Today, 24 percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual but not religious." (Newsweek, Sept. 5, 2005).  The majority are clearly spiritual idealists who avoid pinning a label to their beliefs for a number of valid reasons.  Yet the costs are high:  isolation, invisibility, and ineffectiveness within the culture at large.  (See Case for Revival.)

But what if we collectively decided to embrace a fitting emblem?  What if we regarded the term we use to describe our spiritual beliefs not as ego-driven "labeling," but as soul-inspired empowerment?

What if the 24 percent of Americans who say we are "spiritual but not religious" -- the same 50 million of us counted by sociologists as Cultural Creatives, the 50 million of us who operate from the idealistic assumption that we are all one -- simply stood up and said, "I am New Age?"  

We would certainly no longer be invisible.  But would this simple act of self-identification really make a difference?

The Magic of Knowing Who You Are

Idealism is based on the principle that everything that exists, including ourselves, is a manifestation of a greater spiritual reality. Thus, from the idealistic perspective, salvation quite literally lies in the recognition of who you are. 

This essential truth has been repeated throughout history by Hindu sages, Taoist monks, Zen masters, Greek idealists, mystics and storyteller.  (Remember the story of the Ugly Duckling?) We have been taught over and over that learning who you are -- and owning who you are -- is the path to salvation, the path to authenticity, the path to power.

Quite literally, the way we define ourselves sets the framework of possibility that forms the structure of our lives. It provides the context from which you make your decisions.  It provides the underlying values which give you a sense of direction, and the meaning for your actions.  It literally places you on the map of life, lets you know where you are and why you’re there.

To define oneself as an idealist is to discover a firm sense of values and direction toward spiritual priorities and holistic living. But even though millions of us hold these values, and face the same direction, we do not identify with the word “idealist.” We do not, in fact, identify with any word at all beyond “spiritual,” a word which applies equally to any dualist or even a materialist with a decent respect for mystery.

Obviously, to call ourselves spiritual will not do the transformational trick. We do not really yet know who we are until we see ourselves in specific context. Until that moment, we cannot truly tap into the power of identity.

The benefits of boundaries

Taking on any label, as most idealists know, can be a limiting proposition. Yet, the limits of a specific identity can also confer magical advantages.

We might understand it better through the metaphor of water.  Without a limit to contain it, water just lies there in an inert, seeping puddle.  But put barriers alongside the water, and it gains the ability to form a stream or a river and gain movement.  A definite boundary is what allows a river to flow, and grow in power, and provide life-giving sustenance to the surrounding environment.

Or, we can use the metaphor of music.  In an orchestra, many different instruments play different notes, but there is a score that limits the playing of any note at any moment.  The specific score creates a sensible pattern to the notes, allowing them to exist in harmony.  

Or think of traffic. I always marvel at the process of driving, and how a multitude of strangers who have never met are able to move together at high speeds down a highway, a feat of remarkable cooperation. It is a beautiful and incredibly effective social agreement.  We each, at separate times and places, agreed to take on the limiting rules of the road because those rules allow us all to get where we are going without careening into each other.  This social agreement has led to a positive feedback loop:  The more we use the system of roads, the more roads are built, and the more places we can go.

By taking on the identity of “New Age” we can gain all the advantages conferred by limits without giving up our freedom. We will continue to walk our individual paths, but our shared understanding of “the rules of the road” allows us to move more quickly.  Helpers will pop up more often, more new doors will open.  By identifying with others on a similar path, we can more easily see a sensible pattern to our lives, and help each other grow in power.

In other words, when we identify with others like us, we create what the authors of Presence call creating a “social field,” allowing us to tap into the energy of community.    

The social field

Anyone familiar with New Age literature has undoubtedly read descriptions of the universe as a field of energy that connects everything within it to everything else. Different writers from different disciplines will assign aspects of this field different names.

The biologist Rupert Sheldrake talked about the “morphic field,” an organizing intelligence within organisms -- whether that organism is a cell system, an animal system, a human system or a social system.  Or, from the discipline of physics, we find David Bohm theorizing an “implicate order,” which he described as a “language” that arises from reality, allowing different parts of the universe to communicate with each other.

Looking from within the discipline of psychology, Carl Jung identified the “collective unconscious” which connects all individuals and explains shared instincts and common experiences such as particular dreams. Meanwhile, the inventor Buckminster Fuller identified the abstract principle that holds everything together as “pattern integrity.”

What these disparate thinkers are telling us is that a group is greater than the sum of its parts. Whenever we join with others in a shared identity, and mutually agree to operate using the same set of ideals or “language,” we create a social field that becomes a generative source for everyone within it.  This field gathers us up, invisibly connecting us.  And within this growing network of connections, we are empowered by the law of “increasing returns,” through an ever-growing series of positive feedback loops. 

History shows us ample evidence of this group dynamic, with Christianity as the most vivid example of a shared identity causing the widespread embrace a revolutionary new paradigm. If we idealists were to do the same as the early Christians once did, publicly stand by our vision of a better world in spite of the critics and naysayers, then the future we envision would inevitably begin forming itself, much like a genetic code that guides the growth of a child from within.

But of course, most idealists understand this.  The question for us is not whether it would work.  The question for us is:  Can the aggressive individualists of the New Age bring themselves to accept a label and join a community?

Individuality vs. community

It pretty much goes without saying that there is a symbiotic relationship between the individual and community, with strong individuals enriching the community through their contributions, and strong communities able to better support the individual.

Spirituality has traditionally been a community-centered enterprise.  Buddhism has the “sangha,” the community of practitioners, Islam has the “ummah,” the body of believers.  Indeed, as noted above, Christianity was able to take over the world through strong identification with the community, through accepting their fellows as “brothers and sisters” in the body of Christ. 

Unfortunately, traditional religious communities often sacrifice the individual side of spirituality in favor of tight control, alienating many otherwise spirit-filled people, and causing them to strike out on their own.  

Yet even though we might feel ourselves better served by the individual path, a solitary wanderer often feels bereft of meaningful community. We are, after all, social creatures, and the more evolved we are, the more we understand our interconnection to each other and the more our social impulse grows.

It is one of the great dilemmas of spirituality -- the tension between the impulse of self-assertion toward individuality and the desire for self-surrender and commitment to the greater good.  Spiritual seekers have been trying to resolve this tension for millennia. Fortunately, idealism can help us find balance, and allow us to better serve both sides of our nature.

Unlike other identities which sees the individual as small or insignificant or accidental or unworthy, New Age idealism helps us honor the individual through the understanding of each of us as an integral part of the whole.

Here is an identity in which the individual and collective can finally find balance. Becoming part of the New Age community gives us the ability to soothe the isolation -- without undermining the freedoms -- of individuality. It allows to us to find balance between solitude and society.  It is a spirituality of individual epiphanies and common ideals.

Okay, so let’s say we can all agree there are great advantages in belonging to a community.  The question remains, why should we call this community “New Age?”

The term has been maligned and misused and misunderstood to the point it no longer carries the meaning it once did.  So why not let it die?  Why not find a better emblem?

Go back to Why "New Age" Is Still the Right Emblem.