New Age

[Maria]

I've just discovered that the weird things I believe can be catagorized as "New Age". I had only the fuzziest idea of what "New Age" meant, until I finally looked it up in Wikipedia:

The term New Age describes a broad movement of late twentieth century and contemporary Western culture, characterised by an individual eclectic approach to spiritual exploration. Collectively, New Age has some attributes of an emergent religion, but is currently a loose network of spiritual teachers, healers, and seekers.

Eclectic. That's the word that describes my beliefs- just odd useful bits picked up from everywhere that ring true for me. I thought I was gleaning from New Age as well as other religions, but it turns out that such eclecticism defines "New Age" as much as anything!

Beliefs
The following are some common — though by no means universal — beliefs found among New Agers:

1. All humanity—indeed all life, everything in the universe—is spiritually interconnected, participating in the same energy. “God” is one name for this energy.

2. Spiritual beings (e.g. angels, ascended masters, elementals, ghosts, and/or space aliens) exist, and will guide us, if we open ourselves to their guidance.

3. The human mind has deep levels and vast powers, which are capable even of overriding physical reality. “You create your own reality.”

4. Nevertheless, this is subject to certain spiritual laws, such as the principle of cause and effect (karma).

5. The individual has a purpose here on earth, in the present surroundings, because there is a lesson to learn. The most important lesson is love.

6. Death is not the end. There is only life in different forms. What some refer to as an afterlife does not punish us but teaches us, perhaps through the mechanisms of reincarnation or near-death experiences.

7. Science and spirituality are ultimately harmonious. New discoveries in science (evolution, quantum mechanics), rightly understood, point to spiritual principles.

8. It shares with many major world religions the idea that Intuition or "divine guidance" is a more appropriate guide than rationalism, skepticism, or the scientific method. Western science wrongly neglects such things as parapsychology, meditation, and holistic health.

9. There exists a mystical core within all religions, Eastern and Western. Dogma and religious identity are not so important.

10. The Bible is considered by some, but not all, to be a wise and holy book. Many important truths are found in the Bible, or are referred to only very obliquely. Some say that Jesus was an Essene, or that he traveled to India in his youth to study Eastern religions. Others say that Jesus was a later avatar of Buddha.

11. Feminine forms of spirituality, including feminine images of the divine, such as the female Aeon Sophia in Gnosticism, are viewed as having been subordinated, masked, or obliterated by patriarchal movements that were widely practiced when sacred teachings were first committed to writing. A renaissance of the feminine is particularly appropriate at this time.

12. Ancient civilizations such as Atlantis may truly have existed, leaving behind certain relics and monuments (the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge) whose true nature has not been discovered by mainstream historians.

13. There are no coincidences (see Synchronicity). Everything around you has spiritual meaning, and spiritual lessons to teach you. You are meant to be here, and are always exactly where you need to be to learn from what confronts you.

14. The mind has hidden powers and abilities, which have a spiritual significance. Dreams and psychic experiences are ways in which our souls express themselves.

15. Meditation, yoga, t'ai chi, and other Eastern practices are valuable and worthwhile.

16. The food you eat has an effect on your mind as well as your body. It is generally preferable to eat fresh organic vegetarian food.

17. Ultimately every interpersonal relationship has the potential to be a helpful experience in terms of our own growth.

18. We learn about ourselves through our relationships with other people by getting to see what we need to work on ourselves and what strengths we bring to the other party in order to help them in their life.

19. All our relationships are destined to be repeated until they are healed, if necessary over many lifetimes.

20. As Souls seeking wholeness, our goal is eventually to learn to love everyone we come in contact with.

21. An appeal to the language of nature, mathmatics, as evidenced by numerology in Kabbala, gnosticism etc., to discern the nature of god and/or to minimize the discrepencies inherent in this pursuit.

22. Naturally occurring irrational numbers such as Phi, Pi, and e might indicate a fundamental innability of nature to account for the extant universe and therefore imposes a limit to our corporeal understanding of god, or conversely, may be important clues to the attainment of said understanding.

I agree with much of the above. I suppose that really does make me a New Ager... much as I hate labels.

[Impenitent]

Labels aren't defining, they're merely convenient.

If it works for you, harms no one else, I see no problem and much good.

[Ethel]

I wish this forum had happened before my brother's death, Maria. I think you would have enjoyed discussing these things with him. I saw enough of how these sorts of beliefs changed his life to have respect for their power, though I myself do not really subscribe or understand.

[Jnyusa]

I believe in #1, #9 and #15.

I'm more middle aged than new age, I guess.

Jn

[Maria]

Imp,
Accepting this label means many things to me. One- I'm not as original as I thought. Two- I know what catagory to look under now for compatible info- instead of casting all over the place. Three- I may be flaky, but I'm not as bad as some other New Agers....


I'm going to comment on what I think about this list of beliefs in green-
Beliefs
The following are some common — though by no means universal — beliefs found among New Agers:

1. All humanity—indeed all life, everything in the universe—is spiritually interconnected, participating in the same energy. “God” is one name for this energy. OK

2. Spiritual beings (e.g. angels, ascended masters, elementals, ghosts, and/or space aliens) exist, and will guide us, if we open ourselves to their guidance. They may exist, but I'm not "opening up" to any of them!!!

3. The human mind has deep levels and vast powers, which are capable even of overriding physical reality. “You create your own reality.” Yep!

4. Nevertheless, this is subject to certain spiritual laws, such as the principle of cause and effect (karma). I haven't quite figured out the pattern to the limitations yet, I don't know if this is true or not.

5. The individual has a purpose here on earth, in the present surroundings, because there is a lesson to learn. The most important lesson is love. I agree with the "lessons to learn" bit, but I'm not sure about the "love" part. I imagine that depends on the individual, and their previous failures.

6. Death is not the end. There is only life in different forms. What some refer to as an afterlife does not punish us but teaches us, perhaps through the mechanisms of reincarnation or near-death experiences. I don't know about the teaching aspect. I suspect it's more like leveling up on a computer game!

7. Science and spirituality are ultimately harmonious. New discoveries in science (evolution, quantum mechanics), rightly understood, point to spiritual principles. Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps if we probe too deeply into the nature of the universe, the whole thing will unravel!

8. It shares with many major world religions the idea that Intuition or "divine guidance" is a more appropriate guide than rationalism, skepticism, or the scientific method. Western science wrongly neglects such things as parapsychology, meditation, and holistic health. Agreed.

9. There exists a mystical core within all religions, Eastern and Western. Dogma and religious identity are not so important. True

10. The Bible is considered by some, but not all, to be a wise and holy book. Many important truths are found in the Bible, or are referred to only very obliquely. Some say that Jesus was an Essene, or that he traveled to India in his youth to study Eastern religions. Others say that Jesus was a later avatar of Buddha. I agree with the first and second sentance, the other two are irrelevant speculation.

11. Feminine forms of spirituality, including feminine images of the divine, such as the female Aeon Sophia in Gnosticism, are viewed as having been subordinated, masked, or obliterated by patriarchal movements that were widely practiced when sacred teachings were first committed to writing. A renaissance of the feminine is particularly appropriate at this time. I really don't have an opinion on this; it doesn't interest me in the least. Being female is a temporary condition, and who knows what gender I'll draw next time around? Assigning genders to gods always strikes me as ridiculous.

12. Ancient civilizations such as Atlantis may truly have existed, leaving behind certain relics and monuments (the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge) whose true nature has not been discovered by mainstream historians. If so, I don't really care....

13. There are no coincidences (see Synchronicity). Everything around you has spiritual meaning, and spiritual lessons to teach you. You are meant to be here, and are always exactly where you need to be to learn from what confronts you. I agree.

14. The mind has hidden powers and abilities, which have a spiritual significance. Dreams and psychic experiences are ways in which our souls express themselves. Yes

15. Meditation, yoga, t'ai chi, and other Eastern practices are valuable and worthwhile. true

16. The food you eat has an effect on your mind as well as your body. It is generally preferable to eat fresh organic vegetarian food. I agree with the fresh, organic part- but deny the vegetarian aspect! I would like to be able to live without killing anything, but I am not equipped with chlorophyll, and am thus doomed to kill my whole life. I don't consider killing an animal more heinous than killing a plant for food, as long as it's done humanely.

17. Ultimately every interpersonal relationship has the potential to be a helpful experience in terms of our own growth. true enough

18. We learn about ourselves through our relationships with other people by getting to see what we need to work on ourselves and what strengths we bring to the other party in order to help them in their life. Maybe.

19. All our relationships are destined to be repeated until they are healed, if necessary over many lifetimes. Do it until you get it right, eh? GroundHog's Day!

20. As Souls seeking wholeness, our goal is eventually to learn to love everyone we come in contact with. I doubt it.

21. An appeal to the language of nature, mathmatics, as evidenced by numerology in Kabbala, gnosticism etc., to discern the nature of god and/or to minimize the discrepencies inherent in this pursuit. Utter incomprehension.

22. Naturally occurring irrational numbers such as Phi, Pi, and e might indicate a fundamental innability of nature to account for the extant universe and therefore imposes a limit to our corporeal understanding of god, or conversely, may be important clues to the attainment of said understanding. Things like that don't really interest me. Maybe they are just glitches in the Matrix, if so, I don't see any need to dwell on them. Illogic doesn't really bother me anymore, I am enjoying playing the game despite the occasional "bug".