SOCIAL CHANGE ACCORDING TO BULGARIAN NEW AGE

Abstract

The modern world citizen today rejects Christian morality as retrograde. Thus,
a modern, syncretic, and global alternative to the human self emerges – New Age movement,
which is becoming more widespread and sought after by quickly solving life’s problems
and ensuring personal happiness.
The cultural Christianity of the Bulgarians facilitates the spread of New Age beliefs and
practices: the historically established “pagan Christianity” of the Bulgarians is manifested
by latent religiosity, dualistic, rich mythological demonology, and oral patriarchal tradition.
At first sight, Bulgarian New Age is a liberal religion (according to Peter Beyer): tolerant
and ecumenical, with the aim of including more people to work for the benefit of the
world community. But more in-depth research reveals that the proximity in the doctrines
of Bulgarian New Age and Bulgarian Orthodoxy in everyday life allow their conflict-free
coexistence. Additionally, the sociological interpretation of Mark Satin’s quadrant shows
that, unlike the Western New Age, Bulgarian New Age beliefs and practices represent a
conservative response to life’s challenges, closer to monolithic institutions than biolithic
ones: “the path of freedom = the path of suffering = the path of redemption”. Therefore,
both the Bulgarian “high” New Age and Bulgarian Orthodoxy are two conservative responses
in a globalized and secularized world. Interpreted through Orthodox theology,
Bulgarian New Age is a commune movement: “from below”, organic, informal, non-legal,
non-institutionalized, non-hierarchical. In functional terms, it represents a “synthetic metanarrative”
of traditional Bulgarian Orthodoxy and particularly Petar Danov’s teaching,
which derives its strength from the claim for Bogomil heritage and avoiding the “confessional
curse”, and the social change needs time and hard self-work.