(Today’s post is by guest writer Tony Wolf. See below for a brief biography.)
Poetic faith is a new religion that is based on a skeptical and scientific worldview, but continues to ask, “So what next?” Its tendencies are as follows:
- Rationalism/Naturalism
- Creativity/Artistic
- Open source spirit
- Anti-authoritarianism
These are, in various combinations, simultaneously post-theistic and post-atheistic. They start from the premise that there is no literal supernatural and respect the actual power that myths, symbols, etc. have over the human mind and therefore the real world. This is an application of Tolkien’s theory of myth-making to the creation of an embodied philosophy.
“Poetic faith” is a positive term (non-theological religion is a negative one) and I think it is much more sophisticated than the academic terms presented so far (“invented religions” — I repeat, all religions are invented — “surreal religions” — what? — etc.).
“Faith” is colloquial and describes exactly what one actually believes: not some supernaturalism, but some unquantifiable human ideal that is deemed worthy of devotion. The fact that faith is “poetic” – that it is a subject of artistic invention – is built right into the word.
In essence, it is just a matter of applying Coleridge’s unique insight, “the temporary voluntary suspension of disbelief, for these shadows of the imagination, which constitutes poetic faith,” to the question of religion, and understanding again that all religions are works of fiction (art).
There were individual exceptional cases in the late 19th century, such as Oscar Wilde’s musings on the “Fraternity of Unbelievers,” and then a few related “spiritual experiments” by occultists and utopian counterculturalists in the early 20th century (Austin Osman Spare, the Order of Woodcraft, the Kindred of Kibo Kift, etc.), but for most practical purposes Poetic Faith is a post-60s phenomenon.
The most obvious example are the various sects (or at least individual approaches) of Neopaganism, which essentially sees gods, magic, etc. in psychological and artistic terms rather than as literal supernatural forces, and which can be traced back specifically to at least the early 1970s (Margot Adler’s Drop the moon).
The poetic faith perspective is that religions are essentially fictions, and that some fictions are worth taking much more seriously than others. By suspending disbelief through ritual or other means and entering a state of poetic faith, one seeks to experience conscious, actually meaningful symbolic action, a deep immersion in/communion with meaning, which aims to bring about positive change in oneself and the wider world.
Poetic faith is thus an embodied and aestheticized view of the world. In ActionWhen rituals become routine, change them up.
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Learn about the members of the Spiritual Naturalist Society
The Society for Spiritual Naturalism works to spread awareness of Spiritual Naturalism as a way of life, to develop its ideas and practice, and to foster contact between like-minded practitioners.
SNS aims to include a diversity of voices within the scope of naturalistic spirituality. Authors’ opinions, terminology, and perspectives vary, and therefore the views of any author do not necessarily reflect the views of all spiritual naturalists or of SNS.
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Bio: Tony Wolf (Council Member) is a New Zealand citizen and US resident. He is a writer, producer, teacher, antiquarian, and creative. Born and raised as an atheist, he developed a strong intellectual interest in the phenomenon of faith from his teenage years on, and began creating experimental and artistic “poetic faith” works in the late 1980s. Tony has served as style designer for New Zealand’s Culture Battles. Lord of the Ring He has written a trilogy of feature films (2001-2003) and has taught performance master classes throughout Europe, North America and Australia. His novels include the popular Suffragettes Trilogy (2015) and The Life and Fantastic “Crime” of Spring-Heeled Jack (2020), in which he served as co-producer and director of the indie documentary. Bartitsu: The Lost Art of Sherlock Holmes (2011) and No One Can Protect Us: The Hidden History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement’s Bodyguards (2018). In recent years, Tony’s essays, lectures, and online courses on themes of poetic faith, secular ritual, and “hidden histories” have been featured in Morbid Anatomy, Atlas Obscura, OnlySky Media, and Reimagine.
