Religiosity in the 21st Century— Alternative Spiritual Teaching and Its Bulgarian Followers

Abstract

The radical transformations in Bulgarian society following 1989, together with the subsequent disillusionments, economic instability, and rising levels of poverty, have frequently prompted people to seek explanations and solutions beyond purely rational and prag- matic frameworks. In response to these conditions, many people turn to religious practices as a means of coping with critical life situations in their everyday lives. Alongside traditional religions, Christian denominations, and sects, Bulgaria has also witnessed the introduction and diffusion of new religious movements and forms of spirituality, often categorized as alternative. A prominent mechanism for the dissemination of these movements has been the increasing provision of organized, paid group courses, seminars, and workshops. Through this process, spiritual practices are effectively economized. The text presents an ethnological study of a group of Bulgarian followers of a novel religious teaching that has been spreading in the coun- try since the early 2010s. The respondents engage with a microenterprise established in 2011, which organizes and facilitates participation in high-cost seminars on the so-called Tibetan System for Healing and Self-Development, integrating spiritual and physical practices of East- ern origin. This enterprise was founded as an intermediary for a spiritual school originally established in Moscow in 1995. The focus of the study encompasses the practices and activities offered during the seminars and master classes, which are conducted both in Sofia and in se- lected Bulgarian mountain and Black Sea resort locations. This study is concerned with understanding the motivations and purposes underlying the engagement of Bulgarians of diverse ages and social backgrounds with this particular teaching, as well as their attitudes and expectations toward encounters with alternative knowledge and practices. The analysis will focus on the defining characteristics of the emerging new spiritual- ity among the respondents and the processes through which they construct a collective identity as members of the nascent religious community. The study will address the question in what manner contemporary business interests find a place in the construction of alternative spiritual- ity and will contribute to understanding the process of commodification of the new spirituality.