Putting something called [N] ature on a pedestal and admiring it from afar does for the environment what patriarchy does for the figure of Woman. (Morton, 2008, p. 5)This commentary addresses the holistic-spiritualistic movement in art and its education. In many respects it may be for naught, but questions should be raised in a time of ecological terrorism and climate breakdown of a dying Earth. It is for naught because of the crucial distinction that differentiates knowledge from belief. They are asymmetrical. Belief requires trust, a minimal sense of reflection. When say, believe in spirituality, it is the equivalent of saying that there are others who believe that as well. Its appeal is symbolic. Knowledge, on the other hand, is empirical, lean believe through the Other, but cannot know through the Other. can say, believe in God, whereas another can say, don't. End of discussion. No amount of knowledge will necessarily settle the score. (Pascal's wager was that it was more prudent to believe in God... just in case!) Belief as opposed to knowledge is always a question of ideology - that is, the imaginary relationship of individuals to their perceived 'real' conditions of existence - for ultimately, it comes down to a trust in some big Other. Ideology here is not meant pejoratively. Rather, it identifies an element of fantasy. The Holistic and spiritual movement in art and its education asks for our trust to believe in their Cause - in their particular Other as a beautiful sou I that exists in an evil world. Belief can only be putto doubt. So, why do doubt?Doubt # 1While fundamental Evangelical voices certainly have their profile in United States politics, the writers of the NAEA Caucus on the Spiritual in Art Education (CSAE) are quick to distance and differentiate spirituality from religion. However, as a number of sociologists (Caplow, 1983; Dobbelaere, 2003; Luckmann, 1967) have shown, secularization - defined as the shrinking influence and relevance of over-arching religious systems - has ironically produced precisely the spiritualization that is being called for. A multiplicity of spiritualisms are now available, a of selected values culled from various traditional religions. Sociologists have called it individual bricolage religion, private religion, invisible religion, and diffuse religion/'The very separation of church from state has ironically not led to secularization but, on the contrary, to the 'sacralization' of life in American society. In America, secularization is sacralization centered strongly on ego psychology that dates back to the impact of such visionaries as William James. As Peter London (2004) told us in his monograph: the existential questions of what it means to be humancan be asked and explored through art to explore just where belong in the symbolic Order. In short, to satisfy desire - what does the Other want of me? Who am to the Other?Doubt #2The next question to ask is: Why has the interest in the spiritual and the occult grown in such leaps and bounds at this historical juncture? What fantasy and longing desire has holistic spiritualism tapped into that make its particular Imaginary so appealing and easy to believe in? The spiritual-holistic literature of art and its education is upfront about this. By directly addressing the anxieties of the postmodern age, it rides primarily on the dystopic fears on two fronts that have been exploited by other discourses as well. The first is instrumental technology, while the second is ecology. Most forcefully put, the charge is that the cyborgian future of instrumental reason into which we are headed has caused the death of Nature, to use Carol Merchant's 1980 title. For many. Nature is being de-realized as genetic engineering continues to make progress. Ecofeminists, paganists, Wicca, goddess spiritualities, and deep ecologists hold hands to condemn thisloss. …