Not the New Age: Perennism and Spiritual Knowledges

Abstract

People who would commonly be called New Agers refuse this appellation; they even disagree with any label. The aim of this article is to give a voice to these people by working on a common thread. This thread is found across 35 so-called New Agers and gives support to a heuristic concept which I call perennism and which I define as a syncretic and tolerant spirituality which interprets the world as Monistic and whose actors are attempting to develop their Human Potential Ethic by seeking Spiritual Knowledge, mainly that of the Self. While researching for this conceptualisation, it will also be argued that the 'New Age' phenomenon is an innovative form of esotericism, at least in its every day life practice, and is thus a new genre of spirituality.