New Age Spirituality vs Religion
Editorial: Will We Ever Bridge This Divide?
Author’s Note: When I first wrote this piece, I was standing at the threshold between worlds—trying to reconcile the expansive freedom I found in New Age spirituality with the ache I felt for something deeper, more rooted, more reverent. This essay captures a moment in that search: an honest questioning of both paths and a longing to understand where truth lives when neither dogma nor disillusionment feels quite like home.
This piece was revisited and refined in March 2025 as part of Erah Society’s evolution. Originally published on July 8th, 2024, it now reflects the heart and essence of this space more clearly. Thank you for being part of this journey.
I've been thinking about the impact traditional religion has made on New Age Spirituality and how, in many ways, the latter feels like a cry from those who were once bound by doctrine but never truly taught how to love themselves.
It’s no surprise that our World is in a state of crisis and turmoil almost everywhere we look. We humans are searching for meaning, for joy, for love, our most natural state and so we seek it out, with vigor, conviction, and sometimes immense ignorance.
Even if you didn’t grow up religious, cultural conditioning still taught us to revere an external “God” in exchange for abandoning our own divine essence. This created an unconscious soul loss, a part of ourselves we never realized had been suppressed or left behind. Even amidst that, it left us grasping for something vast, something freer, something more whole. But as with all things, the pursuit of liberation carries both light and dark.
New Age spirituality has offered a breath of fresh air, an opening for exploration, a way to reclaim what was once stripped from us. But, from my perspective, it has not yet provided the steady ground beneath our feet, the kind of structure that fosters resilience, stability, and the wisdom needed to be fully present in the ebbs & flows of our everyday lives.
They say the teacher lives within, that we are our own guides, our own gurus. And while that may be true, how does one cultivate strength in this truth without wise counsel to anchor in something larger than the individualized self?
Richard Rudd, in Gene Key 21 mentions how it is never the structure itself that causes harm but rather the frequency living within it. Maybe all along it was the energy within the walls of religion that fueled division, inharmonious hierarchies, and control.
Through my studies, I’ve noticed this play out in real time. Traditional religion, with its dominance, prioritizes and praises rigid dogma over direct communion with the divine. Meanwhile, New Age spirituality, though rooted in self-realization, sometimes lacks the containment or discipline that waters the soil for true embodiment
Where Is The Middle Way?
Where is the kind of practice that fosters communal care, healing, and a sense of belonging beyond the small self?
How do we bridge the rift between an exterior God and an interior one? Between seeking outside of ourselves and trusting what was already planted within?
What kind of framework could hold both personal growth and shared wisdom without slipping into rigid rules or empty individualism?
How can we erect foundations, a syllabus of sorts, rooted in devotion & discernment?
We are multidimensional beings. Each with our own specific needs & outlook on life. No single path will fit everyone neatly in a box. I don’t think it was ever intended to be that way. But maybe a new kind of foundation can emerge from our seeking. One where we support ourselves & each other as we learn to discern, apply, and live out what it means to be divinely human.
Thankfully, spirituality isn’t static; it evolves with time, with culture, and with our lived experience. How we seek and who we seek from will continue to expand, which I believe is a characteristic of God— to mutate, multiply, and inhabit fully into spaces and timelines we could barely perceive.
So in this era, we have an opportunity & responsibility to hold close the wisdom from previous missteps, to refine what has been while edging closer to the core desires of our collective humanity— forgiveness, fellowship, truth, goodness, and love.
Life is complex. We are complex but complex doesn’t always have to mean destructive or desolate. It can be a pathway towards Holiness. A path less traveled but filled with more treasure.
Now, the question I keep asking is, will we choose to do it together or apart?
With gratitude & grace,
Jasmine
Up Next
Resonated with this piece? You might enjoy these next:
Erah Society
A space for modern seekers & founders.
Reimagining business, spirituality, and cultural well-being.
/ About this Substack
/ Instagram
/ Podcast
/ Business Hours
/ Watch Our New Show on Youtube
A beautiful reflection and exploration. It seems like you're seeing an emergent way in the tension between ancient structure and present moment awareness in connecting to the divine. Such a delicate and crucial balance in the modern age!
“…But, from my perspective, it has not yet provided the steady ground beneath our feet—the kind of structure that fosters resilience, stability, and the wisdom needed to be fully present in the ebbs & flows of our everyday lives.”
Yeah wow! This really beautifully reflected back to me what have been confronting recently. How I’ve been using my spiritual curiosity and practice to run in the opposite direction of the lostness, lack of confidence and struggle I feel in the “real world”, everydayness, my work life.
Spirituality isn’t meditating while your partner does the dishes. It’s not being half-hearted in your work and whole-hearted in your esoteric studies. It’s not going to yet another connection circle but not being a loving and thoughtful family member.
That’s not spirituality, that’s escapism. What the hell have I been doing??
Grateful to have your perspective while I recalibrate. 💛