Buiten kerk en moskee

ing of life) definitely does not mean that today’s spirituals, agnostics and atheists do not
experience any meaning (meaning in life). Quite the opposite actually. Self-development,
caring for others, partaking in intense experiences and knowing that one is part of a greater
whole are a few examples of ways in which non-traditional believers give meaning to
their lives.
The individual’s own biography as a yardstick of relevance, the primacy of inner experiences
and emotions, the breakdown of hierarchical relationships of authority, ever smaller
partial identities – these are all examples of broad social trends that have existed for decades
now and that manifest themselves daily in the most diverse areas of life (for example,
De Hart 2005). Numerous social organisations are experiencing the impact of the
above. They often have no difficulty interesting people in what they are trying to achieve,
but the same does not apply when trying to get the same people to commit themselves to
their organisations. The relevance of their projects is not at risk, but their continuity is (for
example, Posthumus et al. 2014).
Where ideology is concerned, developments are manifesting themselves via the emergence
of a new attitude to religion. Danièle Hervieu-Léger (1999), a French sociologist specialised
in the sociology of religion, distinguishes between what she calls converts (or convertis)
and pilgrims (or pèlerins). The people in the first group have chosen for a well-defined
religion, while people from the second group see themselves primarily as individuals who
are on a journey, seeking more significance, seeking meaning that has actually been experienced.
They may even be searching for themselves. In an age when all manner of traditional
religious institutions are crumbling, the latter model is becoming ever more important.
It is not so much about conforming to the rules of an organisation or attending mass ritual
gatherings in a fixed and prescribed rhythm, but more a matter of a personal spiritual journey
of discovery and sharing the emotional and religious feelings associated with that. It is
about going in search of who you are, on a quest for the core of one’s being. ‘Atman’,
‘γνῶθισεαυτόν’, ‘werde, der du bist’, ‘intra-personal intelligence’. From the Vedas, Delphi and
Pindaros to Goethe, Nietzsche and contemporary cognitive psychology, they provide a constantly
recurring testimony to an indefatigable desire to know oneself, a desire which is
today acquiring a new topicality – within religious communities, too, but above all beyond
church and mosque.
Noten
1 The following were some of the characteristics even lower down on the two lists: Iconoclasm and
Reformation (140 and 158 respectively), Roman Catholicism (148 and 140), Judaism (174 and 160), Islam
(180 and 184) and Buddhism (185 and 183). However, characteristics like ‘humanism’ (163 and 133) and
‘not being religious’ (141 and 134) also scored low as typical characteristics and as reason to feel a connection
with the country and its people. This would seem to indicate ideological disinterest rather than
anti-religious or secular motives. See: Beugelsdijk et al. (2019).
2 Large numbers of Dutch citizens (still) feel that religion has an important role to play at commemorations
and in response to disaster situations, etc. (Bernts and Berghuijs 2016: 40 et seq.).
165 c o n c l u d i n g r e m a r k s o n t h r e e r e p o r t s