Why the New Spirituality Failed to Become a Real Alternative to Traditional Religion?

Abstract

The article is written from the point of view of realistic (classical) philosophy as proposed and developed in the Lublin Philosophical School. First, I distinguish three forms of spirituality we can see in contemporary culture of Europe. Next I present the crucial differences between the new spirituality and traditional religion (that is – in our culture – Christianity). The most important source of the differences between Christianity and new spirituality is the fact that Christianity is a complex of internal and external actions by which a man worships God, whereas new spirituality does not refer to any transcendent reality, and is not a way of expressing a man’s faith, but only provides experiences brightening up the human life. This is the reason why no form of new spirituality can replace the Christian religion.