‘Spiritual Activism’: do we really want New Age hippies to be more politically active?
I confess I have become more cynical this last two years, particularly about my culture — ie New Age spirituality.
If someone calls themselves ‘spiritual’ these days, sadly it’s usually short-hand for ‘anti-vax, anti-science, a sucker for conspiracy theories or snake oil health remedies, with an inflated sense of their own spiritual advancement and expertise (particularly with regard to healing), combined with actions that actively harm others, out of selfishness or simple cluelessness’.
Is that too harsh?
It seems to be the last thing you want is for such people to get more active in politics. We’ve seen what happens when spiritual people get political in the last few years — they fling themselves into ‘heart-led’ but utterly impractical protest movements like Occupy Wall Street, or anti-vax and anti-lockdown protests, or totally deluded mythical battles like the Qanon nonce-sense. They’re trying to understand the complexities of modern life through childish fantasies like 5D consciousness or the Illuminati. Their political contributions are likely to make any situation worse — as they have during the pandemic, when spiritual disinformation has cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of lives.
Spiritual activist David Icke
‘Spiritual’ people are too often the 21st century equivalent of the ‘People’s Crusade’ — the medieval movement in which thousands of people were suddenly seized by a collective spiritual mission to liberate Constantinople. Off they marched, slaughtering any Jews they met along the way, until they reached Constantinople. They were convinced God was on their side, but they got put to the sword when their deluded ideas came into contact with reality.
New Age hippies are generally too lost in mythical fantasies to be of any practical use in the world of politics. They’d end up voting for Marianne Williamson! That’s the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is they’d end up supporting Trump and Putin, or some fascist gangster like Osho. Look at what’s happened to Russell Brand, and tell me it’s great when spiritual people get more involved in politics.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I am being too certain.
What are the counter-arguments? One could point out that movements to change the world have often been religiously or spiritually inspired — the movement to abolish slavery, say, or the civil rights movement, or Gandhi’s movement for Indian independence. And even New Age spirituality has helped to galvanize some more positive activist movements — like the movement to shift to a post-carbon economy.
To challenge my own cynicism, I interviewed Andrew Harvey, mystical scholar and author of 42 books on mysticism, and founder of the ‘sacred activism’ movement.
Andrew has had a fascinating life. He grew up in India, in a multi-religious home that shaped his spiritual worldview. Then he was sent off to boarding school at 7, then on to Oxford where like me he studied English Literature. He was elected a fellow of All Souls College at 21, but left when he decided the British elite was insane and modern civilization was headed for destruction!
Instead, he embarked on the mystical path. He travelled to Ladakh and became a disciple of Thuksey Rinpoche (which he wrote about in one of his first books). Then he became a disciple of Mother Meera, a Hindu guru, who he initially thought was divine, but she turned out to be a homophobe, insisting he leave his male lover. He refused and they had a falling out, after which he declared himself done with being a ‘guru-holic’.
However, it wasn’t his last brush with a dodgy guru. He then became co-author of the Tibetan Book of the Living and Dying, with celebrity Tibetan teacher Sogyal Rinpoche. The book sold millions of copies, but Harvey says he was never paid and Sogyal turned out to be an abusive psychopath. Oh well. The book is still very good, nonetheless.
In recent years, Andrew has promoted his vision of ‘sacred activism’, which is when the activists get spiritual and the spiritual get politically active. Sounds a good idea — spirituality can be very selfish and self-absorbed, and often loses sight of the importance of service and charity. But do we really want New Age hippies to get involved with politics? Isn’t that like giving a four-year-old a gun? Watch this fun, quick interview for a dip into Andrew’s fascinating life and ideas.