The re-enchantment of the self: western spirituality, Asian materialism

Abstract

The entire edifice of modern civilization rests upon the spirit of disenchantment. The entire enterprise of postmodernism is predicated on the reversal of disenchantment. This is the great reversal that the West faces today. However, these changes do not augur the unfolding of a neo-romantic age, but rather the reinvention of spirituality in a mass market of fluid identities. In Asia, the structures of disenchantment have yet to predominate over the magical cosmos of traditional lore. The new middle classes in Asia are struggling to maintain a fac¸ade of disenchantment without fully relinquishing their beliefs in an enchanted universe. The paradox of disenchantment in Asia provides a key to understanding re-enchantment in the West.