JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY

NEW DELHI

MODES OF CULTURAL ANALYSIS

BOOK REVIEW

Submitted by

Garima Mukherjee, MA Sociology, II Year

Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences

Course Name: Modes of Cultural Analysis

Course Instructor: Professor Susan Visvanathan

The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity.

By Paul Heelas. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1996. Pp 266

We live in an imperfect world, and in this world anything that claims to offer wisdom should

be subject to serious academic consideration, such was the belief of Paul Heelas, a British

Sociologist and Anthropologist, when he decided to study the New Age movement . It does

not only promise its followers a better life, the new age religion itself epitomizes certain

characteristics of modernity. Heelas‟ curiosity in the New Age religion resulted in his work

The New Age Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity

which was published in 1996. In this book he is trying to understand the New Age Movement

and sees a link between the movement and two important key themes of this book, the Self

and Modernity. The New Age Movement evokes in us the idea of an institution much like a

religion that is built on a hodgepodge of cultural beliefs, Heelas however argues that the new

age is far from being fundamentally a mish mash or incoherent. The book is divided in three

parts he has titled them- portrayal, appeal and effectiveness. I find the selection of these titles

very interesting, as if the author attempted to signify an unfolding of some sort. The first

section focuses on the basic assumptions of the new age religion, he also briefly traces its

historical roots. The second section is perhaps the most interesting part of the book, Heelas

talks about modernity and how the new age religion is not only linked to it, but forwards it

and is endorsed by it. We see in this section, who the New Age ideas appeal to and why. In

the third section Heelas discusses the future of the New Age religion. Heelas relies on a

voluminous body of research on New Age and has also included evidence from his

ethnographic studies of New Age organisations in Britain. The following is my review of

Heelas‟ work. This paper attempts to describe what the New Age Movement is, the elements
that make up the new age religion, what is its relation with modernity, its future and its

criticisms.

What is the New Age Movement? To us these words may imply that there is a movement that

is new in the sense that it is new in nature, something that has not happened before but Heelas

argues that there is nothing “new” about the new age movement, in fact it cannot be called a

movement either. It expanded with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s when

it was called the age of Aquarius. People were provided with the opportunity to meditate, use

crystals, and practise self-healing etc. all of which had the impression of an eclectic

hotchpotch of beliefs. It takes ideals and values from different religions but beneath its

heterogeneity there lays, Heelas argues, a remarkable constancy. All new age beliefs share

the lingua franca of self-spirituality. New agers hold the assumption that the self itself is

sacred. The term new age implies that a better way of living is dawning and the word

movement conveys the idea of humanity progressing into this new world. As mentioned

before, the lingua franca of all new age practices is self spirituality. Other ideas are only its

branches. Happiness is rooted in being content, in the world we live this can be hard to

achieve because humans are pushed to change their surroundings, things they have barely

have any control over. Such is the assumption held by new agers, this answers the question as

to why spirituality is sought as an answer to modern alienation. The key to happiness is

within oneself, they argue. Happiness and contentment cannot be achieved through our

socialised selves, our egos, one must go beyond that to understand what we are by nature.

The essence of being human is that we all our spiritual, encountering this self is to encounter

the divine, the God which is not outside of us, but within us. The self then is the source of

everything one relies on God for. Self-responsibility results from this idea of self-spirituality.

New agers believe that the most effectual way of making a change in the world is to first
make a change within oneself, “The God/Goddess within is conceived to have the capacity-

the wisdom, creativity, power, energy, life to bring about the utopian” (Heelas, 75). This

belief, that one has “the divine” within oneself that holds the key to a better world, is the

underlying base of self-spirituality, worshiping of one‟s self. It is through the self, that the

quest for utopia is introduced. Utopia can be achieved when education is reformed, self-

healing is practised, environment is taken care of, and when work and religions are

channelled towards self-actualisation that eventually leads to prosperity. All this must happen

to shift the discourse to learning about the world from inside rather than outside of oneself.

New agers are sceptics of the approach of mainstream education methods and have sought to

develop alternatives that go well with the new age mission. They believe that modern

education has capitalistic agendas. It socialises children to become passive adults. When we

look at education critically, they argue, we see how the system has embedded in us to always

look towards authority that is outside of us, to always be still that is inculcated in us by strict

teachers in classrooms and to construct certainties, “Conventional schooling is seen as one of

the most important ways in which we are indoctrinated into the ego mode of being”

(Heelas,77). This ego mode is what new agers seek to overcome. New Age approaches seek

to awaken the spirituality of the child, thus they are child centred. In a more child centred

climate the authority of the teacher as a learned expert is brought down and the emphasis is

instead on experiences. The child is encouraged to explore her creativity and her potential,

another practise that births from self-spirituality. New agers argue that when one relies on

external factors for healing, power and agency are taken away from the person. In a period

where one is constantly feeling hopeless and helpless, it is the regaining of power that enables

one to emerge triumphant. This power is regained by recognising that it is the Self that has all

the capacity to heal the self, one need not rely on anything else. Self-healing is anti-

authoritarian and holds the belief that it is the natural will of humans to strive for health.
New age believers also relate with the environment differently and adopt practises that are

not only respectful of one‟s self, which is what is within, but also of what is outside of self.

They model their lives on working for environmental causes and creating a world that is

suitable for the new age advocates. Work, too acquires a new meaning in the new age

philosophy. Work is meant to bring out the authenticity of humans; it must be more than just

a means of making money. This also effects a change in the meaning of prosperity. Because

work is valued not just as a spiritual end but also capitalistic, one who experiences prosperity

is seen to be in touch with her spiritual nature. However this is not what all new agers

believe, those who believe in what Heelas calls “radical holism” see God in everything,

including money. Many spiritual leaders of the new age in fact have also claimed that it is

only the rich or the more prosperous that can experience spirituality. This claim is based on

Malthus‟ theory; one who is worried about her basic necessities in life cannot attain spiritual

enlightenment. Even though new agers may differ when it comes to the need to be

prosperous, there is a common belief that prosperity implies one‟s spiritual status. The more

one is successful the more she is in tune with her spiritual self. The religion that can be seen

being practised among the new age followers is paganism, the primary purpose of which, like

other practises, is self-actualization.

The second section of the book raises pertinent questions regarding the new age religion and

modernity these are- why has the self-become the focus, why has it become a spiritual

resource? Who does it appeal to and why? We must understand that the new age movement

appeals to a certain lot of people. Heelas has argued that the new age religion has attracted

the “intellectually advanced” middle class professionals. It has seen a shift from older

professionals to the more youthful campus based participants. Berger and associates argue

that participants of the new age movement belong to the gentle revolution or the baby boom
generation who have been socialised to become unaccustomed to harshness. With regard to

why the self is sacred in modernity we must look at the uncertainties and certainties of

modernity. Heelas argues that most of those who call themselves new agers have experienced

a sense of loss of identity and they believe that modernity is marked with the sense of loss of

self. There are countless testimonies of such disappointed individuals who wish to break

away from modernity; they associate it with crisis and chaos. Heelas has referred to

Christopher Lasch who argued that the failure of activism of the 1960s in bringing a new

social order has led to the interest in alternatives from 1970s. However the new age is way

more complicated than us to be able to generate one determinate answer. It not only appeals

to those who have lost faith in modernity but also those who have faith only in modernity.

There are certain ideals of New Age that harmonize with the virtues of modernity such as

freedom, equality, love, peace and creativity. Also New Age is de-traditional in nature that

best suits the individuals who have lost faith in conventional remedies that hold assumptions

that are counter to the New Age. Heelas argues that “the New Age belongs to modernity in

that it is progressivistic (looking to the future) and constructivist (rather than things having to

be continually repeated, they can be changed)” (Heelas,169). New Agers view other religions

to be authoritative and hierarchical in nature, this does not only go against its own ideals but

also the promises of modernity and development.

The New age movement has faced its share of backlash, many have questioned whether we

can overcome these troubled times and if the new age way is the appropriate way. It

epitomizes, many argue, the characteristics of modernity that are associated with narcissism,

self-centeredness and selfishness. Following one‟s intuition is only a disguise to fulfilling

selfish desires. When young educated people can become leaders and actually make a

difference they are being led towards a more privatised politics one that prioritises the self
over others. New Agers are also “seen as engaging in cultural imperialism or theft raiding

long-standing spiritual teachings and practises: selecting what they want, ignoring anything

which is too demanding, speeding things up („enlightenment‟ in 100 hours) and arriving at

something which is user friendly” (Heelas, 202). Not all these criticisms are from the

academic point of view, some of them are however critical for academia to take into notice

for instance the claim that New Age provisions are used for the pleasure of the self, the fact

that new agers prefer perfecting their self rather than working for the community. Even

though according to the new age philosophy working on oneself is working for others and for

nature, its focus on the „self‟ constantly becomes a site for criticism. Heelas argues that

despite of its skeptics, the new age has a promising future unless the growing interest in new

age is dampened by media coverage, however till now the coverage has been positive which

implies that the media itself may be mostly sympathetic.

While Heelas offers its readers with new insight on the new age beliefs it has been criticised

on many grounds. In many places in the book Heelas seems to be making a crucial point but

does not elucidate them, for instance, he argues that the new age movement is not post-

modern yet. It would have been helpful for readers if he had expanded on this statement.

Many of the definitions are too broad and unclear. It also would have been helpful if he had

made clear cut distinctions between new age beliefs that with Hinduism and Christianity and

between counterculture and mainstream culture at a greater length. Nevertheless, I found

Heelas to have accomplished his aim of identifying the key themes underlying the new age

religion and its link with modernity. This book not only shows us what religion is like when

it is organised in terms of the authority of the self but also how New Age is used as a cultural

resource in everyday life. It sheds light on our understanding of what modernity entails and

how human societies are negotiating with changing times, creating new religions and new
meanings, new in the sense that they come with a promise of an escape to a better world.

Written in 1996, Heelas‟ work stands true to this day, when we see self-help books like The

Secret by Rhonda Byrne or The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle or even the bestseller Eat,

Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and a huge pool of television shows and speakers on social

media championing the idea of self-spirituality for happiness we note that Heelas was not

wrong to predict that the New Age ideas have a promising future. The media and popular

culture continues to endorse New Age ideals. The point is to not make a value judgement, but

to look at the New Age with a critical academic lens. What we follow and the ideals we hold

not only reflect who we are, but I believe it reflects a great deal of what the age we live in, is

about. Another advantage of this work according to me is the sociological perspective of how

spirituality is understood in the New Age and how a religion that keeps the individual in the

centre, changes the definition of spirituality for itself. To many scholars, the topic of

spirituality may seem to be abstract but to overlook this aspect of culture will deny us of a

holistic understanding of our times and people. For this reason I believe that The New Age

Movement: The Celebration of the Self and the Sacralization of Modernity is of significance

to not only the study of religion but also the study of culture.