Spirituality, Religion, and Globalization

Sudhir H. Kale
(Source: http://jmk.sagepub.com/content/24/2/92)

Issues of spirituality and religion are seldom discussed in the globalization context. Spirituality and religion affect the
globalization phenomenon and are, in turn, significantly influenced by globalization. This article explores the interplay
between spirituality and religion, and the forces of economics, technology, and globalization. Contemporary globalization
exhibits five main trends in spirituality and religion: increasing attempts to harness religion and spirituality as means toward
reterritorialization, the integration of spirituality in all aspects of life, a greater thrust toward the individualization of
spirituality among consumers, the enhanced role of cyberspace in the spiritual domain, and the syncretization of spirituality.
These five trends affect quality of life as well as the relationship between governments and market.

Keywords: spirituality; religion; globalization; territorialization; technology

The only myth that’s going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one talking about the planet—not this city, not these
people, but the planet and everybody on it.
—Joseph Campbell (Campbell and Moyers 1988, 32)

Few topics invoke as much passion among present-day social researchers as the issue of globalization. Political scientists,
economists, management scholars, marketers, and sociologists have been scrutinizing the globalization phenomenon for more
than two decades. Yet, not much agreement exists among scholars and across disciplines regarding either the causes or effects
of globalization, not to mention the desirability of accelerated globalization. Aptly characterized as the “new fault line” on
the world’s ideological map, globalization and its contents (or “discontents”) will continue to be a topic of much debate and
discussion for some time.
Contemporary globalization has dramatically (and, some would argue, irrevocably) altered the ways in which people
consume, work, gather information, play, and define their identity. In contemplating the profound impact of globalization,
Prabhu (1999, 2) observed, “Globalization might formally be conceived as a set of processes that enacts a radical
transformation in the spatial and temporal organization of social relations and activities, resulting in a palpable sense of
worldwide interconnectedness.” Words such as interconnection, interdependence, and, most notably, integration are often
used to explain the phenomenon of globalization (Beck 2000; Hirst and Thompson 2002; Keohane and Nye 2000; Scholte
2000).

The word integration derives from integer, implying one, complete, or whole. Interestingly, the phenomenon of spirituality
has also been conceived as comprising interconnection and wholeness (Eckersley 2000; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Roof1993;
Schneiders 2000; Walsh1998). A careful study of the literature on both spirituality and globalization reveals that the two
concepts may be related beyond mere metaphorical similarity. Spirituality and globalization affect one another and, together
with other environmental forces (such as politics, technology, and economics), determine the cultural milieu in which we
live. Yet, most of the discourses on globalization have not addressed the relationship between globalization and spirituality.
The few notable exceptions that appear in recent literature allude to spiritual and religious responses to globalization (cf.
Beyer 1994; Friedman 1999; Stackhouse 2000). As Spickard (2001) rightly argued, to focus only on response to globalization
without an appreciation of the underlying relationships leaves important aspects aside.
Spirituality, religion, and globalization should be topics of vital interest for at least three main reasons. First, religion, a
primary means of addressing spiritual needs Pargament1999), plays a profound role in defining the what, how, when, and
where of trade flows (Mittelstaedt 2002). Second, spirituality, religion, and globalization all have a vital impact on overall
wellness and quality of life for an increasing number of the world’s inhabitants (Fogel 2000; Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer
2000; Spaniol 2002). Finally, spiritual needs translate into demand for goods and services worth billions of dollars, and it is
important that we understand these demand patterns, both throughout time and across customer segments (Belk, Wallendorf,
and Sherry 1989). This will further our understanding of the role of institutions such as churches as well as movements such

Page 1 of 16
as the proliferation of religious cults from a systems perspective. As of now, our understanding of the demand and supply
patterns associated with the spiritual needs of consumers remains fairly rudimentary.
This article integrates literature from a diversity of disciplines—management, psychology, counseling, sociology,
economics, future studies, marketing, and religious studies— to arrive at a better understanding of the interrelatedness of the
two phenomena, globalization and spirituality. Such interdisciplinary synthesis will enable researchers to have a more
complete picture of both spirituality and globalization, thereby making cross-disciplinary osmosis of ideas and findings
tenable. A multidisciplinary body of literature also allows for an elevated conceptual platform from which to observe the two
phenomena—historically, and as manifested in contemporary times.
This article has four broad objectives: (1) to review literature on spirituality so as to arrive at an operational definition of
the spirituality construct;(2)to discuss the linkages among spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization; (3) to
enunciate major trends in spirituality in today’s global environment; and (4) to highlight the implications of these trends.

WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?

Although the concept of spirituality dates back almost two thousand years to St.Paul, it is only in the past two decades or
so that it has become a topic of systematic enquiry in the social science literature. During this time, there has been an active
and vociferous debate on the nature of spirituality among scholars in management, psychology, religion, nursing, counseling,
and pastoral care (Benjamin and Looby 1998; Marquis, Holden, and Warren 2001; Zinnbauer et al. 1997). Confusion between
the concepts of spirituality and religion is what mainly fuels this debate (Dialmy 2001; Moberg 2002; Zinnbauer, Pargament,
and Scott 1999). If we are to have a meaningful dialogue on the construct of spirituality, the relationship between spirituality
and religion needs to be teased out.

Spirituality

The word spirituality comes from the Latin root spiritus, meaning breath—the breath of life. Although there has been an
explosion of literature on the topic of spirituality in the past two decades, articles and books about spirituality exhibit little
agreement as to the precise meaning of the term.
Benner (1989, 20) characterized spirituality as a “human response to God’s gracious call to a relationship with himself.”
Beck (1986) and Goldsmith (1992) have referred to spirituality as an inner state of being, or the heart or force within a person.
Schneiders (1989, 684) defined spirituality as “the experience of consciously striving to integrate one’s life in terms not of
isolation and self-absorption but of self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives,” whereas Myers (1990, 11)
characterized it as “a continuing search for meaning and purpose in life; an appreciation for the depth of life, the expanse of
the universe, and natural forces which operate; a personal belief system.” In portraying spiritual people, Opatz (1986)
described them as individuals striving for a balance between their inner and outer selves. Reich(2000, 126)defined spirituality
as “a sharing of joy and sorrow and the deep connections made between human beings, between them and nature, and between
them and a higher being.” Vaughan(1991) contended that spirituality is a subjective experience of the sacred, whereas
Shafranske and Gorsuch (1984) described it as a transcendent dimension within human experience in which the individual
questions the meaning of existence and attempts to place the self in a “broader ontological context.” Pargament (1997) and
Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott (1999) defined spirituality simply as searching for the sacred.
In one of the first empirical studies on spirituality in the workplace, Mitroff and Denton (1999) offered some prescient
observations concerning contemporary spirituality: the respondents in this study differentiated strongly between spirituality
and religion. Whereas religion was viewed as a highly inappropriate topic of discourse in the workplace, spirituality was seen
as a highly appropriate subject for discussion. Respondents viewed spirituality as “the basic feeling of being connected with
one’s complete self, others, and the entire universe.” Similar observations were echoed in the empirical work of Roof (1993).
Participants in this study viewed spirituality as involving life’s deeper motivations and an emotional connection to God.
Religion, to them, had an institutional connotation that translated into practicing rituals, adhering to dogmas, attending
services, and the like. Mirvis (1997, 197) made an interesting distinction between spirituality and religion when he said,
“Religion is about answers (and) spirituality is about questions.” Eckersley (2000) provided another simple definition:
“Spirituality is a deeply intuitive sense of relatedness or interconnectedness to the world and the universe in which we live.”
An assessment of the various discourses on spirituality suggests that a comprehensive definition of spirituality needs to
incorporate four overarching ideas: a sense of inner self, a sense of meaning, a sense of interconnectedness, and a notion of
the Beyond (or God).Drawing on these ideas, spirituality could be defined as the engagement to explore—and deeply and
meaningfully connect one’s inner self—to the known world and Beyond.

Page 2 of 16
 Inner self. The idea of an inner life or self, discussed in many articles on spirituality, is the key to spiritual experience.
Zukav (1990) characterized it as the “invisible realm” in which the origins of our deeper understandings are located. It
involves a sense of one’s being or consciousness, and how that being relates to other beings (Bartunek and Moch 1994;
McDonald 1997). McDonald (1997) depicted the inner self as the core from which our most valuable thoughts and feelings
originate. When we are in touch with that center and use it to guide our behavior, we act as genuinely as we can. Roger Walsh
(2001), a highly respected scientist, philosopher, and anthropologist, viewed individual life as comprising an outer self and
an inner self. He then explained the differences between the two selves:

We have a part of our life and being in this world we see and touch, but in a deeper part at the core of our being, at the center of our
minds, at the center of our awareness, we experience this other sacred realm, and we partake of it, and we are it.
Meaning. The search for meaning in life has been a key theme in both spirituality studies as well as existential psychology.
Victor Frankl (1959) discussed the noölogical dimension of mankind, the innate motivation to find an overarching meaning
and purpose in life. Cremins (2000) cited the search “for meaning in life” as the most significant aspect of spirituality. Canda
(1990) viewed the spiritual as a person’s search for a sense of meaning and morally fulfilling relationships. Carroll (1997)
conceptualized spirituality as a relationship that fosters a sense of meaning, purpose, and mission in life. The psychiatrist
Andrew Sims (1994) proposed five domains to spirituality: meaning in life (what a person lives for), interrelatedness,
wholeness, morality, and awareness of God.
Interconnectedness. The term connectedness or its correlates have been used in almost all descriptions of spirituality
(Benjamin and Looby 1998; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Eckersley 2000; Neck and Millman 1994; O’Murchu 1998; Piedmont
1999; Reich 2000; Schneiders 2000; Van Ness 1996). Sass (2000) observed that spirituality, throughout the literature, has
been depicted as an emphasis on connection and integration rather than separation. Connectedness has often been portrayed
as recognition of the ultimate unity of all being, a sense that there exists an energy that transcends the categories and concepts
governing mundane material realm. Mitroff and Denton (1999) underscored the notion of connectedness when they
conceptualized spirituality as the basic desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in one’s life and to live an integrated life.
The Beyond. Inherent in most definitions of spirituality dwells the basic underlying belief that there is a supreme power,
being, or force that provides a purpose for everything and everyone. It is in connection with this “Beyond” that spiritual
experience occurs (Benner 1989; Schneiders 1989; Sims 1994). An authentic spiritual experience has often been described as
one accompanying a sense of awe, wonder, amazement, and joy.
The Beyond could mean many things—higher power, God, universal spirit or consciousness, or the totality of existence,
seen and unseen (McCormick 1994; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Sass 2000). Notwithstanding the myriad and essentially
subjective meanings given to the Beyond, it is clear from the interdisciplinary review of literature that this concept has been
viewed as one of the major pillars constituting spirituality.
Clark (1958) depicted a religious experience as the inner experience of the individual when he or she senses a Beyond.
The Beyond is one of the common themes shared in the depiction of both spirituality and religion.

Spirituality and Religion

The Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion (Reese 1999, 647) offers the following explanation for religion:

Religion—from the Latin “religare” (to bind back)—typically refers to an institution with a recognized body of communicants who
gather together regularly for worship, and accept a set of doctrines offering some means of relating the individual to what is taken to
be the ultimate nature of reality.

Several authors have sought to differentiate spirituality from religion. Shafranske and Gorsuch (1984) postulated that
spirituality transcends religious organizations or sectarian conventions or customs (also see Legere 1984). Current thinking
on the topic views religion as a vehicle that serves to nurture spirituality for many individuals by providing a road map to
comprehend and express their spirituality (Elkins et al. 1988; Ingersoll 1994). Spirituality, however, is not dependent on any
given form or guise of religion (Benjamin and Looby 1998; Hinterkopf 1994).
Zinnbauer et al. (1997) sought to unravel these distinctions between spirituality and religion through an empirical study.
They concluded that most people do distinguish between spirituality and religion, with spirituality being perceived as the
more personalized aspect of faith whereas religion is perceived as the more formalized and institutionalized manifestation of

Page 3 of 16
faith. There was, however, a lot of overlap in the way the concepts of spirituality and religion were viewed by the participants
in this study. Also, most participants described themselves as both religious and spiritual. In another study, Zinnbauer,
Pargament, and Scott(1999) found thirty-one definitions of religion (or religiousness) and forty of spirituality in social science
publications throughout the past century that were fairly evenly distributed over nine content categories. The authors
concluded that because of the immense overlap in human experience between spirituality and religion, it makes sense to
integrate them in scholarly studies. Some authors therefore have dealt with the two concepts together, referring to them as
religion/spirituality (Moberg 2002).
For the purpose of this article, we shall view religion as a “specific spiritual tradition usually emanating from some
foundational experience of divine or cosmic revelation . . . that has given rise to a characteristic way of understanding and
living in the presence of the numinous” (Schneiders 2000, 7). Religion is one of the principal ways with which to address the
spiritual needs of individuals. This viewpoint, although held by a majority of scholars, is not free of dissent. Zinnbauer and
his colleagues have argued for religion to be viewed as a concept wider in scope than spirituality (see Zinnbauer et al. 1997;
Zinnbauer, Pargament, and Scott 1999). This latter conceptualization has not attracted any visible support from other scholars
and has been criticized on conceptual grounds (cf.Moberg2002;Piedmont 1999;Reich 2000).
To reiterate, religion in this article will be viewed as a road map for spirituality, a road map that contains in its beliefs and
symbols the accumulated wisdom of those who have made the journey before us. Spirituality, in and of itself, does not have
to be predicated by any particular religion.

GLOBALIZATION

There seems to no single overriding definition of the term that can effectively explain all facets of the globalization
phenomenon and that satisfies everybody. Concurrently influential definitions of globalization include the integration of
markets, nation-states, and technologies on an unprecedented scale (Friedman 1999); the compression of the world and the
intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole (Robertson 1992); a recession of geographical constraints on the
world’s social and cultural arrangements (Waters 1995); the active dissemination of practices, values, technology, and other
human products throughout the globe (Albrow 1996); a process through which sovereign national states are crisscrossed and
undermined by transnational actors with varying prospects of power, orientations, identities, and networks (Beck 2000); and
a historical transformation in the economy (of livelihoods and modes of existence), in politics (a loss in the degree of control
exercised locally), and in culture (the devaluation of a collectivity’s achievements; Mittelman 2000).
To counter some of the confusion that surrounds the globalization phenomenon, Keohane and Nye (2000), two leading
political scientists, distinguished between globalism and globalization. Globalism, to Keohane and Nye (2000, 105), is “a
state of the world involving networks of interdependence at multicontinental distances,” whereas globalization and de-
globalization refer to “the increase or decrease of globalism.”
Heldetal. (1999) classified the various conceptualizations on globalization into three categories: the hyperglobalist,
skeptical, and transformationalist views. The hyperglobalists argue that we live in an increasingly global world where nation-
states are being subject to massive economic and political changes. These changes erode and fragment the nation-states,
diminishing their power and authority.
The skeptics resist the hyperglobalist view and argue that the contemporary global circumstances are not unprecedented.
Although they agree that there has been an intensification of international and social activity in recent times, the power of the
state has not been eroded, as the hyperglobalists like to think.
The transformationalists contend that globalization has created new economic, political, and social circumstances that
serve to transform state powers and the context within which states operate. They cannot predict the outcome of these changes
but assert that politics will no longer be based on nation-states alone. For the hyperglobalists, capitalism and technology drive
globalization; for the skeptics, states and markets are the drivers; and for the transformationalists, it is the combined forces
of modernity that have created the current unprecedented level of global interconnectedness. This article will address social
and cultural globalism largely from the transformationalist perspective. Because the focus of this article is on spirituality and
religion as they relate to globalization (or, more appropriately, to globalism), such perspective seems most appropriate. To
better appreciate how spirituality and religion affect and have been affected by the phenomenon of globalization, a brief
review of the evolution of globalization is in order.

The History of Globalization

The onset of the era of globalization, that is, when globalization exactly began, is an issue that is fiercely contested(for
different aspects of the historical perspective on globalization, see Maddison 1989; Krugman 1997; Rodrik 1997). Some

Page 4 of 16
world historians attach major significance to 1492 A.D. (when Christopher Columbus stumbled on the Americas in search of
spices) and 1498 A.D. (when Vasco da Gama made an end run around Africa) as watershed years that signaled the beginning
of globalization (Bentley 1996). Others equate globalization with rising Western influence or, to be more precise, with the
increasing American influence since the end of the Cold War (Friedman 1999). Still others, and possibly the majority, harbor
the notion of globalization as a new process driven by major technological advances in the transmission, storage, and
processing of information that started about two decades ago (Arrighi 1999).
Economists Frank and Gills (1993, 3) have argued that the process of globalization is nothing new: “The existence of the
same world system in which we live stretches back at least 5,000 years.” Majid Tehranian (1999) concurred that globalization
is a process that has been going on for the past 5,000 years but insists that it has accelerated since the demise of the Soviet
Union in 1991. Bentley (cited in Riggs 2000) has suggested a periodization, identifying some notable turning points in the
history of globalization such as the migration of Homo erectusfromAfrica500,000 to1millionyearsago,the domestication of
horses and the invention of stout watercraft around 4,000 B.C., the invention of the wheel around 3,500 B.C., the domestication
of camels around 3,000 B.C., and the establishment of sea lanes in the Indian Ocean around 500
B.C.
The argument regarding the long history of globalization has been more recently supported by Amartya Sen, the economics
Nobel laureate. Sen(2002) attested that the globalization process is at least a few thousand years old but that the West had a
minor role to play in its early phases. Until about 1,000 A.D., Sen observed, globalization was triggered by countries in the
East, not West. Then, as now, the process was accelerated with the aid of technology. Back then, the technology of the day
comprised paper and printing, the crossbow and gunpowder, the clock and iron-chain suspension bridge, and the wheelbarrow
and rotary fan (Sen 2002).
Based on this discussion, it appears that globalization has been in the making for eons, and what we are witnessing today
is a continuation of a long-standing trend, albeit with greater intensity. Management scholars, in particular, need to recognize
that the spurs to globalism—rationalization, capital, and technology—have been at play for centuries; what is distinctive
about them in the current period is their unprecedented speed and unprecedented extent (Scholte 2000). Friedman (1999)
distinguished between pre–World War I globalization and contemporary globalization. He argued that the new era of
globalization (in vogue for the past fifteen years or so), compared to the one prior to World War I, is “turbocharged.” Also,
although falling transportation costs drove globalization in the pre–World War I era, falling telecommunications costs are
what is driving globalization today.
Although the roles of technology and economic rationalization in propagating globalization are self-evident, there seems
to be little appreciation of how spirituality or religion have been instrumental in bringing about globalization (or affected by
it). To facilitate such understanding, the linkages among spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization deserve
scrutiny.

THE INTERCONNECTIONS

Through the ages, people’s religious beliefs have significantly affected the nature of economic activities within a society
(Mittelstaedt 2002). As technology opened up the possibility of conducting these activities across wider geographic distances,
the underlying religious tenets were sometimes modified to accommodate the new methods and actors involved in trade
(Stackhouse 2001). Religion and spirituality sometimes hindered the acceptance of new technologies (as is the case with the
beliefs of the Amish) or accelerated their propagation. The motivation behind consuming products that accelerate
globalization (e.g., the printing press or, more recently, the Internet) has been spiritual for many consumers. Some scholars
have asserted that both the quest for technology and the quest for globalization are spiritually motivated (Bauwens 1997;
Noble 1997; Friedman 1999). Noble (1997) observed, for example, that many of the important early engineers, particularly
in the United States, were Masons, and he described the development of a particular kind of millennialism—or at least a
secularized form of religious utopianism—among engineers that became secularized and formed the outlines of technical
movements such as artificial intelligence. Muldoon (2002) emphatically argued that our understanding of what is currently
happening will remain superficial so long as we conceive of globalization in purely material terms. He contended that
globalization is the result of a vision of the right order of the world, a vision inextricably linked to Western Europe’s Christian
past: “Globalization exists not only because Europeans created worldwide trade networks, but also because Europeans
conceived of all humankind as ultimately forming a universal community” (Muldoon 2002, 1). In essence, spirituality and
religion do not merely respond to globalization, but also have had a role in shaping the globalization process.

Page 5 of 16
Spirituality, Economics, and Globalization

Although some contemporary scholars in theology have viewed globalization as hindering authentic spirituality (cf.
Gaillardetz 2000; Groothuis 1997; Stackhouse 2000), spirituality and the process of globalization have, for the most part,
gone hand in hand, each shaping the course of the other. Through the ages and across civilizations, the overarching metaphor
for spirituality is that of a journey or a voyage. A journey or voyage entails leaving one land to go to another. Likewise,
globalization involves a foray into distant lands,literally,virtually,orsymbolically.Themetaphorofvoyagefiguratively
underscores the link between spirituality and globalization, a connection emphasized by mystics like Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin (1959) and, more recently, by social commentators such as King (2002) and Friedman (1999).
Spirituality and religion have played a key role in paving the path to globalization. The earliest knowledge to traverse
national borders has mainly been of the spiritual kind. Throughout millennia, religious evangelism has contributed as much
to foreign exploration and travel as has the hunt for gold or spices. For example, around 325 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya
became a Buddhist and combined the expansive powers of a world religion, trade economy, and imperial armies for the first
time. Around 1500 A.D., the Spanish exploration of South America was marked by a strong motivation for religious
proselytizing. Globalization has been fueled not just by the intercontinental exchanges of goods and services of the
commercial kind, but also has been aided and spurred by a desire to export religious ideologies by exchanging priests, monks,
and mullahs across the globe. We thus witness transnational religious organizations such as the International Society for
Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the Church of Scientology, and, most notably, the Vatican. Spiritual and religious goods
and services have been exported through the ages, thereby spreading Western religions to Asia and introducing Asian
practices such as yoga and Zen meditation to the Western world. Spirituality and religion have also indirectly affected the
globalization process through economics.
The relationship between spirituality and economic life has been ineffaceable through the ages, as has the relationship
between globalization and economic life. Throughout history, spirituality and religion have been integral to economic
activities. In hunting and gathering tribes, people have prayed for good hunts and safe return. In agrarian communities, the
culture has always been replete with rituals and prayers for plentiful rains and good harvests. Trading and fishing communities
have prayed for a safe and fecund voyage. Religion and spirituality have shaped the nature of trade by specifying days and
times of exchange, the commodities that can be exchanged, and with whom one might trade (Mittelstaedt 2002). As suggested
earlier, spirituality and religion have accelerated the globalization process in some instances but thwarted its progress in
others. Stackhouse (2001) contended that the basic morality that produced modern Western culture and that has been the
“mother” of globalizing technology, communication, economic productivity, and democracy is rooted in the Christian
theological tradition. Similar observations are echoed in other academic and popular literature (Friedman 1999; Spickard
2001).
Quite a few philosophers and social scientists view globalization as analogous to the spiritual quest. In his bestseller, The
Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman (1999, 338) wrote, “Globalization emerges from below . . . from people’s very
souls and their deepest aspirations.” Friedman’s “olive tree” symbolizes stability, home, and family (broadly interpreted as
the realm of the spiritual). Although visibly enthusiastic about the age of globalization, he wanted his readers to develop a
sense of God “in the olive groves of their parents’ home or their community, church, synagogue, temple, or mosque.”
Thomas King, a theology professor and Catholic priest, argued that Friedman’s observations regarding the connection
between spirituality and globalization are not unique (King 2002). As far back as 1920, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin made
similar comments in his writings. Teilhard’s writings significantly affected the thinking of future global economists and world
leaders including Michel Camdessus, formerly the managing director and chairman of the Executive Board of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States. Teilhard called globalization
the “deep-rooted religious movement of our age” (King 2002). His appraisal was based on the inherent similarity in the
evolutionary roots of globalization and in the mystics’ desire for the “All.” Teilhard’s interpretation of global integration as
a spiritually motivated phenomenon led him to accurately assess the sea of change that was to come. In the1930s, he wrote
about what he called “the planetization of mankind” and the “rebounding” and “unfolding” of humanity on itself (Sims 2000).
Globalization, Teilhard argued, was spurred by the same drives as the mystics’ yearning for interconnectedness and union.
“Teilhard used the vocabulary of mysticism to describe global developments in technology, industry politics, and the
environment,” reported King (2002, 25), “and the ardor of his texts has led to their being widely used for secular gatherings
on global subjects.” King’s study of the works by Teilhard and St. Ignatius of Loyola have led him to conclude that both these
spiritual luminaries made their mark as the early proponents of globalization in the truest sense; both envisioned a future
when “the consciousness of all [would be] working together in a task as great as the world itself” (Teilhard 1967, 285).

Page 6 of 16
Spirituality and Technology

The strong influence of technology in bringing about globalization is obvious. But not many appreciate the implicit
relationship between technology and spirituality. Long before Gutenberg developed the movable-type printing press to
publish large quantities of the Bible and other religious texts, the close relationship between religion and technology had been
in evidence (Man 2002). Religion and spirituality, it seems, have always exerted a strong influence on the invention and
diffusion of technology—both positively and negatively. Just as matters of the spirit helped our forebears understand and
adopt new technologies such as the printing press, they are doing so again in today’s digital world with broadcast satellites,
online prayer groups, and the Internet. Then, as now, the technology-religion interplay brought about new understandings of
religion, giving birth to novel religious and spiritual practices, and even sprouting new forms of religion.
Michael Bauwens (1999) went so far as to proclaim that “the technological quest is a spiritual quest.” In defense of this
bold statement, he explained that the quest for the transcendental is “wired” in the human psyche. Even if we are not spiritually
inclined in the traditional sense, he argued, we cannot help thinking about the “totality” of existence and eventual
transcendence. In explaining the transcendence motive in technological innovation, he wrote, “What used to be sought in the
supernatural [came to be] sought in material reality, and science and technology became a means to achieve transcendence.”
Bauwens’s ideas find support in David Noble’s The Religion of Technology (1997). Noble used historical critical methods
in deconstructing the evolution of technology. He demonstrated how the spirit-man, through Christianity, emboldened
Western culture to use technology for salvation. Through numerous examples, Noble went on to establish that technology
inherently carries out a spiritual program for immortality, a new heaven, and a new earth, thereby trying to compensate for
the “Fall” of man.
Bauwens (1999) offered three main propositions linking technology and spirituality: that technological development can
and does stimulate spiritual awareness, that spiritual development is necessary for technological development, and that
technological and spiritual transhumanism are not opposed to one another but should be integrated.
Margaret Wertheim (1999) offered similar observations in her book, The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. Cyberspace, she
contended, is indeed a realm in which people are seeking what used to be called paradise. Using the work of philosophers,
scientists, and theologians, Wertheim demonstrated how questions about what space is in religious and scientific contexts can
lead to great changes in how we see ourselves. Wertheim viewed the cyberspace as hallowed, a sacred space capable of not
just informing the mind but of nourishing the soul as well. The swelling numbers of self-confessed techno pagans on the Web
lends credence to Wertheim’s assertion. Bauwens (1997) made almost identical claims in the online magazine, Computer-
Mediated Communication:

Partly, the infinity that cyberspace creates, functions as an ideal mechanism for the projection of our fondest hopes and deepest fears.
It therefore generates an extraordinary amount of cultural energy, the fusion of techno-utopianism, the desire for the spiritual
liberation from the constraints of matter, and the end of the millennium fears for the end of the world.

These admittedly bold assertions from scholars—technocrats as well as philosophers—help us establish the sometimes
explicit and always implicit relationship between technology and spirituality. Spirituality and technology operate in tandem,
both influence one another, and both may be driven by the same motives. More importantly, both spirituality and technology
accelerate the pace of globalization!

TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY

We shall now explore five major facets of spirituality in the contemporary globalized era. These relate to the use of
spirituality and religion in reterritorialization, a worldwide quest among the trans-moderns to integrate spirituality in all
aspects of day-to-day life, the increasing individualization of spirituality, the enhanced manifestation of spirituality in
cyberspace, and the syncretization of spirituality.

Spirituality and Reterritorialization

In the midst of secularization trends, considered one of the main manifestations of globalization, spirituality and religion
have assumed growing a public role and visibility. Catholic priest and novelist Andrew Greeley (2001, 36) asserted, “Men
and women still want something in which to believe and to which to belong. They aspire to faith and community.”
Spirituality and religion fulfill these needs.

Page 7 of 16
 The dissolution and porosity of national borders pose a threat to the traditional collective identities of many people, which
in turn causes them to turn to religion to reclaim those identities. A well-delineated identity fosters psychological well-being
and happiness. Loss of identity results in the state of feeling “deterritorialized.”
Deterritorialization has been described as one of the main impacts of contemporary globalization on cultural systems
(Basch, Schiller, and Blanc 1994). Giddens (1999) has observed that globalization produces not only extensional but also
intensional change, leading to feelings of powerlessness and alienation. This is in contrast to the territorialization created by
modernity. In times of modernity, territorialization involved a superior power (typically the state) excluding or including
people within geographic boundaries and controlling transboundary access and exchange. Such territorialization provided the
citizens with stability and a feeling of being centered. The move away from modernity and toward contemporary globalization
seems to have upset the territorialization process (Berger, Berger, andKellner1973).
In his presidential address in the Sociology of Religion,
Casanova (2001, 426) explained,

By deterritorialization I mean the disembeddedness of cultural phenomena from their “natural” territories. Cultural systems
throughout history have been territorially embedded. . . . Globalization threatens to dissolve the intrinsic link between sacred time,
sacred space, and sacred people common to all world religions, and with it the seemingly essential bonds between histories, people,
and territories which have defined all civilizations.

Civilizations function not only as material entities of real people in real physical spaces but also as ideological and cultural
spheres that people draw on to establish and maintain their cultural identities, activities, and relationships. Disruptions of
geographical relocation and the dwindling role of the nation-state have now left increasing numbers of people feeling
deterritorialized.
But globalization also opens up new avenues for people to reterritorialize themselves. The vortex of time-place
compression created by technological advances allows people to forge links with kindred spirits across continents. The
deterritorialized can now harness technology to establish relationships with others perceived as instrumental in the reinforcing
of one’s identity. Internet newsgroups, mailing lists, virtual communities of every description, and the current trend in mass
media away from broadcasting and toward narrowcasting can all be explained at least partially as attempts at
reterritorialization.
Paths toward reterritorialization differ, but the quest is ubiquitous. Some seek reterritorialization through work groups,
support groups (single mothers, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the like), and all kinds of virtual groups designed to foster a
sense of community or to share information and ideas about some salient issue. With this segment, certain secular issues or
interests serve as a means of forging identity. Others, in increasing numbers, seek reterritorialization through religion. The
reason for choosing religion as the avenue for reterritorialization is that religion, until very recently, has been very much
community based and often served as a surrogate for nationhood. Al Seckel (1986, 3) wrote,

With very few exceptions, the religion which a man accepts is that of the community in which he lives, which makes it obvious that
the influence of the environment is what has led him to accept the religion in question.

Because religion and nationhood are for the most part rooted in geography, the loss of national ethos turns many to religion
as their primary source of identity.
The quest for reterritorialization through religion is often a frantic one manifesting as religious fundamentalism and
religious orthodoxy. Religious fundamentalism means going back to religious fundamentals within a particular orthodoxy of
thoughts and using basic religious beliefs to guide thinking and engagement in all aspects of contemporary life. Often, this
manifests into an obsessive preoccupation with rituals and religious scriptures, and intolerance, even hatred, toward
“nonbelievers.” Instances of such reterritorialization are evident throughout the globe; religious reterritorialists comprise a
vocal part of every country’s populace. As the pace of globalization quickens, the need on the part of religious reterritorialists
to make their presence felt will intensify. These sentiments have been echoed by Smart (1999, 15) who wrote,

While religions often preach tolerance and benevolence, they frequently emphasize otherness and hostility, which has contributed to
global tensions. Also, because tensions in one region are instantly known around the world, emigrants may become active and work
to strengthen the resistance movements at home, which exacerbates the original antagonism. . . . So globalization brings people
together, but it may also wrench them apart.

Page 8 of 16
 Of the 150 conflicts that have taken place between 1990 and 2002, only two have been international. More than thirty have
resulted in major wars, with 40millionpeoplekilledand more than 45 million refugees created worldwide. Religion has been
a primary factor in several of these conflicts. It stands to reason that the frequency of religious conflicts, both between religions
and among various factions of a religion, will amplify as intensified globalization continues to accentuate the feeling of
deterritorialization among the world’s population.

Spirituality and Transmodernity

Transmodernity is a new paradigm envisioned by the philosopher Enrique Dussel as one alternative to explain the emerging
global culture (see Dussel 1998). Transmodernism seeks to bring together the best of modernity and the inherited wisdom of
religious traditions. Marc Luyckx of the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission in Brussels supported Dussel’s
claim that the world is in a process of transition from modernity toward transmodernity—which means keeping the best of
modernity but going beyond it (Luyckx 1999). The shift toward transmodernity, scholars argue, constitutes an irreversible
process of the same magnitude as industrialization. The paradigm of transmodernity involves an affirmation of indigenous
values, wisdom, and traditions while adapting to a changing world.
Transmodernity is a negation of the fragmented life dictated by modernity. The late modern era boasted of the separation
of religion—and all matters spiritual—from government and public affairs. Spirituality was seen as something very private,
something to be left behind when people showed up for work or for participation in civic affairs. Governments and
corporations were supposed to be a-religious. The transmodern lifestyle, in contrast to the compartmentalization mindset of
modernity, recognizes the pivotal role of spirituality in defining a person’s identity; it challenges the arbitrary division of
people’s lives between public and private, secular and sacred. Transmoderns seek relief from the disjointedness imposed by
modernism. For instance, respondents in the study by Mitroff and Denton (1999) reported that attainment of their spiritual
needs was one of the major determinants of job satisfaction, leading the researchers to conclude that modern civilization
might have gone too far in separating spirituality from other elements of life.
Similar findings emerge from the research undertaken by sociologists Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson (2001). These
investigators have identified a large and growing group of people (albeit in mostly Western countries) whose consumption
patterns and lifestyles resonate the transmodern paradigm. Dubbed as cultural creatives, this group rejects the “more is
merrier” doctrine that so characterized the dominant “modern” ethos of our time. The cultural creatives share values grounded
in spiritual transformation, ecological sustainability, and a sense of community. In contrast to the narcissism often associated
with Generation X, they reject hedonism, cynicism, and materialism. They eagerly embrace altruism and self-actualization,
thus forging a new sense of the sacred that incorporates personal growth psychology, the spiritual realm, and service to others.
Ray and Anderson (2001) reported that around 50 million people in the United States alone could be categorized as cultural
creatives and that another 50 million reside in countries included in the European Union.

Page 9 of 16
With the transmoderns aspiring for greater integration of their fractured self, one would expect to see spirituality more
explicitly sought, expressed, and manifested in both the work sphere and the political sphere. Luyckx (1999, 972)
went so far as to assert that
the exclusion of spiritual and religious considerations from politics and public affairs is no longer appropriate, even though
the distinction between the two realms needs to be maintained. . . . [I]t now seems overwhelmingly likely that religion,
defined as organized spirituality—will play a weightier role in governance, and indeed individual spirituality will be an
increasingly important element of leadership in every domain.

Casanova (1994) offered similar observations, arguing that the renewed cultural accent on spirituality has enabled
religions to gain a new public relevance.
Faith Popcorn, a renowned futurist and author of Clicking (Popcorn, Marigold, and Bierenbroodspot 1996) and The
Popcorn Report(Popcorn 1991), also predicted that spirituality in the coming decade will become much more integral
to the daily lives of Americans as companies and employers begin scheduling meditation and spirituality breaks for
employees to pray or connect to the Beyond (Mattingly 2000). The transmodern spirituality envisioned by Luyckx
(1999), Ray and Anderson (2001), and others such as Lesser (2000a) has the potential to pave the way leading to
increased dialogue between Western and non-Western cultures. This will result in more syncretic forms of spirituality,
a trend that will be addressed later in this article.
Given the sharply different paths followed by those seeking reterritorialization through fundamentalist religion and
by those using the integrative approach of the transmoderns, there is also a great potential for conflict. Political scientist
Harlan Cleveland, commenting on the nature of religious conflict, said,
We believe the fault line is going to lie inside of the great religions, essentially between what are called, in various ways,
fundamentalists—people who take their position to be very important, and if other people don’t share that tradition, then
they’re infidels, outside the system, and “transmoderns,” those who believe that ancient tradition and current spiritual inquiry
lead to a greater spiritual tolerance of everybody else’s search for God. (Leach 1999)

Individualized Spirituality
Elizabeth Lesser (2000a, 21), author of The New American Spirituality, discussed the challenges and opportunities
offered to spiritual seekers in the globalized society. “The spirituality of the next millennium,” she wrote,

will not offer easy answers, miracle cures, or ten ways to get something for nothing. . . . Rather, seekers in the twenty-first
century and beyond will be given the opportunity to create a personal and practical synthesis of the world’s wisdom traditions
into a living theology that honors the full picture of human spirituality: our soul and our body, our mind and our heart, our
individuality and our communion with others. (Emphasis added.)

Observers of contemporary spirituality see a clearly visible trend toward spiritual values, principles, and practices
getting increasingly individualized. In his essay on contemporary Japanese spirituality, Inoue (2001) wrote that this
drive toward individualization has created a “user-oriented spiritual market.” He defined this new market as “a
situation in which each individual, in response to his or her personal values and sensibilities, considers, selects, and
tries out those elements which he or she finds most attractive and suitable from the mass of competing religions”
(Inoue 2001). Spiritual seekers, armed with unprecedented access to all kinds of spiritual products and information,
are making the most of the immense assortment available to them. These developments are taking place with the
concurrent worldwide trend toward product and program customization at the level of the individual.
Ninian Smart (1999, 16-17) commented, “Another element of globalization, which results in part from the spread
of education, is the strong nisus toward individualism. Evident in New Age thinking, it can also be seen in the various
dimensions of religion.” Traditional religion, a realm of the collective in many societies, now seems to be substituted,
at least in some parts of the world population, by a spiritual quest that is more individualized.
William Van Dusen Wishard (2000), president of World Trends Research, has made similar comments in his speech
at the Emery Reves Memorial Lecture series. “When we look at religions of the world what’s happening?” he asked.
“Massive fragmentation. In America alone, there are over 1,500 religions, including such contradictions as ‘Catholic
Buddhists.’ In a sense, religion is being privatized.” The fragmentation and customization we currently witness will
be further accelerated by technologies such as the Internet and interactive television, which enable every individual to
be a transmitter, receiver, and moderator of spiritual discourse.

Page 10 of 16
 Lesser (2000b) forcefully expressed the manifestation of twenty-first-century spirituality when she wrote,

The big difference is the movement away from an external authority figure and a movement toward an empowerment of each
seeker. It is not about being told what to do. It’s about each person deeply embodying the timeless spiritual teachings of love
and generosity in a personal and genuine way. It’s about becoming one’s own authority, so that our moral behavior and our
cosmic awe stem from the inside out. . . . The 21st century spirituality is just the time for spiritual seekers to be lamps unto
themselves— and beacons of light for others.

Ron Sellers (1998) looked at the growth patterns of various denominations among Christians throughout the past
few decades. He wrote,

The emphasis on the individual is one reason for the increase in Evangelical Christian denominations, often at the expense
of mainline Protestant or Roman Catholic churches. The Evangelical mindset focuses on personal change, personal
spirituality, personal salvation. Mainline Protestant groups often tend to focus more on societal change, and an emphasis in
Catholicism is the Church itself.

Cyberspace and Spirituality

An article recently posted on the Christianity Today Web site carries the title, “The Next Billy Graham May Be a
Robot”—an artificially intelligent Internet robot! As Internet technology and its popularity have increased, the
applications for Internet evangelism have as well. Ramo (1996) was among the first journalists to notice the impact of
the Internet on the spiritual marketplace. “Almost overnight,” he wrote,

the electronic community of the Internet has come to resemble a high-speed spiritual bazaar, where thousands of the
faithful—and equal numbers of the faithless—meet and debate and swap ideas about things. . . . It’s an astonishing act of
technological and intellectual mainstreaming that is changing the character of the Internet, and could even change our ideas
about God.

The author went on to quote Sherry Turkel, the MIT sociologist who proclaimed, “People see the Net as a new
metaphor for God.”
Spirituality & Health Magazine (“Survey Says Yes” 2001) reported a study by pollster George Barna that predicts
that by the decade’s end, more than 50 million Americans may be using the Internet as their sole means of having
religious experiences. For an ever-growing band of believers, the Internet has become a place where one can easily
find God. Web search engines now list millions of sites for seekers interested in religious/spiritual information, online
prayer requests, and newsgroups. An Internet search on Google recently conducted by the author picked up
morethan19 million Web pages for the word Christian, 2,130,000 for Islam, 660,000 for Hindu, 461,000 for Wicca,
and just fewer than 5 million for New Age. A similar search conducted on Yahoo produced more than 3 million pages
for the word spirituality and one and a half times as many for the word religion.
As the Internet transcends barriers of time and space, Web spirituality and Web religion enjoy an unprecedented
accessibility on a global scale. Operating online also allows long-established religious communities to reach non-
allied potential followers as never before. Besides, easy Web accessibility enables almost anybody to create new
circles of faith on the Internet. Brasher (2001) insisted that such events firmly solidify the place of religion in the wired
universe, along with commerce and communications, thus meeting the spiritual demands of Internet generations to
come.
In a detailed survey of Protestants using the Internet for religious and spiritual purposes, Bedell (2000) found that
more than 50% of the respondents used online information for information on religious traditions other than their own.
Besides providing information to spiritual seekers on a previously unimaginable scale, Internet technology also
enables them to worship remotely in an asynchronous as well as synchronous form. Helland (2003) classified Internet
religious and spiritual offerings into two categories: religion online and online religion. Religion online involves
traditional forms of communication on a Web site. Here, information is presented in one-to-many fashion with no
interactivity involved. Online religion, on the other hand, mirrors the ideal interactive environment on the Web and
allows for many-to many communication. The Web pilgrim visiting an online religion site can participate in online
prayer, worship, and even meditation. Thus, although religion-online sites provide spiritual information, online-

Page 11 of 16
religion sites provide information as well as opportunities for online spiritual practices. Some spiritual and religious
Web sites offer an impressive range of multimedia resources—quality images, Multimedia Flash presentations, real-
time Webcams, 360-degree panoramas, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, Web forms for prayers, and e-mail
addresses for pastoral care or prayer.
Another distinctive feature of the Internet is its inclusion or ability to reach those who may find it difficult to
participate in traditional communal worship. For instance, the White Crane Journal is an eclectic quarterly e-zine
devoted to gay men’s spirituality. Gay Muslims can find spiritual solace on Queer Jihad, lesbian Catholics can seek
solace at Conferens for Catholic Lesbians, and gay and lesbian Buddhists can derive spiritual inspiration at Buddha
Buddies. A survey by the Pew Internet and the American Life Project found that 25 percent of all adult Internet users
had gone online in search of religious and spiritual material (Stellin 2001). This figure surpasses the number of users
visiting gambling sites, visiting online auctions sites, or trading stocks on the Net.
The sheer magnitude and scope of spiritual materials and options available on the information superhighway seem
to imply that with proper regulation, the cyberspace activities of individual groups will take on the characteristics of
“free market competition” on a global scale. They also portend great transformations in the traditional structure of
historical religions (Inoue 2001).

Syncretic Spirituality

The final trend we shall discuss is somewhat related to the individualization of spirituality, and it incorporates the
effects of globalization and technology on spirituality. We shall call this trend the syncretization of spirituality.
Syncretism (Greek for draw together or combine), in a religious or spiritual context, involves the mixing of elements
from hitherto different and independent religious or spiritual traditions in the creation of a new belief system.
Syncretism has been evident in the new Japanese religions, most of which are based on elements taken from both
Shinto and Buddhism (Inoue 2001). In more recent times, Inoue observed (2001), we see aggressive borrowing of
various elements from Christianity, “primitive Buddhism,” Theravada Buddhism, and even American New Age
movements. “In extreme cases,” Inoue wrote, “the doctrines appear as little more than a ‘patchwork’ concoction
without coherence.” To date, about 40 million Japanese have been converted by these new religions.
The information age has made it very convenient to gain access to information regarding the teachings and
practices of various cults and religions. This ease of access encourages exploration and experimentation like never
before. In the United States, we see new attempts at syncretism typically involving a Christian base with teachings
borrowed from Hinduism, Buddhism, or other Eastern thought. Addressing the issue of spiritual syncretism in the
United States that has beenunderwaysincethe1960s, Albanese (2000,18)wrote,

It seemingly permeating everything, as polls showed one fifth to one-fourth of the American people embracing notions of
karma and reincarnation and speaking a cultural language that evoked New Age ways of talking—about the “universe,”
about “energy,” about self- and reality creation. Above all, it pointed the way to religious combination as the essence of its
spiritual form. New Agers freely borrowed and appropriated from a variety of traditions, and in turn invented their own....
[T]heir movement grew and transformed and continued into the twenty-first century.

Sellers (1998) cited “blending of faiths” as one of the major global trends in religion. He attributed this trend to the
worldwide mixture of peoples and faiths, and the ability to communicate across geographic lines. Sellers suggested
that syncretism is happening not just at the level of the individual but at denominational leadership levels as well. He
cited the example of some mainline Protestant groups who have incorporated Native American practices and
viewpoints into some of their celebrations.
Inherent in the new syncretic spirituality in the United States and elsewhere is the primacy of spiritual experiences
and spiritual experimentation. Through eclectic combination, an attempt is made to arrive at spirituality that is
meaningful for a particular individual or group. “The new spirituality full-blown among us,” Albanese wrote, “is less
shy . . . about its combinative tropes and figures. Americans today live in [a]pronouncedly mestizo religious culture;
in a Creole spiritual market place in which purists are everyday fewer and rarer” (2000, 19-20). Partly to counter this
do-it-yourself spiritual mélange, some traditional religious institutions in the United States are now broadening their
appeal through syncretism. Many mainline churches have yoga classes or teach meditation practices associated with
non-Western traditions.

Page 12 of 16
 Syncretism in spirituality is not unique to Japan and the United States. It is ubiquitous and gaining in magnitude
and intensity. The contemporary Latin American religious scene, for instance, is no longer monolithic or Catholic.
Rather, religious innovation and creative mixing of old and new symbols and practices (both indigenous and imported)
now adorn the spiritual landscape in Latin America (Smith and Prokopy 1999). India, with its predominantly Hindu
population and host to around 18 percent of the world’s inhabitants, has always exhibited syncretism in its spiritual
practices. Notwithstanding the recent attempts by some to reterritorialize in the name of Hindutva, the Hindu religion
has always been a fused tapestry, representing myths, signs, symbols, and practices inherited from different cultures
and appropriated at different points in time. Native Chinese in Mainland China as well as the widely scattered Chinese
diasporas have, for centuries, also exhibited heterodoxy in their spiritual practices and beliefs. Here, Confucian
philosophy has been seamlessly blended with Buddhist teachings and—more recently— Christian practices. Berger
(2001) alluded to similar trends in Europe, what researchers like Harvieu-Léger have called “bricolage” spirituality—
“people putting together a religion of their own like children tinkering with a lego-set, picking and choosing from the
available religious material” (quoted inBerger2001, 448). The process of spiritual syncretism—in vogue for hundreds,
even thousands, of years in some regions and for only a few decades in others—will only intensify with escalating
migration and ever-increasing access to information technology among all peoples of the world.

IMPLICATIONS

The five trends discussed above foretell the emergence of a new spiritual ecology that resonates the challenges,
opportunities, and influences of accelerated globalization. At a time when spiritual needs ascend in salience, the cross
fertilization of sacred ideologies, practices, and rituals have created a “spiritscape” like nothing we have experienced
before. The task for governments, civic bodies, policy makers, as well as corporations is to take cognizance of this
spiritscape in formulating appropriate policies and strategies. This is no easy undertaking because the spiritscape
evident today seems in a state of flux, intent on including all and sundry in some instances, and bent on exclusion in
others. Full of paradoxes and superficial contradictions, the global spiritual ecology needs urgent scrutiny. Each trend
evident in the contemporary spiritual landscape affects the quality of life of the world’s inhabitants as well as the role
traditionally played by governments in regulating markets.
Throughout the past decade or so, macromarketers have been increasingly concerned about the quality of life (QOL)
of consumers (Day 1992; Sirgy 1986; Sirgy and Lee 1996; Peterson and Malhotra 2000). QOL has been defined as
the general state of well-being experienced by society’s members (Morris, Sexton, and Lewis 1995). QOL studies
have been conducted at both macro and individual levels (Amato and Amato 2002), but the impact of spirituality on
QOL has been missing in both conceptualizations. Recent data from management disciplines and health sciences
suggest that spiritual fulfillment should be an important component of a person’s overall state of well-being (Mitroff
and Denton 1999; Fogel 2000). Fogel, the 1993 Nobel Prize winner in economics(and a self-confessed atheist),has a
argued that corporations and other social actors need to urgently address societal concerns such as the struggle for
self-realization, the desire to find a deeper meaning in life, and education for spiritual values.
The importance and urgency of spiritual well-being are likely to vary across various groups and societies.
Researchers working in the QOL domain, therefore, need to assess the salience of spiritual well-being to various
societies and incorporate spiritual satisfaction in their QOL scales accordingly. Reintegration of spirituality in
everyday life may change people’s very perceptions of what it means to have a quality life
(e.g., the cultural creatives).
This raises several questions worthy of further research. If spirituality is to become an important component of
people’s perceived life quality, and if people’s spirituality is to be increasingly individualized, can these issues ever
be assessed by objective QOL measures? Most probably, the ways of assessing QOL will need to embrace
ethnographic research. Or a combination of a spiritual satisfaction index (weighted according to salience) along with
the traditional objective QOL measures will provide a more accurate picture.
The role that religion has traditionally played in shaping the nature and conduct of marketing activities in society
has been alluded to earlier. Mittelstaedt (2002) argued that religion affects the activities of markets through political,
institutional, social, and competitive means. Religion, thus far, has exerted its authority on markets through the nation-
state. If the nation-state as the regulator of markets becomes less and less influential with increasing globalization, as
the hyperglobalists are prone to argue, who will then be in charge of exerting religious authority? From which religion
should such authority spring? Or will the influence of religion on market institutions and marketing progressively

Page 13 of 16
weaken? What impact would the lack of religiously oriented regulation have on the efficiency of markets? These are
all issues that the community of scholars will have to grapple with in the coming years. Religious scholars and
researchers need to engage in meaningful dialogue to assess whether some kind of transnational and transreligious
norms and ethics could guide global commerce. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights could
provide some guidance, but more specificity is needed to make the charter effective whereby it provides direction for
effective regulatory mechanisms. When market functioning is left to pure market mechanisms or to multinational
corporations or other powerful special interest groups, the QOL is likely to further deteriorate for a sizable portion of
the world’s already underprivileged inhabitants (Klein 1987; Hill 2002). Research and cross-disciplinary dialogue are
urgently needed so that Friedman’s (1999) “olive tree” would actually shelter those people experiencing the sweltering
heat of globalization.
Deterritorialization, an outcome of globalization, contributes to increased religious fundamentalism (Casanova
2001; Vasquez and Marquardt 2000). Advances in global communication have enabled deterritorialized diasporas of
various religious and ethnic groups to contribute to fundamentalist movements—morally, ideologically, and
financially. Activities on the part of fundamentalist groups to destabilize civil societies have a direct bearing on
marketing activities. Such disruptive activities violate the human rights of others. The September 11, 2001, attacks on
the World Trade Center and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali on October 16, 2002, are just two examples. Scholars
need to apply their knowledge of psychology and culture to suggest benign ways with which to deal with the rising
incidence of deterritorialization. How should globalization be promoted so that it does not pose a serious threat to
identity? What systemic mechanisms are needed to absorb the shocks of deterritorialization wrought by globalization?
These and other similar issues merit immediate attention.
Increasing globalization implies a greater incidence of cross-national segments for spiritual goods and services.
The Evangelical movement, for instance, has become truly worldwide. Seventy percent of Evangelical churches are
in non-Western nations today, compared with 30 percent in 1960 (Sellers 1998). Scholars of globalization could
contribute toward enhancing spiritual wellness and thus QOL by conducting studies whereby the main cross-national
segments of the spiritual marketplace are studied and profiled. This is a departure from the “comparative systems”
approach traditionally adopted by scholars wherein marketing systems between two or more countries have been the
focus of investigation. An orientation away from country-specific nuances and toward cross-national groups is needed
in the face of deterritorialization. This article suggests that matters of the spirit also be included in our assessment of
wellness.
Spirituality in cyberspace is another topic that needs further investigation. Pilgrims in cyberspace tend to exhibit a
very strong commitment to faith in comparison with the population at large (Larsen 2001). Itis important to understand
how the Internet as a channel of delivery for spiritual goods complements or affects the traditional communal channels
such as churches. What are the costs and benefits associated with online religion as opposed to the traditional channels
of delivery? Does online religion accelerate the deterritorialization process, or is it a response to deterritorialization?
Do consumers of online religion report greater satisfaction in the fulfillment of their spiritual needs as opposed to
those seeking the spiritual in more traditional outlets? These are important issues to further our understanding of the
relationship between delivery channels and perceived QOL in the spiritual domain.
Another issue worthy of introspection is how to ensure fair competition in spiritual e-commerce. Currently, the
wealthier traditions and denominations are paying large sums of money to appear as the first sites recommended by
various search engines. As the Web continues to expand, this feature will become even more relevant. Will financially
strong providers create a monopoly of sorts, thus restricting assortment at a time when spiritual consumers want more
choices and greater assortment? If so, what regulatory measures should be put in place to maximize consumer welfare?
The rising incidence of syncretic spirituality will influence the way in which traditional providers of religion
conduct themselves. Some mainstream religious groups have tried to modify their product mix by incorporating
elements of other religions or spiritual practices in their offering. Others have resisted this pressure to adapt and insist
instead on positioning themselves as the “real thing.” Among seekers of syncretic spirituality, some prefer readymade
syncretic solutions, whereas others adopt a do-it-yourself approach in choosing individual elements in beliefs or
practices and then blending them to form a customized spiritual program. How is the preference for syncretic
spirituality related to the culture of a society? Does syncretic spirituality at the individual level promote interfaith
dialogue at the national or global level? If so, can such dialogue offer constructive solutions to deterritorialization and
the rising tide of fundamentalism? It is important to reflect on these matters. Doing so will yield a richer understanding
of the nexus among spirituality, culture, deterritorialization, and the conduct of religious institutions in the

Page 14 of 16
contemporary spiritual marketplace. It will also bring a consumer behavior–based marketing perspective to the broader
issues of pluralism and multiculturalism, the defining systemic trends of our time.

CONCLUSION

Diana L. Eck (2001, 37) has written,

We cannot live in a world in which our economies and markets are global, our political awareness is global, our business
relationships take us to every continent, and the Internet connects us with colleagues half a world away and yet live on
Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday with ideas of God that are essentially provincial, imagining that somehow the one we call
God has been primarily concerned with us and our tribe.

The time has indeed come for scholars of spirituality and religion to wake up to the reality of present-day globalization
with its attendant technological, economic, and social changes. The societal changes brought about by this paradigm
shift have drastically affected the global spiritscape. History informs us that the new spiritscape will not simply react
to globalization; it will also shape the future of globalization.
In this article, I examined the links among spirituality, economics, technology, and globalization. I navigated an
interdisciplinary body of literature to uncover five main trends in contemporary spirituality. Each of these trends will
have an influence on various aspects of spirituality and religion— doctrines, philosophical aspects, ethical and moral
implications, experiential and emotional manifestations, social outreach activities, ritual and practical expression, and
mythic and narrative dimensions. The strong link between spirituality and overall well-being (or quality of life)
underscores the importance of these trends for everyone.
Spirituality and globalization are not divorced from each other in motives, as became evident in my discussion on
the writings of King, Teilhard, Friedman, Bauwens, Noble, and Wertheim. Teilhard, for instance, consciously took
spiritual phrases from contemplatives and mystics, and applied them to active life within the global context. His
concept of the “noosphere” was a vision of globalization and the Internet technology in one. This connection between
the spiritual quest and globalization, intuitively discovered by the early mystics, mandates a greater role for spirituality
in discourses on globalization. Spiritual seekers and economic rationalists are both drawn to the possibilities of
mammoth interconnectedness inherent in globalization. When they may differ or, more accurately, when they do differ
is in their attitude toward the consequences of globalization.
For the most part, the trends in spirituality we have discussed here augur well for the future of our planet.
Nonetheless, it behooves us all to pay heed to King’s (2002, 33) verdict on spirituality and globalization:

Globalization has become the defining reality of our times. Since it speaks to the soul, we can be contemplatives in action as
never before. We might consider again the vision of Teilhard so that the emerging world is shaped according to hungers of
the soul; otherwise, we will have created a soulless monster that will consume us.

REFERENCES
Albanese,C.L.2000.Thecultureofreligiouscombining:Reflectionsforthe new millennium. Cross Currents 50 (1-2): 16-22.
Albrow, M. 1996.The globalage: State andsociety beyondmodernity. Cambridge: Polity.
Amato, C. H., and L. H. Amato. 2002. Corporate commitment to quality of life: Evidence from company mission statements. Journal of
Marketing Theory and Practice 10 (4): 69-87.
Arrighi, G. 1999. The global market. Journal of World-Systems Research 5 (2): 217-51.
Bartunek, J. M., and M. K. Moch. 1994. Third-orderchange and the Western mysticaltradition.JournalofOrganizationalChangeManagement7(1):
24-41.
Basch, L. G., N. G. Schiller, and C. S. Blanc. 1994.Nations unbound:Transnational projects, postcolonial predicaments, and deterritorialized
nation-states. Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach.
Bauwens, M. 1997. Editor’s page. Computer-Mediated Communication 4 (April 1). http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1997/apr/toc.html
(accessed May 3, 2003).
———.1999.Isanewkindofbasisofsociety—the“cyber-sacred”—beginning to take shape? Cybersociology. http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/
magazine/7/rossi.html (accessed May 1, 2003).
Beck, C. 1986. Education for spirituality. Interchange 17:148-56.

Page 15 of 16
Beck, U. 2000. What is globalization? Cambridge: Polity.
Bedell, K. 2000. Dispatches from the electronic frontier: Explorations of mainline Protestant use of the Internet. In Religion on the Internet:
Research prospects and promises, edited by J. K. Hadden and D. E. Cowan, 183-204. New York: JAI.
Belk,R.W.,M.Wallendorf,andJ.F.Sherry,Jr.1989.Thesacredandtheprofane in consumer behavior: Theodicy on the odyssey. Journal of Consumer
Research16 (1): 1-37.
Benjamin, P., and J. Looby. 1998. Defining the nature of spirituality in the context of Maslow’s and Rogers’theories.CounselingandValues 42 (2):
92-100.
Benner, D. G. 1989. Toward a psychology of spirituality: Implications for personality and psychotherapy. Journal of Psychology and Christianity
5: 19-30.
Bentley,J.H.1996.Cross-culturalinteractionandperiodizationinworldhistory. American Historical Review 101: 749-70.
Berger, P. L. 2001. The 2000 Paul Hanley Furfey lecture: Reflections on the sociology of religion today. Sociology of Religion 62 (4): 443-54.
Berger, P. L., B. Berger, and H. Kellner. 1973. The homeless mind: Modernization and consciousness. New York: Random House.
Beyer, P. 1994. Religion and globalization. London: Sage. Brasher, B. E. 2001. Give me that online religion. San Francisco: JosseyBass.
Campbell, Joseph, and Bill Moyers. 1988. The power of myth. New York: Doubleday.
Canda, E. R. 1990. Afterword: Spirituality re-examined. Spirituality and Social Work Communicator 1:13-14.
Carroll, M. M. 1997. Spirituality, alcoholism, and recovery: An exploratory study. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 15 (4): 89-100.
Casanova, J. 1994. Public religions in the modern world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
———.2001.Religion,thenewmillennium,andglobalization.Sociologyof Religion 62 (4): 415-41.
Clark, W. H. 1958. The psychology of religion. New York: Macmillan.
Cremins,J.J.2000.Arewewiredforspiritualityforreligion?JournalofPastoral Counseling: 1-11. http://www.iona.edu/academic/arts_sci/orgs/
resiliency/cremins.htm (accessed April 5, 2003).
Day,G.S.1992.Marketing’scontributiontothestrategydialogue.Journalof the Academy of Marketing Science 20 (4): 323-28.
Dialmy, A. 2001. What does it mean to be religious? Social Compass 48 (2):
302-3.
Dussel, E. 1998. Beyond Eurocentrism: The world-system and the limits of modernity. In The cultures of globalization, edited by F. Jameson and
M. Miyoshi, 3-31. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Eck, D. L. 2001. A new religious America: How a “Christian country” has become the world’s most religiously diverse nation. San Francisco:
HarperCollins.
Eckersley, R. 2000. Spirituality, progress, meaning, and values. Paper presented at the Third Annual Conference on Spirituality, Leadership, and
Management, Ballarat, Australia, December.
Elkins, D. N., L. J. Hedstrom, L. L. Hughes, J. A. Leaf, and C. Saunders. 1988. Toward a humanistic-phenomenological spirituality. Journal of
Humanistic Psychology 28:5-18.
Fogel, R. W. 2000. The fourth great awakening and the future of egalitarianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Frank, A. G., and B. K. Gills, eds. 1993. The world system: Five hundred years or five thousand? New York: Routledge.
Frankl, V. E. 1959. From death-camp to existentialism. Boston: Beacon.
Friedman,T.L.1999.TheLexusandtheolivetree.NewYork:Farrar,Strauss and Giroux.
Gaillardetz,R.R.2000.Transformingourdays:Spirituality,community,and liturgy in a technological culture. New York: Crossroad.
Giddens,A.1999.Runawayworld:Howglobalizationisreshapingourlives. London: Profile Books.
Goldsmith, R. J. 1992. The essential features of alcohol and drug treatment.

Page 16 of 16