This is an important post. Many people jump out of establishment (controlled) religion into spirituality of some sort thinking they have found a more authentic source of truth. Unfortunately for them, many forms of spirituality, and certainly the more successful ones, are equally controlled and equally compromised. But this just means that we have to rely on ourselves more which is as it should be. Relying on yourself should be checked and balanced by both tradition and evolutionary development so that it doesn't become self-indulgent or mired in illusion and fantasy but this is what God is calling us to now. Spiritual responsibility.
23 October 2023 at 11:38
Phil Camp said...
During the Renaissance, courtiers traveled all over Europe & kept their eyes open & made contacts. Today this is called NOC (Non Official Cover). Dr. John Dee, court astrologer to Elizabeth I, was one such. He was an eminent mathematician & scientist, so he had lots of contacts & a great cover. He developed mathematical ciphers & used them, which are the keystone of modern spycraft. He used the nickname 007 in his secret messages. He was also one of Europe's foremost magicians, introducing the angelic language w/ a 36 letter alphabet (called "Enochian" & still used today). So what you describe goes back a long way. It actually makes perfect sense when you realize that spooks & sorcerers are in the same business, secret knowledge.
@Phil - Good points. But we also need to remember that modern spirituality is rather differently structured than it was 400 years ago, and works by rather different mechanisms.
23 October 2023 at 14:39
The Establishment has become extremely dominant in the world now; far more thoroughly than ever in the past - because of the mass and social media, globalization, and the way that the leadership class (of all major social institutions) is now enlisted in the leftist-project. Everybody knows - because it has been going on for centuries, indeed millennia - that the ruling class uses religion to control populations. But because religion had an ultimate reference outside of this world and the material realm, this limited the way it could be used. Nowadays religion has been replaced as a tool-of-control by a materialist, this-worldly, secular ideology ("leftism" in its various and evolving manifestations) - which substantially (not entirely) encompasses the leadership class of the whole world. And ideology - in contrast to religion - is this-worldly, materialist, lacks reference to anything else - and therefore there is no limit to the usage to which ideology can be put by the rulers. Of course; religions and churches still exist, but it seems perfectly clear that all of these (at least, those with significant size, power, wealth etc.) are incorporated into the mainstream leftist ideology; and are on-board with the materialist-this-worldly agenda in its essentials. It is much less well appreciated that the same applies to 'spirituality'. Looking back over the Western spirituality movement - which goes back to the late 19th century - one can see the fingerprints of the Establishment with respect to many of the key, influential individuals and 'movements'. I have described how the introduction of "Eastern" religion and spirituality of a oneness type has been promoted officially - presumably due to its complementarity with the materialist-this-world core agenda. Much the same can be said of the (indirect but effective) promotion of drugs for spiritual usage in the 1950s and 60s; 'countercultural' lifestyles, pop and rock music, sexual promiscuity and 'experiment, and the New Age... By my judgment; it has been sufficiently documented that all the above was - covertly but consistently - supported by Establishment elements; and was involved with intelligence/ spying/ "spooks" - through tools such as class and family connections, covert influence on the mass media, selective subsidies or harassment - etc. I think there is insufficient awareness of the way that spirituality movements, teachings, lifestyles; have-been and are manipulated; in a way that is highly analogous to the way 'institutional religion' was controlled by the ruling class in earlier centuries - and that this continues. This is masked by the false assumption that spirituality is 'purer' than religion - and intrinsically anti-Establishment, individualistic etc; yet that is clearly not the case in the sense that the 'spiritual' people are a very homogenous group in terms of their affiliation to the officially-promoted side in the major social-cultural-political issues of these times: egalitarianism, feminism, antiracism, diversity, climate-based environmentalism, the sexual revolution and so forth. Indeed, the control of spiritual movements is so effective that this is invisible to those concerned. The pressures applied are so deep and pervasive as to seem like natural phenomena, forces of nature! The exact same people who subscribe to the globalist establishment agenda (on an almost point-by-point basis) therefore also and simultaneously regard themselves as radicals and rebels; fighting government, big corporations, officialdom etc! Consequently; the very same people (and institutions) who are most feted as leaders of the counter-culture, 'alternative' lifestyles, spiritual detachment, un-worldliness; those who pride themselves on their bold stances against authority! - are exactly those most likely to be agents, tools or dupes of the Establishment "Spook Agenda"!The evidence is there, easily seen - in terms of background, affiliations, core beliefs; and the fact of high levels of mainstream public attention, esteem markers and and status - but such evidence makes no difference without the framework of assumptions that allow it to be interpreted as such. My take-home point is that while 'everybody' has encountered the idea that church religion can be (and has been) used by the ruling classes as a mechanism for mind-control; the same also applies to 20th and 21st century form of spirituality. And the obvious way in which apparently religious leaders (at many hierarchical levels) could actually be agents, tools or dupes for a socio-political agenda - is mirrored by the supposedly rebellious, radical, counter-cultural, alternative, spiritual leaders and 'influencers' of today. It is real, it happens, it is all around us; and the chances are that you are, or have-been - like me - (wittingly, to various degrees - or not) significantly involved in "the spook agenda" yourselves.
"Spook spirituality"
3 Comments -
This is an important post. Many people jump out of establishment (controlled) religion into spirituality of some sort thinking they have found a more authentic source of truth. Unfortunately for them, many forms of spirituality, and certainly the more successful ones, are equally controlled and equally compromised. But this just means that we have to rely on ourselves more which is as it should be. Relying on yourself should be checked and balanced by both tradition and evolutionary development so that it doesn't become self-indulgent or mired in illusion and fantasy but this is what God is calling us to now. Spiritual responsibility.
23 October 2023 at 11:38
During the Renaissance, courtiers traveled all over Europe & kept their eyes open & made contacts. Today this is called NOC (Non Official Cover). Dr. John Dee, court astrologer to Elizabeth I, was one such. He was an eminent mathematician & scientist, so he had lots of contacts & a great cover. He developed mathematical ciphers & used them, which are the keystone of modern spycraft. He used the nickname 007 in his secret messages.
He was also one of Europe's foremost magicians, introducing the angelic language w/ a 36 letter alphabet (called "Enochian" & still used today).
So what you describe goes back a long way.
It actually makes perfect sense when you realize that spooks & sorcerers are in the same business, secret knowledge.
23 October 2023 at 13:49
@William - Thanks!
@Phil - Good points. But we also need to remember that modern spirituality is rather differently structured than it was 400 years ago, and works by rather different mechanisms.
23 October 2023 at 14:39