Category: Religion

The Modern Spiritual / New Age Movement

At its core, modern spirituality is meant to reconnect people with meaning outside of materialism, dogma, and institutions. It’s anti-rigid, anti-hierarchical, and highly personal. It borrows from ancient traditions — meditation, energy work, astrology, manifestation, chakras, crystals, and “universal consciousness” — all with the promise of self-discovery, healing, and inner peace.

Buddhism

Buddhism begins with a blunt truth: life is suffering — not in a doom-and-gloom way, but in the sense that attachment, craving, and ignorance keep us stuck in cycles of dissatisfaction (dukkha). The Four Noble Truths lay out the situation: suffering exists, it has causes (mainly craving and delusion), it can end, and there’s a path to ending it — the Eightfold Path.

Wokeism

At its root, wokeism — originally — was a call for awareness. Stay “woke” meant don’t sleepwalk through injustice. It was about staying alert to systems of discrimination, inequality, and abuse. The premise was simple: open your eyes to other people’s realities, especially if yours has been comfortable. Understand power. Understand privilege. Listen before you speak.

Islam

At its foundation, Islam teaches submission to God (Allah) — not as blind obedience, but as alignment with truth, humility, and justice. The Qur’an lays out a way of life centred on compassion, charity, self-restraint, and constant awareness that humans are not the centre of the universe.

Christianity

At its core, Christianity teaches humility, love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and grace. The message is simple: treat others with compassion, recognise your own flaws, extend mercy where it’s undeserved, and live with a spirit of service rather than superiority.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pastafarianism)

Pastafarianism began as a parody — a clever protest against dogmatic thinking and the push to teach creationism as science. It holds that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe after a heavy night out, and that pirates are divine beings. It includes sacred pasta rituals, colanders as headwear, and holy days such as “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”

Hinduism

Hinduism isn’t one neat doctrine — it’s a sprawling philosophical ecosystem with many paths, texts, and traditions. At its heart, it teaches that the self (atman) is not separate from the universe (Brahman), and that liberation (moksha) comes from realising this unity.

Judaism

Judaism is a rich, ancient tradition rooted in covenant, responsibility, and ethical living. At its core, it teaches that humans are partners with the divine in repairing the world — a concept known as tikkun olam.