‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’
In this paper, we reflect on difficulties connected with transitioning from one spiritual tradition to another. We consider Western New Animism, sometimes proposed as a remedy to the exploitative and anthropocentric values typical of Western Modernity. New Animism hopes to provide a framework for re...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/793 |
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| author | Ondřej Beran Olli Lagerspetz |
| author_facet | Ondřej Beran Olli Lagerspetz |
| author_sort | Ondřej Beran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper, we reflect on difficulties connected with transitioning from one spiritual tradition to another. We consider Western New Animism, sometimes proposed as a remedy to the exploitative and anthropocentric values typical of Western Modernity. New Animism hopes to provide a framework for resilient, pro-environmental attitudes and practices. Referring to Wittgenstein’s reflections on religion, magic and culture, as well as the work of Peter Winch, we argue that the possibility of embracing another form of spirituality depends on one’s ability to see a ‘depth’ in it. However, a conversion always has an element of the unpredictable, as we never know in advance what awaits us on the other side. This creates problems for purely pragmatically oriented suggestions to adopt an animist worldview. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-840f8e74a0da43eaa55dac4e0e9303fb |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-840f8e74a0da43eaa55dac4e0e9303fb2025-08-20T03:16:38ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-06-0116679310.3390/rel16060793‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’Ondřej Beran0Olli Lagerspetz1Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Pardubice, 53210 Pardubice, Czech RepublicDepartment of Philosophy, Åbo Akademi University, 20500 Turku, FinlandIn this paper, we reflect on difficulties connected with transitioning from one spiritual tradition to another. We consider Western New Animism, sometimes proposed as a remedy to the exploitative and anthropocentric values typical of Western Modernity. New Animism hopes to provide a framework for resilient, pro-environmental attitudes and practices. Referring to Wittgenstein’s reflections on religion, magic and culture, as well as the work of Peter Winch, we argue that the possibility of embracing another form of spirituality depends on one’s ability to see a ‘depth’ in it. However, a conversion always has an element of the unpredictable, as we never know in advance what awaits us on the other side. This creates problems for purely pragmatically oriented suggestions to adopt an animist worldview.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/793spiritual traditionconversionanimismspiritsdepth |
| spellingShingle | Ondřej Beran Olli Lagerspetz ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ Religions spiritual tradition conversion animism spirits depth |
| title | ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ |
| title_full | ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ |
| title_fullStr | ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ |
| title_short | ‘Unhappy Lovers’? Difficulties of Spiritual Transition and the Case of Environmentalist ‘New Animism’ |
| title_sort | unhappy lovers difficulties of spiritual transition and the case of environmentalist new animism |
| topic | spiritual tradition conversion animism spirits depth |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/6/793 |
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