Fundamentalists and New Age Religions - Essay Sample

Introduction

Both sociologists and anthropologists have identified the second half of the 20th century in the US as a time of intensified apocalyptic feeling. This was a time when fundamentalists and New Age religions articulated new visions of salvation and world transformation. Fundamentalists and New Agers want to transform the self and the society because they believe that the individual is the ultimate locus for the determination of truth. To gain support and achieve this transformation, these religions offered considerable spiritual freedom and infused popular cultural imaginations with ideas from established religions.

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Transformation of the Self

According to Benjamin Zeller (2014), fundamentalists and New Age religions want to transform the self or the society because they subscribe to the belief that the individual is considered the ultimate locus for the determination of truth. This belief system is referred to as epistemological individualism. The focus on the self is an idea that pushes the founders and the followers of these religions to embark on a journey of the revelation of self-discovery. As Zeller (2014) explained, Nettles and Applewhite understood themselves as seekers. As a result, they would dedicate a lot of their time for self-discovery. For example, after closing down Know Place in 1973, the founders of Heaven’s Gate spent over a year wandering the country on a religious quest for self-identity (Zeller, 2014).

The spiritual advancement through self-awareness as an integral part of fundamentalist and New Age religions is a concept supported by Sarah Pike (2004). Using the examples of Diana and Gary, she explains that a common theme among New Agers and Neopagans is to see one's life as a journey to greater self-awareness. For these religious adherents, the path f personal spiritual progress is core to life and is also the best way to effect changes in society.

Fundamentalists and New Agers believe that an individual is responsible for his or her own spiritual life. However, to further that self-knowledge, believers seek out guides through all manner of sources, ranging from weekend workshops, professional-client relationships, and ritual groups. Therefore, it is not a strange sight to see some of the believers dedicate a lot of time to medication while others consult astrologers among other divinatory techniques. According to Pike (2004), the followers of these religions are likely to follow the practices of such cultures as Tibetan Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Ancient Egyptians, and even some Christian practices and beliefs.

Similarly, Zeller (2014) observed that to better discover themselves, Fundamentalists and New Age religion adherents examine a lot of ideas that are not strictly confined to religious literature. For example, in their quest for self-identity, Applewhite and Nettles read a variety of science fiction, Asian religious, New Age, Christian, and theosophical materials. As Applewhite would later recall, they studied everything that they came across that had any sort of awareness- religious awareness, scientific awareness, and spiritual awareness. As Zeller (2014) outlined, the two were religious seekers, trying out new identities and beliefs as they sought a new means of understanding themselves, and their relationship to the world and each other.

This idea of focus on self-discovery represents a far broader religious practice my many of those who subscribe to New Age religions. The 1950s had experienced a similar phenomenon by the beatniks and Jack Kerouac who dropped all social and familial ties to wander across America. Besides, the baby boomers who had come of age during the late 1960s and early 1970s found that seeking personal revelation functioned as a major theme in their religious experience (Zeller, 2014). This focus on the self is what Zeller (2014) referred to as “turning inwards.” Exploration of spiritual and religious ideas and their connection to the self gets elevated to high levels. For Nettles and Applewhite, the time of self-search only ended after they found a more definitive view of themselves and their new identities as martyrs who would be killed by a beast and would resurrect and ascend to heaven in a cloud.

Techniques for Gaining Support

One of the techniques that fundamentalists and New Age religions utilize to gain support and achieve personal transformation is advocate for spiritual freedom. Both Benjamin Zeller (2014) and Sarah Pike (2004) highlighted that one of the hallmarks of these religions is that believers are encouraged to exercise their freedoms in pursuing personal transformation. For example, As Pike (2004) highlighted, adherents of these religions are encouraged to put statuettes of Egyptian and Hindu deities in their homes alongside objects such as crystals, pentacles, candles, and goddess figurines. As a result, those who subscribe to these religions are not strictly bound to a confined set of beliefs and practices.

The technique of spiritual freedom was also the foundation of Heaven’s Gate religious belief started by Applewhite and Nettles. Their former years were composed of practicing theosophical teachings, astrology, and New Age Spiritual seeking (Zeller, 2014). Both these founders were born Christians but got attracted to other religions as they grew into adulthood. In particular, Nettles believed more strongly in Easter religions. As they continued to explore, they got attracted to other religious ideas. This is the freedom that they both extended to their followers, urging them to combine New Age perspectives with Christians millennialism.

To a significant extent, the religions subscribe to popular consciousness among other imaginations to gain support and achieve the transformation of the self. For example, Nettles and Applewhite would often fuse both Christianity and popular science fiction ideas to appeal to the New Agers. They would declare that following their predicted martyrdom and resurrection, a UFO would descend and however midair, picking up anyone who believed in their ideas alongside each founder (Zeller, 2014). Hence, while their imagination is enacted around the Christian idea of the rapture, it also draws imaginations from popular science fiction narratives including the existence of UFOs. The two also taught that in the day of transformation, their bodies would undergo both chemical and biological processes before emerging into almost perfect extraterrestrial beings. Again, such transformation mirrors the Christian idea of heaven but is fused with the ufological-oriented New Age movement.

Similarly, Pike (2004) noted that appealed to the masses through the promotion of such popular ideas as theosophist, magic, and witchcraft. Their ideas were also shaped by popular cultural ideas of the various social movement of the 1960s and 1970s including the sexual revolution, feminism, environmentalism, and Pan-Indian movement (Pike, 2004). These ideas would be fused with established religions such as Buddhism.

Conclusion

Through a comparative analysis of two case studies, the discussion has demonstrated that fundamentalists and New Agers want to transform the self and the society because they believe that the individual is the ultimate locus for the determination of truth. As a result, believers would go on long quests to explore their self-identity and examine varying literature. The discussion has also demonstrated that to gain support and achieve the transformation, these religions offered a lot of spiritual freedom and the fusion of culturally popular ideas with more established religious ideas such as Buddhism and Christianity.

References

Pike, S. M. (2004). New age and neopagan religions in America. Columbia University Press.

Zeller, B. E. (2014). Heaven's gate: America's UFO religion. New York University Press.