After researching New Age theology for decades I came to believe that because there is so much misinformation about it on the internet, books and newspapers, I ,therefore, decided to publicly recommend that for people just beginning to try to understand what the New Age spiritual philosophy is about-that they study the teachings of Helena Blavatsky, the Mother of the New Age Movement, and Paramahansa Yogananda, widely regarded as the father of yoga in the West. Helena Blavatsky wrote in THE SECRET DOCTRINE Vol. 1, Page 274: The Universe is called, with everything in it, Maya, because all is temporary therein, from the ephemeral life of a fire-fly to that of the Sun. Compared to the eternal immutability of the One [Spirit]. Yogananda wrote: Spirit is not the universe; Spirit is that which was and will be whether the universe does or does not exist. Yogananda also wrote: Maya is the principle of relativity, inversion, contrast, duality, oppositional states; the "Satan" (lit., in Hebrew, "the adversary") of the Old Testament prophets; and the "devil" whom Christ described picturesquely as a "murderer" and a "liar," because "there is no truth in him". -(John 8:44) In addition, Yogananda also wrote: "Maya is Nature herself—the phenomenal worlds [the universe], ever in transitional flux as antithesis to Divine Immutability." ... "Scientists declare that, despite its vast size, the universe is finite. The Infinite, God [Spirit], is the ultimate cause of all finite creation." ... "Being infinite, God [Spirit] cannot be limited to any form, human or stone; yet He is manifest in all forms." ... "Beyond the gross vibratory boundaries of matter [or beyond the finite universe], the Immutable Infinite reigns in all His majesty and vastness." Yogananda also wrote: Spirit existed before God. God is the Creator of the universe, but Spirit is the Creator of God.” The Hindu name for “God” is Brahma. “This Sanskrit word [Brahma] derives from the verbal root brh ‘to expand, grow, fructify,’ because ‘Brahma expands’ and becomes the Universe woven out of his own substance” - Theosophy Wiki. A Hindu sacred text states that after Spirit (the Supreme God) emanated/created the subordinate God (Brahma), He sinned, causing H/him to manifest as the U/universe. Because of Brahma’s original sin, H/he now has both a divine manifestation and a less-than-divine manifestation, meaning the U/universe is both, an essentially undifferentiated mass of light permeated with Christ/Krishna/Buddha God Consciousness and the material universe is a corrupted, less-than-divine, illusionary manifestation of the divine manifestation of the Universe. The less-than-divine manifestation of the U/universe, the material universe, has a soul, it is the world soul. One of the founding figures of the modern New Age Movement, David Spangler, wrote: “The idea of a world soul, an anima mundi, a planetary Logos, is an ancient one found in both Eastern and Western culture. The world soul is usually conceived as a ‘formative force,’ an active, intelligent, purposeful spiritual presence at work in the material world to guide and guard the course of planetary evolution. It is generally not accorded the status of being the ultimate source, or Creator [Spirit], but might be looked upon as a [less-than-divine] great angelic or archangelic being presiding over the well being of the world, or the gestalt, the wholeness of all the lives and patterns that manifest upon, and as, the earth.” The goal of New Agers is to first become One with the Divine manifestation of the Universe, and then go through It, to ultimately become One with Spirit. Yogananda's Guru wrote: “Jesus meant, never that he was the sole Son of God, but that no man can obtain the unqualified Absolute, the transcendent Father beyond creation, until he has first manifested the ‘Son’ or activating Christ Consciousness within creation” - Swami Sri Yukteswar
