Cultural Backlash: An Open Post

[causticus]

There were some interesting discussions on yesterday's Magic Monday post and on the past month's or so posts on the Ecosophia blog regarding the collapse of alternative spirituality in the West and a likely impending cultural backlash against decades of general rot and grubbiness that is decaying our civilization from within.

Some of us here in the US are afraid that a sudden cultural jolt in the other direction, away from leftism/progressivism, will result in any type of spirituality that doesn't fit a narrow, literalist Christian/Abrahamic format as being seen by the reaction mob as "part of the problem." Anything the people leading and directing this backlash deem to be adjacent to the aforementioned cultural rot will be lazily lumped together into one big, bad conspiracy against what they believe they are trying to save and preserve. This likely means anything occult/esoteric, overtly pagan, or too foreign will be included, with very little nuance. As we know, the moral collapse of both Neopaganism and the postmodern occult scene hasn't helped matters at all in this respect, especially in light of recent tragic events.

Anyway, I want to know what anyone else here thinks of this and anything in your own area (US or somewhere else) you have seen indicative of a new cultural direction that may or or may not involve the condemnation of the things I listed above (or anything else that comes to mind). Also, we could use this space to think up ideas on how to preserve and carry on various spiritual teachings and practices if/when an intolerant religious climate becomes reality.

This is an open post that will stay open for quite a long time.

Comments

Re: Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups

[(Anonymous)]

"One thing I think is quite necessary though for a true universalism, is to fully pull away from the core Nicene Christian dogmas, which would include things like biblical inerrancy, biblical literalism. the linear historical conception, denial of reincarnation, ect. I'd take it a step further and say that a "Hermetic church" rather than an explicitly Christian one might be the way to accomplish this, otherwise the tendency to backslide into entrenched dogmatism will always end up happening, IMHO."

I totally agree with you on the above part. I grew up in a fundamentalist end times church, don't want to go back there at all. I personally practice hermetic stuff and druid revivalism.

And I do see your point in the way groups without some kind of spiritual principle can get infiltrated by people with political agendas. On the other hand, I think traditions like the Druid Revival and the Universal Gnostic Church, among others, are sound in the way they don't require specific beliefs at all, but do have traditions, principles, practices. Maybe some kind of praxis over belief is the way forward?

Thanks again for hosting the space and chatting about these topics.

AA

Re: Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups

[jprussell]

Ah, reading this thread, I was going to ask both of y'all if you were familiar with the Universal Gnostic Church, as it was born specifically out of unhappiness with the merger with Unitarianism and matches many of the concepts/approaches you were laying out as desirable. On the other hand "gnostic" is quickly becoming a bad word in the very circles most likely to be worried about alternative spirituality, and the UGC is far more focused on individual spiritual practice than anything communal/collective.

(Full disclosure, I'm somewhat biased, as I'm pursuing ordination in the UGC seminary, so I find it quite congenial to my own beliefs and practices.)

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups

[causticus]

I'm quite familiar with UGC, and also find it quite congenial to my own beliefs and practices. Getting involved with that is somewhere deep on my to-do list.

I have the same reservations about the term "gnostic" being of a mostly pejorative nature in the peanut gallery consciousnesses. Of course UGC's version of gnostic is much more true to its etymology.

Yeah this thread has picked up quite a bit. Some more great comments just came through down below.