Spiritual Politics and the New Age

Rampant sociopolitical stupidity and ignorance infest the New Age movement.  From Eckhart Tolle’s mindless, inchoate rants against the Machine to Ken Wilber’s New World Order liberal fascism—euphemistically termed “Integral Politics”--all I see from my quasi-Objectivist/libertarian perch is, to borrow one of Tolle’s pet terms, “insanity.”
 
Murky thinking pervades New Age “thought” (or “thoughtlessness”), and this particularly holds true relative to social theory and politics. I majored in sociology and specialized in Marxist philosophy (studying it under the iconic Herbert Marcuse, author of One Dimensional Man) at UCSD (1969-1973), so I understand how left-wing neo-Marxism and its inseparable correlate, fascism, have polluted the minds of so-called “progressive intellectuals.” But I didn’t gain this understanding until, many years after graduating, I read Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.
 
In my opinion, a free thinker interested in sociopolitical truth should read the seminal literature from both sides of the political spectrum. He should compare the fuzzy left-wing babble of Marx and Marcuse with the cogent right-wing arguments of Rand and Rothbard. And Ken Wilber’s “Integral Politics” is also worth consideration, so one can see how left-wing ideology—really liberal, globalist, neo-Marxist “idiotology”—can be “creatively” packaged within a pseudo-integral “Spiral Dynamics” framework.
 
It’s a shame that Ken Wilber’s popularity pales in comparison to Eckhart Tolle’s. If Wilber had a huge following like Tolle, then it would be worth my time and energy to do to Wilber what I did to Tolle in Beyond the Power of Now—thoroughly deconstruct his Dharma. Wilber rightfully rails at conventional “flatland,” but all he offers in its stead is “integral flatland.” If Wilber had a clue spiritually, he’d embrace astrology and wouldn’t equate formlessness with the causal body.  And if he had a clue, or real integrity, politically, he’d have supported Ron Paul for president and would be calling for the end to the abominable IRS and the criminal Federal Reserve. In future posts, I’ll delve more deeply into spiritual politics and present my vision for a truly free and integral America.