The purpose of 'new age' spirituality?

I am new to the new age however I have found it to be very beneficial to my mood and it has changed my way of thinking completely. I used to chase money just like most people in the world, and I found that I often had panic attacks and anxiety attacks. I was never happy and always felt there was more I should be doing. One day a very close friend of mine told me about energy frequencies, and I somewhat laughed at her. (I feel really bad about it now). So I started researching it, mostly to be able to argue the topic with her. The more I read, the more I understood. My mentality completely changed. Now I am happier, I feel that there is much more out there than money, power, and greed. I am excited to learn more and keep growing!

[Seawolf]

It's all religion, people just are angry at certain belief systems so they call their own religion 'spiritual' or 'spiritual only' and those they don't agree with, they call 'religion' meaning a bad thing. But it's all the same in reality.

The anger towards certain belief systems is kind of the whole basis behind New Age. Very often they talk about religion as something beneath them or that is the trouble in the world. It's just human ego and hatred that we are all a part of.

It's all religion, and by making an enemy of 'religion', New Age shows it's not any better than those they are against, they are just the same. But this is something they will deny fanatically, because they see themselves as superior to their enemy.

[Lilyth Von Gore]

Originally Posted by Seawolf

It's all religion, people just are angry at certain belief systems so they call their own religion 'spiritual' or 'spiritual only' and those they don't agree with, they call 'religion' meaning a bad thing. But it's all the same in reality.

The anger towards certain belief systems is kind of the whole basis behind New Age. Very often they talk about religion as something beneath them or that is the trouble in the world. It's just human ego and hatred that we are all a part of.

It's all religion, and by making an enemy of 'religion', New Age shows it's not any better than those they are against, they are just the same. But this is something they will deny fanatically, because they see themselves as superior to their enemy.

Could not agree with this more.

Maguru: There doesn't appear to be much reality in the teachings and brings no evolution, ascension, enlightenment, awakening or anything else. It's all in the mind.

I've been saying that it's all in the mind, too.
& when in the face of an inquiry, I'd look into the person's state of mind/psychology first
but it doesn't mean that that is where I'd just stop if there is something more to go on beyond it or mystery to look into.
In reality, I know in fact that ESP, Remote Viewing,
that fact that some miracles happened if not to every people,
that some monks achieved and did incredible feats,
the that some magic work, like manifesting (like Sathya Sai Baba) are all possible.

An individual may feel better and experience positive feelings but they are without substance. They are not connected to real life. They are just beliefs. No harm done but no evolution either.

Is it just me? While I see the humour and No offense taken to the response of my statement that
I stand for everybody's right of spiritual growth, awakening, enlightenment, and ascension
kind of sound like saying you're just dreaming! Get real.
What is so wrong in going all the way through in attaining higher state of mind if possible? so long as the mind can handle it? so long as one can keep the balance?
Handling dreams well in Lucid Dreaming actually involves good awareness, too.

In evolution, I think that human evolution is not yet over. I still have faith in human potentials and evolution.
Psychiatrists are still working on unlocking human potentials
like the Savant syndrome. For Acquired Savant/Savant syndrome see http://www.neuroscientificallychalle...1_archive.html
Neurologists like Takao Hensch and his team also successfully carried out an experiment of the Learning drug to reawaken grown-up brain. That should help.
See http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l#.UzofJpdDHIV

Originally Posted by Seawolf

The anger towards certain belief systems is kind of the whole basis behind New Age. Very often they talk about religion as something beneath them or that is the trouble in the world. It's just human ego and hatred that we are all a part of.
It's all religion, and by making an enemy of 'religion', New Age shows it's not any better than those they are against, they are just the same. But this is something they will deny fanatically, because they see themselves as superior to their enemy.

I think I pretty much made myself clear, too that it doesn't really matter to me what others' religions are.
But I won't deny that I find something like the witch burnings or killing in the name of the Lord/God of the past pretty unforgivable/unpalatable.
It is not so much as making an enemy of religion for me -
but rather just expressing myself in how and what being spiritual but not religious means to me,
that I would rather be free to keep moving on forward (or join where I find something in common).
Religious as it sounds like, means one must be devoted & be subjected under certain belief system and follow the system.
It is also a matter of knowing where I just can not go back to, that
-I just can't go back into roman catholic church,
at the phase of fervently praying for salvation and trusting the church to contribute to the said salvation from eternal fire of hell/damnation by such a wrathful god
and be still so in fear of demons,
while looking up at the pope as the holy man next to God. That I would never say the pope is just another old man, human like you and me.
I mean no offence, and won't deny that quite a bit of the self discipline and some of spiritual knowledge I as well identify with stemmed from the catholic church after all
so, I'm at the same time grateful and respect those priests & clerics who devoted their time getting and keeping them together if not for the general public's use.
-I also just can't go back into deliriously trying to achieve trance to channel the Holy spirit to speak foreign tongues and do faith healing with my biological brothers at the Christian fellowships
(while thinking everybody who channel other beings is the work of the devil who deserve nothing else than exorcism and are going to hell)
and hanging on every word of the bible, being as the only holy book of God nor question it's making,
or into thinking that every other sinners and especially those who do not belong to the same faith/religion will literally go and burn in eternal hell
and think I probably would, too - seeing I tend to also sin one way or another.
-and despite of finding wisdom in words of some sufis,
& knowing that some of my ancestors were muslims before being converted into Christianity, I know that I'd just never buy into the belief system of Islam.
It is not because I think of it as below my faith,
It is simply because of my Christian background.
That much at least, I know, and it is not about some spiritual ego.

Spirituality is the acknowledgement that you are a spirit contained inside of a physical body. As a spirit, you might want to exercise certain abilities that are innate to all spirits.

New Age spirituality means that you want to exercise certain abilities of your spirit in New Age ways such as crystals, spiritual healing, mediumship, etc.

It's your soul and your eternity. You have the freedom to decide.

[Lilyth Von Gore]

Yes, but New Agers make it sound as if all religion is evil.
It's not. We're not all Christians. We don't all kill in the name of our Gods. If we kill it's for a good reason. Sure, there are some bad apples. But there are bad apples in every religion, because there are bad people in the world. They should be judged on their actions, not the religion they follow. New Agers also believe hat we bring bad things on ourselves, which is going backwards rather than forwards, and makes you no better than certain groups. It's saying it happened because you wanted it to happen, which is utter codswallop.
What, you think you were the first to use crystals? The first ever mediums? The first to use spirits to heal? Get a grip. The Native Americans, the Celts, the Egyptians ALL used crystals to heal. In Ásatrú people would call upon the Goddess Eira to heal the sick and wounded. She taught people how to heal with their hands and through the use of medicines. They had women called Völvas, who were Witches and Seeresses. They could see into the future, see that which was to come. They spoke to The Gods directly, acted as a conduit. They had a direct link to the Norns. So your New Age thing isn't all that new. It's been happening for Centuries.
Don't like my thinking? Think how I feel when Spiritualists tell me it's my fault I was a victim. People tend to get defensive when they're blamed for something they had no say in.

Originally Posted by Maguru

What is the purpose of spirituality? For me it is the process of humanities transformation. However, from my observations it seems to be more about the individual.

That's a very serious question. Spirituality is an essential attribute of humanity. New Age Spirituality is that form which seem to be accompanying the transistion into the Age of Aquarius. Another definition is that the true universe is the spiritual one which sustains the physical one that we know so well. Our souls are a part of this. Every thing in the universe, living or inanimate, has a spirit counterpart, a soul. So spirituality is the study of our "other" natures.

Spirituality, as it becomes know to and modifies a human being, should be left to happen on it's own. When it follows delibrate attempts by a person to better him/herself it is right and proper. When a person aspires to it too soon, perhaps because of a promise of sensationalism, it can have the effect of interrupting progress, causing backslides and delays in growth. One cannot become "spiritual" without first having done the proper stage setting work and this can take many lifetimes.

How to proceed? We should always retain the ability to decide for ourselves what is right for us and what is not. Follow no one blindly, especially those who are free with titles and claims of great things.

Blessings...

Purpose of spirituality? William Gray seemed to sum it up nicely in the closing lines of his "The Ladder of Lights" with: I am looking for myself, the One I ought to have been in the first place, and mean to become at the last of my life.


To me, one of the signifiers of the New Age (when it first seemed to become aware of itself (assuming it doesn't just mean the Age of Aquarius), is its acknowledgement that the age of industrialisation is just about over. (Those who cream off the wealth in society produced by those who do the actual work producing stuff don't like the idea at all!)

It's the age of the individual in which we can self-actualise, take our spirituality back from those who stole it from us in the previous age. And find ourselves.

..

Originally Posted by newbie

I am new to the new age however I have found it to be very beneficial to my mood and it has changed my way of thinking completely. I used to chase money just like most people in the world, and I found that I often had panic attacks and anxiety attacks. I was never happy and always felt there was more I should be doing. One day a very close friend of mine told me about energy frequencies, and I somewhat laughed at her. (I feel really bad about it now). So I started researching it, mostly to be able to argue the topic with her. The more I read, the more I understood. My mentality completely changed. Now I am happier, I feel that there is much more out there than money, power, and greed. I am excited to learn more and keep growing!

An initiation.

I think this is one aspect of the New Age, the awakening to the fact that acquisition and materialism bring only a transient happiness. It's in our nature to strive and when we achieve something, move the target on. A target of "I must buy (whatever)" lasts only until it's bought. So unless it's something utility in our lives, a new acquisition-target is the next move.

It's part of a system with no specific aim in itself...just how things are. The wealthy get wealthier at the expense of the wealth providers but they're in the same situation. One that's difficult to escape and it provides people with this illusion of progress and happiness. But it also tries to prevent people questioning their lot.

The system wants to avert change. Allowing people to ponder on their lives as 'you work so that you can earn so that you can consume until you die' will disrupt the status quo.

Is life really supposed to be just that? The New Age is an awakening.

[Miss Hepburn]

My thought is what is the purpose of being human...here...on this
Earth plane?

That to me is a much more profound question...since what is real is spirit,
my spirit, your spirit, all part of the Infinite Sprit or Infinite Intelligence or
Holy Spirit, the Creator and Sustainer, the Superconsciousness.

Individual, direct experience or personal inner revelation of the Divine, or God
realization, Self -realization
would be the purpose of spirituality apart from religions...which promote an intermediary
and
separation from the Whole or The One.

Edit: I finally read every post, and I wish we could give "points" or "reps" to people....
except all of them would be getting one...so I guess it's perfect! :)