Week 9-Vivianne Lee

     This week's reading was about New Age and how the New Age resulted in the decline of the traditional religion in the West. The article New Age Commodification and Appropriation of Spirituality states that "The present ‘information age’ allows a familiarity with religions and religious movements beyond that of one’s birth. Books, journals, television documentaries, the internet, and so forth have increased knowledge of different spiritual practices" (361). Reading this article made me think about the time we discussed the topic Yoga in class. Yoga, a practice based in large part on self-awareness, self-love, and freedom that originated from India is now mostly depicted with athletic apparel and been a popular trend in the Western culture. Western culture has re conditioned yoga into a new spiritual practice that is far off from its origins. I think it is really important for the Western culture to be more educated in learning the history of where the spiritual traditions came from and not ignore the true meaning of traditional practices. Western culture should embrace and acknowledge traditional religions, yet the Western culture has "chose to become de-conditioned from the prevailing acculturation of his/her society and, in some cases even, re-conditioned into a new spiritual practice of his/her own choosing"(361).  It is important for non-Western cultures to acknowledge and address this problem with New Age and how the Western culture has been historically oppressing and colonizing traditional spiritual practices so that a solution can be created for traditions to be respected.




Works Cited:
Michael York. “New Age Commodification and Appropriation of Spirituality.”