Arthur Versluis (born 1959) is a professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University.
In these publications, he describes the development of American Transcendentalism and its influence on western esotericism, including the contemporary phenomenon of "immediatist gurus", who promise instant enlightenment.
[1] In the early 19th century, these Asian religions were introduced to the western culture, and texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads had a great impact on the Transcendental movement, and influential members like Emerson and Thoreau.
[3] "Immediatism" refers to "a religious assertion of spontaneous, direct, unmediated spiritual insight into reality (typically with little or no prior training), which some term 'enlightenment'.
"[web 5] Although immediatism has its roots in European culture and history[4] as far back as Platonism,[5] and also includes Perennialism,[6] Versluis points to Ralph Waldo Emerson as its key ancestor,[4] who "emphasized the possibility of immediate, direct spiritual knowledge and power.