. visualization and contemplation 145
practice, priests most commonly simply recite the prescriptions of the
ritual manuals rather than take the time to carry out the rites pre-
scribed within them. Based upon this observation, Sharf suggests that
the “visualizations” actually carried out in these modern rites resemble
more closely the envisioning that occurs when one reads a novel, for
example, than the more careful and programmatic sort of eidetic con-
templation described in the manuals and commentaries.^11
(^11) Sharf 2001, 166.