JMG's Post On the Religion of Progress (+ Neopagan Commentary)

Man…! Sometimes I feel disappointed at so rarely being disappointed in John Michael Greer’s blog posts. He’s beginning a new series involving faith & religion and how they factor into Decline. Very interesting stuff!

The entry in question here:

thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-sound-of-gravediggers.html

Beyond the original post, there is the back-and-forth comments and reactions to comments below, and I always find that a worthwhile read as well. Some comments prompted Greer to say things including that he believed Fundamentalism in American churches was about to “implode.” (Apparently based upon an historical cycle, and its their turn now or something.) And further, that he believed New Age and Neopagan belief systems were about to slide in number as well, which is fascinating, given his own faith!

To begin with, the notion of the Manifest Destiny of Progress makes sense as our new, ubiquitous– indeed, nearly global– religion today, from politics, to science and technology, to social philosophies. It really IS the dominant, if officially unacknowledged, religion. Obviously, a future of decline will run head-long into people’s absolute faith that the future HAS to be brighter. Everything is supposed to keep getting better overall, barring a few hiccups now and again, right?! Not only are we facing the materialistic challenges of making do with less and less, we will be forced to collectively face that our most cherished belief in “onward and upward ever, forward and on and on” is a total lie. A 1-2 punch if ever there was one!

I realize how true this is whenever I broach such topics as Decline and Prep to anyone. I dance around the edges of these subjects carefully to see where my listener is in their life and then poke a little more forcefully here and there to ascertain whether an interesting conversation can be had– or whether they are such blind adherents to the Myth of Progress that no other view will be permitted. The frustration I end up having is similar to what one faces when trying to point something obvious out to a fundie believer in ANYthing: facts be damned, this is how I demand the world will work. LA LA LA LA– MY FINGERS ARE IN MY EARS AND I WON’T LISTEN TO YOU!!! LA LA LA LA!!

I mentioned in a friend’s facebook post, in reaction to a silly “progress model” thing, that we’re facing a future of “less” in so many words, and soon had a nerd-tech guy just leap on me for several back-and-forth posts insisting that technology would save us from dealing with the consequences of our actions. I asked him, “Where are you going to get more SPACE on this planet? Where are you going to get more cheap energy when fossil fuels become too expensive? Are you going to conjure up another Earth from the ether? What you’re suggesting is so obviously IMPOSSIBLE– and yet you insist upon it like a new convert to the craziest of cults.”

He eventually slunk away when I kept hitting him with fact after fact after fact. I never got mad, despite his trying to insult me by pretending to be my intellectual “in-the-know” superior. Quickly, he found I had an answer for every argument he brought up, though he claimed he “used to believe as I did”. Yeah, really? Then why didn’t you think of an answer for all these problems, eh?

But the truth was that I nailed him- and easily. I’m sure he still thought he was right, though a niggle of a doubt clung to the far dark corners of his mind uncomfortably later. He was following the dictates of a cultural narrative that insisted there was no option for the future beyond more of the same! All progress we’ve made has been possible due to conquering and exploiting more and more lands and people and funneling that wealth (as Greer himself has pointed out, among others) towards the conquerors. US! Now that we’re running out of resources, and workers are more expensive than they are labor-saving (damn that social progress thing anyway, amirite?) — its all coming to a head and the rules as they worked ALL THIS TIME are grinding slowly to a halt.

Its pretty easy to see that this is an inevitable situation. We’re all stuck on this one wee planet, after all! Yet the magical thinking of progress insists there is a way beyond the rules. The only reason we’ve been living such lives of luxury thus far is based upon our ability to CHEAT and take MORE from the system than we offer back to it… but eventually that brings about horrific consequences, as everyone on this planet is going to be finding out shortly.

So my wailing about how we can’t choose the truth in one recent post is all about coming head to head with this religious belief of the past century, and realizing that logic and reason and even ETHICS are simply no match for the desire to have more for less… forever.

Moving along to the comments that caught my attention…

I agree that the New Age belief system will crash down under its own weight shortly for one very obvious reason: New Agers are caught up in a VERY fundie view regarding “the power of positive thinking.” Indeed, New Agers are great believers in the “great cosmic cash machine” and most of their followers are upper-middle class to the solidly wealthy class. Not too many life-long working class people are able to follow New Age very well because most of us have learned the hard way that we’re not as blessed and special as we would like to think we are. Bad things DO happen to good people, something the Crystal Gazers don’t like to admit.

For example, I think of Flora, who is very much a New Ager (though she claims Tibetan Buddhism, she relishes a level of luxury and ease that only a materialistic and shallow appreciation of such could manifest.) I had several discussions about things getting harder in the future, and she kept saying that “spring is just around the corner.” HEALING! HAPPINESS! HOPE! On and on and on. I pointed out that in nature, dawn only arrives after darkness. Spring only comes after winter– we don’t generally get to skip it after autumn. Cycles require a great DEATH before a re-birth can arrive. I will give her credit for listening, but she was raised upper-middle class and most of her friends are hippies from homes with MONEY and have had choices in life I can only dream about. Ashrams and communes that were more like RESORTS and trips to Hawaii and Fiji and the Bahamas. She can’t imagine things getting truly hard. Her belief system requires that the spirits and Universal All-that-is are benevolent entities gently guiding progressive souls such as herself to ever greater levels of enlightenment, which somehow never involves suffering!!

When I cry, like the Starks of Winterfell in the Game of Thrones series, “Winter is coming,” it is to mostly deaf ears. Its easy to see, however, that decline will take down ALL income levels, including hers (and she’s barely hanging on to middle, and that with a lot of charity from wealthy friends!) that the idea that positive thinking doesn’t work will shock a great many of those people and cause them to lose their faith forever. They are very lucky people who think they deserve what they have. New Age does a great job of helping rich people feel entitled to their position and possesssions– its one reason its taken off so well in our materialistic culture.

Likewise with Neopaganism, though perhaps at a slower pace.

Neopaganism has a great deal going for it (indeed, I am a Neopagan!) and in decline, I think its connection and respect for Nature will be a good thing. However, most followers of neopaganism practice magick in one form or another. Not all, but most. And magick, no matter how some try to reframe it, is all about pushing, pulling, and bending reality to give you more of what you want.

The problem is, when a harsh reality is crashing down around you– as for example mine did when we lost our home in the early 2000s and had to move to Ohio– what you want comes down to one thing: MORE MONEY. Seriously, that one thing can solve almost every problem. I’m not saying hit the lottery, I’m saying a decent job and a lucky break now and again to avoid accidents and things breaking down (and the bills from such.) I’ve done magick for many things: spiritual answers, connection to divine, new meetings… but when you’re in raw survival mode, there’s only one thing you want: to feel safe and comfortable again. And a good, long stint of nose-to-grindstone reality makes magickal practice difficult, because you feel needy, and greedy, and then desperate… When the magick works, and it really works better than most would think if done right, you can focus on learning more of it. But when it stops working, you end up in a looping circle of self-doubt and frustration. Working in a group and failing to get tangible results breaks the faith but fast.

Despite what most neopagans will tell you, it remains true that the majority of them found the path as a way to feel less powerless in a world that frowns on poor or working class women. And most neopagans are on the lower half of the economic equation, as opposed to New Agers who are women on the upper half of it. Traditional religions are so entirely dominated by men, that finding a philosophy that is inclusive of women is a big draw, as is the idea that you could have some power in your life, or as a woman in a spiritual group.

Ergo, when your magick is proven to fail, let alone in a group– as it hits one of those barriers of reality, its a serious blow to your belief system. You figure out that magick works. You get better at it and increase your confidence and knowledge. Then one day, when you really need help because of a crisis it will fail you. And in our I want it now culture–? That can be a death blow to a belief system.

My own magickal practices are very modest these days. I have found the limits to magick and learned to accept them with abject humility. I focus on things I can reasonably ask of my own Higher Self and the spirits of the world and the Divinity of the Universe in my magick these days. I ask for answers more than anything. I ask for meaning. And sometimes I get those answers (compared to most, I’ve had so many paranormal and spiritual experiences I don’t think its an exaggeration to call myself a modern version of a Shaman) and quite often I don’t. Things come at their own pace, and I reach out, and we meet in the middle. That spiritual compromise is where I ended up after several years of struggle. But it was a harsh road to walk to reach this point, and I don’t know that many would manage it. We’re not trained for Hero’s Quests that involve suffering anymore. I have a great many experiences compared to most, so I have much to pull from, but most people–? Really do NOT have that advantage/ curse.

So, yeah– I can see how Neopaganism could take a dive in the future. I don’t know if it will entirely die out… but die DOWN? Yeah. Oh hell yeah.