Progressive Spirituality

A summary of:
Lynch, G. (2007). New Spirituality: An Introduction to Belief Beyond Religion. I.B.Tauris: London.
Introduction
& Chapter 1 – The Roots of the New, Progressive Spirituality

There is a job with the thought of taking traditional spiritual practices – similar Buddhism, Sufism, Christianity, etc. – in addition to extracting implications for modern technology, namely that they are results of exclusively dissimilar worldviews, in addition to thus don’t ‘speak’ peculiarly good to i another. This is non to say that traditional spirituality is irrelevant when nosotros consider contemporary human values in addition to how they are realized inwards our technology; but it makes a neat bargain to a greater extent than feel to contextualize modern applied scientific discipline inside a modern spirituality.

I tin forcefulness out predict objections to this approach: Modern spirituality is influenced past times – maybe corrupted past times – modern technology, in addition to if we’re trying to learn to a greater extent than spiritual technology, nosotros ought to decouple them inwards club to in addition to then create something new. To remember that nosotros could always stride exterior our worldview similar this, however, is naïve. We should seek to empathise contemporary human values that own got arisen amongst the evolution of technology, in addition to aim to vault these values to the overstep of our priorities when developing technology. And inwards the words of Szerszynski (quoted inwards an before post), “So the task of applied scientific discipline critique cannot endure to escape historical conditioning; this indeed would endure in i lawsuit once to a greater extent than to reproduce the hope of modern applied scientific discipline to overcome finitude. Instead, the really embracing of our historical conditionedness, in addition to ultimately of our embeddedness inwards the ongoing transformation of the sacred, tin forcefulness out itself endure seen every bit an anti-technological move, a negation of the negation of finitude. Such an embracing must involve a greater awareness of the way nosotros are constituted past times our past. And the dot of such awareness cannot endure to overcome our conditionedness, to turn down what is handed us past times the past; such is the impossible dream of Enlightenment. Instead, the task must endure to have that past times to a greater extent than consciously in addition to responsibly” (174). In other words, nosotros should neither seek to furnish to before forms of spirituality – this makes no feel in addition to is non possible – nor forcibly drag it into the future, into our technologies; rather nosotros should empathise how this spirituality has changed over time, how it is now, in addition to apply that agreement to a critique of our electrical flow technologies.

This brings us to Lynch in addition to his notion of Progressive Spirituality. Lynch argues that history has produced a contemporary spirituality, “the emergence of a item ideology, a progressive spirituality, which is forming the footing for these novel forms of religious identities, a diffuse view of tolerance in addition to openness amongst religious liberals but arises out of item concerns in addition to is organized roughly a mutual fix of clearly identifiable values in addition to beliefs. Progressive spirituality is a item way of agreement the public shared (20) past times individuals in addition to groups across in addition to beyond a gain of religious traditions, who seek to empathise their item tradition in addition to commitments through the lens of progressive spirituality’s basic assumptions” (21).

What are these basic assumptions? “Firstly, it ordinarily indicates a commitment to agreement in addition to practicing faith inwards the calorie-free of modern knowledge in addition to cultural norms…. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 minute defining characteristic of ‘progressive’ faith is a sympathy with, in addition to oftentimes active appointment in, light-green in addition to left-of-center political concerns” (19). And further, the notion of God has morphed straight off into what Lynch calls ‘Moralistic therapeutic deism’: “This perspective tin forcefulness out endure summarized every bit the credo which asserts that in that place is a God who watches over the Earth, that God wants people to endure expert to each other (as each public faith teaches), that the dot of life is to endure happy in addition to to experience expert nearly oneself, that God does non demand to endure involved inwards one’s life unless i has a job in addition to that expert people learn to sky when they die” (5).

And how did this novel spirituality develop? What are the roots of Progressive Spirituality?

“…it has emerged out of 4 fundamental concerns: the wishing for an approach to faith in addition to spirituality that is appropriate for modern, liberal societies, the rejection of patriarchal forms of faith in addition to the search for religious forms that are authentic in addition to liberating for women, the movement to re-sacralize scientific discipline (particularly quantum physics) in addition to contemporary theories of cosmology), in addition to the search for a nature-based spirituality that volition motivate us to effort to avert the impending ecological catastrophe” (10).

I am peculiarly intrigued past times the 3rd of these, because it relates to Wertheim’s assertion that the soul has been squeezed out of our public past times modern science. Lynch echoes this, referencing Bishop John Robinson who argued that whereas people used to remember that God was, if non ‘up there’, at to the lowest degree ‘out there’, but, “Such a concept, Robinson argued, was no longer tenable inwards an historic catamenia of scientific in addition to psychological discovery, inwards which no domicile for God could endure constitute inwards the universe in addition to the suspicion grew that the God ‘out there’ was every bit much a projection of the human hear every bit a metaphysical reality” (29). But it seems the soul seems to endure leaking through, adapting past times changing shape. (This is the phenomenon described past times Szerszynski, too, every bit ‘new sacralizations’.)

Some mightiness dismiss novel sacralization of scientific discipline every bit petty to a greater extent than than a semantic shift, a poetic interpretation (not helped past times the linguistic communication invoked inwards industrial plant such every bit Capra’s The Tao of Physics). But scientific uncovering is inwards many respects validating traditional spiritual wisdom, making spirituality relevant again, if understood straight off inwards scientific damage (e.g. ‘energy’). Quantum physics, for example, affirms the notion of interconnectedness of the universe, from which nosotros tin forcefulness out clit moral in addition to spiritual implications. For example,

“In 1980, the quantum theorist David Bohm published Wholeness in addition to the Implicate Order, inwards which he argued for the demand for a novel scientific in addition to cultural public view which emphasized the harmony in addition to interdependence of all reality. Such a public view, Bohm suggested, could emerge out of the recognition of the mutual soil of reality – a higher-dimensional implicate club which organizes the enfolding in addition to unfolding cosmos – a grounding reality that draws together in addition to sustains all that exists” (31).

Another unintended effect of progress inwards scientific discipline is that, according to Catholic eco-theologian, Thomas Berry, “contemporary scientific discipline is foremost to offering a novel even out of the universe every bit an emerging, meaningful, creative procedure that tin forcefulness out serve every bit the footing of an ecologically oriented moral in addition to spiritual life” (31). If nosotros are co-creators, nosotros own got responsibility; it is upward to us to create a sky on earth. Thus, the “perilous selection currently facing humanity betwixt a Technozoic era of self-destructive environmental exploitation for the sake of economical gain or an Ecozoic era based on witting administration of relations inside the ecosystem for the (31) do goodness of the whole” (32).

And furthermore, scientific uncovering is now, ironically, weakening materiality in addition to reinforcing subjectivity (making Heelas et al’s ‘subjective turn’ a sensible cultural shift). “As Fritjof Capra states, ‘whatever nosotros telephone band a purpose is simply a pattern that has some stability in addition to hence captures attention’. What nosotros perceive every bit real, stable objects are, to occupation Capra’s phrase, multiple manifestations of the dynamic in addition to unfolding trip the calorie-free fantastic of cosmic unloosen energy inwards which forms emerge, disintegrate in addition to and then shift into other forms” (33). The lesson inwards this is that in that place is flexibility inwards our designs, exactly because, every bit Lanier said, computers don’t actually exist, so nosotros tin forcefulness out brand them whatever nosotros want. We should realize that nosotros are non victims, because nosotros are at to the lowest degree partly responsible for our world…. so let’s learn inwards better!

The roots of Lynch’s Progressive Spirituality surely implies that older spiritual / religious traditions are increasingly irrelevant to modern living: “The information of contemporary life no longer fits the epitome of traditional religion, in addition to this creates pressure level for a novel spiritual epitome to endure developed which takes amend job organization human relationship of contemporary experiences, values in addition to concerns” (24). In that case, it hardly makes feel to forcefulness onetime spirituality on modern technology. But in that place is a possible pathway betwixt Progressive Spirituality in addition to to a greater extent than spiritual technology.

The irony, of course, is that changing technology, making it to a greater extent than spiritual (i.e. incorporating Progressive Spirituality into its design), volition inevitably alter the nature of this contemporary spirituality. These ii variables are intertwined, in addition to inwards flux, which agency that the task of making applied scientific discipline ‘spiritual’ volition never endure done. But nosotros tin forcefulness out commit to keeping attuned to changes inwards the spiritual milieu in addition to adapting applied scientific discipline to suit this environment.