Optimism of the Will
A response to Christopher Lasch’s critique of New Age
Historian and philosopher Christopher Lasch (1932–1994) was among the most trenchant and informed critics of New Age and alternative spirituality, as he was of many facets of what he considered America’s cultural decline. I deeply miss Lasch’s presence on the American scene, even as I dissent from facets of his thought, particularly his critique of new religious forms. In this article, adapted from my Daydream Believer, I endeavor to fairly represent Lasch’s critique — and my reckoning with it.
In spring of 2018, I participated in a live, online chat with listeners of the late-night radio talk show Coast to Coast AM. At the top of the chat, I received a thoughtful and detailed question from a participant named Matt C. He asked me to respond to the critique that social thinker Christopher Lasch had made of New Age and alternative spirituality, which Lasch saw as mired in narcissism.
Before his untimely death from cancer at age 61, Lasch wrote penetratingly of the increasing segmentation of American society; the distance of social, economic, and cultural elites from the needs of the overall public; and the increasingly maladapted forms by which we seek personal gratification.
