After Heaven II

I just finished reading a very fascinating book on spirituality in America since the 1950s, After Heaven by Robert Wuthnow. After spending six chapters analyzing the change in spirituality since the 1950s, Wuthnow presents a model for the continuation of American spirituality into the 21st century, which he refers to as a practice-oriented spirituality. He says that Americans are finding that in order to be spiritual beings, they need some sort of action to accompany their spirituality, whether it comes from being dwelling-oriented or it comes from individual seeking. Part of me wonders whether there is anything innovative in Wuthnow's thinking. However, when contemplating his ideas thoroughly, I realize that his major assessment is not that people should not be individually oriented, but that the individualism can only result from a base system - which I might add is the same speculative point I made the other day. People searching for spirituality, while each will approach it differently, must approach from certain common elements. I think that is one of the main lessons of his work, namely the need for a base discipline when looking to rise above materialism, even if the base is not the place of worship.