Environmentalism and Duane Elgin’s Concept of Voluntary Simplicity As Examples of Implicit Esotericism

Abstract

The article focuses on the interpretation of environmentalism in the categories of implicit esotericism. Referring to the existing tradition of treating environmentalism as a case of implicit Calvinism, the author points to some limitations of this view and emphasizes the significance of the Romantic reinterpretation of the Western esoteric tradition and its role in the history of environmentalism. The analysis of the works written by Duane Elgin, one of the creators of the voluntary simplicity movement, is especially highlighted in the presented study. This movement is treated in the article as a part of the environmentalist milieu.