Self-Improvement

Definition

Along with the belief in a new cosmic age, the sacred nature of the self (in harmony with nature and community) is a core category in New Age spiritualities in Latin America and across the world (Heelas 1996). In varying degrees, New Agers engage with meaningful practices that dramatize or cultivate one’s inner capabilities in the form of a harmonious balancing of physical, emotional, and spiritual capabilities, often labeled as “self-improvement,” “self-cultivation,” or “perfectibility of the soul” (D’Andrea 2000). Religious, artistic, and scientific systems are therefore recombined as tools for the reflexive cultivation of the self, which can differ significantly in style and orientation: either taking Romantic undertones revolving around the nurturing of affect as embodied in notions of “love” and “wisdom,” or entailing instrumental efforts for controlling inner and material realities as expressed in representations of “power” and “energy” (Heelas and Amaral 1994).

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