Self religion explained

A self religion (or self-religion) is a religious or self-improvement group which has as one of its primary aims the improvement of the self.^[1] The term "self religion" was coined by Paul Heelas^[2] and other scholars of religion have adopted/adapted the description. King's College London scholar Peter Bernard Clarke builds on Heelas's concept of self religion to describe the class of "Religions of the True Self".

Scope

Hanegraaff notes that "self religion" may equate to New Age spirituality in general. Author Michael York writes, "If 'self-religion' means personal exegesis and selection by the individual, the general rubric is applicable to trends in the late modern/early postmodern transition, which encompass much more than simply New Age and Neo-pagan religiosities." Eileen Barker, in her 1999 book New Religious Movements: their incidence and significance, said that they were "toward the New Age end of the NRM spectrum". Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religion, describe "self religion" as "a deep but vague and unorganized interest in the sacred".^[3]

Examples

Groups characterized as (or associated with the concepts of) self religions or "religions of the True Self" include:

• Arica
• the Emin Foundation
• est^[4] has been called "the most important of the self religions"^[5]
• Exegesis (an est-offshoot)
• The Gurdjieff Work. Heelas traces some self-religions to the tradition of Gurdjieff:
• Insight Seminars
• Landmark Forum (a derivative of est)
• the Life Training (Kairos Foundation)
• Mind Dynamics
• Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA)
• Rastafari
• LaVeyan Satanism
• the School of Economic Science
• the Church of Scientology is characterized by Heelas as "one of the best known self-religions"
• Silva Mind Control

Notes and References

1. Chryssides, pp. 290–291.
2. For example in
3. News: Europeans forge new religious paths Boomers tilt traditions to fit their needs. Larry. Witham. Washington Times. March 11, 1996. A.12.
4. est features prominently in Heelas's "Western Europe: Self-Religions" article: as an influential movement. Heelas writes in his very first paragraph: "And the founder of est (the highly influential seminar training established by Erhard in 1971) observes that, 'Of all the disciplines that I studied, and learned, Zen was the essential one.'" (page 167). And Heelas goes on to discuss est and Erhard a few pages later: "No European city comes anywhere near the 'one out of 34 adults have taken est' figure provided by this organisation for Boston. [...] To the extent that Erhard, for example, is a latter-day Gurdjieffian (it is surely not a coincidence that he devotes himself to what he calls 'The Work') he can appeal to a similar clientele as those attracted to the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man." (page 172).
5. News: Professionals fall prey to New Age gurus. Ray. Clancy. The Times. London (UK). July 21, 1992.