (SUNY: 2004); The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance (Oxford UP: 2001); Wisdom’s Book: The Sophia Anthology, (Paragon House, 2000); Island Farm (MSU Press, 2000); Wisdom’s Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (SUNY: 1999); and American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (Oxford UP, 1993).
His family has owned a commercial farm in West Michigan for several generations, and so he also published a book called Island Farm about the family farm, and about family farming in the modern era.
Versluis was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Germany, and is the editor of JSR: Journal for the Study of Radicalism. He is the founding president of Hieros, a 501c3 nonprofit focused on spirituality and cultural renewal.
Among his many books are Platonic Mysticism (SUNY Press 2017), American Gurus (Oxford UP, 2014), Magic and Mysticism: An Introduction to Western Esotericism (Rowman Littlefield, 2007), The New Inquisitions: Heretic-hunting and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarianism (Oxford UP, 2006), Restoring Paradise: Esoteric Transmission through Literature and Art (SUNY: 2004); The Esoteric Origins of the American Renaissance (Oxford UP: 2001); Wisdom’s Book: The Sophia Anthology, (Paragon House, 2000); Island Farm (MSU Press, 2000); Wisdom’s Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition (SUNY: 1999); and American Transcendentalism and Asian Religions (Oxford UP, 1993).
His family has owned a commercial farm in West Michigan for several generations, and so he also published a book called Island Farm about the family farm, and about family farming in the modern era.
Versluis was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Germany, and is the editor of JSR: Journal for the Study of Radicalism. He is the founding president of Hieros, a 501c3 nonprofit focused on spirituality and cultural renewal.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 1, 2023
At the tale end of what I consider to be classic sci-fi, Telos is not what I expected. I found this book at a used book store and was intrigued by not only the premise but the cover.
Yeah … so this book is … interesting. In truth, this novel is more philosophy than an actual story. There is a story, but the plot is more to couch the argument than stand on its own.
Yet, the novel has a fantastic opening paragraph and an interesting dilemma. What do people do when they know they’re doomed? The people in this novel know the food is running out, they know their ability to reproduce is dwindling, and they are barely surviving. Yet, they continue on.
The book follows the disposed leader of the last remaining civilization as he hunts through old books for the location of a mythical vault containing food stores. We also get a bit on a villain, a woman who pulled a coup on said leader. We have two kids also on the hunt for the vault, and two older adults from other factions doing the same.
An artsy-fartsy book, there are long, sprawling descriptions and not a great deal of plot. Things happen, but more as vignettes than a real continuous story. The amount of time that takes place between events is unspecified.
Likewise, just when the story really picks up, the plot shiftsd into the real purpose of the novel, which is the author’s argument about how our natural state of existence is to progress to a tipping point of sorts - the apocastastatis mentioned in the blurb - and then restart. The novel leaves the apocalypse at this point and travels to the ancient Mayans and other civilizations to show this death and rebirth. It’s very heavy-handed and, to be honest, a bit boring.
The novel also has some writing problems, like the repetition of words, specifically "fecund" and "aeon," to the point it was distracting.
Overall, unless you really want a short, kind of mind-bending expose into cyclical rebirth theory, this book isn’t great.
Yeah … so this book is … interesting. In truth, this novel is more philosophy than an actual story. There is a story, but the plot is more to couch the argument than stand on its own.
Yet, the novel has a fantastic opening paragraph and an interesting dilemma. What do people do when they know they’re doomed? The people in this novel know the food is running out, they know their ability to reproduce is dwindling, and they are barely surviving. Yet, they continue on.
The book follows the disposed leader of the last remaining civilization as he hunts through old books for the location of a mythical vault containing food stores. We also get a bit on a villain, a woman who pulled a coup on said leader. We have two kids also on the hunt for the vault, and two older adults from other factions doing the same.
An artsy-fartsy book, there are long, sprawling descriptions and not a great deal of plot. Things happen, but more as vignettes than a real continuous story. The amount of time that takes place between events is unspecified.
Likewise, just when the story really picks up, the plot shiftsd into the real purpose of the novel, which is the author’s argument about how our natural state of existence is to progress to a tipping point of sorts - the apocastastatis mentioned in the blurb - and then restart. The novel leaves the apocalypse at this point and travels to the ancient Mayans and other civilizations to show this death and rebirth. It’s very heavy-handed and, to be honest, a bit boring.
The novel also has some writing problems, like the repetition of words, specifically "fecund" and "aeon," to the point it was distracting.
Overall, unless you really want a short, kind of mind-bending expose into cyclical rebirth theory, this book isn’t great.
March 21, 2007
Not an avid fiction reader, but having known the work of Arthur Versluis (mostly non-fiction),
I decided to have a go at his early novel, “Telos”.
The back drop is somewhat a cross between Huxley, Orwell, and “Running Man”; but, Versluis has other intentions.
Although his characters are somewhat ill defined/developed, we have to forgive him, as the novel was written when he was 28, and just embarking on his literary career.
The overall plot is, therefore his strong point. Versluis’ objective is to inform the reader of the doctrine of cyclicity, as exists in Hinduism, and in Mayan thought, not merely as entertaining reading, but because Versluis believes in the idea.
So, in a nutshell, the dwellers in the decaying, futuristic, techno state of Telos, must discover a salvo for their impending demise. Ultimately, through a series of somewhat “accidental” encounters, his characters discover that at the moment in which one manifestation reaches its peak/extreme, it does not “die”, but is immediately born to another state of being (analogous to utmost Yin/Yang theory).
I decided to have a go at his early novel, “Telos”.
The back drop is somewhat a cross between Huxley, Orwell, and “Running Man”; but, Versluis has other intentions.
Although his characters are somewhat ill defined/developed, we have to forgive him, as the novel was written when he was 28, and just embarking on his literary career.
The overall plot is, therefore his strong point. Versluis’ objective is to inform the reader of the doctrine of cyclicity, as exists in Hinduism, and in Mayan thought, not merely as entertaining reading, but because Versluis believes in the idea.
So, in a nutshell, the dwellers in the decaying, futuristic, techno state of Telos, must discover a salvo for their impending demise. Ultimately, through a series of somewhat “accidental” encounters, his characters discover that at the moment in which one manifestation reaches its peak/extreme, it does not “die”, but is immediately born to another state of being (analogous to utmost Yin/Yang theory).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews