New Age Movements

Spiritual Eclecticism and Consumerism

New Age is a slippery term that not only means different things to different people but is also rejected by many of those who have been identified as “new agers” by scholars and the media. (This is, no doubt, because, it has, in recent years, become a derogatory term, suggesting idiosyncratic and superficial spiritualities and lifestyles.) Hence, some scholars prefer terms such as alternative spiritualities, self-spiritualities, or spiritualities of life. However, because such terms are not synonymous with what is meant by the New Age, the latter term is still widely used to refer to a bewildering array of self-oriented beliefs and practices that are understood to be at odds with, or at least on the periphery of, mainstream thinking in Western societies. Indeed, whether they are still on the periphery of the mainstream or have, to a large extent, moved into the mainstream is a matter of some debate.

[Page 885]The emergence of the New Age is a part of a wider subjective turn in contemporary Western societies. Individuals may belong to particular religious groups, follow particular paths, and submit to particular disciplines, but, generally speaking, the New Age encourages “epistemological individualism”: Its sources of authority are subjective; the final arbiter in matters of religious truth is the self; one is guided not by any external revelation or authority but by what one perceives to be the spiritual requirements of one's self. This is reflected in the widespread suspicion of “religion” and the embracing of “spirituality,” leading to the familiar statement of New Age belief: “I'm spiritual but not religious.” Religion is identified with institutional hierarchies, tradition, and sources of authority that transcend the self (e.g., texts and deities), and spirituality is identified with “life as sacred,” the “self,” and subjective “well-being.” Bearing this context in mind, servicing the self became increasingly important, not to say commercially profitable for those trading in ideas, therapies, and consumables. Especially in the 1980s, the New Age became an increasingly commercialized “spiritual supermarket” within which seekers were encouraged to browse among and experiment with a broad range of ideas and practices without subscribing to any particular system of belief.

An emphasis on choice is conspicuous in New Age religion. The spiritual seeker is a late-modern consumer. This goes some way in explaining the appeal of the New Age religions in Western societies over hierarchical, authoritarian, exclusivist forms of religion. However, the spiritual consumerism of the New Age has also led to criticisms of cultural appropriation and religious commodification. As with wooden statues of Shiva or the Buddha carved in India and sold relatively cheaply in Western stores, so also traditions, cultures, beliefs, and rituals from around the globe have become lifestyle choices—items to be tried, tested, and acquired with other spiritual products. Without the least sense of dissonance, a European spiritual seeker with an interest in indigenous religions might sit before a statue of the Buddha—made in Nepal but purchased in the local shopping mall—inhale the fragranced smoke of several Nag Champa incense sticks—made in India by followers of the late Sathya Sai Baba—while meditating on words from the Dao De Jing, the Bible, or one of numerous channeled texts.

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