New Age - A Paradigm Shift
to Divine Consciousness and a Universal Philosophy the New Age
Movement (NAM) is a revival of spiritual and divine values and can
be called a Divine Regeneration Movement
The New Age Movement
by G. Kumar
New Age - A Paradigm Shift
to Divine Consciousness and a Universal Philosophy the New Age
Movement (NAM) is a revival of spiritual and divine values and can
be called as a Divine Regeneration Movement. New Age Philosophy has
conquered the West intellectually and Western culture is currently
experiencing a phenomenal shift - sociological, spiritual and
ideological. It's a secular, multi-cultural, multi-religious
synthesis, of the Oriental mystical philosophies, mainly Hinduism,
Buddhism, Taoism and Western Occultism, emphasizing Holism, the
doctrine that Reality is organically One (now taught in American
Universities after Einstein's Theory of Relativity). . Behind the
evolution of the species, there is an evolution of Consciousness.
The aim of Life is Self-Actualization, to evolve to the level of
Unity Consciousness, defined as the 7th state of Consciousness in
Transcendental Philosophy.
The social disturbance
caused by the Vietnam War, the threat posed by AIDS, the
disillusionment with materialistic ideas and the erosion of faith in
Morality and Ethics brought a sense of futility and meaninglessness
in the Western psyche. The limitations of the Western system of
Chemotherapy and adverse side-effects of antibiotics, sedatives and
certain other drugs and the disillusionment with the promises of
science and technology made millions turn to Oriental philosophies,
occult practices and systems of therapy.( Interest in Alternative
Medicine developed to such an extent that there are now more than
180 systems of Alternative Medicine. Exponents of New Age Philosophy
in Europe and America include Transcendentalists like Thoreau,
Emerson and Walt Whitman, Wordsworth, Emanuel Swedenborg
(1688-1772), , and Theosophy introduced by Madame Helena Blavatsky
(1831- 1891) and Col Olcott and the philosopher, Annie Besant. As
the world witnessed a Consciousness Revolution, Transcendental
Meditation, Yoga, Zen, Carlos Castañada, the Beatles, Holistic
Medicine (both Western and Ayurveda), Tantra, Astrology (both
Western and Vedic) all became popular.
There are six million New
Age sites on the Web and the NAM consists of a massive and well
organized network consisting of thousands of groups, trusts,
foundations, clubs, lodges, and spiritual groups whose goal and
purpose is to prepare the world to enter the coming Aquarian Age.
(The Age of Aquarius). In astrological symbolism, Aquarius
represents Spirituality and Pisces Rationality. The Piscean Age, an
age of Computer and Cybernetics revolution, will be followed by an
Age of Consciousness Revolution or a Spiritual Revolution, the
Aquarian Age.
Some New Age Organizations
are: California New Age Caucus, New World Alliance, World Goodwill,
The Church Universal and Triumphant, The Theosophical Society,
Amnesty International, Zero Population Growth, the Forum, Planetary
Initiative for the World We Choose, the Club of Rome, Church
Universal and Triumphant, Christian Science, and the Unity School of
Christianity.
New Age believes in the
essential goodness of Man and the Divine Spark in Man and the New
Age movement is not a unified cult system of beliefs and practices,
even though its roots derive from Vedic Philosophy. There is no
central authority, no official leader, no headquarters, nor
membership list, but instead is a network of groups working toward
World Peace and Universal Love. There are millions of worldwide
followers of various New Age practices and the world is moving from
Chaos (Disorder) to Cosmos (Order)! This is a Phase Transition from
Entropy (Disorder) to Order!
Significant influence has
been gained by NAM affecting almost every area of Occidental culture
-- Sociology, Psychology, Medicine, the Government, Ecology,
Science, Arts, Education, the Business Community, the media,
entertainment, sports, and even the Church. Organized spiritual
forms such as Christian Science, Unity and even forms of Witchcraft
(from the German ' Wicca' meaning the Wise; Witchcraft means the
Craft of the Wise) are all its expressions. Various Human Potential
Seminars, Transcendental Meditation, Zen Meditation and some
Alternative Holistic Medicine practices are also its manifold
manifestations.
Some popular New Age
publications and journals are
New Age
Journal, the Z Files, Clarity, Body Mind Spirit, Yoga Journal,
Gnosis, East West, Noetic Sciences, the Millennium Being and Omega.
The new tendency of people now is to view everything from a New Age
perspective
The major goal of the New
Age Movement is to prepare Man for entering the Aquarian Age and to
bring world peace in an already bruised world. "All is wrong with
the world" said Shaw and some of the other goals of the NAM are to
establish an entirely New World Order in the fields of Economy and
Government. The idea of a World Government was proposed by Bernard
Shaw earlier and was implemented by Mahesh Yogi and occurs in the
writings of the foundational apostle of the New Age Movement, Alice
Bailey.
The word 'Initiation" is
derived from the Latin "In ire" to go within and Initiates were
termed by the Great Master as the salt of the Earth. The mystic Ward
defined Reality as "Within and within and within and within".
Another mystic described it as "It is hidden, it is hidden and it is
hidden". To the mystic, self evolution is the means and only by
changing and correcting ourselves can we change others. The primary
goals of the movement then, are to prepare the world to receive the
Divine Consciousness and to enter the Age of Aquarius, thus
establishing the New World Order.
New Age Philosophy believes
that human evolution can be accelerated, if not in the entire mass
of humanity, at least in suitable individuals. Human nature is
perfectible, through an intensive process of purification and
Initiation.
The New Age Movement is
secular and universally diffused over the earth's surface and its
basic underlying philosophy emphasizes Gnosticism and Occultism.
(Gnosticism is an ancient philosophy stating that Divine essence is
the highest reality, and that the Self of man is actually this
Essence. Behind the phenomenal world is the Transcendent Reality
which Intuition alone can see). It bears a remarkable resemblance to
the Universal Religion that H.G. Wells predicted would one day take
over the world.
The six main characteristics
of New Age thinking are: (1) All is Unity; (2) All is Divine (3)
Humanity is divine (4) A change in Consciousness; (5) All religions
are One; and (6) Cosmic Evolutionary optimism. Basically Dialectical
Integralism, New Age Philosophy unites both Matter and Spirit.
Spirit shall see through
Matter's gaz
Matter shall reveal the
Spirit's face!
The 13 main principles of
New Age Philosophy are:
(1) One Global Order - One
World Government, One Currency, One Universal Being.
(2) Universal Energy,
Universal Matter, Universal Life, Universal Soul as God
(3) An Eternal Universe -
Uniform in Space and Unending in Time
(4) Divine practices
(Astrology Yoga and other esoteric arts)
(5) Syncretism (Unity of all
Religions).
(6) The need for Meditation
(for generating altered states of Consciousness);
(7) Life is Cyclical-
Everything is cyclical, subject to the cyclical upheavals of Time.
(8) Holistic Medicine and
Vegetarianism (The patient is more important than the Doctor and
Alkaline diet)
(9) Pacifism (Anti-war
activities);
(10) Reincarnation; (The Law
of Conservation of Soul)
(11) The Evolution of Man
into Divinity; (The latent Life Force evolving naturally to the
Divine)
(12) The Union of Man with
the Divine; (Merger of man into the Infinite)
(13) Matter's Illusoriness;
- Esse est percipii - Perception is Essence; Mind is
Substance.
2. The Lord. - Since Matter
and Energy can neither be created nor destroyed and the sum total
energy in the Universe is an absolute constant (Universal Being),
the Lord did not create the world, He became the world. Monism --
("All is Unity") avers that there is only One Essence in the
universe, everyone and everything being a part of that essence. The
Self is an utter Being and all these are its Becomings. New Agers
view God as an Impersonal Life force, Consciousness, or Energy
(e.g., the "Star Wars Force") mainly but they also believe in His
personal aspect, as the Ocean (which is Formless) can take the form
of an iceberg! They aver that every human has a divine spark within
him because all created beings are reflections of the Divine Idea.
The eternal state is called by various terms among different New Age
groups, i.e., God-consciousness, Universal Love, Self-Realization,
the I AM, Higher Self, Brahman, Nirvana, etc.
2. The Redeemer, Jesus
Christ. Christ Consciousness or the Divine Consciousness is what the
New Age advocates mean by Christ. . In other words, Christ is a
Divine Principle rather than an individual, such as Jesus. This idea
of Christ Consciousness asserts that Jesus was only one of the
Christs, but that He equipped Himself to receive the Christ
Consciousness (i.e., He was a great Master who attained Christ
Consciousness), as did other prophets like Buddha, Krishna, and
Mohammed. New Agers believe Dr Paul Brunton who stated the Jesus
spent 18 years in India absorbing Indian Mysticism and that he was
initiated into the highest esoteric doctrine. 3. Human Destiny. Man
is the measure of all things and is more divine than the animals and
hence the salvation of the world depends upon Man. Cleansing the
negative elements from the collective subconscient should be the aim
of humanity. Once Negativity is cleaned from the collective
subconscient, the human positive energy will shine forth and the
noble ideals of the New Age will be actualized in an era of
Enlightenment. Since man is intrinsically divine and perfect, his
only real problem is ignorance of that fact. Gnosis means
experiential knowledge and Salvation in the New Age is for man to
become enlightened through this Divine Gnosis. New Age groups offer
various spiritual techniques to enable individuals, and ultimately
the world, to evolve into this Unitive Consciousness. These
techniques may include psychotechnologies for attaining altered
states of consciousness - Transcendental Meditation, Yoga, Zen,
Attunement, Channeling (Spirit guides), Psychics, Acupuncture, etc.
4. The Ethical Opposites,
Good and Evil - Believing in the Oriental philosophies, New Agers
make the distinction between good and evil. All wickedness is
weakness and Evil is imperfection. By the method of Trial and Error,
we come to know what is good and what is bad for the world and we
have to transcend the dualities. 5. Reincarnation. New Agers believe
in the ancient Vedic philosophic concept of Reincarnation -- that
through a long process of rebirths, man can eventually attain Divine
perfection. They also teach the Universal Law of Karma -- ((The Law
of Cause and Effect (Every effect has a cause), the Law of Action
and Reaction, the Law of Retribution)) - that what a person sows, he
shall reap. This is also the doctrine of God's non-responsibility
that the Self is not responsible and it is the Ego which experiences
bitter and sweet mental experiences due to its own Karma. 6.
Salvation is Self-Actualization and Sin is Ignorance - Some
theoreticians taught the concept of Man's Original Sin. New Age
exponents teach the concept of man's essential goodness. Instead of
systems which emphasized the human negative aspect and sin, New Age
highlights that every man is essentially divine and it is a sin to
call man a sinner! However, New Agers speak of troublesome desires
which are natural impulses which retard human evolution and make the
Ego move away from the Self. Sin is merely ignorance of man's
essential divinity. The atrophied spiritual consciousness of the
normal man who lives in ignorance of his Divine Self is Sin. Like
the Law of Conservation of Energy which states that Energy cannot be
created or destroyed, the Law of Conservation of Soul states that
the Soul can neither be created nor destroyed. Matter exists in 3
states, liquid, gaseous and solid and matter cannot be created or
destroyed. Nothing ever begins to be. Similarly Life does not at
physical birth begin to be. It merely enters physical conditions and
assumes physical guise. It merely undergoes a parallel
transformation into conditions which preexisted in other conditions.
The Soul is reincarnated in different bodies in a continuous
succession of lives. The good or bad Karma earned in the present
lifetime determines one's subsequent incarnation. Attaining higher
states of Consciousness should be our aim. There are many different
paths to the goal of Divine perfection and we should be tolerant of
other paths.
The divine Aurobindo
predicted that spiritual influences from India will trigger off a
global spiritual movement. There will be Mass Incarnations (many
people divinely inspired) who will work for World Peace and
Universal Love!
I saw them cross the
twilight of the Age
The massive barrier breakers
of this world
The sun-eyed children of a
marvelous dawn
The architects of
immortality
Carrying the magic Word, the
mystic Fire
Carrying the Dionysian Cup
of Joy!
The four systems of
Philosophy which triggered the N A M are Hinduism, a product of
5,000 years of development, Buddhism, circa 560 B.C., Taoism, circa
500 B.C and Druidism, circa 300 B.C, the religion of the Celts,
which extended up to the Middle Ages.
About the author: Article by
G Kumar, Astrologer and Epistemologist of
www.astrologiavedica.com,
www.eastrovedica.com and
www.astrognosis.com Recently he was awarded a Certificate by the
Planetary Gemologists Association (
www.p-g-a.org ) as a Planetary Gem Advisor. He has 25 years
psychic research experience in the esoteric arts. To subscribe to
his Free ezine, the Z Files, click here.
mailto:zodiac20@vsnl.com?subject=subscribe. He is contactable at
zodiac20@vsnl.com.
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