Spiritual Development and the Esoterica Fetish

By Joseph Gelfer

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Some years ago I attended a workshop about Celtic Christianity. At one point the leader, Roy, asked us all to break up into several groups which were focused on various aspects of the Celtic Christian tradition. The majority of us headed for the ‘spirituality’ group (myself included); only two people joined the ‘prayer’ group. Though no doubt expecting this outcome Roy got pretty angry with us, “What’s all this about? You all want the fun stuff without any of the hard work?”

Of course, Roy was right. Spirituality sounds a whole lot more appealing than prayer and it is always tempting to opt for something which sounds easier or more fun. But as I continued to contemplate the popularity of the spirituality group over the prayer group I came to the realisation that it is not just that spirituality is perceived as ‘easier’ than prayer but also that there is something more ‘unusual’ about it, perhaps we could even apply the word ‘esoteric.’ With this in mind I began to notice a distinctive trend in the world of spiritual development – the Esoterica Fetish.

To quickly show the deep rooted nature of the Esoterica Fetish I suspect you will find the second part of these three couplets the more attractive: The New Testament/The Gnostic Gospels; Islam/Sufism; The Torah/The Kabbalah; right? The Esoterica Fetish suggests we are drawn to a spiritual tradition not because of its potential for truth but because of its esoteric aesthetic, either in full or in part. It is a simple phenomenon but one with complex and far-reaching outcomes. In this context the esoteric is composed of three interlocking strands: the ‘hidden/mysterious;’ the ‘hedonistic/fun;’ and the ‘adventuresome.’ Also the fetish can work in one of two directions. We can identify an esoteric spiritual tradition outside of ourselves and adopt it or we can identify an esoteric habit within ourselves and spiritualise it. Let’s have a look at a few examples.

We live in a world where power suppresses and where we rightly construct cultural theories about rectifying this suppression. Perhaps we might look at the history of Christianity and identify such a pattern - maybe of women, mysticism and anti-hierarchical structures. It is a reasonable exercise to identify such suppression and to act upon it in a responsive way. The problem begins when we start to hypothesise upon potential aspects of history which have been so successfully suppressed that we now have little or no evidence of them. In this way we might begin to speculate about the suppressed history of Jesus the Astral Traveller, an esoteric aspect of Christianity which would no doubt prove far more attractive than Jesus the Atoner.

Imagine a young man at a psy-trance party who is understandably enjoying the feeling of Oneness he gets after 250 mics of LSD. Maybe when he gets home he remembers his visions of the Serpent and begins to do a little reading, coming across the sacramental use of mushrooms and ayahuasca in South America. He may be tempted to look upon his recreational use of LSD as a form of contemporary urban shamanism. What was once a party habit now takes on shades of esoteric spirituality.

We all like to travel, especially if we feel we can talk about it in terms of self-development rather than simply having a nose around. Let’s say I travel to Asia to spend a month under the tutelage of Swami Parmi and return home feeling much more pious for it. Let’s say I meet an old acquaintance who has just spent a month at the local ashram under the tutelage of Swami John. Surely he can’t be as pious as me? I journeyed great distances and endured immense hardships to partake in the hidden lessons of Swami Parmi whereas Swami John is just a ten dollar train ride away?

These three examples all show that focusing on various aspects of the esoteric can lead us down a dead end. They also highlight a bigger danger of the Esoterica Fetish because on the other side of the dead end are the really important questions. There ARE suppressed and hidden aspects to our religious traditions which need attention, but probably not Jesus the Astral Traveller. There ARE powerful and sacramental uses for psychedelics and entheogens, but probably not at a trance party. There IS value in journeying great distances to reach spiritual goals, but probably not as an adventure in itself.

More than this the Esoterica Fetish makes us less likely to look closely at the many necessary aspects of spirituality not draped in an esoteric aesthetic. Earlier I mentioned prayer but there’s also discipline, modesty, patience and a whole raft of unfashionable words which even go so far as to label their user conservative because the Esoterica Fetish is also inextricably bound with what is commonly identified as the counter-culture.

The Esoterica Fetish remains so alluring because it enables us to justify our weakness for the sensational as being part of the Ultimate Good – namely our personal spiritual development and the general raising of consciousness in the world. It is, though, like so many things an illusion with the intoxicating power to simultaneously point to both Hidden Truths and Falsehoods. Perhaps the integration of these dual elements in to a singularity is the greatest task of all.