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AR 24:27 - The New Age "crisis of intellectual inquiry"
In this issue:
NEW AGE MOVEMENT - a prominent insider writes an apologetic
TECHNOLOGY - "possibly the best argument yet for how social media maneuvers users into more extreme political positions"
Apologia Report 24:27 (1,435)
July 3, 2019
NEW AGE MOVEMENT
It's been over a year since we last used the NAM heading in an issue of AR (reaching its peak in 2008). Even as the popularity of the term fades, along comes an apologetic for the movement and a cry for intellectual integrity. It is written by Mitch Horowitz, former VP and editor-in-chief at heavyweight New Age publisher Tarcher/Penguin and author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped America [1] (which we reviewed <www.bit.ly/2YlstmX> in 2010, calling it "a good secular introduction to the occult").
"In Defense of New Age" is a lengthy April 30, 2019 post to the Medium blog <www.bit.ly/2KMAgHm> host site, subtitled "A historian argues that it's time to reclaim and reform alternative spirituality." Horowitz starts with some interesting, though scattershot historical notes, and declares: "I lay claim to the term New Age, and define myself by it."
Next he discusses the chronic "polarity" of opinion regarding the definition of "New Age," followed by: "I do not believe it's useful to describe a culture or movement from its polarities. In another outlook, some even argue that New Age cannot be described; that it's so amorphous it's like trying to grab smoke. But New Age can be described, and simply: It is a radically ecumenical culture of therapeutic spirituality. ... The term New Age grew popular in the 1970s, partly through the influence of the monthly New Age Journal [now Body & Soul Magazine]. In its earliest use, the term was benign or honorable. But it soon took on negative connotations within the larger culture. Part of the reason, in addition to the lack of hands-on proximity of those writing about it, is that New Age culture has generally done a poor job of producing scholars, journalists, and formidable public voices from within its own ranks.
"I was discussing this issue recently with religion scholar Catherine Albanese. We both noted that other new religious movements, particularly Mormonism and Christian Science, have produced significant scholars; and institutionally those movements possess impeccable record keeping, beautiful libraries, and a strong command of technology. ...
"Generally speaking, and I have no wish to name names, there is a poorly developed culture of both intellectual search and, frankly, administrative competence within the New Age. I am ill at ease saying that because I have located myself within that culture for about twenty years as a writer, speaker, publisher, and seeker. ... [T]he New Age does, by and large, have a poor atmosphere of intellectual inquiry, as well as business and administrative acumen. The question is: why? ... Are the critics correct that we are just a carnival of trendy and fickle religious ideas, and hence attract fuzzy-headed participants?
"I cannot conclude that the critics are right. I simply cannot conclude that, because I've seen too many examples to the contrary. ...
"I am sometimes asked: 'Don't you find it irritating that there is such a poor intellectual climate in New Age? Don't you find a lot of weirdos? Aren't there a lot of flakes?' My response is that you must be willing to put up with some of that if you want to be in proximity to the staging ground where innovation occurs. ...
"[W]hy isn't there a better culture of inquiry within the New Age? ... I think it has something to do with how successful the New Age has been in taking a sledgehammer to conventional concepts of hierarchies. ... The New Age has been so effective in practicing a style of anti-hierarchy and personal gnosis, that, as a byproduct, it has disproportionately attracted people who prefer not to, or find it difficult to, function within professional and administrative norms. That doesn't mean this population is a majority, but it's well represented.
"I view this situation as a side effect of the culture's success. If we define gnosticism, in the classical sense, as a syncretic, un-hierarchical, widely dispersed, somewhat elastic, ecumenical form of spiritual seeking, encompassing many sects and variants, with no top-down seat of authority, it is possible to conclude that New Age, in a way, replicates that attitude and outlook, though without a direct family tree of connection."
As his foil, Horowitz chooses "the early twentieth-century social critic G.K. Chesterton [who] bemoaned the impact of the new spirituality: 'That Jones shall worship the god within him turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones.' ...
"Unfortunately, the New Age hasn't produced many people to respond to Chesterton's outlook, which is now widely echoed, including by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat <www.bit.ly/2KNnic9> and others who consider themselves rapier critics of New Age." Brief discussion follows.
Nearing his conclusion, Horowitz suggests a compass for truth: "How do you determine whether something is delusion, which to me means a catastrophically ruinous illusion, other than by measuring it through a person's conduct of life? ...
"Only by measuring an individual's experiences, in terms of his or her conduct, can you reach a reasonable, empirical, rational judgement of whether an ethical, religious, or philosophical system proves beneficial in someone's life. ...
"[I]f the serious person testifies that Jesus, or Universal Force, or Divine Influx, or whatever you may call it, has helped him ... then you have a testimony to the effectiveness of a philosophy in a person's life. Calling that a delusion, or Jones merely worshiping Jones, is subjectivity. ...
"I contend that to understand New Age as a gnostic and spiritual expression, students, scholars, journalists, and observers must place themselves in closer proximity to what they're studying. Moreover, I call upon my friends in the New Age movement, of which I am a part, to take seriously the crisis of intellectual inquiry often found within New Age." <www.bit.ly/2X6SjcU>
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TECHNOLOGY
According to its publisher, Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, by Clive Thompson [2], "thoughtfully ponders the morality and politics of code."
Publishers Weekly (Dec 24 '18) reports that "Thompson explains how an avowedly meritocratic profession nevertheless tends to sideline those who are not white male graduates of prestigious university computer science programs, tracing this male-dominated culture back to 1960s and early '70s MIT, where the 'hacker ethic' was first born. Remarkably, though, he makes clear that programming is an unusual field in that successful practitioners are often self-taught, many having started out with only simple tools, such as a Commodore computer running the BASIC programming language. This book contains possibly the best argument yet for how social media maneuvers users into more extreme political positions.... Impressive in its clarity and thoroughness, Thompson's survey shines a much-needed light on a group of people who have exerted a powerful effect on almost every aspect of the modern world."
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped America, by Mitch Horowitz (Bantam, 2010, paperback, 304 pages) <www.amzn.to/2IX1HvO>
2 - Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World, by Clive Thompson (Penguin, 2019, hardcover, 448 pages) <www.amzn.to/2JcyzzN>
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