Footnote: Taos and Tao.
I have a suspicion that Lao Tse would have felt far more at home amng the people of the Pueblos of New Mexico than he did in the China of his day.
My big problem with modern interspirituality is, not the New Ages infoluences, but transformational psychology's seeming belittlement of the spirirtual capacity of tribal peoples and children. Why was Jesus made to say that we must come to him as little children? How did children in Hindu and other cultures sometimes (supposedly) atain such gtreat wisdom at such young ages? Exactly what is it that tribal shamans did not understand about the nature of reality that was knon to civilized sages, saints, arhats, and prophets?:
Modern people must be transformed, i think, beccause they suffer from the disseasae of modernity. We in the West believe that Communism attacked religion and tried to destroy its influence which included spirituality. We do not seem to realize that Capitalism was far more destructive of spirituality.
Tribal peoples knew neither influence, so they were able to retain a harmony with the more permananent influences of nature. The American Indian and Capoid cultures that i know a little about, resonate with similarities to philosophical Taoism, mysticism,and 12-step programs. I suspect that pueblo cultures will ring some of the same bells.