Occultism as a secular alternative to faith?
Esotericism stems from the impossibility of knowing everything about the universe and how it operates. Straussianism is an inherent feature of the physical world. Reality is not only what can be empirically sensed. However, one can supposedly uncover these “hidden” meanings and phenomena via a subset of rituals that we refer to as occultism. These include practices such as magic, astrology, alchemy, contacting spirits, witchcraft, and so on.
Within occultism, there are a plethora of broad traditions. Hermeticism emphasises our divine transformation via gnosis (esoteric knowledge) as a path to revealing the hidden mechanisms of the cosmos. Kabbalah attempts to formalise esoteric theory and the interpretations of symbolic representations. The relationship with the neopagan faiths runs deep. Of course, occultism is defined just as much via practice and implementation as theory. Ceremonial magic explicitly seeks contact and alignment with supernatural forces via an elaborate set of rituals designed to achieve spiritual transformation. Thelema argues that we each have a hidden “true” purpose for our existence, and this defines the meaning of life - Thelemites tailor magic towards uncovering this individual meaning. Chaos magic is less dogmatic, and will borrow more heavily from established science.
Like rationalists (of the Déscartes rather than the LessWrong tradition!), the idea that reality is only what we can sense is rejected. Where they differ is obviously via the manner in which they seek this knowledge. The former emphasises formal logical deduction and proof from axioms; the latter vague symbols and superstition, unfalsifiable rituals, and the “supernatural” as a residual for our ignorance. There are no prizes for guessing which epistemological framework I'm more sympathetic to! Despite this, an advantage of esotericism over rationalism is that it seems more aligned with those seeking a life meaning: guidance, often in the form of personalised ceremonial activities, on how to live. Moreover, modern science essentially relied upon occultist practices in its heyday. Chemistry would not exist without alchemy. Kepler was infamous for practicing astrology. Arguably, a focus on decoding hidden processes broke us out of the Dark Ages into the Enlightenment, by shackling us away from a dependence on God as the default explanation for everything. Modern science, via wildly different methods, also seeks to decipher hidden phenomena, if we consider “hidden” as synonymous with “unknown” in this context.
We can test the robustness of astrology as a theory of the universe via tracking the accuracy of its predictions. Once we account for sampling error, astrological predictions seem to perform no better than random chance (although an astrologer would argue that randomness is determined by some esoteric mechanism). Hence this entire epistemological framework is not only unfalsifiable, but cannot be justified via a Bayesian standpoint either. So what explains its continued popularity?
I'd argue that the widespread demand for this pseudoscience is grounded in the desire to seek a secular replacement for the meanings and practices that religious institutions provide. Science has not displaced religion, as science cannot answer how we should live life. Religion provides a ready-made template for practical ethics that can be applied throughout our daily lives, with celestial enforcement and a philosophy of meaning to incentivise the prosocial. A core cognitive bias is that we seek and accept nonrandom explanations for random phenomena or coincidences, which is why we're often susceptible to astrological predictions proving correct or supposed miracles and answered prayers. To a large extent, wishful thinking - the desire to place a positive spin on life's ubiquitous tragedies, suffering, and evils - also prevails1. Then of course art and beauty is commonly motivated via the pursuit of a higher power - our cultural lives would be drastically inferior with the absence of religion.
Religion is increasingly being falsified, with claim after claim regarding metaphysics in the Bible being falsified, and hasty Straussian reinterpretations ex-post to maintain legitimacy via consistency with science. Nonetheless, it clearly serves a purpose in the advancement of our prosperity and a fulfilling life, so these superstitious institutions will never vanish. Faith, myth, and ritual, with the derived practices, are classic human universals.
Therefore, occultism is rising as a viable substitute. Indeed, practitioners of the occult seem to have learnt from the mistakes of established religions. Don't offer certain testable hypotheses that could be refuted in the future, but instead offer vague statements that can easily be interpreted to fit the facts. This is essentially the entire premise of astrology, which is why even devout atheists have an easier time accepting this philosophy. Moreover, occult practices also place an important emphasis on individual agency, so is compatible with the increasing demand for virtue ethics as exemplified via the nascent resurgence in stoicism. Plus unless you're in a literal cult, the demands for commitment and adherence are also a lot less rigid than established religions. You can essentially drop in and out, and take whatever belief you want, as you please. You cannot do this with religion.
This is why I think the problem of evil misconceptualises the underlying theme regarding God's existence. Belief in God essentially relies on evil. Faith exists precisely to direct individuals away from evil. God provides an obvious psychological comfort blanket.