Self religion

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Religion which focuses on improvement of the self

title: "Self religion" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["self-religions", "new-religious-movements"] description: "Religion which focuses on improvement of the self" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_religion" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Religion which focuses on improvement of the self ::

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. The term "self religion" was coined by Paul Heelas For example in {{Citation | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | year = 1991 | contribution = "Cults for capitalism? self religions, magic and the empowerment of business | editor-last = Gee | editor-first = Peter | editor2-last = Fulton | editor2-first = John | title = Religion and power, decline and growth: sociological analyses of religion in Britain, Poland, and the Americas | location = Twickenham | publisher = British Sociological Association, Sociology of Religion Study Group | isbn = 0-9517224-0-9 |last= Clarke |first= Peter Bernard |title= New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ic0UlDN9Nn8C |access-date= 2010-05-22 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-25748-0 |page= 8 |quote= Looking at the situation from West to East, one kind of spirituality that is increasingly sought after in the former concept is the [...] inner-directed or internally focussed spirituality that gives rise to what, building on Heelas' (1991) concept of Self-religion, I prefer to describe as Religions of the True Self.

Scope

Hanegraaff notes that "self religion" may equate to New Age spirituality in general. | last = Hanegraaff | first = Wouter J. | author-link = Wouter Hanegraaff | editor-last = Woodhead | editor-first= Linda | editor-link = Linda Woodhead | year = 2004 | title = New Age Religion | journal = Religions in Modern World: Traditions and Transformations | page = 300 | publisher = Routledge | quote = [...] New Age spirituality has indeed sometimes been dubbed 'self religion'(Heelas, 1996). 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." | last = York | first = Michael | s2cid = 144973113 |date=October 2001 | title = New Age Commodification and Appropriation of Spirituality | journal = Journal of Contemporary Religion | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | pages = 361–372 | doi = 10.1080/13537900120077177 | quote = 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. | last = Barker | first = Eileen | author-link = Eileen Barker | publication-date = 1999 | contribution = New Religious Movements: their incidence and significance | editor-last = Wilson | editor-first = Bryan R. | editor-link = Bryan R. Wilson | editor2-last = Cresswell | editor2-first = Jamie | title = New religious movements: challenge and response | publisher = Routledge | pages = 15–32 [17] | date = 1999-05-05 | isbn = 978-0-415-20050-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iA7yQENNCmQC | quote = It is not impossible – indeed, as one moves toward the New Age end of the NRM spectrum, it is quite common – for individuals to have overlapping memberships, happily hopping from one 'self-religion' to another. It would not be impossible for committed seekers in California, Amsterdam or Highgate to spend twenty minutes in Transcendental Mediation each morning before embarking on their Tai Chi, then going on to attend a channelling session on Monday, to meet with their Co-counsellor on Tuesday, have an Alexander lession on Wednesday, watch an Osho video on Thursday and participate in a Forum Seminar throughout the weekend. Two months later one might find them chanting 'Hare Hrishna', 'Om Shanti' or, perhaps, 'Nam Myoho Renge Kyo'.}} Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist of religion, describe "self religion" as "a deep but vague and unorganized interest in the sacred".

Examples

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

  • Arica | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [168] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = [...] such neo-Gurdjieffian movements as Arica [...] | access-date = 2010-05-22
  • the Emin Foundation | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [168] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = [...] such neo-Gurdjieffian movements as [...] the Emin Foundation [...] | access-date = 2010-05-22
  • estest features prominently in Heelas's "Western Europe: Self-Religions" article: {{Citation | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | pages = 167–173 | date = 1991-10-01 | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | access-date = 2010-05-22 has been called "the most important of the self religions"
  • Exegesis | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [169] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = Mention of the self-religion which I know best, namely London-based Exegesis, serves to introduce one such contributor. D'Aubigny, the leader, has had an office devoid of books, except the collected works of Jung. | access-date = 2010-05-22 (an est-offshoot |last= Heelas |first= Paul |author-link= Paul Heelas |title= The New Age movement: the celebration of the self and the sacralization of modernity |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lBC5UHkEFXkC |access-date= 2009-09-24 |edition= reprint |year= 1996 |page=59 |publisher= Wiley-Blackwell |isbn= 978-0-631-19332-6 |quote= Furthermore, and perhaps more significantly, est has served as an important model for other Self-movements. est graduates, together with those otherwise involved with Erhard, have moved on to develop their own seminars.[...] In 1977, est graduate Robert D'Aubigny founded Exegesis in Britain. )
  • The Gurdjieff Work. | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [168] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = The great majority of the self-religions active in Europe owe their immediate ancestry to developments in the United States. Going back a step, however, these developments in turn largely derive from events in Europe. One event, above all others, stands out: Gurdjieff's establishment, in 1922, if the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. [...] Gurdjieff's Institute paved the weay for what was to follow. [...] ASll the basic ingredients of the self-religions are [...] in evidence. As well as provoking what was to come, Gurdjieff's 'The Work' is still alive and well. [...] Between five and ten thousand attend centres [in England] (including the Gurdjieff Ouspensky School), and then there are those attached to such neo-Gurdjieffian movements as Arica, the Emis Foundation (700) and the School of Economic Science. | access-date = 2010-05-22 Heelas traces some self-religions to the tradition of Gurdjieff: | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [168] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = Gurdjieff provided the (often) group contexts, complete with rules and techniques, to effect transformation. All the basic ingredients of the self-religions are thus in evidence. [...] and then there are those attached to such neo-Gurdjieffian movements as Arica, the Emin Foundation [...] and the School of Economic Science [...] | access-date = 2010-04-03
  • Insight Seminars |last= Clarke |first= Peter Bernard |title= New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ic0UlDN9Nn8C |access-date= 2010-05-22 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-25748-0 |page= 33 |quote= [...] the Rajneesh movement [...] developed a psycho-spiritual therapeutic system founded on ideas of, and ways of realizing, the True Self, derived from Eastern spirituality, and on the 'new' and as yet fringe developments in psychotherapy in the West. Other similar movements include [...] Insight [...] | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [170] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = [...] the great majority of self-religions [...] These are the est-like movements [...] – the Church for the Movement of Inner Spiritual Awareness/Insight, Self Transformation, the Life Training/the Kairos Foundation, Relationships and the like. | access-date = 2010-05-22
  • Landmark Forum | last = Barker | first = Eileen | author-link = Eileen Barker | publication-date = 1999 | contribution = New Religious Movements: their incidence and significance | editor-last = Wilson | editor-first = Bryan R. | editor-link = Bryan R. Wilson | editor2-last = Cresswell | editor2-first = Jamie | title = New religious movements: challenge and response | publisher = Routledge | pages = 15–32 [17] | date = 1999-05-05 | isbn = 978-0-415-20050-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=iA7yQENNCmQC | quote = It is not impossible – indeed, as one moves toward the New Age end of the NRM spectrum, it is quite common – for individuals to have overlapping memberships, happily hopping from one 'self-religion' to another. It would not be impossible for committed seekers in California, Amsterdam or Highgate to spend twenty minutes in Transcendental Mediation each morning before embarking on their Tai Chi, then going on to [...] participate in a Forum Seminar throughout the weekend. (a derivative of est) | first1= Steven R. | last1= McCarl | first2= Steve | last2= Zaffron | first3= Joyce McCarl | last3= Nielsen | first4= Sally Lewis | last4= Kennedy | year = 2001 | title = The Promise of Philosophy and the Landmark Forum | periodical = Contemporary Philosophy | series = Barbados Group Working Papers | volume = 23 | issue =1 & 2: Jan/Feb & Mar/Apr 2001 | pages = 51–59 | ssrn = 278955 | doi = 10.2139/ssrn.278955 | quote = We describe a contemporary experience [...] provided by [...] Landmark Educational Corporation. Its introductory program [is] called The Landmark Forum [...]. [...] [Bartley's] work includes much of the philosophy that informed the est training, the program that preceded and is precursor to the Forum. | doi-access = free
  • the Life Training (Kairos Foundation)
  • Mind Dynamics |last= Clarke |first= Peter Bernard |title= New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ic0UlDN9Nn8C |access-date= 2010-05-22 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-25748-0 |page= 33 |quote= [...] the Rajneesh movement [...] developed a psycho-spiritual therapeutic system founded on ideas of, and ways of realizing, the True Self, derived from Eastern spirituality, and on the 'new' and as yet fringe developments in psychotherapy in the West. Other similar movements include [...] Mind Dynamics, an offshoot of Silva Mind Control.
  • Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA)
  • Rastafari |last= Clarke |first= Peter Bernard |title= New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ic0UlDN9Nn8C |access-date= 2010-05-22 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-25748-0 |page= 228 |quote= Although it assumes responsibility for the African race as a whole, Rastafarianism can be also aptly described as a 'Self religion' (Heelas, 1991).
  • LaVeyan Satanism
  • the School of Economic Science | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [168] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = [...] such neo-Gurdjieffian movements as [...] the School of Economic Science [...] | access-date = 2010-05-22
  • the Church of Scientology is characterized by Heelas as "one of the best known self-religions" | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [170] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | quote = Together with Eastern traditions, Western therapeutic thought has also influenced one of the best known self-religions, Scientology | access-date = 2010-02-18
  • Silva Mind Control |last= Clarke |first= Peter Bernard |title= New religions in global perspective: a study of religious change in the modern world |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ic0UlDN9Nn8C |access-date= 2010-05-22 |year= 2006 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0-415-25748-0 |page= 33 |quote= [...] the Rajneesh movement [...] developed a psycho-spiritual therapeutic system founded on ideas of, and ways of realizing, the True Self, derived from Eastern spirituality, and on the 'new' and as yet fringe developments in psychotherapy in the West. Other similar movements include [...] Silva Mind Control, which is based largely on New Thought [...]

Notes

References

  • {{Citation | last = Heelas | first = Paul | author-link = Paul Heelas | publication-date = 1991 | contribution = Western Europe: Self-Religions | editor-last = Clarke | editor-first = Peter | title = The World's Religions: The Study of Religion, Traditional and New Religion | location = London | publisher = Routledge | date = 1991-10-01 | pages = 167–173 [170] | isbn = 978-0-203-41397-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6E6Ajy_-e54C | access-date = 2010-02-18

References

  1. Chryssides, George D.. (2012). "Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements". Rowman & Littlefield.
  2. Witham, Larry. (March 11, 1996). "Europeans forge new religious paths Boomers tilt traditions to fit their needs". Washington Times.
  3. Clancy, Ray. (July 21, 1992). "Professionals fall prey to New Age gurus". The Times.
  4. (2000). "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions". Oxford University Press.

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