The New Age Movement
New Age - A Paradigm Shift to Divine Consciousness & a Universal
Philosophy The New Age Movement (NAM) is a revival of spiritual
and divine values and can be called as a Divine Regeneration
Movement. New Age Philosophy has conquered the West
intellectually and Western culture is currently experiencing a
phenomenal shift - sociological, spiritual & ideological. It's a
secular, multi-cultural, multi-religious synthesis, of the
Oriental mystical philosophies, mainly Hinduism, Buddhism,
Taoism & Western Occultism, emphasising Holism, the doctrine
that Reality is organically One ( now taught in American
Universities after Einstein's Theory of Relativity ). . Behind
the evolution of the species, there is an evolution of
Consciousness. The aim of Life is Self-Actualisation, to evolve
to the level of Unity Consciousness, defined as the 7th state of
Consciousness in Transcendental Philosophy.
The social disturbance caused by the Vietnam War, the threat
posed by AIDS, the disillusionment with materialistic ideas and
the erosion of faith in Morality & Ethics brought a sense of
futility & meaninglessness in the Western psyche.The limitations
of the Western system of Chemotherapy & adverse side-effects of
antibiotics, sedatives and certain other drugs and the
disillusionment with the promises of science & technology made
millions turn to Oriental philosophies, occult practices &
systems of therapy.( Interest in Alternative Medicine developed
to such an extent that there are now more than 180 systems of
Alternative Medicine. Exponents of New Age Philosophy in Europe
and America include Transcendentalists like Thoreau, Emerson &
Walt Whitman, Wordsworth, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), , &
Theosophy introduced by Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831- 1891) &
Col Olcott & the philosopher, Annie Besant. As the world
witnessed a Consciousness Revolution, Transcendental Meditation,
Yoga ,Zen, Carlos Castaņada, the Beatles, Holistic Medicine (
both Western and Ayurveda ), Tantra, Astrology ( both Western &
Vedic ) all became popular .
There are 6 million New Age sites on the Web and the NAM
consists of a massive & well organised network consisting of
thousands of groups, trusts, foundations, clubs, lodges, and
spiritual groups whose goal and purpose is to prepare the world
to enter the coming Aquarian Age. ( The Age of Aquarius ). In
astrological symbolism, Aquarius represents Spirituality and
Pisces Rationality. The Piscean Age, an age of Computer and
Cybernetics revolution, will be followed by an Age of
Consciousness Revolution or a Spiritual Revolution, the Aquarian
Age.
Some New Age Organisations are : California New Age Caucus, New
World Alliance, World Goodwill, The Church Universal and
Triumphant, The Theosophical Society, Amnesty International,
Zero Population Growth, the Forum, Planetary Initiative for the
World We Choose, the Club of Rome, Church Universal &
Triumphant, Christian Science, and the Unity School of
Christianity.
New Age believes in the essential goodness of Man and the Divine
Spark in Man and the New Age movement is not a unified cult
system of beliefs and practices, even though its roots derive
from Vedic Philosophy. There is no central authority, no
official leader, no headquarters, nor membership list, but
instead is a network of groups working toward World Peace and
Universal Love. There are millions of worldwide followers of
various New Age practices and the world is moving from Chaos (
Disorder ) to Cosmos ( Order ) ! This is a Phase Transition from
Entropy ( Disorder ) to Order !
Significant influence has been gained by NAM affecting almost
every area of Occidental culture -- Sociology, Psychology,
Medicine, the Government, Ecology, Science, Arts, Education, the
Business Community, the media, entertainment, sports, and even
the Church. Organised spiritual forms such as Christian Science,
Unity and even forms of Witchcraft ( from the German ' Wicca'
meaning the Wise; Witchcraft means the Craft of the Wise ) are
all its expressions. Various Human Potential Seminars,
Transcendental Meditation, Zen Meditation and some Alternative
Holistic Medicine practices are also its manifold
manifestations.
Some popular New Age publications and journals are New Age
Journal, the Z Files, Clarity, Body Mind Spirit, Yoga Journal,
Gnosis, East West, Noetic Sciences, the Millenium Being and
Omega. The new tendency of people now is to view everything from
a New Age perspective
The major goal of the New Age Movement is to prepare Man for
entering the Aquarian Age and to bring world peace in an already
bruised world. "All is wrong with the world" said Shaw & some of
the other goals of the NAM are to establish an entirely New
World Order in the fields of Economy & Government. The idea of a
World Government was proposed by Bernard Shaw earlier and was
implemented by Mahesh Yogi and occurs in the writings of the
foundational apostle of the New Age Movement, Alice Bailey.
The word 'Initiation" is derived from the Latin "In ire" to go
within and Initiates were termed by the Great Master as the salt
of the Earth. The mystic Ward defined Reality as "Within and
within and within and within" . Another mystic described it as
"It is hidden, it is hidden and it is hidden". To the mystic,
self evolution is the means and only by changing and correcting
ourselves can we change others . The primary goals of the
movement then, are to prepare the world to receive the Divine
Consciousness and to enter the Age of Aquarius, thus
establishing the New World Order.
New Age Philosophy believes that human evolution can be
accelerated, if not in the entire mass of humanity, at least in
suitable individuals. Human nature is perfectible, through an
intensive process of purification and Initiation.
The New Age Movement is secular & universally diffused over the
earth's surface & its basic underlying philosophy emphasises
Gnosticism and Occultism. (Gnosticism is an ancient philosophy
stating that Divine essence is the highest reality, and that the
Self of man is actually this Essence. Behind the phenomenal
world is the Transcendent Reality which Intuition alone can see
). It bears a remarkable resemblance to the Universal Religion
that H.G. Wells predicted would one day take over the world.
The six main characteristics of New Age thinking are: (1) All is
Unity; (2) All is Divine (3) Humanity is divine (4) A change in
Consciousness; (5) All religions are One; and (6) Cosmic
Evolutionary optimism. Basically Dialectical Integralism, New
Age Philosophy unites both Matter and Spirit.
Spirit shall see through Matter's gaze
Matter shall reveal the Spirit's face !
The 13 main principles of New Age Philosophy are:
(1) One Global Order - One World Governement, One Currency, One
Universal Being.
(2) Universal Energy, Universal Matter, Universal Life,
Universal Soul As God
(3) An Eternal Universe - Uniform in Space and Unending in Time
(4) Divine practices ( Astrology Yoga & other esoteric arts)
(5) Syncretism ( Unity of all Religions ).
(6) The need for Meditation ( for generating altered states of
Consciousness );
(7) Life is Cyclical- Everything is cyclical, subject to the
cyclical upheavals of Time.
(8) Holistic Medicine & Vegetarianism (The patient is more
important than the Doctor & Alkaline diet)
(9) Pacifism ( Anti-war activities);
(10) Reincarnation; ( The Law of Conservation of Soul )
(11) The Evolution of Man into Divinity; ( The latent Life Force
evolving naturally to the Divine )
(12) The Union of Man with the Divine; ( Merger of man into the
Infinite )
(13) Matter's Illusoriness; - Esse est percipii - Perception is
Essence; Mind is Substance.
2. The Lord. - Since Matter and Energy can neither be created or
destroyed and the sum total energy in the Universe is an
absolute constant ( Universal Being ), the Lord did not create
the world, He became the world. Monism --( "All is Unity" )
averrs that there is only One Essence in the universe, everyone
and everything being a part of that essence. The Self is an
utter Being and all these are its Becomings. New Agers view God
as an Impersonal Life force, Consciousness, or Energy (e.g., the
"Star Wars Force") mainly but they also believe in His personal
aspect, as the Ocean ( which is Formless ) can take the form of
an iceberg! They averr that every human has a divine spark
within him because all created beings are reflections of the
Divine Idea. The eternal state is called by various terms among
different New Age groups, i.e., God-consciousness, Universal
Love, Self-Realization, the I AM, Higher Self, Brahman, Nirvana,
etc.
2. The Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Christ Consciousness or the
Divine Consciousness is what the New Age advocates mean by
Christ. . In other words, Christ is a Divine Principle rather
than an individual, such as Jesus. This idea of Christ
Consciousness asserts that Jesus was only one of the Christs,
but that He equipped Himself to receive the Christ Consciousness
(i.e., He was a great Master who attained Christ Consciousness),
as did other prophets like Buddha, Krishna, and Mohammed. New
Agers believe Dr Paul Brunton who stated the Jesus spent 18
years in India absorbing Indian Mysticism and that he was
initiated into the highest esoteric doctrine. 3. Human Destiny.
Man is the measure of all things and is more divine than the
animals & hence the salvation of the world depends upon Man.
Cleansing the negative elements from the collective subconscient
should be the aim of humanity. Once Negativity is cleaned from
the collective subconscient, the human positive energy will
shine forth and the noble ideals of the New Age will be
actualised in an era of Enlightenment. Since man is
intrinsically divine and perfect, his only real problem is
ignorance of that fact. Gnosis means experiential knowledge and
Salvation in the New Age is for man to become enlightened
through this Divine Gnosis. New Age groups offer various
spiritual techniques to enable individuals, and ultimately the
world, to evolve into this Unitive Consciousness . These
techniques may include psychotechnologies for attaining altered
states of consciousness - Transcendental Meditation, Yoga, Zen,
Attunement , Channeling (Spirit guides), Psychics, Acupuncture,
etc.
4. The Ethical Opposites, Good & Evil - Believing in the
Oriental philosophies, New Agers make the distinction between
good and evil. All wickedness is weakness and Evil is
imperfection. By the method of Trial and Error, we come to know
what is good and what is bad for the world and we have to
transcend the dualities. 5. Reincarnation. New Agers believe in
the ancient Vedic philosophic concept of Reincarnation -- that
through a long process of rebirths, man can eventually attain
Divine perfection. They also teach the Universal Law of Karma
--(( The Law of Cause and Effect ( Every effect has a cause ),
the Law of Action and Reaction, the Law of Retribution ))- that
what a person sows , he shall reap. This is also the doctrine of
God's non-responsibility, that the Self is not responsible and
it is the Ego which experiences bitter & sweet mental
experiences due to its own Karma. 6.Salvation is
Self-Actualisation and Sin is Ignorance - SSome theoreticians
taught the concept of Man's Original Sin. New Age exponents
teach the concept of man's essential goodness. Instead of
systems which emphasised the human negative aspect and sin, New
Age highlights that every man is essentially divine and it is a
sin to call man a sinner ! However, New Agers speak of
troublesome desires which are natural impulses which retard
human evolution and make the Ego move away from the Self. Sin is
merely ignorance of man's essential divinity. The atrophied
spiritual consciousness of the normal man who lives in ignorance
of his Divine Self is Sin. Like the Law of Conservation of
Energy which states that Energy cannot be created or destroyed,
the Law of Conservation of Soul states that the Soul can neither
be created nor destroyed. Matter exists in 3 states, liquid,
gaseous and solid and matter cannot be created or destroyed.
Nothing ever begins to be. Similarly Life does not at physical
birth begin to be. It merely enters physical conditions and
assumes physical guise. It merely undergoes a parallel
transformation into conditions which preexisted in other
conditions. The Soul is reincarnated in different bodies in a
continous succession of lives. The good or bad Karma earned in
the present lifetime determines one's subsequent incarnation.
Attaining higher states of Consciousness should be our aim.There
are many different paths to the goal of Divine perfection and we
should be tolerant of other paths.
The divine Aurobindo predicted that spiritual influences from
India will trigger off a global spiritual movement.There will be
Mass Incarnations ( many people divinely inspired ) who will
work for World Peace and Universal Love !
I saw them cross the twilight of the Age
The massive barrier breakers of this world
The sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn
The architects of immortality
Carrying the magic Word, the mystic Fire
Carrying the Dionysian Cup of Joy !
The four systems of Philosophy which triggered the N A M are
Hinduism, a product of 5,000 years of development, Buddhism,
circa 560 B.C., Taoism, circa 500 B.C & Druidism, circa 300 B.C,
the religion of the Celts, which extended upto the Middle Ages.
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