What is 'NewAge', and why is it bad?

[Starman]

Originally Posted by lemex

New Age began more a social product of the times during social change and attitudes society held and probably grew out of dissatisfaction with the establishment as we became more enlighten finding many things weren't wrong to believe in and we wanted to find our own way. We were and are far more enlightened. I think New Age and freedom go hand and hand. I think New Age is distinctly an American concept more then in other countries from the 60's forward.

I wholeheartedly agree! Freedom was the rallying call, though unspoken, for many who entered into the early New Age movement, and it did, in my opinion, blossom in the anti-establishment sentiment of the 60's and 70's.

[lemex]

Originally Posted by Starman

What New Age is today is not what it began as; the same can be said for lots of movements,
and even many religions. The New Age movement, in my opinion, began as something much
more focused than it is today.

Yeah, have to agree.

[Snow Goose]

Kioma - could you explain new age sophistication for me please?

Originally Posted by Starman

I wholeheartedly agree! Freedom was the rallying call, though unspoken, for many who entered into the early New Age movement, and it did, in my opinion, blossom in the anti-establishment sentiment of the 60's and 70's.

Yes, as I tried to explain up there it started in the UK in the 1960s, the catharsis, the young creating their own culture; and the explosion of interest in South Asian spirituality - probably started by the Beatles (a pop group of the time that visited India) dressing in their Nehru things with the big plastic jewel down their fronts and long hair. Kaftans, beads, joss sticks, Buddha statues...

In parallel, using psychedelics for deep spiritual exploration. Leary's Politics of Ecstasy. The OZ magazine. Hedonism replaced self-denial and abstention. STDs had practically been wiped out and with the arrival of "the pill" Brook Centres opened up with advice and contraception. So I learn. If there's a time I'd've loved to live through.....

[Starman]

Originally Posted by Lorelyen

Yes, as I tried to explain up there it started in the UK in the 1960s, the catharsis, the young creating their own culture; and the explosion of interest in South Asian spirituality - probably started by the Beatles (a pop group of the time that visited India) dressing in their Nehru things with the big plastic jewel down their fronts and long hair. Kaftans, beads, joss sticks, Buddha statues...

In parallel, using psychedelics for deep spiritual exploration. Leary's Politics of Ecstasy. The OZ magazine. Hedonism replaced self-denial and abstention. STDs had practically been wiped out and with the arrival of "the pill" Brook Centres opened up with advice and contraception. So I learn. If there's a time I'd've loved to live through.....

I did live through those times and they were oh so wonderful; in spite of war, racial, and a bunch of other social injustices, etc. I am grateful for that journey. It did start in the UK also in that lots of gurus from India and South Asia went to Europe first, and especially the UK, teaching, giving lectures,etc., prior to them coming to the U.S. teaching and gathering devotees, etc. The massive increase of spiritual teachers in the U.S. back in the 1970's was also associated with the "New Age" movement by many Americans.

[Moonglow]

Hello,

A question comes to mind.

In today's society is it a "new age"?

For as mentioned in the '60s and '70s there seem to have been a focus upon freedom and will add unity, today wonder if those values have carried over into the next generation.

I see and seen more and more opening up to different beliefs and practices, but also still see people set in their ways and being fearful of the "old ways" somehow being threatened.

Information is more widely available, but what kind of information is being mixed and some even misinforming.

I met a guy once that thought the yin-yang symbol was evil. I told him that it represented a philosophy. He then showed me a web sight that was about the evils of the symbol. Ended up just walking away, no use trying to talk about it for he seemed pretty set in his ways.

So, although there seems an opening up of people interested and perusing different "spiritual" practices, there is still fear and those who feel threatened to brand it as evil or wierd. Although many practices have been around for centuries.

Thus, I feel is the reason some practitioners and groups remain a bit seclusive.

There is also message,energy work, and alternative medicine , which seem to get thrown in the mix. Slowly it is being more understood and some methods are being tried out by some. So there are benefits to having available such information.

But, is it a new age or just another step in human development, as reflected through out history? Expanding our awareness of each other and becoming more of a global society?

It has me wondering.

[Starman]

Originally Posted by Moonglow

Hello,

A question comes to mind.

In today's society is it a "new age"?

For as mentioned in the '60s and '70s there seem to have been a focus upon freedom and will add unity, today wonder if those values have carried over into the next generation.

I see and seen more and more opening up to different beliefs and practices, but also still see people set in their ways and being fearful of the "old ways" somehow being threatened.

Information is more widely available, but what kind of information is being mixed and some even misinforming.

I met a guy once that thought the yin-yang symbol was evil. I told him that it represented a philosophy. He then showed me a web sight that was about the evils of the symbol. Ended up just walking away, no use trying to talk about it for he seemed pretty set in his ways.

So, although there seems an opening up of people interested and perusing different "spiritual" practices, there is still fear and those who feel threatened to brand it as evil or wierd. Although many practices have been around for centuries.

Thus, I feel is the reason some practitioners and groups remain a bit seclusive.

There is also message,energy work, and alternative medicine , which seem to get thrown in the mix. Slowly it is being more understood and some methods are being tried out by some. So there are benefits to having available such information.

But, is it a new age or just another step in human development, as reflected through out history? Expanding our awareness of each other and becoming more of a global society?

It has me wondering.

Yes, New Age is a concept often associated with a utopian society but it can also be associated with the changing times regardless of the change, or in the case of some Sanskrit teachings, we are currently in the age of Kali-Yuga, or the age of darkness associated with the demon Kali by some Hindus. An “age” in this respect is seen kind of like an “eon.”

However, new age or its’ manifestation means different things to different people; there are those who thought, and still think, that the New Age movement can change the world for the better. Although this is not shared by everyone. Regardless whether we humans make it so or not, for better or worst, things will nonetheless change and we will enter a new age regardless.

Creation is always in the process of becoming and we humans are part of this creation. We all have our standards whereby we gauge things as better or worst. I never really appreciated being born in the U.S. until I had visited, and lived in, other much poorer countries than the U.S. On the flip side of that; one person's "better" may not be good enough to be another person's "better."

I agree the New Age flowed from the counterculture of the 60's-70's, but I think it really peaked in Y2K. At that time it seemed there was a New Age book store on every other corner, and it was more popular than ever. I think 'New Age' was actually conflated with the turn of the millennium and the whole 2012 'prophecy' in the minds of many, as it has certainly seemed to drastically ebb in popularity after both events.

I really don't have time for videos lately Snow Goose. Here's a better link:
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/02/1...-correct-them/

In reply to the list, I don't see those so much as 'basic New Age concepts' as 'common misconceptions of New Age thinking'. It's a TOTAL straw-man list - create something that's obviously flawed, then destroy it - which he does in a very authoritarian manner, I might add, which is sure to play well with the choir, but the knowledgeable not so much.

Originally Posted by Snow Goose

Kioma - could you explain new age sophistication for me please?

The dictionary defines 'sophisticated' as:

1. (of a person, ideas, tastes, manners, etc.) altered by education, experience, etc., so as to be worldly-wise; not naive: a sophisticated young socialite;
the sophisticated eye of an experienced journalist.

2. pleasing or satisfactory to the tastes of sophisticates, or people who are educated, cultured, and worldly-wise:
sophisticated music.

3. deceptive; misleading.

4. complex or intricate, as a system, process, piece of machinery, or the like:
a sophisticated electronic control system.

5. of, for, or reflecting educated taste, knowledgeable use, etc.:
Many Americans are drinking more sophisticated wines now.

I am assuming you are asking in the context of definition 1. Getting back to the list, I agree you sometimes see articulated on this very forum some of the attitudes expressed on the list - as you often see unsophisticated attitudes and views expressed by the young and inexperienced in every context. I also submit that many on this board often express very sophisticated - that is to say; mature, refined, practical, and wise - views and advice from a spiritual perspective, often strengthened by years of personal mystical experience.

I did give some examples above. Have you ever read the 'Conversations with God' books? You would be surprised if you haven't. I was.


.

[Snow Goose]

Thanks for the link Kioma.

OK I see your dictionary definition of sophistication
but I cannot see the defination of the term new age sophistication which you had said was so meaningful to your beliefs.

You can be charismatic without being sophisticated and you can definately be sophisticated without being new age so I'm kinda losing the point here.

I took a look at the conversations with God book overview thanks for the suggestion. I can see why that might be appealing if you are a little lost in life and not in touch with your inner self (or whatever you want to call it) but I'm pretty happy with that relationship tbh.

When it all boils down I'm just not religious person, it's just not what I'm about, I'm my eyes all religions have flaws so I'm not going to be a new age convert anytime soon.

[markings]

Where are the New Age people who really make a difference?

The Green's (environmentalists) perhaps, who according to the AfD (political party in Germany) have created stability and financial havoc in Germany through the renewable energy programs they advocate?
The Indigo Children, so highly praised for their volatile and disruptive behavior? They are now at an age where they should be in powerful leadership positions. Do you see any?

It is as Mark Passio says in the video, there is no call to action, or as he says there is a diminishing if not bedeviling of the masculine energy.

There is also no call to get to the root of who we are, namely nothing. Being nothing there is nothing to win or lose. Being nothing frees us up to become an agent of real, meaningful and deep change.
However, look at the reactions in this forum to that idea. Basically the ego is venerated, praised, declared to be essential and above all beneficial.

The New Age is an amalgamation of Eastern and basically Christian thoughts. Having grown up in a Christian society, supported by our language structure, the dualistic, egoistic, self-preserving Christian mindset will always dominate the ground-breaking, bottom-less deep ideas of the East. The only way is to reject Christian ideas, ideas of personality, personal survival, in toto, in the most radical way.

The mark of the East is always the dissolution of the personal in favor of the universal.