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A Study on Spirituality in the 21st Century

Spirituality is a preferred topic of study at Wake Up Institute because of its profound relationship with human nature and for the elevation of our consciousness. Our research is based on the analysis of specialized sources of information, interviews with experts on the subject and surveys of citizens. In this first publication of “Spirituality in the 21st Century” we present the preliminary results of the first two surveys conducted. As we advance in our research, with new surveys and sources of information, we will expand this study and present new publications.

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The Spiritual Revolution of the 21st Century

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The ancestral belief that human life is not only physical but, above all, psychic and spiritual, marked the beginning of what we know as spirituality. Spirituality is understood as the set of beliefs and practices oriented to the knowledge and development of the spirit that lives in our body and that constitutes our true identity. For this reason, instead of leaving the bodies of their deceased relatives or companions abandoned to be devoured by scavengers, they began to bury them in the midst of funeral rites of farewell in which they honored their memory and human dignity. A turning point in which humanity awoke to the sense of transcendence of its own existence and that, according to the most recent anthropological studies, dates back to about one hundred thousand years ago.

Spiritual beliefs and practices were dominated by animism until the emergence of the first kingdoms and cities, some five thousand years ago, in which spirituality adopted the model of religion that we know and whose preeminence was absolute until the last century, when the influence of the theocentric and spiritual vision of religion was relegated in favor of the scientific and materialistic vision of existence. So much so that Friedrich Nietzsche, the most influential philosopher of his time, went so far as to proclaim “God is dead”, in reference to what he considered to be the imminent and inexorable end of the influence of religion in our lives.

However, far from disappearing, the spirituality of our times has adopted new forms of religious syncretism, whereby many believers in Christianity have incorporated beliefs from other traditions, such as those of the Orient, Hinduism, Buddhism or Taoism, as well as ancestral practices of animism, such as shamanic rites. Meanwhile, in the most conservative and traditional sectors of human societies throughout the world, religious fundamentalisms are strongly resurgent, as is the case with the current expansion of Islam, as well as in Christianity itself, with the so-called “reborn” and those who tend to interpret the Bible, the Koran and other sacred books literally, rejecting all scientific knowledge contrary to this interpretation.

In Spain and Latin American countries, these changes have taken place with great intensity, going from being entirely Catholic countries to experiencing an impressive expansion of Protestant Christianity, reaching 25% of believers in Latin America and growing by 1000% in twenty years in Spain, from 0.2% to 2.5% of the population, just as Islam already represents almost 5% of the population, with 2.4 million believers.

All this, while, according to data from the CIS – Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas – the percentage of people who consider themselves Catholics fell from 90.5% in 1978 to 55.4% in 2021. Among young people between 18 and 24 years of age, the percentage is even lower, standing at 28.2%. Meanwhile, in the same period, the percentage of people who declared themselves non-believers increased fivefold, from 7.6% to 39.9%, while believers in freer forms of spirituality, such as those of the so-called New Age, also grew.

In order to know, in a direct way, the opinion of the citizenship on the great changes that are taking place in the perception and meaning of spirituality in our time, from the Wake Up Institute we have initiated a series of surveys, whose first results we make known in this publication. The hypotheses and conclusions drawn from these data are still preliminary, while we continue to gather information from new opinion surveys.

SPIRITUALITY PERCEPTION SURVEY

The data reflected in this study were collected from two surveys conducted in Spain and Latin America. A total of 2,267 people completed the surveys, whose profile corresponds to that reflected in the following graphs:

The profile of the people who responded to the survey shows a greater representation of inhabitants of large cities (63.20%) and medium-sized towns (27.83%), while the rural area is barely represented (8.97%) among the participants in the survey. Considering that in Spain, according to the INE, the rural population represents 20.3% and those residing in large urban agglomerations 79.7%, it can be seen that interest in the subject raised in the survey is much greater among residents in urban areas (91.03%) in a proportion much higher than the distribution of the population. This could be indicative of a greater interest of urban residents in topics related to the evolution of spirituality.

In terms of gender, women have shown greater interest in taking the survey, with 70.12% of the total sample, compared to men, whose participation reached 29.7%. A very notable difference that could be interpreted as the existence of an interest of women in spirituality that exceeds that of men by more than double.

In terms of identification with the main belief systems, the majority group was that of New Age spirituality (32.9%), followed by those who consider themselves non-practicing Catholic Christians (31.07%), while the percentage of those who practice is much lower (4.4%). The inclusion of the New Age spirituality option to those traditionally made in other surveys explains the fact that the percentage of believing Catholics is much lower than the 55.4% attributed to them by the CIS in October 2021. Reflecting the fact that many of them may feel more identified with New Age spirituality than with the traditional Catholic Christianity they continue to profess.

By age, the 50-60 age group has shown the greatest interest in responding to the survey (36.14%), while the lowest levels of response have been in the 18-30 age group (2.68%). A lower level of interest in spirituality among younger people could be understandable, considering that they are living a stage of greater tendency to action than to meditation and transcendence. This is a situation that is gradually reversed as the years go by and that would explain why, between the ages of 40 and 70, 86.35% of the completed surveys are concentrated between the ages of 40 and 70. On the other hand, younger people, including those between 30 and 40 years of age, may be busier and less willing to dedicate their time to answering surveys.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Regarding the results obtained, it should be taken into consideration the possible existence of biases related to the profile of Internet users and the criteria applied by the IA in the social networks through which the survey was disseminated. Thus, for this reason and because of the bias derived from the profile of the people who responded to the survey and who, for this reason, are supposed to be more interested in the proposed topic of spirituality, the sample obtained may not be representative of Spanish and Latin American society as a whole.

1.

SPIRITUAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES

Level of interest

Although the population’s level of interest in spirituality appears to be much higher among women than men, as reflected in the levels of participation in the survey, gender differences among survey participants are minimal.

The data show a higher level of interest in spirituality among Spanish participants in relation to those from Latin American countries, as well as important differences among them, with the highest levels of interest in Mexico and Argentina, with 81.63% and 78.82% respectively, of high and very high interest, reaching 88.09% in Spain.

Frequency of spiritual practices

The data on frequency of spiritual practices showed significantly high results, with 59.21% of respondents indicating that they do it continuously or quite frequently.

The differences are of little relevance between those who perform spiritual practices continuously or fairly frequently in Spain (63.96%) and Latin America (57.49%), and there are no significant differences between women (60.78%) and men (56.34%).

Levels of spiritual practice are higher among believers in New Age spirituality and syncretism that integrates religion and new forms of spirituality than among religious practitioners.

The most significant differences are found in the greater frequency of spiritual practices in New Age groups (81.09%) and of syncretism that integrates traditional religious practices and new forms of spirituality (75.86%), above those who consider themselves practitioners of their religion (68%). Non-practicing believers in traditional religions (45.57%) or different forms of spirituality (49.62%) give similar results. As expected, the lowest levels are found among agnostics (22.81%) and atheists (15%), surely attributable to their attendance at religious rites accompanied by family or friends.

It is very revealing that the highest levels of realization of spiritual practices arise among the new forms of spirituality, above the traditional ones. This is surely contributed to by the spread of the practice of yoga, meditation, tantra, Reiki and many others in our society, as a path to greater well-being and inner peace, rather than attendance at religious rites. In the same way that most citizens seem to actively seek greater spiritual knowledge from sources other than those traditionally offered by priests.

Sources of Knowledge

Books continue to be the main source of knowledge about spirituality (34.90%), followed by You Tube (15.95%) and Social Networks (14.69%). The sum of the last two shows that the gap with literary publications is reduced to only 4 points (30.64%). Considering the percentages of editorial sales by theme, in which self-help and spirituality tend to merge, we understand that the responses of the respondents include both themes, which are increasingly related to each other. On the other hand, there is a significant difference in the choice of reading books as the main source of spiritual knowledge between Spain (41.88%) and Latin America (27.92%).

2.

THE SOUL AND LIFE AFTER DEATH

Belief in the Soul

To the question of whether human beings are endowed with an immortal Soul, 86.93% answered in the affirmative, while 13.07% denied this possibility. The results show that belief in the Soul is still overwhelmingly in the majority in today’s society, even in societies as secularized as ours and in which the majority of the population is no longer a religious practitioner. Showing us how spiritual beliefs tend to persist among the citizenry, regardless of the percentage of religious believers in society, which could be indicative of the existence of a deep human need for spirituality.

By country, Spanish respondents gave a higher average number of affirmative answers than the Latin American countries as a whole, although Mexico stands out above all others with 92%, the same percentage as Spain. The differences between Latin American countries are notable in some cases, which would require new studies to analyze the causes.

Religious syncretism, which integrates different religious and spiritual traditions, offers the highest results in terms of belief in the Soul, superior to that of non-practicing religious believers.

In relation to their identification with different belief systems, the highest levels of belief in the immortal Soul are found among people who define themselves as believers and/or spiritual and religious practitioners (92% in Spain), following the current trend towards religious syncretism. These percentages fall to 75.79% among people who say they are believers, but not practitioners, of a particular religion. As expected, the lowest levels are found in the groups of agnostic people (49%) in which it is remarkable that believers in the Soul still represent half, while among atheists the proportion is one fifth (19.35%), perhaps implying that non-belief in God does not rule out for this group of atheists the possible existence of a soul or form of transcendent energy in the human being.

Belief in the Soul seems to be so important to human beings that even half of the agnostics and almost 20% of those who consider themselves atheists believe in the Soul.

Life after death

To the more direct question on the existence of life after death, the percentage of affirmative answers reached 95.92% in Spain, with the higher the level of education, the higher the percentage of affirmative answers. The higher the level of university education, with 37.98% of those who answered this way, and even higher if we add the 12.72% of those who indicated that they had a doctorate, resulting in 50.70% of the total number of affirmative answers received. The lowest levels were found in primary and secondary education, with average results for vocational training.

The highest levels of belief in the continuity of life after death are found in equally high levels of formal education, with 50.70% of university graduates and doctorates out of the total number of affirmative responses.

The level of existing knowledge about NDEs – Near Death Experiences – proved to be very high among people who knew about them and completed the survey, reaching 92.07%. Surely this percentage corresponds to the profile of people especially interested in this topic and who might be more inclined to respond to the survey, so that a larger and more representative sample of the population could offer lower percentage results. The level of knowledge about NDEs among those who responded to the specific survey on this topic is also notable, and can be attributed to the growing dissemination of videos related to NDEs on networks and the high level they arouse, reflected in the high number of views of many of them, as well as the rapid growth of some channels specialized in the topic.

Among the characteristics associated with NDEs, the most striking was that those who had this experience could see and hear what was happening while they were clinically dead, with 51.68% of respondents marking this option.

The Soul in Animals

For more than two thousand years, Christianity has only recognized the presence of the soul in the human being. A belief that has been fully embraced by believers for generations, but which has completely changed for the current human generation in the West. To assess the scope and depth of this change in perception, four possible answer options were presented to the question of whether other living beings could have souls. When we included this question in the form for the respondents, we could imagine that it would reflect an important evolution in favor of the soul in animals, but the results obtained far exceeded any expectations, with 79.33% of people considering that all living beings have souls, compared to a reduced 9.62% who continue to consider that it is only present in us, human beings. Women (82.42%) outnumbered men (75.76%) in this criterion.

The absolute majority of those who consider that all living beings have souls, implies a radical change in relation to the traditional belief that it is an exclusively human attribute.

It can be assumed that this radical change in perception may be driven by the growing influence of environmentalism and animalism, awakening our sensitivity towards other forms of life, understanding that they are deserving of the same respect and rights that we grant to ourselves. A perception that may be feeding back to the emotional bonds towards pets in families. A social phenomenon of enormous scope, to the point that, for example, the number of dogs in Spanish households already far exceeds the number of children and young people under 14 years of age.

And that, in part, it could also be influenced by the penetration in the West of other spiritual traditions, such as Hinduism or Buddhism, which in general do recognize the existence of a soul in other living beings.

There is a correlation between the level of education and the belief that all living beings have souls, with the highest levels among people with less formal education and the lowest levels among those with doctorates and university degrees.

3.

THE SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE OF THE EAST ON THE WEST

The influence of Eastern spirituality in the Christian West in general, and in Spain and Latin America in particular, is a very important factor in the evolution of the spiritual beliefs and practices that are the subject of this study.

Reincarnation

Catholics believing in reincarnation

The data collected on the belief in reincarnation are among the most significant in the survey, with 71.34% of respondents identifying with this belief, while only 28.66% reject it.

Belief in Reincarnation

As might be expected, the highest percentages of affirmative answers correspond to New Agers (82.29%) and agnostics (73.21%). But what is most surprising is that 70.92% of believing Catholics and even 37.5% of practicing Catholics claim to believe in reincarnation. The Catholic Church completely rejects this belief, considering as dogma that souls are not reincarnated, but await the moment of the Final Judgment. These results are very revealing of the permeability of Catholicism to the influence of Eastern religions and spiritual beliefs, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, but also others such as Taoism.

The high levels of belief in reincarnation and karma among believers and practitioners of Catholicism are extremely surprising.

Karma

Along the same lines, belief in Karma, among those who believe in reincarnation, is overwhelmingly in the majority, with 90.21% of those surveyed considering that our good or bad acts in this life imply the possibility of reward or punishment in the next reincarnation. A belief that is an essential part of Hinduism, but which has never before been so widely accepted in the Christian West. And whose levels of acceptance are also very high among Catholic believers (66.67%).

The Sorpasso from East to West

Even more clearly, when respondents were asked directly about the kind of spirituality with which they most identified, 65.67% chose Eastern spirituality and only 34.33% Western Christianity. In these preferences, Spain stands out above all other countries, with 74.51%, compared to the 55.38% who chose the East in Latin American countries, where the results are much more equal. Among these countries, Colombia stands out with 58.40%.

The majority preference for Eastern spirituality over Western Christian spirituality is common to the entire Hispanic community, with a very notable difference between Spain and the other Latin American countries in this trend.

The more than twenty percentage points difference between Spain and Latin America could be explained by the fact that this new trend began in Europe and North America, arriving later in the countries of the South. Surely the incidence is even greater in other European countries where the beatnik and hippie revolutions arrived earlier, with less penetration in the Spain of the dictatorship, very identified with the Catholic Church. The Beatles’ stays in Rishikesh – India to learn yoga and meditation from famous local gurus will remain forever in the memory, as a model to be followed by millions of young Westerners who, since then, began to be interested in Hinduism and its belief system. This is reflected today in the millions of practitioners of meditation and yoga, as well as the profusion of Buddhas and other symbols of Orientalism in homes, to the detriment of the virgins and crucifixes present in the generations of their elders, parents or grandparents.

4.

PRESENT AND FUTURE OF SPIRITUALITY

Contrary to the expectations of thinkers and philosophers of the last century, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, spirituality is still very much alive and present among us, even in the most secularized societies. It is common to hear terms such as “spiritual awakening”, referring to the growing tendency of many citizens, previously alien to spirituality, to open up to new spiritual beliefs and practices. It is for these reasons that we thought it was important to investigate this topic.

Spiritual Awakening

When asked if they felt they had experienced a spiritual awakening, that is, a turning point in which they opened up definitively to spirituality, 80.78% said they had felt this, while 19.22% said they had not.

This type of experience was more frequent in women (83.43%) than in men (77.58%). There are hardly any differences between Spain (78.57%) and Latin America (81.38%). Colombia and Venezuela show the highest levels of affirmative responses (85.83%), while Peru and Ecuador have the lowest (66.67%), although they are also very high.

By age, an increasing curve can be seen in the successive age ranges, reaching its peak in the range of 40 to 50 years of age (28.49%) and decreasing from that point. As can be seen from the analysis by age, more than half of the spiritual awakening events occur in the mature period, between 30 and 50 years of age, reaching 51.5% of the total.

Motivations for Spirituality

Regarding their motivations for spiritual awakening, the most appreciated benefits were those of feeling fulfillment and inner peace (45%), as well as a better way of living or experiencing their own circumstances (41.93%). Other benefits, such as improved physical health or emotional well-being, accounted for only 13.07% of the total.

The option of fulfillment and inner peace prevails among men (47.48%) in comparison with that of women (44.36%) and is inverted in the case of the best way of living one’s circumstances, in which women present higher percentages (42.73%) than men (39.47%).

Future Evolution of Spirituality

Among the opinions collected on the possible future evolution of religion and other forms of spirituality, the idea that they will always coexist prevails (44.87%), while a significant percentage considers that a new spirituality will begin (38.56%). Those who consider the possibility of the end of religions, as we know them, represent a meager 9.22%, showing a very different perception from that of the last century, when this belief, championed by thinkers, philosophers and opinion leaders, could have been much greater.

Future Evolution of Spirituality

Those who answered in the affirmative were asked how they had reached this spiritual awakening. The majority, 40.50%, said they had reached it after a gradual process. Meanwhile, in 26.87% of the cases, it was as a consequence of a personal crisis. A relevant 15.16% said they had reached it abruptly, after a shocking experience, while the rest of the respondents attributed it to other circumstances.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

The surveys and studies carried out confirm the decline of Catholicism in Spain and Latin America and the expansion of religious syncretism in new, more open forms of spirituality, such as those of the so-called New Age, and with an important influence of Eastern belief systems in the Christian West. It is striking that 65.67% of those surveyed identify themselves more with Eastern spirituality than with their own Western and Christian tradition, which is reduced to 34.33% of those surveyed. An influence so profound that it reaches the very core of Christianity, when, according to the surveys conducted by the Institute, up to 70.92% of Catholic believers and, even more surprisingly, 37.5% of its practitioners say they believe in reincarnation and, the vast majority among them, also in karma, as the destiny of souls after death.

The need for openness, renewal and change to new forms of expression of spirituality is also evident when we observe that the exception to the general decline of Catholicism in Spain is only found in some innovative groups, such as the Emmaus retreats, the Friends of the Desert or the Hakuna movement led by the Catholic musical group of the same name. However, they are the exception to the predominance of traditionalism in the Catholic Church, which shows great difficulties in adapting to the demands and spiritual needs of the citizens of our time. A fact that is also reflected in the fact that, according to CIS data, only 16% of Catholics attend Mass on Sundays and holidays, with the particularity that a large part of them correspond to the segment over 70 years of age (37.7%), while between 18 and 39 years of age the average stands at 13.25%, anticipating a downward trend for the future.

On the other hand, the diversity of proposals of New Age spirituality seems to respond more clearly to the demands for change and innovation of society in the 21st century. From a wide range of oriental practices, such as yoga, meditation or tantra to energetic therapies such as Reiki, vibrational therapies such as Bach Flowers, emotional healing therapies such as biodescodification or family constellations, among many others.

In the same way, the acquisition of spiritual knowledge has moved from that transmitted by priests to that freely chosen on the Internet (30.64%), social networks and You Tube channels, as well as through a great diversity of editorial publications dedicated to spirituality and, above all, self-help (34.9%). It also shows us a confluence between spiritual development and personal growth or, in other words, between spirituality, transpersonal psychology and emotional and energetic therapies, many of them coming from Eastern traditions.

Protestant Christian denominations seem to have adapted better to the challenges of our times, as reflected in their strong expansion in Latin America in recent decades, reaching up to 25% of believers, to the detriment of Catholicism in the region. Possibly contributing to this fact is its diversity, which would allow each person to more easily find the one with which he or she best identifies. On the other hand, since Protestant pastors are not required to be celibate, they can open new places of worship more easily, and the greater activism of their clergy also helps them to attract new believers.

Contrary to the predictions made in the last century about the end of religions in the face of the advance of scientific materialism, religions have re-emerged strongly, in some cases with a strong fundamentalist tendency, as in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity itself. But the greatest expansion in the West has been that of new forms of spirituality, more open and integrating different traditions. These, in the analysis of the results of the surveys carried out, show much higher levels of spiritual practices (78.47%) than those of purely religious practitioners (45.57%). A social phenomenon from which emerged the term spiritual awakening, referring to those people who say they have experienced an openness to spirituality that could change their perception of reality and their own lives. This resulted in greater fulfillment and inner peace (45%) or an improvement in the experiences they had of their own circumstances (41.93%).

Times change, but spiritual needs seem to remain. Thus, 86.93% of those surveyed say they believe in the existence of an immortal soul. These percentages are still very high, even among agnostics (49%) and, even more surprisingly, among atheists (19.35%), whose denial of the existence of God does not necessarily imply the non-existence of the soul. A soul that, on the other hand, in view of the greater sensitivity and ecological and animalistic awareness of our time, is extended to all living beings, in 79.33% of the opinions of the people surveyed, of whom only 9.87% still consider that only human beings have a soul.

Very significantly, the possible existence of the soul has also aroused the professional interest of many doctors and surgeons who have begun to document cases of NDE -Near Death Experiences- in which data and testimonies of people whose vital signs were recovered by modern medicine after being clinically dead are collected, suggesting the existence of conscious life after death. A subject that 73.68% of those surveyed said they were familiar with and which has aroused great interest among the public, being widely disseminated through the networks and YouTube channels. On the other hand, more than half of those who said they believed in the continuity of life after death (50.70%) corresponded to people with a university degree or doctorate, being lower in primary or secondary education levels, thus revealing a correlation between this belief and the level of studies.

Among the opinions collected on the future evolution of spirituality, the idea prevails that traditional religions and new forms of spirituality will coexist forever (44.87%) compared to those who think that a new spirituality will emerge (38.56%), while the number of those who continue to believe in the end of religion is decreasing (9.22%).

Spirituality is an essential part of our existence, so it is necessary to continue researching to advance in its better understanding, to which we hope to continue contributing from the Wake Up Institute for the study of consciousness and human nature.

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