New Age

New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. The New Age movement is particularly concerned with spiritual exploration, holistic medicine and mysticism. Although no rigid boundaries actually exist, New Age perspectives on history, philosophy, religion, spirituality, medicine, lifestyle, and music may help those who wish to explore the subject further.

History

New Age people may claim their philosophies derive from religious and philosophical traditions, originally outside the Western mainstream, including occult and Eastern religions. Certainly most, if not all, of the phenomena listed below as "New Age", for example gnostic approaches to spritual matters, spirit readings (modern "channeling"), clairvoyance, mesmerism, belief in healing powers of certain metals or crystals, use of prayer and meditation as paths to enlightenment, yoga, etc., can all be continuously traced as uncommon but not unheard of practices in Europe and America over the last few centuries. The degree of acceptance with which they have been viewed by society at large has variously waxed and waned over time.

At the onset of its most recent waxing, the New Age movement emerged as a disorganized coalition, an offshoot of the 1960s anti-war, counter-culture movement, or "happening", in North America and Europe. In a manner similar to the grass-roots political and life-style movements of that time, New Agers dissatisfied with the then widely-accepted norms and beliefs of western society offered new interpretations from a spiritual viewpoint of science, history, and the religion of the Judeo-Christian establishment.

These origins may indeed help characterize the New Age "approach" - they emphasize an individual's choice in spiritual matters; the role of personal intuition and experience over societally sanctioned expert opinion; and an experiential, rather than primarily empirical, definition of reality.

Philosophy

New Age beliefs may emphasize oral tradition and revealed truth over the views of established historians, mainstream religions and acclaimed scientists. Many people consider New Agers' use of terms such as 'philosophy' or 'metaphysics' to be illegitimate, contrary to that studied in institutions of higher learning. New Agers instead may believe truth comes from a mystical energy shared by all forms of matter, not derived solely from logic and reason; and indeed, at times antithetical to these latter forms of perception. This mysticism is not unlike the religious precepts of the Holy Spirit, Grace, Providence, and karma.

Many adherents of philosophies characterised as New Age rely heavily on the use of metaphors to describe experiences deemed to be beyond the empirical. Consciously or unconsciously, many people involved in the New Age movement tend to redefine some of the vocabulary borrowed from various belief systems, which can cause some confusion as well as increase opposition from skeptics and the traditional religions. In particular, the adoption of many terms from the parlance of science such as "energy", "energy fields", and various terms from quantum physics have served to confuse the dialog between science and sprituality, leading to derisive terms such as "psycho-babble".

Metaphysics may have parallels to New Age thought according to Diane Brandon, author of Invisible Blueprints: Insights of an Energy Reader. In Experiential Spirituality and Contemporary Gnosis she writes:

Thus, one link between metaphysics and the New Age 'movement' would appear to be spirituality and consciousness - those topics deemed insubstantial and ephemeral, at least to the minds of those more pragmatic, empirical, and skeptical among us. (used with permission by Diane Brandon)

Religion

Unlike conventional religions, New Age is not a belief system per se, but is instead an aggregate of beliefs and practices (syncreticism), some of which come from established myths and religions. Inside this general catch-all category, called New Age, one discovers groups with established belief systems resembling religions and other fixed-belief systems. Examples of fixed-belief systems are clubs, fraternal organizations such as the Masons, or any group that shares similar beliefs held in common.

New Agers believe they do not contradict these traditional belief systems, but rather fulfill the ultimate truths contained within them, separating these truths from false tradition and dogma. On the other hand, adherents of other religions often claim that the New Age movement has a shallow understanding of these religious concepts, and that their (New Agers') attempts at religious syncreticism are vague and contradictory.

Meanwhile, some of those whose beliefs are sometimes lumped under "New Age," including many neo-pagans, don't feel that the label is appropriate, because it links them with other practices and beliefs that have little or nothing in common. The danger of any broad category is that it can be so broad as to be either meaningless or misleading, and one use of the term "New Age" seems to be "not a mainstream Christian church."

Spirituality

Many individuals are responsible for the recent popularity of New Age spirituality, especially in the United States. James Redfield wrote The Celestine Prophecy in 1993, and many have claimed that this book changed their lives by providing an open-ended system of philosophy on human thought. Marianne Williamson updated A Course in Miracles when she penned her work A Return to Love. The spirituality of the New Age coexists with a person's fundamental paradigm shift.

The gnostic approach of experiential insight and revelation of truth may be closer to the New Age methodology of prayers and spirituality. Due to the personal individualist nature of revealed truth, New-Agers often walk down the old road of gnosis, paved with modernized eclectic stone. Again from Experiential Spirituality and Contemporary Gnosis Diane Brandon writes:

And this emphasis on spirituality and consciousness reflects an acknowledgment that we are, in essence, spiritual beings - and beings of pure energy, as consciousness is a form of energy - even though we are 'in the body.' As Wayne Dyer says, 'We are spiritual beings having a human experience.' Or, as Deepak Chopra says, our bodies are contained within our consciousness, not our consciousness contained within our bodies.

Many people have attempted to compare traditional religion and metaphysics, often pitting one against the other, as if the two of them were mutually exclusive or antithetical. Interestingly, however, religion based on theism is, by definition, a part of metaphysics, as any concept of a deity in traditional Western religion is outside the purview of our three-dimensional reality.

Which leads us to another interesting hallmark of contemporary metaphysics and the 'New Age:' the spirituality is experiential. And some of the causative factors involved with this experiencing of spirituality are somewhat understandable.

Many have theorized that the current interest in spirituality and metaphysics may in part be viewed as a reaction against the Age of Reason and the perceived pursuant overemphasis on the strictly material and empirical - that there is a longing for the transcendently spiritual, instead of feeling bogged down in a strict immersion in the physical. I. e., after a couple of centuries of emphasis on the empirically provable and concrete, there is a longing for the spiritual as an antidote.

Small wonder, then, that New Agers and those into metaphysics want to experience their spirituality, so that they may feel it, rather than simply think it, and that they want to have some control over their practice or manifestation of it, rather than strictly going through an external intermediary. This shift to a feeling of control over one's expression of spirituality also reflects the trend towards personal responsibility, as well as personal empowerment.

Medicine

Many people have adopted alternative methods of medicine that incorporate New Age beliefs. Some of the techniques in this list are herbal medicine, acupuncture, iridology, and the use of crystals in healing therapy. Users of these techniques find them helpful in treating illness. Their personal involvement in their own treatment increases. Some rely on New Age treatments exclusively, while others use them in combination with conventional medicine. For example, there is one noteworthy trial study in San Francisco on breast cancer in women [1], [2]. The Tibetan doctor in charge prescribed Tibetan herbs for treatments in a double blind trial. The Phase I trial, involving 12 patients, was closed Novemeber 2000, but the results have not yet been published as of December 2002.

One benefit of New Age medicine's popularity and criticism of conventional medicine has encouraged many medical practitioners to pay closer attention to the entire patient's needs rather than just her or his specific disease [3]. Such approaches, termed "holistic medicine", are now becoming more popular. Conventional medicine has recognised that a patient's state of mind can be crucial in determining the outcome of many diseases, and uses herbal medicine as a guide to help locate new scientifically-tested drugs.

While a broader understanding of the patient's health is clearly useful, this requires communication between patient and doctor: relying on New Age treatments exclusively carries the risk of neglecting a treatable condition until too late. Patients using herbs and other unconventional approaches need to be sure their doctors are aware of what they're doing: herbs can interact in a variety of ways with prescription drugs, or can treat a symptom well enough that a doctor won't notice the underlying disease.

Critics of New Age medicine continue to point out that without some kind of testing procedure, there is no way of separating those techniques, medicinal herbs, and lifestyle changes which actually contribute to increased health from those which have no effect or are actually deleterious. Even "innocent" techniques such as Theraputic Touch have potentials for harms physical, spiritual, and religious (see Therapeutic Touch: What Could Be the Harm?, The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine).

Music

A large percentage of New Age music is instrumental, and electronic, although vocal arrangements are also common. Enya, who won a Grammy for her new age music, sings in a variety of languages, including Latin, in many of her works. Medwyn Goodall, not as widely known, relies mainly on electronic keyboard effects, and includes acoustic guitar as well. To understand this musical category may help shed light on the New Age perspective.

Music labeled New Age often has a vision of a better future, expresses an appreciation of goodness and beauty, even an anticipation, relevant to any event. Rarely does New Age music find a problem with this world or its inhabitants, yet paradoxically it offers a peaceful solution for a better world, which basically defines what New Age means. Often the music is celestial, when the title names stars or deep space explorations. Ennio Morricone wrote the entire score for the movie Mission to Mars, and while the credits flash we hear All the Friends-- New Age orchestral style.

The genius of New Age composition comes from its amateur aspect. Nearly anyone who plays a musical instrument can produce an inspired piece, and convey their feelings easily within this genre. Talent is in the ear of the listener, not in numbers-- either in amount of radio airplay, or in CDs sold.

We find a syncretic musical mixture of themes, not revisionist, in the music of New Age. All genres of music considered as art are similar in this respect. The titles of New Age music are often provocative, because the words used by the artists attempt to convey their version of truth, in a few short words. On listening to the music, one may understand the idea within the title. Examples of titles: "bond of union", "sweet wilderness", "shepherd moons", "animus anima", and so on.

Lifestyle

The following subjective description of a New Age "lifestyle" illuminates the sociological dimension of the New Age movement:

New Age lifestyles can be observed anywhere that people meet, congregate, and visit. To an outside observer, the eventful outcome of this meeting differs from other similar meetings she may have seen before, because something changes. Something clicks in people's behavior making them exchange information, most always with everyone getting more out of the event than was individually put into it. This often happens in New Age lifestyles, becoming so common one would think the new age has already left a mark on the mainstream! At one time before the New Age lifestyle silently, without any fanfare, changed western society, the outcome of interaction was: someone wins and the other loses. Although this is an overly simplistic view of social intercourse, it did exist in general, at large. New Age introduced a think tank style of social interaction, which results in a synergy--all involved in a meaningful event are left with more clarity, higher and more focused than beforehand. Again, this is an overly simplisitic view. People may not even believe they are New-Agers, though they fit the general pattern.

A typical conversation may begin in groups or in pairs, where the subject involves insights, deeply held truths, or even revelations, from a known or unknown origin. The result of this interaction may bond the people involved who share similar visions or outlooks. Feelings of deja vu may occur, with people feeling somehow, mysteriously, they have met before or known each other from a distant time in history.

Shopping at a store dealing in herbal supplements, two people meet and sense there may be a hidden meaning, or reason why they just happened to be purchasing ginseng tea at that particular moment, in that particular place, at the same time. Rather than overlooking the event, tucking it away as a mere coincidence, they talk, more often about themselves to each other, and interact, a key component of this lifestyle.

External Links

Roots of New Age Movement
Nag Hammadi Library
Celestine Prophecies James Redfield
Marianne Williamson A Course in Miracles
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal http://www.csicop.com

Medicine:

Larry Dossey, M.D.
Quackwatch, Your Guide to Health Fraud, Quackery, and Intelligent Decisions http://www.quackwatch.org/index.html

Music: