Consumerist Characteristics of Today's Syncretic-Eclectic Spirituality

This article deals with the spirituality of the western world which bears the mark of religious eclecticism and syncretism, universal mysticism, psychological pattern, the new age and new culture concepts and the periodically expressed links with the natural-scientific point of view - but on a very superficial level. Such spirituality is generally accessible, popularised and commercialised - and is often reduced to instant enlightenment which can be bought with money, but also retains some elements of mystical initiations. The consumerist present has erased the discrepancy between the material and spiritual - thus making spirituality just as much commercialised as for example food, clothing, travel, transport, beauty or status are. Such spirituality therefore has consumerist characteristics, and can be said to represent "a product on the spiritual market". The subject of analysis in this article was riot spirituality connected with traditional religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) - but the syncretic-eclectic patterns of self-development, psychologised spirituality signified by the concept of new age (1970s-1980s) and postmodern spirituality (since the 1990s). The spirituality addressed here makes use of elements of different religions and mysticisms in creating syntheses with a specific syncretic structure - and basically represents a personal point of view. This is individualist spirituality - which distinguishes it from all the previous spiritual and religious patterns, and also contains attributes of the liberalist viewpoint, cosmopolitan religiosity and pluralist culture.