Consuming the afterlife: spirituality, neo-spiritualism and continuity of the self

Abstract

Late-modern consumer society materially supports the self’s spiritual goals. Yet the lack of fulfilment in consumption has produced ambivalence in these goals. A consideration of the continuation and intensification of afterlife beliefs suggests that these goals have not been shaped solely by consumptive trends but are implicitly tied to a deep concern with death and the quest for the inner self. Popular fascination with psychics and mediums, after-death communication and the near-death experience attests to the emergence of a new spiritualism that reaffirms the philosophy of the afterlife as a type of late-modern didacticism on self-continuity. At the same time, the rise of spirituality as a de-traditionalised and inner-directed approach to self-exploration suggests a convergence with neo-spiritualism in the attempt to gauge the transcendental-future of the self. Although this convergence provides a convenient platform for the marketability of afterlife beliefs, the late-modern preoccupation with the self may eventually redirect mystified consumption into personalised projects of self-discovery.