Billy Corgan’s spiritual blog and a new approach to ‘new age’

Smashing Pumpkins guitarist and Chicago native Billy Corgan launched a holistic religion blog a week ago, on 09/09/09.  It’s called “Everything from Here to There ,” and initially, it seemed to me about as spiritually nebulous as its title.

The site is dedicated to the intersection of mind, body and spirit, but doesn’t promote a specific religious tradition, Corgan writes, inviting readers to contribute their own stories to the site.  I’m not exactly sure of the criteria he’s looking for, but I think he wants people who capitalize the names of general concepts – Love, Truth, Light, Us—as he does.  (He’s also has a pretty spiritually heavy Twitter page here: http://twitter.com/billy.)

In his first few posts, Corgan couples cultural references—Disneyland, Egyptian pyramids, “The Wizard of Oz”—with a directive towards spiritual openness and connectivity.

“We will strive to celebrate the brilliant Spirit in each individual and work collectively to glorify that which is Holy in each and every one of us.  To honor and recognize that support for another is also support for ourselves.… It is that simple,” Corgan writes.

And although plenty of the music media have rolled their eyes at “Everything from Here to There,” calling it embarrassing, cultish and narcissistic, I can’t really criticize the idea. 

More and more people—especially young people—are living their lives outside of mainstream, organized religious traditions, with half of American adults leaving the religion in which they were raised, according to the Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life, and yet, there’s still a trippy, hippie stigma around holistic lifestyles.  Efforts to create space for spiritual religious dialogue can make what many people see as abstract philosophy more accessible and relatable.

Although Billy Corgan might get more attention for his project thanks to his celebrity status, many share his goal.  The Theosophical Society in America, headquartered in Wheaton, Ill., has gathered 4,000 members around its mission: “To encourage open-minded inquiry into world religions, philosophy, science and the arts in order to understand the unity of all life and help people explore spiritual self-transformation.” 

Theosophy isn’t a religion itself, and its approach to religion is fluid and flexible: Theosophists envision a good, harmonious world where humans across the religious spectrum cooperate and coexist with nature and each other, a concept that’s increasingly appealing in today’s world, according to Betty Bland, the Theosophical Society’s president.

“Young people tend to be idealists, and the society certainly speaks to a young person’s mind,” she said.

(Photo from Billy Corgan's Twitter page)