Is it Just me, or is the Alternative Scene S*#t?

© Ian Lawton 2006

[This article was originally published in Sub Rosa online magazine]

This column gives me a terrific chance to win friends and influence people. So to remain consistent in my policy of trying our wonderful editor’s patience, I thought that this time round I would share my top three concerns about the alternative scene.

Elitist Bloodlines: Dan Brown has written a blockbuster novel. If he is good enough to write a real page-turner that does not dress itself up as high scholarship, then good for him. But shocking as it is to admit, I must be the only person who has not only not seen the new film, but not read the novel, or even any of the factual books on which it is supposedly based. How can I dare to be so uninterested in a topic of such crucial importance?

But is it though? So Jesus might have had a child who survived. So the Catholic Church might – and I emphasise might – have some information about this that they have kept from us for two millennia. Is this really such a big deal? After all, we know for sure that they have lied to us about much more important things. How about them literally frightening the hell out of poor uneducated people for two thousand years, that they would end up in eternal fire and damnation if they did not do what they were told? Or pretending to be interested in spiritual matters when all they really cared about was the politics of money and power and influence? Or pretending it was ok to rape little choirboys, or to turn single mothers into Maggies?

But perhaps this bloodline harbours world-shattering secrets that can be unearthed in remote parts of southern France or Scotland? But about what exactly? Ok, it is human nature that most people love the idea of finding a stash of treasure, or some ancient relic that has been kept from the masses. But what could it be that would be of any real importance? Perhaps our modern fascination with Sionesque treasure hunts is just a replacement for looking to an external god or gods that determine our fate, except dressed in a modern veneer of scholarly  and philosophical pretension. And what if the real hidden treasure is the universal spiritual wisdom that lies within all of us, and does not require us to be part of some elitist bloodline?

Mind-Body-Spirit Books: For several decades now this marketplace has produced an endless succession of new age, self-help books about angels, karma and so on. Yet I know many spiritual seekers who would describe this as woolly, fluffy, new age nonsense that does the cause of spiritual advancement no favours at all. But guess what the spiritual publishers love to put out – yes, more of the same… and then a bit more. Apparently it sells, you see.

How many times do we hear the confident mantra, "I’m definitely on my last life. I’m a good person but I’m having such a terrible time of it, I’m sure I’m working off all my bad karma in one go." But this tends to assume that karma is a balance sheet of plusses and minuses. What if it is all about experience and learning instead? And would anyone who was truly finished with the earth plane attempt to guess at their level of spiritual progress while still incarnate? Would they even contemplate having that kind of ego? Perhaps we need to challenge a few sacred cows.

Esoteric Gurus: If you are relying on enlightened masters of any number of modern spiritual disciplines to share their wisdom, you might want to think again. Sure, there may be plenty of things – like the true nature, or not, of time – which we will never properly understand with mere human brains. But a rough idea about why we are here is surely not too much to ask? So you go and ask them, "what’s it all about then, eh?" A Buddhist master will probably obfuscate because he has been trained to accept that all questions are an extension of ego – but does his knowing smile really conceal great enlightenment? A modern gnostic will confidently state that everything is an illusion, but what happens when you press them about why the illusion is there in the first place? A Hermeticist will blind you with rhetoric about secret rites of passage, but what is their reaction when you ask them what was so philosophically deep about the Ancient Egyptians wanting to preserve their physical body for the afterlife?

It all comes back to personal responsibility. Perhaps any religious or spiritual approach that tells you the only path to enlightenment is to be shown it by a master practitioner is somewhat misguided. Perhaps our replacement of the prophets of old with the gurus of today is still the wrong path. Perhaps it would be better to read everything you can that you think is relevant, think about your own experiences, and then ask and rely upon your own intuition or higher self instead. Would this be a better way to gain all the insights you need?

These are just a few thoughts that concern me right now, and maybe some of you too. At least they should be enough to keep my karmic bank account in the red for ages…