How to Survive Secular Mysticism (2026)

How To Survive Secular Mysticism is a fierce meditation on the cultural hijacking of mystical language and imagery. Alex Head’s swirling aesthetic sensibility and kaleidoscopic commentaries pull us through the subtle yet profound distinctions between lived spirituality and its secular simulacrum, demanding conscious intention and devotional presence amid ever-intensifying chaos.

- Ferdiansyah Thajib, author of Enduring Otherwise

Dense and earnest, this is someone thinking seriously about finding transcendence through art, community, and presence rather than doctrine. 'Secular mysticism' numbs you, disorients you, and opens you to external control. Genuinely strange and original writing, somewhere between cultural criticism, spiritual autobiography, and conspiracy theory, held together by artistic intelligence.

- Erin Honeycutt, pamphleteer


Secular Mysticism includes but is not limited to:

Uninitiated or uneducated audiences exposed to

religious ideas and icons such as the ‘all seeing eye’

Drugs and alcohol consumed without intention

Social-media generated content consumed without

consent

Trigger responses to environmental stimuli that confuse

thoughts and feelings, opening a way in for fear and anger

Hypnotic sexual imagery such as the ‘Super-Hero’

Colophon:

How to Survive Secular Mysticism

Alex Head

Plural Studio

2026, Berlin

First edition

All rights reserved

Fonts: Suisse Neue, Suisse International, Suisse

Works, Work Sans, Fergus McDonald

Layout: Lizard in the Spring

Editing: Anna Kostreva

Cover image, after a collaboration with artist

Gabriel Birch, circa 1994

ISBN: 978-3-9828617-0-8

Images: Fabrizio Dal Vera/Aperture Lab Berlin

Contents:

I + I

Between a Thought and a Feeling

Three Days

Liquids

If Thoughts Become Things Then Freedom Freedom Freedom

Aboriginal Dream Time Healing VsStar Trek Voyager, E07, S04: Scientific Method