新時代運動：個體化潮流下的反身性靈性實踐

Abstract

新時代運動是一個自1960年代起，於西方興起的文化與宗教運動。其內化的宗教表象與個人化的靈性觀點使之有別於當代的其他宗教。它重視以個人為崇拜的中心，也強調一元論的宇宙觀與以人的意識為中心的實踐觀點。 本文採取「個體化」的理論觀點以分析新時代運動的特徵。個體化意味著在高度制度化與功能分化的社會中，個體不再認同集體的首要性，而必須根據「自我負責」的精神，建構出反身性的生活態度。新時代運動發展出靈性化的宇宙體系，藉由把物質宇宙能量化，從而賦予反身性以超越個人與社會行動的地位。在實踐方面，新時代運動運用超個人心理學作為方法論，結合人類潛能運動與整體醫療運動，塑造出理想的個體性。這兩個運動以自我意識為核心，運用規訓與告白的技術，企圖把身體當作實現個體性的通道。在這個前提下，「治療」被視作達成個人與宇宙合一的手段。反身性則化身為想像力，使治療由人際間告白關係轉變成為主體的內在話語。這個實踐可以分為內觀、瑜珈與現代薩滿三種模式，分別著重於內在的自我對話、身體能量的提升，以及對於外在提昇意識工具的使用。新時代運動更進一步擴大治療的隱喻，使之由個人的領域提升至社會的領域。社會潛能運動從個體的經驗出發，要求發展意識的影響力與創造力，形成社會的「量子躍升」以使新範型得以誕生。社區的草根政治行動與小規模的地方經濟，形成了新的生活政治與綠色消費基礎，並且以深度生態論取代成長的迷思。 新時代運動首先造就了反身性的靈性，作為一種內化的個體性的表現形式。展現在日常生活，這種個體性就成為生活政治的行動策略，其中個體的反身性思維成為在面對傳統社會行動無法處理的風險時，所不得不依靠的手段。最後，當反身性在個體內被推至極限時，則可能誕生出一種新的個體性，這是一種對反身性的反身性思考，協助個體在意識上擺脫外在範疇的限制，構成新的行動可能性。

The New Age Movement emerged in Western society in 1960s and it is a cultural and religious movement. It’s internalized religious presentation and the view point of individualized spirituality make it different from other religions in present time. It makes the individual as the centre of religion. It also makes stress on the Cosmology of Monism and the human-consciousness-centered viewpoint of practice. This article take the「Individualization」theory as the analyzing tool, to understand the characteristics of the New Age Movement. Individualization means, in highly institutionalized and functionalized differentiated societies, individuals do not recognize the primacy of collectivity, but take the spirit of 「self-responsibility」, and construct the reflexive life attitude. The New Age Movement develops a spiritualized cosmos system, and by making the material world energized, it gives the reflexivity a superior status, which even superior than personal social actions. In practice, this movement uses the Transpersonal Psychology as its methodology, and by combining the Human Potential Movement and the Holistic Health Movement, it tries to mould an ideal individuality. Using the self-consciousness as the centre of practice, these movements utilize the techniques of discipline and confession, and try to make the body as the path of fulfilling the individuality. From this view of point, 「curing」is being viewed as a tool of uniting the individual and Cosmos. The reflexivity becomes imaginations, and transforms curing the interpersonal relationships to internal dialogs of the subject. These practices can be divided to three modes: the Vipassana mode, the Yoga mode, and the Shaman mode. The first takes stress on the self internal dialogs. The second tries to raise body’s energy status. And the third emphasizes the utilizing of external consciousness-lifting tools. Furthermore the New Age Movement expands the curing metaphor, lifts it from the personal level, to the societal level. Starting from the angle of personal consciousness, the social potential movement asks people to develop the influence and creativity of consciousness, and makes the society experiencing the「quantum leap」,to give birth of the 「new paradigm」. The root actions of community politics and small scale local economies, forms the base of the new life politics and green consumptions. And they make use of deep ecology to substitute the myth of ongoing growth. the New Age Movement develops the reflexive spirituality, as the presentation form of the internal individuality. In everyday life, such individuality becomes the action strategy of life politics. Facing risks which traditional social actions can not handle, reflexive thinking becomes the only way. At last, when the reflexivity in the individual is being pushed to an extreme, it may give birth of a new kind of individuality. It would be a reflexive thinking of reflexivity. It can help individual to get rid of limits of external categories, and constructs some new possibilities of actions.