FAQs about the New Age

Discussion in 'New Age' started by Meagain, Apr 11, 2005.

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  1. MeAgain

    MeAgain Dazed & Confused Lifetime Supporter Super Moderator

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    What does the term New Age mean?
    The term originated in the 1960s as the Age of Aquarius. Aquarius is one of the twelve signs, or ages, of the Zodiac. Each age lasts about 2,000 years and has its own particular attributes. Pisces is the twelfth sign and precedes Aquarius. We are now in the Piscean Age and are approaching the Aquarian Age. Some believe the Aquarian Age will bring a new era of human growth and understanding, or a New Age.

    When does the New Age begin?
    There are many dates given for the beginning of the new age. The date varies from 1898 to 2813 and is based upon ancient chronology, astronomical processional periods, prophecies, and or various belief systems.

    When was the term first used?
    The term first came to be used in the 1970s to identify a movement that can trace its roots back several hundred years.

    What are the roots of New Age thinking?
    New Age philosophy draws on aspects of various Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism and also Western Esotericism.
    Western Esotericism begins with the ancient Mystery Schools and Christian Gnosticism.
    Later, Christian Cabalism, the Rosicrucians, and Freemasonry all played a part.
    Prominent thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries include Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) and Franz Anton Mesmer (1733-1815). The United States was founded upon the idea of a New Order of the Ages as expressed by the Freemasons.
    The nineteenth century saw another influx of ideas from the Transcendentalists Thoreau, Emerson, and Wordsworth, the Theosophy of Madame Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891), and others such as Louis Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803), Eliphas Levi (1810-1875), Pascal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875), and Emma Hardinge Britten (1823-1899).
    Aleister Crowley proclaimed the "New Aeon" in the early twentieth century.

    Is the New Age a religion?
    There is no hierarchy, dogma, doctrine, or official membership required to believe in a New Age. It is a historical and cultural movement. It can mean different things to different people. But at the same time it is intensely spiritual. The New Age believers often prefer direct spiritual experience rather than one from organized religion.

    What do New Age thinkers believe?
    The New Age movement believes that mankind is responsible for its own spiritual journey. New Agers take what they want from diverse mystical traditions, world religions, philosophies, traditions, and shamanism in order to raise their individual spiritual awareness. By raising their consciousness they hope to promote a worldwide transformation toward peace and harmony. Much of this focus is on world peace, environmental pursuits and disarmament. Most believe thecoming New Age will be an era of harmony, progress, knowledge, and enlightenment.

    What are some of the subjects and resources of the new age?
    Some of the various topics include; free energy, out of body experiences, UFOs, psychic phenomenon, and alternative healing. New Agers may use crystals, candles, incense, tarot, runes, pendulums, meditation, and chanting. These tools can help alter a person’s state of consciousness, and help them to look within for understanding and awareness.

    How does Christianity view the New Age movement?
    From what I can tell, not to well. Various Christian sources have said that the New age movement has no rules or absolute moral imperatives, has labeled it pantheism, Luciferic, the Antichrist's religion, a religion of idolatry and self-worship, and called it a Seduction of Christianity. Some have claimed that anyone participating in biofeedback, yoga, the I Ching, reflexology, magic, fire-walking, therapeutic touch, transpersonal psychology, witchcraft, parapsychology, Tai Chi, Shamanism, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, TM, the martial arts, Zen, EST, the Silva Method, visualization and so on; are unwittingly succumbing to New Age propaganda.
    Some prominent people named as New Agers are; Alvin Toffler, Fritjof Capra, Abraham Maslow, Shirley MacLaine, Norman Cousins, John Denver, George Lucas, James Redfield, Charles Manson, and Norman Lear. They leave out George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other founders of the United States even though the country was to be a New Order of the Ages (Novus Ordo Seclorum).

    What are some common New Age Beliefs?
    All humans create their own reality and destiny, have free will, and can learn and grow.
    Humans can change the world by changing themselves, not by trying to change others.
    The search for strength from the universe is found within.
    Nothing is better than or less than, but rather different than, everything else, yet everything is part of the same whole.
    Dogma is unimportant.
    Science has not yet explained everything.


    These questions are offered as a simple introduction to the New Age Movement.
    They are presented as an opportunity for further exploration and understanding. No claim is made as to their accuracy or validity.

     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2023
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