Do-it-yourself spirituality

It remains the case however that religion has also played a crucial role in promoting notions like empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and social justice. Religious organisations and individuals continue to play a key role in caring and providing various kind of support for the impoverished, the mentally ill, and other marginalised groups.

Comparatively little critical attention seems to have been directed towards the potential benefits and harms of new religious or spiritual organisations, their leaders, and the beliefs and practices they promote. Indeed, there has been a tendency for numerous popular and scholarly writings to presume that spirituality is somehow “better” than religion in terms of its potential to enhance wellbeing.

So far, there is little available evidence from which one is able to draw informed conclusions about the overall benefits or harms of spirituality relative to religion.

Clearly, religion has the capacity to divide and to unite families, communities and whole societies. To assume that spirituality does not involve this same potential is to ignore a fundamental common feature of both - people with particular beliefs and practices that hold repercussions for themselves and for those with whom they interact.

There is much to learn about alternative spiritualities, if we are to understand their connections with mental health. Some key questions that need to be answered include the following:

• To what degree does the belief that one is on a personal spiritual journey or quest reinforce prosocial values and attitudes?
• Does the belief that all things are connected at a spiritual level serve to strengthen one’s sense of connection with others at the everyday mundane level or instead serve to de-emphasise the overall importance of the nature of one’s daily interactions with others?
• Does an emphasis on self-transformation and personal growth help to reinforce or undermine notions like moral obligation, social responsibility and social justice?
• To what extent does the inner spiritual quest lead to improvement in wellbeing, and to what extent might it encourage an undue focus on oneself and one’s own personal problems, thereby exaggerating the importance of both?

It would seem no coincidence that the move away from traditional religion to alternative forms of spirituality has taken place at a time in history when consumerism and individualism have continued to escalate. The big question is whether this shift is serving to counter the consumeristic and individualistic nature of today’s societies or is inadvertently reinforcing it.