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What is the New Age
The area referred to as the New Age can be very misunderstood as there’s
a tendency to meet one person behaving a certain way and assume that
person is a reflection of ‘New Age’ beliefs. While such thinking is not
at all logical, it happens frequently in a world accustomed to judging
and boxing things into categories. Such assumptions and judgements
account for the majority of dismissals of something as being ‘new age.’
With organised structures such as orthodox religions, the majority of
people involved in it are all sticking (more or less) to a doctrine
imposed by that organisation. So when someone says they are a Christian,
most people have a good idea of their beliefs and how they are trying to
conduct their life. Of course, some don’t do that, but there’s a clear
distinction that shows us that fact.
However, with what has been called the ‘New Age’ (a term originated by
scholars) - is a situation where you have the largest possible variety
of people who don’t follow any rigid doctrine or leadership.
The result is the widest,
most diverse range of individuals possible, each sitting at different
points in their personal understanding of what life is about and their
own ideas of how to reflect that. With millions of such differing
individual ideas, we may see
someone dressed in fairy wings with glitter in their hair, ungrounded
and blissed out in love who sees nothing negative in their world - to
the opposite end of the spectrum of someone seeing everything as a
conspiracy and not trusting any established systems. So which is it? The
answer is - all of them. Before leaping to judge the New Age, what needs
to fully grasp is it is not something that can be successfully placed in
a slot. That is its pure essence and intent - to go beyond any
indoctrination and control - to be unfettered, alive and in continuous
creation.
This
current wave of spirituality spanning across the Earth, referred to as
the New Age, involves millions of people each expressing in their way,
their current understanding of how to help Earth become a better place.
It comprises people from every walk of life; royalty, doctors, garbage
collectors, actors, authors, street sweepers, housewives, etc. In fact,
it includes people of every profession or walk of life and a multitude
of religions.
There are
some common denominators. They all have an inclination to help, which
can express itself in many ways - it may be helping people; animals;
wildlife; other awakened souls; the environment; the ecology; providing
new ways to do things; promoting peace; applying various forms of
holistic healing or counselling; using subtle healing energy healing
methods such as flower essences or the more scientific use of
mathematics and sacred geometry, etc. Whatever the vehicle used, the end
goal is the same for all these people - to make the world a better place
- a goal served by many different groups, philosophies and religions.
Other
common denominators for this particular band of people helping the Earth
at this time, would be the idea that everything that exists is God; a
concept encompassing ‘All That Is’ rather than perhaps the belief of one
Being sitting in the sky. They also believe raising their own
vibrational frequency of light and becoming more loving (helped by
divesting themselves of negative thought patterns and heavy emotions)
and more their true self as a spiritual being - helps themselves as well
as contributing considerably to their overall goal of assisting the
planet. Individually and collectively, they work toward becoming
balanced in mind body and spirit, being non judgemental, unconditional
loving (i.e. to love without conditions attached), grateful and to act
with integrity. They are very willing to share any wisdom they’ve
experienced and integrated, through their actions and words. Some view
themselves as caretakers of the Earth and her life forms. As a
collective group, the term Lightworker is often used to define them.
It’s
generally accepted that higher planes of existence hold finer
frequencies of light, with no limited concepts (e.g. time) or
individualization. However, living in the 3rd dimension can be helped by
using practical tools existing within its realities, such as linear
time. So, some people use various tools deemed to be useful in
addressing and resolving life issues. These would include ideas of
karma, past lives and higher angelic realms (includes the concept of
Jesus).
All in all
then, the New Age could be seen as millions of different people of all
nationalities, each at different points in their own evolution and their
individual grasp of an overall higher picture of life, but all united in
bringing together solutions to produce a critical mass point of change,
being brought about by the uniting of sufficient numbers of humanity in
a common goal of love and caring for each other and the Earth.
Wikipedia:
Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis,
largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure.
Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved
in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual or Mind, Body,
Spirit and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves.
Dictionary definition: New Age noun - A broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture, with an interest in spirituality, mysticism, holism, and environmentalism.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
- New Age movement is a
movement that spread through the occult and metaphysical religious communities in
the 1970s and ʾ80s. It looked forward to a “New Age” of love and light
and offered a foretaste of the coming era through personal
transformation and healing. The movement’s strongest supporters were
followers of modern esotericism,
a religious perspective that is based on the acquisition of mystical
knowledge and that has been popular in the West since the 2nd century ad,
especially in the form of Gnosticism.
WIKIPEDIA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age
The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs
and practices that developed in Western
nations during
the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their
emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure.
Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved
in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual or Mind, Body,
Spirit and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves. Many
scholars of the subject refer to it as the New
Age movement, although others contest this term and suggest that
it is better seen as a milieu or zeitgeist.
As a form of Western
esotericism,
the New Age drew heavily upon a number of older esoteric traditions.
Despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found
within the New Age have been identified. Theologically,
the New Age typically adopts a belief in a holistic form
of divinity which imbues all of the universe, including human beings
themselves. There is thus a strong emphasis on the spiritual authority
of the self. This is accompanied by a common belief in a wide variety of
semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters,
with whom humans can communicate, particularly through the form of channelling.
Typically viewing human history as being divided into a series of
distinct ages, a common New Age belief is that whereas once humanity
lived in an age of great technological advancement and spiritual wisdom,
it has entered a period of spiritual degeneracy, which will be remedied
through the establishment of a coming Age
of Aquarius,
from which the milieu gets its name. There is also a strong focus on
healing, particularly using forms of alternative
medicine,
and an emphasis on a "New Age science" which seeks to unite science and
spirituality.
I found a very long article and as I
think it’s a pretty fair summation of ‘New Agers’
I’ve extracted some of its points. See ahead
The New Age movement is not impossible to describe, just difficult. It
is a complex sociological phenomenon. The New Age movement is best
understood as a
network — or,
to be more exact, a
meta-network (network
of networks). Networks are “spontaneously created by people to
address problems and offer possibilities primarily outside of
established institutions. Networks tend to be decentralized, often
having no single leader or
headquarters, and with power and responsibility widely distributed.
The New Age movement, then, is an extremely large, loosely structured
network of organizations and
individuals bound together by common values. Networks “see” through
many perspectives, although the unknowing observer may think they have
only one point of view. The
many perspectives of a network derive from the autonomy of its members.
All have their own turf and
agendas, yet they cooperate in the network because they also have some
common values and visions.
Within the New Age meta-network and movement are hundreds of smaller
(but still sometimes very large) networks and movements encompassing a
wide variety of interests and causes (all compatible with the ends of
the larger network). The consciousness movement, the holistic health
movement, the human potential movement, all have contributed generously
to the New Age movement, as have the followers of many Eastern gurus and
Western occult teachers. However, participation in one of these
movements does not always indicate conscious or actual participation in
the New Age movement (remember that networks have fuzzy borderlines).
The New Age movement is not a cult by any accepted sociological
definition of the term. Cult membership is by far the exception, and not
the rule, for New Agers. New Agers tend to be eclectic: they draw what
they think is the best from many sources. Long-term, exclusive devotion
to a single teaching, teacher, or technique is not the norm. They move
from one approach to “wholeness” to another in their spiritual journeys.
New Agers consider spirituality
much more a matter of experience than belief. Any teaching or technique
that facilitates experience is welcome, but there is most often no
loyalty to a rigid, elaborate system of belief.
All New
Agers believe that “all is one”—
everything that exists composes one essential reality. New Agers explain
that man is separated from God only in
his own consciousness. New Agers believe that any or all of a variety of
techniques for altering the
consciousness (including meditation, chanting, ecstatic dancing, and
sensory deprivation) can enable the seeker to consciously (mystically)
experience his supposed oneness with God. For the New Agers, experience
and intuition are the final authorities.
In addition to the above universal beliefs,
almost all New Agers adhere to
the ancient Hindu doctrines of reincarnation and karma.
It has a conviction that personal transformation leads to planetary
transformation.
It considers that it need only achieve a “critical mass” (not a
majority) of public support to overturn the cultural strongholds of
secular humanism and traditional religion.
The New Age movement is a loosely knit network, and not a tightly run
organization, participants are free to dismiss statements made by other
New Agers as not representing their own views.
Quoting a New Age leader is not the same as quoting a spokesperson for a
denomination, sect, or cult.
New Agers are generally sincere. Many are also intelligent — if one
grants their basic world view premises, their beliefs are not as
irrational and inconsistent as some think. By and large New Agers are
genuinely humanitarian, sometimes putting Christians to shame by their
willingness to serve humanity.
The New Age movement is not primarily a youth movement, but spans all
ages. The New Age movement
is not anti-establishment. New Agers have not continued the hippies’
emphasis on free sex, though their morals could hardly be called
“traditional”. While mind-altering drugs were the doorway to the
spiritual realm for most hippies, the mysticism of the New Age movement
is largely drug-free.
New Agers as a rule are very health and growth oriented.
Much of the movement’s activities centre around these themes. It needs
to be noted that there is nothing wrong, and everything right, with
desires to grow and be whole. The quests for spiritual reality,
authentic identity satisfying relationships, and greater health are all,
in and of themselves, desirable cultural trends.
New Agers are (understandably) very concerned about the many threats to
global survival (such as the nuclear arms race).
They don’t believe they have to watch helplessly as the fate of all
humanity is shaped by the vested interests of short sighted political
and economic powers. Just as
they’ve embarked upon personal
transformation by
taking responsibility for their own lives, they believe that a critical
mass of transformed individuals can take responsibility for society as a
whole and bring about planetary
transformation.
Their highly optimistic view of human nature encourages them to believe
that not only can the global crisis be survived, it can be turned into
an evolutionary opportunity to realize our racial potential
in a relative utopia.
May this help bring greater understanding,
Love,
Sandy Stevenson
http://www.lightascension.com/welcome.html
http://www.lightascension.com/arts/WhatIsTheNewAge.html
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