Spiritualizing Anarchism, Making Spiritual Practices Anarchistic

This article defines spiritual anarchism as openness to what transcends the ego and our limited perspective, arguing that the self can become an unjustifiable source of authority and a constraint on freedom. It critically reviews prior overviews of spiritual anarchism and proposes including neglected traditions. The article then reverses the typical approach by examining how spiritual practices—such as meditation, psychedelic experiences, and mystical experiences—can be made more anarchistic.

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Abstract

This article not only mentions spiritual anarchism nominally, as do so many previous articles, but tries to define it as precisely as possible. The definition assumes that the self itself can be a source of unjustifiable authority and a limitation to freedom, and that spiritual anarchism is nothing more than being open to that which transegoically transcends our narrow perspective. The article critically revisits previous overviews of spiritual anarchism, and itself proposes to take into account traditions that have been neglected. Finally, the article reverses the approach; that is, it considers how some of our spiritual practices can be made more anarchistic, including meditation, the psychedelic experience and the mystical experience.