New World Spirituality
New World Spirituality
New World Spirituality (NWS) is a term coined by Dr. Michael Sharp to describe a new, unified form of spirituality that moves beyond the limited views and understandings of "old world" and often dogmatic views of Spirit present in science, spirituality, and religion. According to Dr. Sharp, New World Spirituality represents a common truth and a common spiritual heritage and reality relevant to all individuals of this world. New World Spirituality is characterized by heterogeneous expressions of capital "T" truths, but homogeneous understanding of, and unanimous agreement with, the core truths of creation.
New World Spirituality can be distinguished from old world spirituality on a number of fronts. For example, New World Spirituality is confident, but not dogmatic. Core spiritual truths are understood and experienced by all. However, there is no expectation that others should believe in the core truths if they do not wish to. The characteristic confidence of New World Spirituality arises from direct experience. That is, individuals come to believe the tenets or truths of Spirit because of direct experience with the truths and realities represented by New World Spirituality.
In addition to confidence, NWS also displays the following core features and characteristics.
- New World Spirituality is fruitful. The ideas, concepts, and practices of NWS lead to dramatic improvements in the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual condition of its practitioners.
- New World Spirituality is grounded. It is recognized that the purpose of physical manifestation is to experience variation and have fun. Therefore, New World Spirituality always honors The Body of Spirit and always looks to the health, well being, and improvement of The Body of Spirit.
- New World Spirituality is responsible. The core truth of our shared Divinity and a grounded expression of consciousness (i.e., Grounded Consciousness) in the 3D realm lead to the inevitable conclusion that the world "as it currently is" is unacceptable and "really not OK" and must be transformed. Therefore, New World Spirituality posits adamant collective creative responsibility.
- New World Spirituality is epistemologically sophisticated. New World Spirituality uses the pre-watershed methods of science and mysticism in a blended and advanced fashion, and without prejudice, to derive its principles, axioms, statements, and so on.
- New World Spirituality is accessible. The truths of Spirit, god, consciousness, and creation are presented in a grounded and easy-to-understand fashion. NWS eschews pompous and jargon-based communication in favor of clear and accessible expressions of Truth accessible to all.
- New World Spirituality is embodied. NWS respects and embraces the glory, significance and power of the Physical Unit as a vehicle for consciousness. The goal of embodied spirituality is not so much "transformation" or "creative exploration" (Ferrer, 2006) as it is full activation of the Physical Unit and full expression of consciousness in the physical world. This involves appropriate socialization and nurturing in childhood (see Developmental Psychology) that encourages chakra flow and nurtures the healthy development of the physical unit as well as non-repressive social, work, and family conditions.
See Also
References
Ferrer, J. (2006). Embodied Spirituality, Now and Then. Tikkun. 21(3): 41-64.
Sharp, Michael (2012). New World Spirituality. The SpiritWiki: http://www.thespiritwiki.org/index.php/New_World_Spirituality [Accessed: May 20, 2012]
