For a few years there has been an upcoming of videos and documentaries on youtube and other places about spirituality from different aspects. Made by groups of people or by single persons. The end of/transition 2012 is one common topic. (few examples below)
What they have in common is that they speak of new kind of spirituality, and often has answers about our past (in whish aliens usually pop up) and sometimes our future. They do not have any science to back their ideology on, and if they have it is very skewed and cannot really be called science (from my personal point). Many of them do not find the science part very important.
What is the reason?
Ever since the 60´s (?) people have been moving away from religion, but many have not find a replacement (?) People are trying to fill that void ?
Not only is this among us “spiritual seekers” but common people, eastern philosophy have had a much greater impact on western society then it have had before.
What do you think?
Im not asking a question here, just curious of what you think about what´s going on? Have you seen or heard any person/documentary that fills this description? (tell us about some weird ones! )
I think what we are experiencing is not directly a massive spiritual shift because of some cosmic event, or preordained prophecy. That doesn’t mean I don’t think there is a massive shift happening however. The perspective I have is that the internet and open, free, instant and global communication. Coupled with ordinary people travelling further and more rapidly than they ever have before. Is having a fundamental and huge impact on how we see both, each other and ourselves.
Science no doubt revolutionised the world when it became the principal driving factor of progress. It still is driving progress forwards there is no doubt in that, I’m not sure it’s the sole cause of drastic change so much as it used to be though. Don’t get me wrong, science and its achievements is to me one of the most wonderful things about our time. I just also value the exchange of ideas that we are seeing.
People seem to be moving away from rigid inflexible organised religion. There are a lot of videos that try to disseminate ideas about spirituality I would agree, but this for me is a healthy result of global communication rather than something resulting from a sudden strong need for spirituality. In the past there were people who controlled what information was seen by the masses; Kings, Queens, Governments, Printing press owners, Owners of broadcast stations and newspapers. With the advent of Youtube, Twitter and many blogging sites. Nearly any person anywhere can publish information to the masses. (I’d heartily recommend anyone who was interested to watch “steal this film” you can get it from any torrent site. It’s freely disseminated there with consent of the authors.)
This for me is because communication channels with eastern society have been opened so massively by the cables delivering internet connectivity between the two societies. The cultural influence on each other is phenomenal, and wonderful in my humble view. To me it’s a normalising influence that will transform our world if it’s allowed to remain free and unfettered. It draws us all closer together making war less and less likely. It means countries can no longer manipulate and control the information so easily, although that won’t stop them and others from trying. “Knowledge is power” is very true. (Can I sneak in a go Wikileaks! here? )
I’ve laced what I think throughout my post here, but to sum it up. I don’t think something inherently spiritual is happening. I think it’s more a societal transformation. There is no more humanising force that will unite all people than global communication and the free and open exchange of ideas. When you are friends with a guy you know in Iran and your government says, “We’re going to go to war with Iran” Things suddenly seem to take on a different perspective. The us and them mentality that drove wars of the past no longer works so well. There will be conflicts as people with different ideals collide with one another, but I strongly believe we must never tear down nor censor that open free space because one person, or a group of people don’t like what another has said. The internet is an infinite place, we can have places that set their own rules. If you don’t like those rules, set up your own place and those who care will follow. If a place has harmful rules then it will die along with the harmful rules, peacefully. I tend to believe all people yearn for freedom, and that yearning will ultimately destroy barriers placed artificially on the global space for idea exchange. Provided of course that place isn’t broken up too much.
Wow, thanks for the great input. I very much like your ideas.
Wherever you look you will see govornments or coporations trying to manipulate people into seeing things from their perspective. For example, I used to think the news here in Sweden were not favoring any country, ideology etc. But after reading reports from amnesty int, RT news among others who are not influenced by USA the picture is completely different. (The war on terror)
But governments and companies cannot control the internet, and they are scared to death for it; hence all the SOPA act and all the following that has been proposed by corporations through politicians.
Meanwhile it is scary how much information corporations such as google, apple and facebook collect on people. How good they are becoming at using that information. There is a sense in TV and internet corporation that they want to controll people so they can predict what will make them the most money. And with internet and smart phones they now have so many ways of doing just this.
So while internet is great for communication, we can only hope corporation will not take control, we can hope that the ideas that communicate free ideas will be spread faster than the ideas of corporations that aims to dull our minds.
I think the sort of thing you’re describing has been happening much longer than since the 1960s. There have probably been multiple phases in our history where we abandon new beliefs for old ones, and there are probably lots of reasons why. Talk of ‘consciousness shifts’ and ‘apocalypses’ can be found in every century…the more things change, the more they stay the same
But in the 20th and 21st centuries specifically, I suppose the reason why is actually to do with science and technology. And this actually goes back a little further in time than that…ever since the enlightenment, ideas like progress, secularism, etc have made it harder and harder for a lot of people to believe in religion. This is what the philosopher Nietzsche meant when he said, “God is dead.” So I think that many people who face this kind of existential crisis turn to very mundane things to fill the void. That’s fine…I like buying CDs or going out for a drink with my friends, for my part. Others try to fill this gap with some kind of spirituality. And it’s no coincidence most of the new wave of spiritualists don’t dig science very much…not only does it fly in the face of most of what they claim about the universe, etc, it’s actually what provides the alternative to the option that they offer. You can go buy a cool flat screen television, or you can go read The Secret, as it were (though I can think of a lot of things that would be better to do with your time and money than either of those ).
As for my personal opinion? Well, I’m not really that spiritual…for me, that word would probably best apply to the things that get me out of bed in the morning, and how they make me feel, rather than something metaphysical. But I think the reasons why people gravitate toward such things have always been there. It’s nothing new. But there sure are some cookie ideas out there when it comes to this topic
I have nothing as in-depth to contribute to this as what others have posted, but I certainly to agree with Dragon that globalisation and worldwide telecommunications are having an influence on the diffusion of spiritual ideas.
I don’t personally think you have to have religion to be spiritual. I am an atheist but I still consider myself a spiritual person. What I take to be spirituality is the idea of becoming conscious of life around you as opposed to living in the mind (ironic place to post this). That’s a very vague description, but it’s best understood by reading what’s in the link I’ll put here.
In this it suggests that now is the time for an important shift in our way of living, partly because spiritual truth can be spread anonymously using the internet.
Also, since modern advertisement was born in the 80s it feels like the world has stopped, only with post modernism as a result. Modern advertisement = you find your costumer, find out what they want (seldom need), you make it and then convince them (create desire) so they buy it. Ever since Music, TV, Movies, Fashion etc have followed suit. That stuff used to evolve because of an changing landscape. But for the first time in the 20th centuary things stand still it does not.
Maybe this adds up to people wanting change cause they are tired of the same old “create yourself through consumption”
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