Religion, Spirituality, Pagan and New Age

What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Paganism and New Age? This is something I wanted to make a video about but I'm finding it difficult to put my words together. When I think of the word religion, I think of how people say that they do something "religiously". Do you go to the gym, religiously? Do you mow the lawn, religiously? It seems to mean dedication to a strict routine. So if you are religious, it seems to mean that you are someone who is faithful to a tradition. If you have a set of rituals that you practice on a routine basis, I would call this a religion. You might also have a certain dress code or dietry restrictions. Religion is not necessarily something imposed upon you by someone higher up. It is not necessarily a set of instructions in a book. It could be something you have decided for yourself, you could create your own religion. You don't need permission from the state to call what you do "a religion". So long as your religion doesn't break the law, it is none of the government's business.

In the 13th century, the word religion meant a "state of life bound by monastic vows." Ancient etymologists and modern writers have connected this word with Latin religare "to bind fast" in the sense of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." Fore this reason, I would say that a religious person is someone who has dedicated themselves to a certain way of life, someone who has made a commitment to follow certain customs and traditions. But what if you're a commitment phobe?

If you don't like the idea of following a routine, or making promises to obey certain rules and regulations, then you might not like the idea of religion. You might prefer to call yourself "spiritual, but not religious". So what does spiritual mean? The 14th century definition is "of or concerning the spirit", spirit being the "animating or vital principle in man and animals". So we're talking about the breath of life, your sense of feeling alive. When you're in high spirits it means you are feeling optimistic, elated, joyful, even euphoric. So spirituality seems to mean "the pursuit of happiness" or a certain state of mind where you feel good about life. You might achieve this sense of fulfillment by meditating, practicing gratitude, and doing good things for other people. You might find your spirituality while taking long walks in the forest, painting a picture, singing or chanting. You might find it by following a religion.

My local Spiritualist Centre in Christchurch, Dorset UK

Note that there is a difference between being "spiritual" and being "a spiritualist". A spiritualist is someone "who believes in the ability of the living to communicate with the dead via a medium," or someone who belongs to the religion of Spiritualism. This religion is currently practiced primarily through various denominational Spiritualist churches in the UK, Canada, and the US. It's the common confusion between spirituality and Spiritualism that makes me cautious about using these terms, because people round here tend to view the two as synonymous. I want to be clear that I'm not a Spiritualist, so I tend to avoid calling myself spiritual for this reason. Spiritualism is a fairly new religion, with established liturgies and training requirements for mediums. Does that make it New Age?

The term New Age has been used at various times since at least the 1840s, but in the second half of the 20th century it came to mean "a modern spiritual movement". If you describe yourself as New Age, it implies that you believe that a new era is dawning, also known as the Age of Aquarius. The psychologist Carl Jung wrote that "1940 is the year when we approach the meridian of the first star in Aquarius. It is the premonitory earthquake of the New Age." Gerald Gardner was supposedly initiated into a witchcraft coven in 1939, which lead him to cultivate his own coven in the 1940s. Therefore, I would regard modern witchcraft, or Wicca, as a New Age religion.

But Wicca isn't New Age, it's Pagan, right? Well I would say that modern paganism, or neopaganism, could be thought of as part of the New Age movement. Neopaganism is all about reviving or reinterpreting the ancient religions of our pre-Christian past, to bring the old ways back to life. A lot of our pagan past has been forgotten and is difficult to reconstruct, which requires some imagination to fill in the gaps. We might not want to turn the clocks back and live exactly as the ancients did, but we could be inspired by their way of life, and incorporate some of their wisdom into our daily practices. One aspect of the pagan past is the fact that it was pre-industrial and therefore there was much less pollution, and a much lower population. The green and wild pagan paradise is something we long to recreate today. Not many of us are willing to abandon our mobile phones and laptops, but we want to find a way to live a greener life, a more sunstainable way of life. The New Age that we foresee is one of sustainable living, green ecological initiatives, and social equality.

Whether you believe the constellation of Aquarius has anything to do with it or not, it's true that times are changing. We have entered an age of religious and spiritual freedom, where the old religions may be brought back to life, and a multiplicity of once forgotten gods and goddesses are worshipped once again. Being part of this new spiritual movement, you might take an interest in one specific ancient culture that you wish to revive. You might take inspiration from several pagan religions, forging an eclectic path. It could be that you're more interested in the future than the past, and look to creating new ways of doing things. You might not like the term "New Age" because of the stereotypes associated with it, but a stereotype is not a true representation of the diversity of beliefs and practices in modern spirituality. You are free to explore the religions of the world because we live in an age of information. Never before have we been so well informed, because never before has education been so easily accessible. This is why I believe in providing free information and encouraging critical thought, because the more we learn and contemplate, the better equipped we are to make wise decisions for our future.