Presentation of New Forms of Religiosity and Spirituality in the context of the cultural offer in Pisek
Abstract
Case study - The Esoteric Festival and the presentation of spiritual options as part of the cultural scene in a South Bohemian town. The Czech society, considered mostly atheistic for many decades, is currently experiencing a boom of the so called new religiosity or spirituality.
The growing popularity of their alternative forms especially in the urban environment may on the one hand arise from the desire to search for deeper spiritual meanings in an ideologically emptied world which continues to distance itself from nature and which dwells out of the sphere of traditional churches. On the other hand, however, it is also the result of a sophisticated marketing strategy of "spirituality vendors" whose objective is to nurture the permanent "clientele" and to address other occasional "consumers" who want to try something new.
The emphasis on individual religiosity without its group identity, on experience and experiences without the need for deep religious faith, the emphasis on undemanding and pleasant aspects fully suits today's consumer society. What role does this new factor play on the traditionally conservative scene of Pisek, a town of thirty thousand inhabitants? How does it present and promote itself in a town which takes pride in its cultural tradition and features a wide range of established churches and religious communities? The Esoteric Festival, organized since 2009 by a municipal cultural organization in the Culture House, has established a new tradition of annual festive meetings of supporters of alternative spirituality with "experts in the field" who come to Pisek from the whole country.