The Class Reunion of Old Souls; Tourism of Spiritual Growth in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala

Abstract

Since the end of Guatemala’s civil war in 1996, the Mayan village of San Marcos La Laguna has attracted a large number of spiritual seekers from the Global North in search of spiritual growth and meaning. Consequently, San Marcos has become a so-called global spiritual hub for those identifying as non-religiously spiritual. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, this thesis explores how the expatriates and visitors in San Marcos describe their spiritual journey and the role their conceptions of the typical Western way of life play in the narratives. The findings indicate that their spiritual journeys were often preceded by an existential crisis, commonly triggered by a traumatic event or deep-rooted anomie they experienced in their home societies. The Western lifestyle and its emphasis on materialism and consumption was eschewed. The thesis further explores how the spiritual community of San Marcos was perceived by members, suggesting that the sociality members experienced resembles Turner’s “communitas”. These aspects of non-religious spirituality are explored through the concepts of self-spirituality and commodification of the self, which can be regarded as reflections of Western individualism and late capitalism. Although I argue that non-religious spirituality contains replications of the thing it resists, the entrepreneurs interviewed were driven by a strong calling to live their purpose and be “of service” to the world around them.