Eastern Mysticism and Magic in American Pop Culture

Introduction: Defining Eastern Religion, the Occult, and Mysticism

"Eastern religion" — also referred to in this paper as "Eastern Mysticism" and "mysticism" — along with the occult, magic, and its many offshoots, have had a considerable influence on American pop culture over the past few decades. Movies, books, and music have all been touched and enhanced by mysticism and its cousins. When referring to "Eastern religion," this paper is generally alluding to the ancient religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and other spiritual traditions.

It is also important to be clear on what "occult" truly means. The word comes from the Latin occultus, meaning, literally, "hidden" or "concealed" (Merriam-Webster defines occult as "to shut off from view or exposure"). "Occult" has been equated with Satan, witchcraft, vampires, and other unseemly topics related to death and bloodletting. For this paper's purposes, the occult will be aligned with magic and mystery, not death and distorted views of the unknown. According to Eternal Ministries, Inc., the occult refers to the "untapped powers within mankind that will allow one to discover that which is hidden in the material world," which fits the tone and intention of this paper quite well.

As to "mysticism," Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines it as "the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through subjective experience (as intuition or insight)." It is important to remember that the normal experience of mysticism is not intellectual. Rather, that experience focuses on a kind of cosmic enlightenment, where deep thoughts about the reality of the world give way to mind-clearing moments in search of a higher consciousness — a pursuit of a loftier, less mental state where the possibility of magic and telepathy come into clearer perspective.

When lining religion and theology up side by side with mysticism, in a very real way, "all theology is mystical, inasmuch as it shows forth the divine mystery: the date of revelation" (Lossky, 2004). But there is a flip side, according to Lossky, writing in the Orthodox Christian Information Center. "On the other hand, mysticism is frequently opposed to theology as a realm inaccessible to understanding, as an unutterable mystery, a hidden depth, to be lived rather than known." Moreover, Lossky continues, "There is no Christian mysticism without theology; but above all, there is no theology without mysticism." He asserts that "far from being mutually opposed, theology and mysticism support and complete each other. One is impossible without the other."

The Beatles and Transcendental Meditation

For many people who came of age and got into rock music in the 1960s and 1970s — and perhaps experimented with marijuana or LSD — their interest in Eastern religion and mysticism began with the Beatles' fascination with, and association with, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was John Lennon and George Harrison, in particular, who embraced the Maharishi in the late 1960s, in the town of Rishikesh, deep in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. The media clamored for photographs of the Beatles spending time with this holy man in white robes, who preached peace through self-awareness and higher consciousness through meditation. In addition to the media, tens of thousands of Beatles fans traveled to northern India, swept up not only in curiosity about Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi, but because "most of them really made the trip to pay tribute to the Beatles" (Lacayo, 2001).

"On any given day you found them trying to reconnect to the current that had passed through their lives in the days before the band broke up," Lacayo wrote in Time magazine. "[The many fans] were the ones you saw crouching in the grass, reaching down to touch the concrete landing pad where the Beatles' helicopter had once lifted the magic boys into the sky."

"All Things Must Pass," George Harrison wrote, "with the resolute detachment he had learned from Eastern religion." This embrace of Eastern spiritual practice by one of the most influential bands in history stands as one of the clearest early examples of Eastern mysticism entering mainstream American pop culture.

Martin Scorsese and Eastern Mysticism in Film

"The main idea of Eastern Mysticism is that all mankind is divine and possesses unlimited potential," according to Eternal Ministries, Inc. For high-profile film director Martin Scorsese, his Eastern-mysticism-influenced film Kundun — which portrays the early years of the Dalai Lama's life — clearly shows the unlimited potential of a brilliant and creative mind. Kundun was seen by some as a radical departure from his other films, such as Mean Streets, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver, and was also considered incongruous for Scorsese, a Roman Catholic Italian-American.

However, a thoughtful article in the Film Netribution Network (Enright, 2001) points out that although Scorsese's films, "on the surface," have seemed fully "Christian" — as references to the Bible, the Virgin Mary, and images of the Crucifix are plentiful — "his characters and worldviews and his own philosophical orientation often seem to owe more to Hindu and Buddhist mysticism." This suggests another example of Eastern mysticism influencing modern pop culture in America. As to the question of whether there is religion behind the scenes in film, the answer would appear to be yes.

Enright writes that in Christian rituals, "objects are only made holy through a process of consecration," while "to a Hindu or a Buddhist" raised in the "pantheistic tradition of religious texts like the Upanishads… all things are innately spiritual." ("Upanishad" means "the inner or mystic teaching.") Hindus and Buddhists, Enright continues, understand the world through texts such as Upanishads 9.2.5.15: "As the spokes are all held together in the hub of a wheel, just so in this soul of all things, all gods, all worlds, all beings, all divines, all vital powers, and all those individual selves are contained in that self."

With that as background, Enright speaks to the fact that in Zen Buddhism, a yogi (one established in "self-realization") "sees everything as being the same: whether it be pebbles, stones, or gold" (Upanishads 6.8).

In Mean Streets, Enright explains, there could well be an Eastern mystical theme running throughout, as "God's presence is manifest everywhere, not just in the religious imagery that permeates the New York Italian settings, but for example, in an amazing scene where the character played by Harvey Keitel lays down with his girlfriend in an imitation of the crucifix, then watches her get dressed in the morning sunlight." A Christian might view this imagery as sacrilegious, while a Buddhist of Tantric beliefs — who believes that spirituality is affirmed through concupiscence (sexual desire) — could regard the same scene as an "affirmation" of those Buddhist beliefs.

Another scene in Mean Streets — in which a tiger suddenly appears and is called "a little William Blake" by its owner, yet is considered a threatening beast by the characters played by Keitel and Robert De Niro — further illustrates Enright's point about the film's Eastern mysticism as a subtle running theme. "Blake's poetry also has a strong pantheistic element," Enright notes, "particularly in the poem about a clod of earth that is imbued with human feelings." ("Pantheistic" means "a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe," according to Merriam-Webster.)

Harry Potter and the Cultural Fascination with Magic

The pantheistic component in Scorsese's movies "reaches its apotheosis" in Kundun, Enright argues, but it is also quite obvious in Raging Bull: "long, lingering close-ups… seem to imbue mundane objects with sentience" — "sentience" meaning "feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception and thought," according to Merriam-Webster.

The Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ranked third in summer box office receipts through August 9, 2004, with $244.6 million (Bowles, 2004), according to USA Today. That placed it behind only Shrek 2 ($433.5 million) and Spider-Man 2 ($349.1 million). To gain a sense of how much was expected of the third Potter film — given the phenomenal success of the first two movies and the books — USA Today on June 15th featured the headline: "'Azkaban' audiences do a vanishing act." Vanishing? A film that took in $93.7 million its first weekend but dropped to $34.9 million (a 63% fall-off) the following weekend is "vanishing"? "The third time around, the idea of Harry Potter is not as fresh or original," said Gitesh Pandya of Boxofficeguru.com.

Fresh or not, the newest Potter film, building on the sensational reviews and acceptance of the first two, has become what an article in First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion & Public Life calls "the Harry Potter Phenomenon" (Jacobs, 2000). These are, Jacobs writes, "the most talked-about children's books in decades, perhaps ever." How an out-of-work teacher and single mother named Joanne Rowling could write hugely popular books enjoyed by children and adults alike is quite a story — and the magic and wizardry in those stories is something of a story in itself.

The popularity of the Harry Potter movies can be attributed in large part to American pop culture's love of magic, mystery, and characters who can fly and wield powerful spells. But with that love of magic has come criticism. Jacobs points out that some Christians — "some of whom are dubious" — believe that the movies "make magic so funny and charming" that it is disturbing. The books and films "don't exactly support the Christian view of things," he writes. "Such novels could at best encourage children to take a smilingly tolerant New Age view of witchcraft, at worst encourage the practice of witchcraft itself."

People in today's society, Jacobs writes, "tend to hold two views about witches: first, that real witches don't exist, and second, that they aren't as bad as the evil masterminds of the Salem witch trials made them out to be."

Conclusion: Magic, Mysticism, and American Pop Culture

The fascination with magic and Eastern mysticism in American pop culture is not a passing trend but a persistent undercurrent running through music, film, and literature alike. From the Beatles sitting with the Maharishi in the Himalayan foothills, to Martin Scorsese quietly weaving pantheistic and Buddhist themes into his gritty urban films, to the global phenomenon of Harry Potter's magical world, Eastern religion and mysticism have shaped the imaginative landscape of modern American culture in ways both obvious and subtle. Whether embraced enthusiastically or viewed with suspicion by religious critics, these mystical influences continue to captivate audiences and invite deeper questions about consciousness, reality, and the nature of the divine.