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

[brenainn]

I didn't know that about Luke. I'm happy to compare notes, if he's interested. As far as the DR and MR, I've been trying to flesh out some kind of approach to common practices and symbols. Being solitary, that ain't so easy! But I have been thinking about a sort of "congregationalist" approach. The ancient Mithraic Mysteries seem to have followed what we would today called congregationalism. Each Mithraeum appears to have been (by design) a small group of men largely governing themselves as part of a large but loose network of initiates throughout the ancient Greco-Roman world. I suppose what I'm doing now is determining what common beliefs and practices I'd want a hypothetical congregation of worshipers to share with my hypothetical congregation. Does that make sense?

[lukedodson]

Brenainn, I'd be very happy to keep in touch and compare notes. My email is (sans spaces): lukesdodson at protonmail dot com.