week 9 - Giverny Yang
Giverny Yang
Week 9
In "New Age Commodification and Appropriation of Spirituality," Michael York discusses how "the Western individual is confronted with an awareness of religious options on an unprecedented scale," and he could not be more right. In modern age, there are so many religious options out there for everyone. Some people even make up their own religions, for instance there are all tons of cults out there. Our capitalistic world allows for numerous amounts of religions and religious movements for us to learn about and take interest in. This allows for people to build knowledge about other practices and find what excites them and allows them to choose for themselves to convert/condition themselves into what they spiritually want. This more common process is what is leading to the downfall, or for lack of better wording decreasing amount of traditional religion. People are no longer just following the religions that they are born into now. Don't get me wrong, some people are, of course, still following their paths they were born into, but so many people are diverting and finding their own paths. I personally know a lot of people who have decided to convert to different religions from their families. Having the freedom and option to choose to practice what you truly believe in is something I think is very important. Not everyone is the same, and trying to merge everyone into the traditional institutionalized religions seem like something so old-fashioned. It is nice that in modern day, people are able to learn so much about many different religious/spiritual movements and they are able to decide if that is for them or not. Also, if it isn't, they are still able to find something else that they believe in. Western world welcomes awareness of religious movements with open arms. It is becoming normalized to practice something besides the traditional religions, in my opinion. Nowadays, it isn't something that many people will choose to refrain from sharing if they aren't practicing in traditional ways because it's becoming more acceptable and people are also more curious about new religious options.
Week 9
In "New Age Commodification and Appropriation of Spirituality," Michael York discusses how "the Western individual is confronted with an awareness of religious options on an unprecedented scale," and he could not be more right. In modern age, there are so many religious options out there for everyone. Some people even make up their own religions, for instance there are all tons of cults out there. Our capitalistic world allows for numerous amounts of religions and religious movements for us to learn about and take interest in. This allows for people to build knowledge about other practices and find what excites them and allows them to choose for themselves to convert/condition themselves into what they spiritually want. This more common process is what is leading to the downfall, or for lack of better wording decreasing amount of traditional religion. People are no longer just following the religions that they are born into now. Don't get me wrong, some people are, of course, still following their paths they were born into, but so many people are diverting and finding their own paths. I personally know a lot of people who have decided to convert to different religions from their families. Having the freedom and option to choose to practice what you truly believe in is something I think is very important. Not everyone is the same, and trying to merge everyone into the traditional institutionalized religions seem like something so old-fashioned. It is nice that in modern day, people are able to learn so much about many different religious/spiritual movements and they are able to decide if that is for them or not. Also, if it isn't, they are still able to find something else that they believe in. Western world welcomes awareness of religious movements with open arms. It is becoming normalized to practice something besides the traditional religions, in my opinion. Nowadays, it isn't something that many people will choose to refrain from sharing if they aren't practicing in traditional ways because it's becoming more acceptable and people are also more curious about new religious options.
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