Far from being a retreat from '60s activism, this turning inward was a necessary examination of the nature and position of the self in modern society. The new self is now returning to a more firmly grounded social activism, or so Ferguson sees it. True, there is no national movement and little shared approach, but that is part of the old "political paradigm" of mass action and confrontation, you see.
A leaderless but powerful network is working to bring about radical change in the U.S. Its members have broken with certain key elements of Western thought, and they may even have broken continuity with history. This network is the Aquarian conspiracy. It is a conspiracy. . . . The great shuddering, irrevocable shift overtaking us is not a new political, religious or philosophical system. It is a new mind.
Of course, no manifesto means anyone can be counted a part of the conspiracy for marginal reasons--for example, a corporate exec who goes into est and "gets it"--which would make the network appear much larger than it really is. And with no political approach, how can it succeed, except through the nebulous "power of good ideas?"
For readers unfamiliar with many of the developing alternatives in such areas as education, health, spirituality, scientific understandings, working and living arrangements, Ferguson's book presents mounds of fascinating and thought-provoking possibilities. But it is also confusing. How do all these disparate currents fit together, through the vision of the practicioners or merely through the author's omniscient position? Most of the 'conspirators' she discusses are teachers, writers, researchers, doctors--comfortable, white Americans. How do the poor feel about the Age of Aquarius? Will the Third World rejoice in America's rediscovery of the sacredness of life and the possibilities of human community unless this is accompanied by an end to multinational megacorporate exploitations? And just how are we to cross over to the glimmering future of a democratic, decentralized, cooperative, ecologically sane society when the proliferation of the tools of planetary annihilation proceeds ever faster?
Unfortunately, Ferguson's book lacks historical perspective. She litters the pages with phrases like "for the first time in history" and "unprecedented source of power." But every age has had its visionaries proclaiming the "New Age" of harmony and peace, and they have always found only old age and death in the end. Granted, certain unique factors exist now: global communications and cultural contact, the diffusion of awareness-altering technologies (including psychadelic drugs) to more people than ever before, the threat of global deep-frying, but these do not guarantee the future will run along Aquarian fantasy lines. Ultimately, Ferguson has to fall back on elitist analysis to make the desired outcome more likely.
The Aquarian conspiracy . . . looks to the turnabout in consciousness of a critical number of individuals, enough to bring about a renewal of society.... The Aquarian conspirators do not hope because they know less than the cynics, but because they know more.
The Aquarians may have a nice vision, but ideals don't feed the bulldog. The 2000 people who attempted to occupy Seabrook--the archtypal confrontation between the cooperative, consensual, eco-conscious, non-violent Clams and the high-tech nuclear death merchants backed by the legal violence of the state--may have sung songs of love and Oneness, but they were forced to hightail it back through the marshes just the same. Right does not make might. The meek shall inherit the shaft. A miracle is the only hope.
Our past is not our potential. In any hour, with all the stubborn teachers and healers of history who called us to our best selves, we can liberate the future. One by one, we can re-choose--to awaken.
To awaken? Or to choose a new dream? Only when those who wish the future to be a certain way stop insisting that the future will be that way can we face the disturbing reality of our predicament squarely and find the energy to work for a better world, fully knowing that it may never be. Though they clarify the questions about our choices, these books fudge the answer. The New Age, the Second Reformation, the Millenium is not imminent. You can wait for the paperbacks.