“Desire Machines”

By Muhammad Anis, *Sufism and rise of spirituality* - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The term urban sufism became popular after Julia Day Howell (2003) used it in an anthropological study of the spiritual movement, which blossomed in urban areas in Indonesia, especially the zikir (religious chant) groups and the like.

Indeed, spiritualism never dies. Not only because it is inherited from one generation to another in a community that still holds this tradition, but also because it appears in the center of culture that is actually heading fast in a completely different direction. It unexpectedly pops up here and there, amid urban modern materialism.

Prosperity, technological advances, the ease in organizing everyday life and increasing competition have created pressure that is sometimes intolerable.

Instant and fast-paced lifestyles, including consumption of food that is unhealthy, lacking time to maintain togetherness with family and friends and ecological damage are precisely the results of modern people who are alienated from themselves.

It was described nicely by Albert Camus, who called it a phenomenon of absurdity in the portrait of modern society, where people feel alienated in this nature. It is mentioned in the legend of Sisyphus, who was punished by gods to push a stone up a mountain, but each time it almost reached the top, the rock rolled down again.

As a result, Sisyphus was only involved in a lifetime of work in vain. Sisyphus’ punishment is a metaphor for modern life, where people spend their time in a futile cycle of activity, which herds them into self-imbalance.

As a result, some of them choose a shortcut to get out of that pressure through deviant ways, such as by consuming drugs and liquor. They can also commit suicide.

However, not rarely, some choose the path of spirituality, including establishing or joining a new spiritual community and religion. This is termed by John Naisbitt as a symptom of high-tech high-touch.

According to him, the rise of spirituality is an inevitable symptom in a community that has experienced the process of modernization as a reaction to an increasingly secular life.

Komaruddin Hidayat explains that there are at least four viewpoints as to why sufism grows in big cities. First, sufism is demanded by the urban community as a means to find the meaning of life. Second, sufism becomes a means of intellectual struggle and enlightenment. Third, sufism can also be a means of psychological therapy. Fourth, sufism follows the trends and development of religious discourse.

Of course, this phenomenon of urban spirituality is exciting. But, on the other hand it can be of concern as well. Sufism and spirituality are considered mere escapism.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the corrupt official is also active in spiritual activities, even capable of sobbing. This is actually dangerous, because they assume that by acting like this their sins can be cleaned, so they continue being corrupt.

Once again, their goal in participating in spiritual activities is not to improve, but rather merely to reassure themselves.

Another concern relates to the existence of these spiritual classes in the metropolis community that is strongly influenced by post-modernity. This is because post-modernism is often regarded as a culture that contains paradoxes and self-contradictions, which can lead to the paradox of spirituality itself.

On the one hand, the spirituality discourse can be the goalkeeper for “the sanctity of soul” in a community full of turmoil of boundless passion disposal.

But, on the other hand, spirituality can also be of concern as people can be trapped in the mechanism of “desire machines” of post-modern society as it is not impossible that the proliferation of this spiritual community is not more than a mere commercialization and capitalization of spirituality.

Still, all this certainly needs further study.

The writer is a doctoral candidate in Islamic Political Thought, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta.