Digitalisation of Spirituality: Examining the Intersection of Religion, Spirituality and the Digital Age

Description

Page: 90-93

Satwika Shubhankshi (Delhi University, Vivekananda College, East Delhi, Vivek Vihar, Delhi)

Spirituality and eagerness in following religious practices has a growing value among mostly the ageing population wherein the idea of salvation, Moksha and Nirvana become important psychological goals. Moreover, their acquaintance with digital technologies and innovations is gaining more focus and attention to digitally empower them, in today’s world. In the post pandemic era, a stunning rise can be seen in the two seemingly distinct areas- 1) Digitalisation of almost anything and everything 2) Growing religious beliefs, spiritual practices of healing and affiliation to related organisations. To examine an interconnection between these two areas, one that is extremely propagative of advancement and progress and the other that keeps the lamp of believing in traditional roots of spirituality burning, and that too in the light of the relation it has with the ageing population is something that would lead to extraordinary revelations about the complementarity that has evolved between them so swiftly as well as their effectiveness in digitally as well as spiritually empowering the elderly people in the society. This review of literature, thus, would talk about all the new various ideas and ways that have emerged and made ‘Digitalisation of Spirituality’ possible by taking into account the case studies of religious organisations, mobile applications, and mass media techniques in the light of how it has affected the lives of the ageing population. It would also explore and compare the extent of this intersection of Spiritual practices and Digital era in the pre and post pandemic times with the help of data and results collected by previously conducted researches based on the same notion. Towards the conclusion we would explore the idea of whether this ‘Digitalisation of Spirituality’ has been helpful in its true essence.