Reality Shifting and the Case for Spiritual Science

• Published in: Zygon Vol. 60; no. 1; p. 97
• Main Author: St. Lawrence, Emma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Open Library of Humanities 05.06.2025
• Subjects: Consciousness; COVID-19; Fan fiction; Meditation; Pandemics; Popular Culture and Science and Religion; Popularity; Science fiction & fantasy; Social networks; many worlds; COVID-19 pandemic; spiritual science; consciousness; multiverse; history of science and religion; nature of reality; spirituality; reality manipulation; social media; aether
• ISSN: 1467-9744; 0591-2385; 1467-9744
• DOI: 10.16995/zygon.11516

Since the onset of the pandemic, many of the routines and institutions that once structured our reality have been destabilized or destroyed. In the in-between space of what has been and what will be, we must learn to orient ourselves from the inside out and shape the contours of our reality with a novel intentionality. Such is the goal of the reality shifters, an experimental collective working at the junction between science and spirituality to manipulate the forces of reality and explore worlds beyond our own. Discussing methods, motivations, and the larger tradition of spiritual science, this article considers the emancipatory potential of shifting in its embrace of diverse forms of knowledge and experimentation—not its scientific legitimacy. Within a broader cultural shift toward fluidity and multiplicity, reality shifting can thus serve as a provocation to reexamine the nature of our world, our reality, and our place within it—even if we choose not to explore the multiverse ourselves.