New Age philosophy may be the vehicle to move people from the dark ages to the next step, but it to does not go far enough – it’s just another stepping stone that is moving very slowly and is destined to box itself in.
There were centuries of life on the planet before religion came along where man fought to get a foothold on dry land and survive the elements. As he became more comfortable with his life out of the ocean, he began to organize his random thoughts into cohesive sentences so that others may understand what he was thinking. Communication between tribe members brought about curiosity about whom he was and why he was here. Because he was getting no answers from the sky or from the ocean, he began to make things up and imagined all kinds of things. Some of the tribes more creative members found that they could get special treatment for telling their stories and so the seeds of organized religion were created.
For centuries humanity’s imagination has been locked inside religious boxes. Centuries of religious dogma have not brought about the promise of equality, peace and brotherly love that was promised. Laws based on religious moral laws have not kept us from war between countries, special interest groups, or family and neighbours. It has not brought equality to the sexes or sharing of our natural resources. The system has failed us, yet it was inevitable and a natural step in the evolution of primitive cultures.
New Age is the present door that offers alternatives to religious faith. Its major theme is oneness as apposed to the duality taught by many religions. The other major difference is that it does not seek to change the world, but to allow the thoughts of the individual to evolve. Because New Age believes that we are all connected as one mind, any thought that one has, will be communicated to the whole and eventually accepted as the new truth. Therefore it does not need to be organized or have institutions. New Age philosophy teaches that it is the natural tendency for all things to evolve to a higher level of awareness or experience. Because New Age philosophy is not centralized or boxed, it encourages evolution outside of its own philosophy. This insures its survival in the process of humanities evolution, because it is not an end unto itself. The seeds have been spread and allowed to germinate sporadically around the world.
As a New Age writer and one who has helped to spread the philosophy, I can see the end of it unless it is willing to take the next step itself. Not unlike religion, New Age is getting quite comfortable with itself and is enjoying a surge in popularity and recognition. It is in danger of becoming another money making venture as has religion.
The motive behind writing and teaching New Age must be its basic philosophy of expanding humanities awareness, not how much you can make from it. There is nothing inherently right or wrong about making a living teaching New Age philosophy or religion. And I support these people as I don’t believe a life lived in poverty or want is a good example of how well a system is working.
However, it must be the goal of the writers and teachers to move their readers and students past its philosophy for the benefit of all. In other words if I teach you my truth, you will develop a new truth and teach me yours. And so this leap-frogging will keep moving us to the next step of greater awareness and evolution. The very meaning of life is “movement” and without it there is no life. And therefore there is only limited life in a closed system; a box is a closed system. So any philosophy that teaches one to stay in the box is doomed and so is the believer.
New Age has moved God/Creator closer to home. It talks about “the god within,” “oneness with God,” “one mind,” but all these terms are dualistic in nature. There is the Creator/God and you joined together; which means that you and God are different entities with divided power.
You will never be fully able to manifest what you desire until you know yourself as the creator. In other words you cannot be God until you know and proclaim yourself as God. The truth is for example, that I am God manifesting in the physical body known as Roy. In order to facilitate fully the law of attraction and move myself to the next step of enlightenment; I will have to know myself as the law, as God. This is where New Age is lacking. It is embracing the age of this realization but cannot go forward because it and the rest of the world is not ready to accept that responsibility. And there is still money to be made in religion and writing New Age books, (Not that there is anything wrong with that).
I am not saying anything different than what religion has been saying for centuries. There is a path back to the Creator. What I am saying is that You/God can continue in the physical life knowing who and what you really are. I am saying that you and your creator have never been separated, but have lived with the illusion that you are. In knowing this you can take control of your own personal power to create the life that you want to experience and life will be much easier. Understanding the bigger picture will bring great satisfaction knowing that it is you who creates the circumstances of your life and that you have the power to change it at any time.
History has shown that the first step is usually the hardest and the slowest. New Age will be a little faster, and the next step will be a quantum leap into something else. Our technology best demonstrates this point, if you consider where we were 150 years ago.
Most people will experience the end of the world, because they believe that it will happen. For the few that have moved past that belief, there will be an easy transformation from one state of existence to another as matter cannot be created nor destroyed. The universe is changing shape but it will never be lost.
All beliefs are relevant, they are all appropriate as the creator moves from one to the other to experience what the mind can only conceive. As the creator you can make yourself aware of this movement by letting go of your old concepts and open the doors to other possibilities. By understanding that you are not just the body, but the energy that animates it. No thought should be the end, but a new beginning.
Ted