Reading Pagan Books series

Recap of the first 3 entries

I am preparing a synthesis of approaches to spirituality encountered on twitter and tpot specifically. Benchmarking against books already in the sphere or on similar topics sounds like a good step to do that.

Been bookmaxxing recently

You can find the first 3 entries in the form of threads. I will give a brief summary of each. Then I will continue on a rolling basis.

You are Gods. On Nature and Supernature by David Bentley Hart.

First of all it’s Christian, but in an odd probably close to Eastern Orthodox sense, about theosis.

I had to abandon it after reading this:

how can a conscious spirit be anything other than absolute desire for God?!

https://twitter.com/doxometrist/status/1655819007537053697

Actually I’m glad this claim was stated relatively early, this allowed me to not waste too much time on this.

The lesson from here is to be transparent with title choosing.

All that is sacred is profaned. A pagan guide to Marxism by Rhyd Wildermuth

https://twitter.com/doxometrist/status/1655824779809529858

https://twitter.com/RhydWildermuth

This was my most negative review. Sources are lacking for many novel claims. Marxist analysis of progression from palace economies through feudalism to capitalism isn’t really discussed. Further reading is quite short - 3 entries.

The lesson from here is to provide sources, be exhaustive and remember the conceptual distance between people is usually underestimated.

Paganism in depth. A polytheist approach by John Beckett

https://twitter.com/doxometrist/status/1660568617123971072

I love the approach here, it’s quite clear what the author attempts to say. In this view many questions of ontological nature are bracketed out, and practical approach is dominant. A magical, animist universe is described, but in a deflationary sense.

By deflationary theory of religion (in analogy to deflationary theory of truth) I mean a perspective where feeling awe at a beautiful sunset is described as a religious experience. That is a very imminent mindset, but phenomenological at its core - so not explicitly pantheistic.

This focus on subjectivity presents what I saw as the first bad take - that you should choose your world-model based on the happiness criterion. The QUEST, the social cause that the author backs here is the project of re-enchanting the world. I will talk more about this in my next post.

That is the main cause, and I fully agree. But not all causes mentioned here have such a treatment. The author urges on page 75

never before has been a greater need for clear honest and independent thinking

Here I need to hard disagree, it’s pure fear mongering, presentism. On the other hand, it is right to point out that the line between culture and religion is thin. That is in the deflationary theme, lumping together phenomena. The threat of this approach is dilution of definitions.

That is exactly what happens when Crowley’s definition of Magick is recalled: “the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will”. Just about anything then becomes Magick.

Another very interesting aspect of the story weaved here is the description of inner states - continuous UPG(Unverified Personal Gnosis), talking to Gods all the time, journeying as advanced day-dreaming. The author doesn’t call it such, but this is essentially tulpamancy and the timeline he gives for hearing a divine voice of 5 years sounds like a skill issue.

6/10 recommend.

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The next posts will feature more of these short reviews. These will be

• Understanding Indo-European Cosmology, Theolgogy and Metaphysics - from Zachary Gill, part of the Hammer & Vajra project https://twitter.com/HammerandVajra

• The Wakeful World. Animism, Mind and the Self in Nature by Emma Restall Orr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Restall_Orr

• The Earth, The Gods and The Soul. A history of Pagan Philosophy from the Iron Age to the 21st Century by Brendan Myers

These will tie directly into my upcoming non-review post on re-enchantment of the world.