When millennials say they are seeking to become more spiritual, they are often saying that they are trying to resist this trend. Regardless of the veracity of this generalization, he was getting at something that many of my study participants feel: that contemporary societies in the western world are structured in such a way that silence and stillness are the exception, not the rule. The Dalai Lama once quipped, while the West was busy exploring outer space, the East was busy exploring inner space. The Dalai Lama once said, while the West was busy exploring outer space, the East was busy exploring inner space. One of the major causes of climate change and environmental destruction, these environmentalists argue, is the never-ending quest for economic growth, fuelled by a capitalist logic of acquisition and expansion. This is one reason why, for instance, environmentalists have often endorsed spirituality. Spirituality stresses the importance of attuning to our inner life - both as a way of resisting the constant pressure our culture exerts to value what lies outside of us, as well as a means of finding a place of refuge. They would agree with the famous cultural critic Erich Fromm, who in the 1970s argued modern societies emphasize having things as opposed to just being. Most of my study participants think contemporary Western culture is far too outward focused, glorifying material success and procurement at the expense of the things that really matter. The second aspect of spirituality involves a move inward, or an attention to one’s inner life, often as a means of honouring the immaterial dimensions of life. Western culture too focused on material success One need not believe in God in order to have questions that scientific materialism cannot answer. This is why atheists, agnostics and believers can all - and often do - identify as spiritual. So when people speak of spirituality they are generally invoking some framework of meaning that enables them to make sense of that which, for them, science fails to address. And for many, science’s answers simply don’t suffice to help them live their lives as they experience them. Moreover, for many of my study participants, science is incapable of adequately answering some of life’s most crucial questions: What is beauty? How should I relate to the natural world? To whom (or what) should I commit my life? Why be just? What is justice?Īlthough science can provide answers to these questions, the answers rarely inspire my participants as they would like them to. Yet, despite this shift, questions of meaning, purpose and value remain. It seems outdated, or at odds with a scientific understanding of the world (or, at least parts of it do). But since the Enlightenment, many individuals in North Atlantic countries have developed a self-understanding of themselves as secular, or modern.įor many, religion does not seem like a viable option. Religion, many conventionally think, attends to the field of human experience that concerns our most fundamental questions - questions of meaning, purpose and value. (Galen Watts ), Author provided (no reuse)ĭespite this, among the millennials I’ve interviewed, “spirituality” is generally contrasted with “materiality.” It therefore gestures towards that which we require to live, but which we cannot perceive or measure. The original meaning of spiritual contrasted it with ‘flesh’ - or ‘everything that is not of God.’ Today it is taken to mean that which we cannot perceive. Third, that they value the following virtues: being compassionate, empathetic and open-hearted. Second, that they try to attend to their inner life - to their mental and emotional states - in the hopes of gaining a certain kind of self-knowledge. I believe when people call themselves spiritual they are basically signaling three things: first, that they believe there is more to the world than meets the eye, that is to say, more than the mere material. Since 2015 I have conducted in-depth research with Canadian millennials, interviewing 33 Canadian millennials who self-identify as spiritual but not religious - in order to better understand their beliefs and practices. This criticism is similar to that launched at the millennial generation (born between 1980-2000) in general, what some scholars have called “ Generation Me.”Īlthough I don’t disagree with these characterizations, I believe there is more to the story. What is behind the rising popularity of spirituality without religion? Some critics have suggested it is a byproduct of the self-obsessed culture of today, evidence of a narcissism epidemic. Increasingly, North Americans identify as spiritual as opposed to religious. Spirituality has become a kind of buzzword in today’s culture, especially for the millennial generation.
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