Can deciphering oracle and tarot decks really help us find meaning in our lives? By dint of seeing readers become passionate about esoteric practices, Thierry Jobard wanted to know more about this new trend. Head of the human sciences section of a large bookstore and essayist, he published a remarkable book in 2021 on the enthusiasm of our contemporaries for personal development. This time he denounces the proponents and pretenses of esotericism. Two subjects ultimately quite close, which say a lot about the flaws in our society.
Thierry Jobard is responsible for the humanities section of a large bookstore and essayist.
© / T.J.
L’Express: Your essay is about “the great bazaar of contemporary beliefs”. Why are you interested in this question?
Thierry Jobard: My starting point is my usual vantage point, namely the bookstore. In recent years, I have witnessed the development of the esoteric department there, with an exponential increase in production and sales. Beyond the publishers who have been present in this sector for a long time, all the big houses have gotten involved, and we are even seeing the arrival of new specialized players. The themes are multiplying, with the sacred feminine, witchcraft, shamanism, etc. All this encroaches on other sectors, when it does not quite simply absorb them, such as religions or spirituality. I was also struck by the rejuvenation of the public, notably under the effect of the confinements and the implementation of the Culture pass. We see many 18-25 year olds using their pass to buy oracles [NDLR : un jeu de cartes divinatoire], For example. At the same time, when I talk to readers, many say they don’t really believe it. But that does not prevent them from buying these books! So I wanted to try to better understand this kind of “soft belief”, especially since there are few recent French academic works on this phenomenon, which is probably considered not noble.
Your previous book was devoted to personal development, which is also very popular. Do you see points of convergence between these areas?
They hybridize completely, to the point that many booksellers wonder if they should merge the two departments. This is moreover one of the novelties of current esotericism: it is more and more psychologized. It is no longer just a quest for knowledge, the search for a hidden truth as was traditionally the case. Now, let’s look at the point of view of the individual. Esotericism becomes a mode of constitution of identity, a way of bringing a form of personal well-being, so we necessarily flirt with personal development. Readers move from one to the other, exploring both areas at the same time. Moreover, these two fields obey this same pattern of an untapped potential which one would access by getting rid of one’s “limiting thoughts” in order to reach “a better version of oneself”. These beliefs and practices are also, most of the time, conceived from a problem/solution perspective.
“Even reincarnation is now seen as an opportunity for self-improvement”
Do you have examples?
Take the works of Natacha Calestrémé. They’re constructed as personal development titles – she had a good life, found herself struggling with great difficulties, found answers, and shares them with us. But his answers drift very quickly towards esotericism, with “guides”, superior entities who help and support us. To get an even better idea of current rantings, you will also profitably read Awaken the shaman within you [d’Arnaud Riou], where we find the usual syncretistic jumble, auras, chakras, vibrational frequency and synchronicity, and where we are told “how shamanism has metamorphosed to appear today as a personal development tool adapted to a changing world” (sic). Even reincarnation, which at first glance may seem far from personal development, is now seen as an opportunity for continuous self-improvement!
Under these conditions, can we still speak of beliefs? After all, secularization and the loss of religion have gone through this…
A German sociologist, Thomas Luckmann [1927-2016], brought a criticism of the theory of secularization which seems relevant to me. According to him, what was usually considered a retreat of Christianity could be an index of a much more revolutionary transformation: the substitution of specialized and institutional religion by a new social form of religion. We would therefore not be witnessing a decline of religion, but its transformation, which is reflected in several trends: decline in practice, general “quest for meaning” and likely to invest in almost everything and what, and development of alternative spiritualities. As the French sociologist Françoise Champion explains, belief has become a market. When the Catholic Church was in a monopoly position, there was only one possible source of the sacred. With its decline, there may be the emergence of new players in this market, and the development of a form of competition. But we do not really see where this leads us: religion was also a way of creating links. There, we can move from one belief to another, but it remains a very individualistic approach.
“A priori perfectly rational people are passionate about lithotherapy or angiology”
So the generalized rise in the level of education has not been accompanied by a victory of reason?
This idea has been conveyed for a long time: between reason and the passions, reason would prevail thanks to education. But it turned out to be wrong, it doesn’t work that way. It is not because the Internet offers access to the courses of the College de France that they will be massively followed, it is an illusion. Various research works have shown that alternative spiritualities were mainly appreciated by a social category with a certain level of education or a first university degree. The reorganizations linked to the rise of neoliberalism have weakened these middle classes which, on the one hand, see their educational capital demonetized due to the massification of higher education, and, on the other hand, can no longer access well-paid and stable positions. This weakening has been accompanied by the individualization of careers, presented as the triumph of autonomy. But the individual also suffers the consequences, hence his permanent quest for resources, whether psychological, therapeutic or spiritual. This is how perfectly rational people, such as doctors or engineers, can become passionate about lithotherapy or angiology. The most amazing thing is that all of this is perfectly socially accepted, it is no longer seen as zany.
Does this worry you?
The permissiveness that is being put in place allows an ever wider impregnation of society. There is indeed cause for concern, because this is gradually leading to relying on emotion and “feeling” rather than on argumentation and the sharing of opinions, which nevertheless represent the very foundation of democratic debate. From now on, for the followers of esotericism, there are those who “know”, who “feel”, and the others, who believe they know but would be misled by official speeches, science in particular. Between the two, it is clear that there is no longer any communication possible.
“I believe therefore I am”, The great bazaar of contemporary beliefs, Thierry Jobard, Rue de l’échiquier, 96 pages, 12 euros (release September 15).