Yesterday I was forwarded an anti New Age movement video and I
was asked to express my opinion on it. The basic argument made was that
the New Age Movement is just opiate for the masses (what scientists
have been saying about religion for years) and that it is just an excuse
to boost book sales and enhance the personal careers of people like
myself who are in essence convincing people they can manifest money so that we
can make money off of those people. I don’t usually feel compelled to
respond to videos or comments that are offered by people who are in a
space of extreme resistance, because there is no desire in them to find a
meeting of minds. Where there is no receptivity, no meaningful
conversation can take place, so it is just better to allow them to feel
exactly how they feel and line up with the results of that perspective.
But this time, I am compelled to comment because on a worldwide level, I
am considered a leader of the New Age. People give me titles and
associate me with things all the time, but being called a leader of the
New Age is a title I resonate with and agree with. I am a definite
supporter of the “New Age Movement”.
It is my desire to clarify for you what the New Age Movement actually
is because most people who consider themselves to be “New Age”, do not
even know what this movement is all about. And I have to be honest;
many of the participants of the New Age movement do not help the public
image that we hold. Instead, they discredit the movement by virtue of
their actions and words. I’m going to begin by summing up the new age
movement as succinctly as I can.
The new age movement is a
spiritual and socio-economic movement that seeks to create a
spirituality that is not confined by dogmas or borders, a spirituality
that is inclusive and pluralistic. It seeks to create unity within
humanity by extracting the seeds of truth (taking the best) from all
cultures, all philosophies, all religions as well as all non-religious
based philosophies such as science, self-help and psychology. It seeks
to combine those truths into the purest, most in-alignment way of life
that the world has yet seen. It seeks to decrease suffering and create
unity on a social and cultural level as well, in accordance with the
spiritual truths of this universe.
Keep in mind that unity
is not ever to be confused with conformity! You cannot force any of
these changes to occur, people must come to them on an individual level
and be allowed to do that. Everything else that is associated with the
New Age Movement (like intentional communities, veganism/raw food-ism,
astrology, positive thinking, teleology, self help, intuition, theism
etc.) is just an extension of this principal belief nucleus or
intention.
The New Age Movement recognizes all beings as integral, individual
puzzle pieces to the whole. As such, it recognizes that all beings are
unique. As unique beings, what works for one person, will be different
than what works for anyone else. Because of this, the basic premise of
the New Age Movement is that YOU, as an individual should create your
own religion for yourself. Your life should be a unique cocktail of
what resonates with you. It should not contain any ingredients that do
not resonate with you. Sometimes those very same ingredients that work
for you, will work for other people too, but the ingredients aren’t what
matters as much as the mixture of ingredients which adds up to your
specific and unique recipe of well being. Spirituality, science,
religion, truth, knowledge…It all means nothing if it does not
contribute to a more enjoyable life. And The New Age Movement trusts
you to know what is best for you. You can trust yourself. You can
especially trust yourself to discern what feels good and what doesn’t
feel good. And as long as you can trust yourself to know what does and
doesn’t feel good, you can trust yourself to know what is right for you
personally. We must take the best that all religions and all cultures
and all science and all people have to offer. We need to take them and
roll those pure, shining truths into one practice within ourselves and
make that the devout practice of our lives. This is true
progression. This is the dawning of a new age within the human race,
where people recognize their own unique divinity and as such, smash
through the powerlessness of their own lives. Those of us who are part
of the New Age Movement are committed to the idea of a world full of
individuals that are empowered in their own lives, because we have not
missed the truth that at the heart of EVERY single crime and war and
injustice and tragedy, is a basic belief in one’s powerlessness to the
rest of the world and to other people. An empowered individual is an
individual who never feels the urge to cause harm to another. The
impulse simply never occurs. Imagine a society that is the reflection
of such individuals.
I, for one, am head over heels dedicated to bringing this unified,
empowered and free society to fruition. And many people, who share this
vision, are already part of the New Age Movement without even knowing
it. It is true that many people are wary about associating themselves
with the New Age classification, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t
agree with it. And despite the criticism and discrediting that has been
directed at the movement, this really is a new age we are living in and
bringing about. The New Age Movement is a freedom movement. It is a freedom movement designed first and foremost to dissolve barriers
within ourselves and dissolve barriers between people. The barriers we
have erected between each other are painful. The restrictions we have
placed on ourselves in order to try to get ourselves to conform are
painful. We dishonor the truth of who we are by trying to cram
ourselves into tiny boxes; tiny boxes of religion, tiny boxes of
culture, tiny boxes of family beliefs etc. We cannot be the full
expression of our true selves while we are adhering to tiny boxes and
while we are trying to get ourselves to fit into an external society
instead of molding our external society(s) to fit us as individuals. The
time has come to end both human suffering and non-human suffering. The
time has come to see that even though contrast is a necessary part of
expansion, suffering is not. There is no excuse for unnecessary
suffering. It is time that suffering ends within this world. But for
suffering to end in this world; it must first end within ourselves.Because Humor is a good way to end suffering with oneself, I’m going to include two hysterically funny videos that pertain to this very topic. A good place to start, is to learn how to laugh at ourselves… .
