Politics and the Occult

The link implied by the title of this book is not always apparent on the surface, but there has been a long tradition of applying esoteric idealism to practical politics. The good deal of modern literature has focused on the dark side of fascism, but this book shows that there is an alternative and more progressive, politics which ran through the Knights Templar and inspired the French and American revolutions. The impressive range of figures considered in the book include Annie Besant, Emanuel Swedenborg, Rudolf Steiner and Mircea Eliade along with other historical figures. The underlying theme is the translation of gnosis or a sense of cosmic consciousness into a radical political programme, and this gives rise to countless movements; then there is also the application of right-wing fundamentalism in the US, which would define anything occult as diabolical. In the end, the author comes out against any attempts from left or right to impose an ideal on a changing society. We now realise how violence produces more violence, but this insight will not be generalised overnight. In this sense, one arrives at the more pragmatic stance of Sir Karl Popper and Sir Isaiah Berlin. Freedom implies tolerance of less than ideal conditions and there can be no recipe for an ideal society.