A collection of belief, cultural systems and world views; religion can be defined as an epitome of human faith. Some might closely link their identity and existence to their beliefs, while others might think of it as a parochial concept. Either way, it is still the most crucial aspect around which our lives are formed and performed.
While religion conduits into various beliefs and sub-beliefs, we see people questioning and diverging from the old school of thought and grounds laid by our vernaculars. Be it the advancements of science or human psyche that demands reasoning; there is a great segment of world population that hold beliefs nothing like their ancestors.
New-age beliefs has bred modern-age religions that people need to accept and address. Most of these religious new-age beliefs stand on common grounds of secularism and personal choices.
Asceticism – Give Up Pleasures to Reach the Deity
The most precise explanation to this faith is abstinence. Asceticism basically promotes ridding yourself of desires and passions, lust, shame, which eventually helps you rise higher than all the humans in terms of spiritual ideals or goals. It isn’t really a modern-age practice, and was quite followed by Rishis, Sadhus and Yogis in Indian culture, and the Buddha too in Buddhism. But it has now spread its roots to people of all faiths. One of the most popular cult groups that practice it are the Aghori in Northern part of India.
Nihilism – God is Dead
This is rather an extreme new-age belief system, wherein a person thinks of life as being meaningless or without a purpose. Nihilist beliefs are based on the grounds of everything in the world being just baseless interpretations, and that we actually know nothing. The existing values, they believe are illusions that try to give meaning to life that otherwise is devoid of it.
Our careers, passions, relationships, work; everything we do is to ignore the fact that our life here on earth is meaningless and random. This forms the basic idea of nihilism; however, there are various divisions to the belief system – E.g. material nihilism, spiritual nihilism, etc.
Agnosticism: To be or not to be?
Agnostic beliefs and practices are similar to religious skepticism. A person who has agnostic beliefs thinks equally about the possibility of there being a god and no god. They also believe that we can only assume how the universe was created and whether God exists, and can never assert it with complete certainty. But while atheists are frequently outspoken about their lack of faith, it is viewed that agnostics remain more silent about their opinions and beliefs.
Atheism: Religion? No Religion
Atheism is an increasingly adopted religious practice in the modern world. Now people often wonder if atheists don’t believe in either the concept of god or religion? They don’t believe in god, or anything that tells a human as to how they should exist. Atheists are mostly younger people who do not pray or seldom pray, and when asking them about how they find meaning to life without religion; the majority say that family, cordial relationships, finances, creative pursuits, travel& leisure is of meaning to them.
Mormonism – Our Religion is Faulty
This new-age belief system opens itself to criticism and accepts their religion being faulty and error-prone. Although this belief system dates back to the 18th century, it has proved itself relevant in the modern times of what we call a “secular” age. Latter-day Saints or Mormons believe that men and women bear the divine gifts of intellectual reasoning and moral intuition and should embrace a life worth of truth and meaning (nihilist watch out!)
Kopimism
It is indeed modern as it is called the world’s newest religion. And, it is nothing like any previous beliefs. This new-age beliefs follow information sharing beliefs stating that information is as close to being holy, and this is why it must be shared and copied. Kopimism presents itself as a religion with no god, and barres anyone who keeps information/data to themselves for the purpose of non-sharing.
That was the panoply of some uncommon new-age beliefs around the world, which might sound strange but strangely enough, are the future of our faiths. Have any thoughts? Tell us what you think about these polarized ideologies.
