Spiritual trends with promises from health to success: A descriptive analysis of websites

SPIRITUAL TRENDS WITH PROMISES FROM HEALTH TO SUCCESS: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS OF WEBSITES SUMMARY Spiritual searches, which have increased in recent years and have many promises to success from health, have brought many formations with the widespread use of the internet. People are now turning to spiritual service provider websites in pursuit of personal growth, spiritual transformation, and inner peace. The aim of the research is to consider from a sociological point of view how the websites providing spiritual service through the internet address the spiritual needs of individuals. At this point, we will examine the spiritual services provided by the sites and the promises made to the site visitors, how the returns of the people who receive spiritual service through their websites are, and the reasons for such interest in such formations. The descriptive analysis method was used in the research, and the universe of the research is created by websites that provide spiritual service over the internet. "Spiritual", "spiritualism", "spiritual education", "spiritual consultancy", and "spiritual product", as a result of the scan with key concepts, 118 websites that provide spiritual service have been reached. These sites are divided into four categories: "consulting service", "education service", "tourism service", and "product sales service" in line with the services they provide. Site update, service diversity, and content richness elements are selected among these sites with 10 website purposive sampling methods. Due to the increasing stress, loneliness, and the search for meaning in modern society, individuals are entering into different pursuits, and as a result, they are turning to formations that will fill their non-religious but spiritual gaps. The target audience on the reviewed websites is usually individuals who want to explore themselves. While these pursuits offer easy-to-reach and individual-oriented solutions, they turn into a manipulative ground due to the divine promises that individuals make by targeting their emotional weaknesses. As a result, the fact that such services provided through the websites are paid shows us that the main issue is not spirituality in the theological sense, but economic interest, that the spiritual needs of individuals are commercialized, and a new spiritual orientation is widespread at the social level. At this point, considering the ethical dimension of turning the feeling of spiritual deficiency in people into economic interests, the effects of such formations on individuals should be examined from a sociological point of view, and necessary audit mechanisms should be established. Keywords: Search for meaning, Spiritual promise, Emotional weakness, Economic interest