Spiritual Process in Lightprayer: A Network of New Religious Practice

Abstract

This article considers the conditions of spiritual process in the new kind of religiousness called Lightprayer. Based on the analysis, it is argued that Lightprayer itself and the practice involved can be seen as a processual approach towards the self and spirituality. It is part of a wider change in religious behaviour. To approach the spiritual process I will draw upon the procedures of actor-network theory (ANT). The ethnographic material, field notes, photographs, and interviews concerning the practices of ‘I am’ clauses and the ‘fire ritual’ are interpreted from the perspective of ANT. The perspective of ANT foregrounds the contributions and roles of the human and non-human actors in the actualisation of the spiritual process in Lightprayer. The spiritual process functions as a protocol in Lightprayer and sustains the connections that have been negotiated. However, it also enables the participants to negotiate their individual worldviews. Analysing the interaction within the practices of Lightprayer is essential for an understanding of this new kind of religiousness.