Will Black
Will Black is an English writer and journalist with a background in anthropology and mental health care. He has written books related to the anthropology of medicine and religion.
In his first book, Beyond the End of the World – 2012 and Apocalypse, Black gives a broad overview of apocalyptic ideologies through the ages, including those underpinning Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and smaller new religious movements. He also outlines realities of ancient and modern Maya societies while satirising elements of New Age culture.
Black studied in Bristol, Cambridge and London - where he also trained as a journalist. He has researched shamanism, cults and apocalyptic movements in the UK and overseas. His early research into 2012 centred on the Planet Art Network (PAN), a New Age movement that started in California.
In Beyond the End of the World, Black subjects PAN, its founder Jose Arguelles and their Mayan-inspired calendar ‘Dreamspell’ to scrutiny. He concludes that Argüelles and other Dreamspell promoters have appropriated elements of Mayan culture, often without crediting the Maya for their crucial contribution. Black suggests that this has had the effect of distracting the public from the real Mayan calendar and Mayan insights into spirituality and apocalyptic thought.
Black draws a parallel between the New Age appropriation and distortion of the Mayan calendar with the New Age appropriation of shamanism, where intense and dangerous practices traditionally performed by highly trained ritual specialists on behalf of tribal societies, are taught, often by New Age enthusiasts, to prosperous workshop attendees.
Arguing in Beyond the End of the World, that the public’s focus should be centred on the Maya rather than self-proclaimed New Age prophets, such as Jose Argüelles, Black contrasts the living conditions of many Central Americans with the relative comfort and safety enjoyed by many New Age enthusiasts.
Drawing on the work of fellow journalists, Black gives an account of the brutal cocaine wars destroying many thousands of lives each year in Mayan countries, such as Mexico and Guatemala. Taking issue with those who used the internet to circulate the belief that the world will end in 2012, Black emphasised that apocalypse means "uncovering" rather than "doomsday" and he pointed out that the Maya themselves did not anticipate the world ending in 2012.
His second book, Psychopathic Cultures and Toxic Empires, examines the influence powerful psychopaths have on societies. Examples given of what Black terms psychopathic and toxic cultures include those within paedophile rings, politics, finance, gangs, security services, religious organisations and the media. He suggests that not only are high-functioning psychopaths drawn to positions of power, but they also have considerable influence in shaping human cultures and institutions of all sizes, to the extent that compliant non-psychopaths may continue conforming to a 'psychopathic culture' even after a psychopath that dominated it has moved on. Within the book and during a 2015 interview with academic and author Guy Mankowski Black uses examples from finance, the mass media and abuse rings to point out that ordinary citizens in many countries have a greater capacity than ever to expose wrongdoing and overcome abuses of power.
References
https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation-special-issues/transpartisan-politics