Dominic Bunnell
New
People often hate to think that they're part of a movement or subscribe to a world view, and so it is on this forum. People love to think of themselves as just critical thinkers or free thinkers, following the evidence wherever it leads.
However, I think there is a movement or world view here, but I don't know what to call it. If I use terms like New Age or paranormal, it seems wrong. But I don't have a better term.
To know if somebody belongs to this movement, you could ask who their heroes are and which books they read. The following thinkers are prominent:
Alan Watts, Alfred North Whitehead, Dean Radin, Graham Hancock, Jacques Vallee, Jim Marrs, Joseph Campbell, Robert Anton Wilson, Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna, William James
As I see it, people in this world are generally anti-establishment, hate organized religion, would consider themselves spiritual but not religious, hate the war on drugs, are difficult to categorize as either left-wing or right-wing politically, feel that we've lost touch with a spiritual essence that other non-Western cultures are still in touch with, are very optimistic (I would say utopian) about the possibility of making the world a much better place through 'spirituality', and are very interested in parapsychology, NDEs, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and 'high strangeness'.
So is this a movement or a world view, and if it is, what should it be called? I know Greg Bishop uses the term 'The Excluded Middle'. Maybe that's a good term.
However, I think there is a movement or world view here, but I don't know what to call it. If I use terms like New Age or paranormal, it seems wrong. But I don't have a better term.
To know if somebody belongs to this movement, you could ask who their heroes are and which books they read. The following thinkers are prominent:
Alan Watts, Alfred North Whitehead, Dean Radin, Graham Hancock, Jacques Vallee, Jim Marrs, Joseph Campbell, Robert Anton Wilson, Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna, William James
As I see it, people in this world are generally anti-establishment, hate organized religion, would consider themselves spiritual but not religious, hate the war on drugs, are difficult to categorize as either left-wing or right-wing politically, feel that we've lost touch with a spiritual essence that other non-Western cultures are still in touch with, are very optimistic (I would say utopian) about the possibility of making the world a much better place through 'spirituality', and are very interested in parapsychology, NDEs, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, and 'high strangeness'.
So is this a movement or a world view, and if it is, what should it be called? I know Greg Bishop uses the term 'The Excluded Middle'. Maybe that's a good term.
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