Richard Smoley's blog

What exactly is prophecy? Can we trust it? The esoteric tradition teaches that the future is, at least in principle, knowable. One theory holds that there exists a realm of images and forms, which has many names in many traditions. The Kabbalists call it the world of Yetzirah, or "formation." (more)

It's instructive to see how the 2012 prophecies have been ma­nipulated by mass culture. Nearly all of the 2012 visionaries see the date as a harbinger of a new and enlightened consciousness for humanity, but the wizards of televi­sion have transmogrified this vision into something that looks very much like a fundamentalist's Last Judgment. (more)

What is accounted as real must, among other things, accord with our preconceptions. Nonetheless, the content of our preconceptions may differ wildly according to time and place. Many cultures give far more credence than we do to ghosts, spirits, good and evil, possession, and witchcraft. So did Western civilization five hundred years ago. (more)

Zen golf, Zen gardens in a box, Zen stuffed animals -- How do ideas that are originally mystical or esoteric make their way into mass culture, and what do such ostensibly terrible things as commercialization and vulgarization have to do with this process? (more)

Apocalyptic writings – those purporting to reveal the secrets of the end of time – got their start in Judea in the second century B.C. Since then, predictions of the end of time have become as consistent and reliable as the calendar. (more)