Cultural Backlash: An Open Post
Sep. 23rd, 2025 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusThere 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.
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.
Re: Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups
Date: 2025-10-05 06:55 pm (UTC)UUism could theoretically have been a sheltering organization for religious dissidents, but in my experience it has a huge yawning abyss at its heart. By the time I left, it seemed to be divided into elderly atheists who were committed to their Protestant LARP, and an influx of wokies eager to turn the whole organization into another skinsuit.
While I met many wonderful people there, on the whole I am left with no fondness for them.
-Cliff
Re: Hermetics, Transcendentalism and Twelve Step Groups
Date: 2025-10-05 09:06 pm (UTC)What I found wasn't appealing, and I ultimately decided that it wasn't for me.
It's been completely taken over by post-modern secular Materialism, and as such their members in my experience ascribe to all of the stereotypically leftist stuff, from advocating for therapy as a catch-all for every problem, to all of the stuff folks call "woke".
My local UU has a palastine flag and a progress pride flag flying at its building, likely used as a filter to ensure that anyone who doesn't ascribe 100% with their viewpoints will not find them palatable (similar to how the gay pride flag is used on subreddit icons on reddit).