Mysticism After Modernism

<p>In the wake of changing political attitudes and cultural values it’s time for a look at what can now be discerned as an equally new development on the fringes of Western civilization among what came to be known as “popular culture” during the so-called pre- and post-war eras: a new kind of spiritual teacher or “guru” one more interested in methods techniques and results than in dogmas institutions or - especially - followers.</p><p>James O’Meara examines these “populist gurus” from a wide variety of different perspectives featuring substantial chapters on well-known figures such as <strong>William Burroughs</strong> <strong>Aleister Crowley</strong> <strong>Colin Wilson</strong> <strong>Alan Watts</strong> <strong>Neville Goddard</strong> and <strong>Julius Evola</strong> as well as such fringe phenomena as <strong>Chaos Magick </strong>and even the origins of the Internet’s ‘meme magic.’</p><p>Could it be that those who have looked in vain for a revival of traditional spirituality have been looking in the wrong place? Perhaps it has been here all along but in a new form more appropriate for the modern era.<br /> </p>