Religious and Spiritual Identity

I realised my spiritual beliefs were not compatible with the beliefs of my Anglican Church and Sunday School at a very young age, therefore at age 11 or 12 I chose not to be confirmed. Without the constraints of the church or a religion, I was able to explore my own form of spirituality. How did I do that without the internet?

When I was 12, some members of my family attended mind power courses – the type popular in the early 80s with a rational approach complementary to the emerging new age spiritualism of the 70s. This, along with the esoteric books and meditation cassettes in my family home, afforded me the opportunity to explore a kind of spiritualism without the unwanted restraints of a religion or church.

I suspected that some of my beliefs might be compatible with those of Paganism and Wicca and found information on these in the self help and personal development sections of book stores. Esoteric book stores, health food stores, and the small shops in Elizabeth Arcade that carried free publications, brochures and advertising provided specific information required for a spiritual quest in South East Queensland.

www.bookstoreguide.org

In spite of all this I have never actually managed to form a concrete religious identity, due mostly to my adversity to being restricted by one doctrine. Not until studying religion at UQ did I discover that I, and those like me, have been categorised despite our efforts not to be! I have never found the identity of “new age” attractive and apparently I’m not alone. The category of “pick-and-mix” fits quite well considering my favourite Chinese Proverb, “Listen to all, plucking a feather from every passing goose, but follow no one absolutely”. But the best fit is Vincett and Woodhead’s (2001) category of “Mind, Body, Spirit” due to my occupation as a Remedial Massage Therapist and practitioner of various vibrational medicine techniques.

A young person seeking religious and spiritual information in the 21^st century can find the task of forming a religious identity, or not, a much simpler journey than that experienced by those of us searching in the 80s and 90s. The internet can provide information on all aspects of religion and spirituality required for  a pick-and-mix style of spirituality, and at the same time can provide for those who crave the sense of belonging afforded by the vast array of sites catering for followers of major religions and new religious movements.  

References

Bookstore Guide.2007-2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2013. 

Vincett, G., & Woodhead, L., (2001). Spirituality. In Woodhead, L., Kawanami, H., & Partridge, C. (Ed.) (2001) Religions in the modern World: traditions and transformations (2nd  ed.). Oxon: Routledge