04-10-2015, 09:30 AM
in the more fervent varieties of the game of activism, playing the spiritualism card can be a mighty handy strategy. pretty much a highly malleable wild card of epic proportions to manipulate as a most convenient trump.
inject a loaded term such as "sacred" into a cause or agenda and virtually all reasonable discourse can be sidestepped in one fell swoop. one can see similar methods in use the world over throughout time, whether implemented consciously or not, intentionally or otherwise. fundamentalist religious types naturally fall into using it on a regular basis. tea party republicans shamelessly wallow in it. interestingly, coming around full circle, far left activism definitely often utilizes it's version as well. ...basically wherever the mission towards a cause or belief system reaches the point of disproportionally consuming the participant's life and identity.
for the individual getting involved, seems to be a seductive and accessible route towards finding a sense of belonging or purpose where there may otherwise be a condition of anomie or some such void to fill.
i don't believe some degree of a sense of "spiritualism" necessarily need result in dogma, but it sure can be a swift and easy route to such corruption.
inject a loaded term such as "sacred" into a cause or agenda and virtually all reasonable discourse can be sidestepped in one fell swoop. one can see similar methods in use the world over throughout time, whether implemented consciously or not, intentionally or otherwise. fundamentalist religious types naturally fall into using it on a regular basis. tea party republicans shamelessly wallow in it. interestingly, coming around full circle, far left activism definitely often utilizes it's version as well. ...basically wherever the mission towards a cause or belief system reaches the point of disproportionally consuming the participant's life and identity.
for the individual getting involved, seems to be a seductive and accessible route towards finding a sense of belonging or purpose where there may otherwise be a condition of anomie or some such void to fill.
i don't believe some degree of a sense of "spiritualism" necessarily need result in dogma, but it sure can be a swift and easy route to such corruption.