BY HARV BISHOP
To grow spiritually we have to let go of the safety of the known. This article is about three writer/thinkers who are currently changing the way I think about spirituality. What they have in common is a willingness to ask tough existential and theological questions, an openness to explore other views, including beliefs shunted off to the margins, and the ability to change their views instead of being stuck in one dogma.
Mitch Horowitz: Mitch, at right in the montage above, is absolutely fearless when it comes to his spiritual search. Fearlessness is essential to everyone’s spiritual search, whether through uncovering the wounds in our psyche, asking tough existential questions, or exploring alternative spiritual paths.
For example, Mitch asked tough questions about orthodox New Thought theology, and the Law of Attraction, many of which can be found in his articles on this blog. He argues that the Law of Attraction isn’t the sole reason things happen in our lives. We live under many laws that impact our experiences, he says, including physical laws that include gravity and the death of the body.
His courage is especially demonstrated in his recent exploration of Satanism and the Left Hand path, for which he received considerable blowback as well as praise. And neither praise nor condemnation mattered to his in-depth dive. Many of the critiques came from people who didn’t know what he actually had to say on the topic. Mitch is one of the most ethics-driven people I have ever met. No matter where he goes with his search he is guided by Golden-rule centered ethics. Naysayers seemed to ignore that part of him.
Satanism is still shrouded in mystery, caricature, and stereotypes. Even New Thoughters, open to insights from most spiritual traditions, can fall prey. He has exposed the falsehood of these stereotypes. A fine example is his eye-opening Medium essay, “Satan’s Honor Roll,” about Left-Hand path ethics that belies the belief that Satanists are evil and unethical and those that follow the Left-Hand path are self-centered. Indeed, outsiders often exhibit more empathy and care than those in the mainstream because they have experienced disdain and judgement. Even if Satanism is not your path or even interest, his call for basic respect for people who walk this road should not be ignored.
To find out more visit www.Mitch Horowitz.com, read his essays on this blog, and watch for his upcoming New Thought-themed book “The Miracle Club” coming October 9 from Inner Traditions.
Michael M. Hughes: Michael is a practicing magician passionate about using magic and mind power to create a more just and equitable world. He is the architect of the spell to bind Trump which has gone viral via social media. Binding is a magical term that translates to using spells (roughly equivalent to affirmative prayer) to render less effective the harmful actions of Trump and those who aid and abet him. The center picture above is Hughes’ sigil, a magical symbol, for binding Trump and associates. I’ll be writing more on sigils and their use in a future post. And there have been some strange symbolic synchronicities. Sink holes, symbolic of trump’s actions in many eyes, have opened up both at the White House and at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Yes, this runs counter to New Thought truisms in a whole lot of ways. One such truism is don’t focus on what you don’t want more of (some might call it metaphysically sticking your head in the sand). Another is the belief you don’t pray for something that would negatively impact another.
I think we, as a movement, need to get over ourselves. These are tough and unprecedented times with democracy under threat. Binding spells may ultimately not be New Thought’s thing, but if the binding movement can help I believe we should at least be open to exploring this avenue.
And seriously, what is New Thought’s answer? I have yet to see any type of coordinated response to the outrages we see occurring daily.
In a recent interview, Hughes said the argument that use of the binding spell is spiritually inappropriate is rooted in privilege. Magic, he said, has traditionally been used by marginalized populations who have no other recourse.
Bravo Michael for calling it like it is. I look forward to his book “Magic for the Resistance” published by Llewellyn September 8.
David Metcalfe: David is an independent scholar of the occult and esoteric. He focuses on the way media and technology interact with the occult. For one, the feedback provided by a psychic development app as such as famed researcher Russel Targ’s ESP trainer provide immediate feedback so people can hone in on their particular intuitive style and develop skills and experience-grounded beliefs more quickly. Institutional belief systems also struggle with new science and technology and the cultural beliefs they shape. Media acts as a barometer of consensus reality. Once objective proofs, such as PSI studies, quantum research, and UFO objects, etc., become widely available, conventional beliefs are challenged. As David put it in one essay, “What do local Christian congregations do with flying saucers on Sunday morning?” At left, in the montage above, is a study for one of David’s expressionistic UFO-themed paintings. All the trends he analyzes may lead to changes in consciousness we can barely conceive of today. David also looks at folk practices from the margins of society that connect with the world of magic and New Thought. He has been an indispensable guide to me for this this blog, expanding my understanding of the esoteric and occult. As a result, I believe New Thought has much to learn from these realms. He also has led me to other interesting thinkers including Eric Wargo and Diana Walsh-Pasulca. (More on these folks in coming posts.) Check out David’s excellent posts on Medium.com as a good starting place.
I’ll be looking at more game-changing thinkers in future posts.
Harv, thanks for introducing us to these three cutting edge thinkers. We can certainly use more of their ideas and challenges to the status quo. One of the big mistakes we make is assuming that at some point we’ve “got it” in terms of spirituality. We often refer to being on the path, but then many of us stop and take up residence. Part of our evolution is to acknowledge that the one mind, divine spirit, god or whatever you want to call it evolves right along with us. By being open to new and different ideas we expand ourselves and our view our reality.
Thanks Randy! How true we can forget we are on a journey and start to take up residence. Love that analogy.
OMG Harv, you’ve hit another home run with this article! When I read the line “And seriously, what is New Thought’s answer? I have yet to see any type of coordinated response to the outrages we see occurring daily”…. well, I could have just hugged you for that! There isn’t a week that goes by, at least during the past several years, that I haven’t tried to find some sort of meaningful resolution to our ever-increasing problems globally, and lamented that New Thought (Or for that matter, many of the new age teachings as well) seemed to only focus on the microcosm, but not the macrocosm. You are addressing it straight-on, as are the 3 writers you are introducing to us.
I am going to investigate all of their works now. THANK YOU.
P.S. I have used sigils in the past, with some very fascinating results.
Wow! Cool. Diane and I are exploring sigils. Those critical areas have been a blind spot for New Thought. It’s time to open the windows and let in some fresh air to paraphrase Pope John the 23rd.