On 16 December, I wrote about the difficulties in defining paganism so that none of us were left out in the cold. The definition proposed at the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) was very Eurocentric. I would like to explore one of the issues I raised a little further.

Reconstructionists and those within rigidly defined orders, covens and other magickal groups have a set curriculum – a very structured system of lessons to assimilate. While it is true that many reconstructionists are self-taught, the reality is that they are largely poring over the same source texts.

There is, however, a rather large group of pagans, called eclectic solitaries (or solitary eclectics), who have the benefit of being totally flexible when cobbling together their personal magickal system from often disparate sources. While there was a time when eclectic solitaries operated in secret and perhaps surreptitiously attended the occasional gathering, the internet is now providing numerous avenues for semi-anonymous interaction.

It may be pertinent to ask just how prevalent is an eclectic approach to spirituality? Is it a characteristic of paganism, or is it far more ingrained?

On 9 December 2009, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a very relevant report entitled “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths.” A rather entertaining outline of the report was produced by Charles M Blow for The New York Times. It is important to note that the sample within the survey was overwhelmingly Christian (primarily Protestant and Catholic), as that is representative of the American society.

The report indicated that many Americans Christians were blending their faith with “Eastern or New Age beliefs.” Roughly one quarter believed in reincarnation; yoga as a spiritual practice; spiritual energy in physical things such as mountains, trees, crystals; astrology; and the ability of some to cast curses.

The report also indicated “sizable minorities” claimed supernatural experiences, specifically feeling like they were in touch with the dead; encountering ghosts; and consulting fortune tellers or psychics.

I really feel for those surveyed who had to differentiate between being in touch with the dead and encountering ghosts, as there can be quite a lot of overlap between the two.

Mr Blow neatly summarized the report as showing that growing numbers of Americans are “bending dogmas to suit them instead of bending themselves to fit a dogma. And this appears to be leading to more spirituality, not less.” While a few people in the past left mainstream churches in their quest for deeper spiritual experiences, it seems that now there are growing numbers wanting to have their cake and eat it too.

The idea of mixing multiple sources, or eclecticism is certainly not new, and has been prevalent in philosophy since ancient times. Eclecticism, or more precisely syncretism, gave rise to very progressive spiritual systems in late antiquity, most notably Gnosticism, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism.

Religions which employed syncreticism at their inception include Greek, Judaism, Christianity, Druze and Baha’i. Another example is Buddhism which in part owes its success as a world religion to its flexibility in blending with pre-existing practices where ever it spread. In Asia today, Buddhism is often practiced non-exclusively alongside many other religious traditions. If all religions had this level of tolerance towards others, just think of how much more peaceful our world would be.

Other examples could be cited, but it seems that syncretism appears to be part and parcel of the formation of many, if not all, religious systems. The religious systems eventually crystallize, whereupon orthodoxy can rear its ugly head, and further syncretism is frowned upon. Progressive thinkers have always dared to challenge the religious establishment, sometimes paying a horrible price for their outspokenness, as the chilling example of the Inquisition all too clearly shows.

Those solitaries in society today who describe themselves as eclectics are actually tapping into a spiritual approach that may well be universal – it can be seen in the formation of numerous spiritual systems over thousands of years all over the world. The internet, once rather appropriately referred to as the information superhighway, is a great starting point for information on virtually every spiritual modality that may whet the appetite of the ardent seeker.

Returning again to the PWR definition of paganism, why would any eclectics wish to limit themselves to European spiritualities when there are so many avenues to explore just a mouse click away?

Tony Mierzwicki

Posted by Tony Mierzwicki
Filed under: Pagan Issues, Politics
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