Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

We define spirituality as a conscious way of life based on a transcendent referent…‘Way of life’, firstly means a worldview and ethos. A worldview is a way ofunderstanding ‘my’ world and my place in that world, and provides a frame ofreference within which I can assign meaning to my experiences…‘Transcendentreferent’ means here a reality which is beyond the individual, either somethingsupernatural/religious/otherworldly, or an ethical ideal towards which a personstrives to shape their conduct 62 .Using a grid based on their definition of spirituality, Mason et al. identify threerecognisable ‘spiritualities’within the Australian youth demographic:• ‘traditional spirituality’ (46% Christian, 6% ‘other’);• ‘New Age spirituality’ (17%);• ‘secular spirituality’ (28%) 63 .Salient findings identified by Mason et al. include the identification within the wholedemographic of a conceptual orientation that the researchers refer to as ‘spiritualities’, butthat only 41% of the whole actually engages practically with their ‘beliefs’. For example,though 31% of the demographic state they have a ‘definite’ belief in reincarnation, theyhave no connection to the religions (such as Hinduism and Buddhism) holding this belief.The researchers conclude that participation in religious practices and spirituality are ofrelatively low importance to the general youth population in Australia, and that they tendto cherry-pick their beliefs from a variety of sources in a ‘consumerist fashion’. Thesignificant gap between conceptual orientation and actual practice—particularly withregard to the ‘New Age’ spiritualities—led researchers to downplay views of an emergentspirituality revolution 64 (such as those expressed by Tacey).Researchers found that the majority of generation Y agree that ‘morals are relative andthat there are no definite rights and wrongs for everybody’. Most young people associated62 The spirit of Generation Y, 39 & 40.63 The remaining 3% are those young people who say that they believe in God but do not identify in anyway with a recognisable faith tradition; see the summary of ACU and MU findings athttp://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/ccls/sppub/sppub.htm64 See ibid and also the interview with the research team broadcast on SBS as part of the ‘Y God’documentary (‘My Generation’ series) which may be viewed at:http://programs.sbs.com.au/mygeneration/#/ygod/watch , aired originally, July 16, 2008.206