'It's a Game Everyone's Already Playing' - The Creating-Our-Reality Motif Between Secularization and Spiritualization in Contemporary Western Popular Spirituality
The Creating-Our-Reality motif is one of the most central in contemporary Western popular spiritual discourse. The article presents and demonstrates three different versions of it - magical, secularized and metaphysical. Nevertheless, despite the clear differentiation between the spiritualization (o...
| Published in: | Journal for the study of religions and ideologies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
CEEOL
[2018]
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Western world
/ Secularization
/ Folk religion
/ Spirituality
/ Syncretism
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements |
| Further subjects: | B
popular religion
B secularization processes B CREATION MYTH B New Age Spirituality B modern magic B rationalization and disenchantment B Science and religion B contemporary alternative spiritualities B spiritualization and re-enchantment B Cosmology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The Creating-Our-Reality motif is one of the most central in contemporary Western popular spiritual discourse. The article presents and demonstrates three different versions of it - magical, secularized and metaphysical. Nevertheless, despite the clear differentiation between the spiritualization (or re-enchantment) and secularization (or dis-enchantment) trends, there is an obvious tendency not to leave the motif in its pure state, but rather to blend the versions together. Apparently, spiritual practitioners in the West do not wish to abandon Modern-scientific discourse, and yet continue to cling to magic. The melding of secular and spiritual/magical discourses is used as a catalyst for their likening, and for the readiness of those who perceive themselves as secular to buy into the legitimacy of magic. Thus, the attractiveness of spiritual discourse keeps growing, as its legitimization is established within the mainstream. The article presents the characteristics of the Creating-Our-Reality motif in contemporary spiritual popular culture, while also discussing the theological-ethical-cultural implications embedded in its various designs (including the deification of the individual; the built-in paradoxes of individual and society, passiveness and proactivity; and optimism ethics). |
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| ISSN: | 1583-0039 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
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