New Age Spirituality!

What is New Age Spirituality?

Spirituality involves the relief of suffering! It is a practice, a path and a duty. It is an integrity which is integrated into the character and behaviour.

Neurosis is the inability to understand reality. We need to question more and the word 'why' is perhaps the most important word in the English language. We need to avoid colluding with untruths, and we need to question all we are told! Consumerism wants to brainwash us and prevent us from thinking for ourselves! The New Age promises us all kinds of things, especially it tells us what we want to hear! It also tells us to think 'positive', even though it might be against our better judgement and our long term interests. 'You can have it all', we are cajoled by those who think we are naive, or worse, stupid! They speak about us in perjorative terms whilst encouraging us to put money in their pockets. Beware!

The New Age began in the 1960s. The run up to this was the huge personal tragedy of WWI when so many children lost fathers, uncles and other male providers. Many women who lost fathers, brothers and uncles saw their sons go to war in 1939. The recovery was prolonged hardship and they spoke nothing about it. The 1950s brought a peaceful security and financial recovery. How difficult was it for these people to see their sons on drugs and their daughters pregnant in the 1960s? A huge blooming of the youth movement created an immature culture which we are still suffering from. The path of spirituality is one of service, all spiritual teaching tells us this. However, spiritual teachers of the New Age are charging very high fees often to those who have little money but are enticed by flashy marketing. Spirituality teachers are today's film stars, with plastic faces, luxury style living, air flights around the world, gas guzzling cars, big gemstones, but little genuine caring towards the needy of this world. We must challenge their mediocrity, their superficiality and their false teaching. There is enough for their needs but not their greeds!

The 'Age of Aquarius' (which due to the precession of the equinoxes is at another time entirely) is said to be a time of equality and harmony. Yet, this is far from the case when looking at lives lost through wars throughout the world. The New Age brings missiles launched from drones, uranium poisoning in war zones and nuclear missile potential from submarines. There have been huge extinctions of species from the natural world and global warming is threatening to cause a mass exodus from many stricken countries.

Transcendant experience is a natural part of life, whether it is described as 'enlightenment', 'consciousness', or 'awareness'. Ordinary people describe many kinds of 'spiritual' experiences whatever the words used to describe them. They may be accompanied by a sense of awe, sacredness, peace and wonder -some hear voices - maybe from those no longer alive - some have premonitions. Those who have had these experiences, often describe their priorities and perspectives on life as changing. They become more understanding and more supportive of others, have a deeper sense of the importance of life, they want to help others, they are more forgiving, care about those who are suffering - including animals. If you had only one week to live, how would you live it, would you visit those who you really love, put your house in order, do something kind or good for someone in need, tell your loved ones what they mean to you! Would greed take over your mind to accumulate more material possessions, forcing those with no hope of survival to be appalled and sickened by your ignorance! 

What could trigger these experiences? 
Listening to music!
Being in nature!
Prayer!
Silence! 
A known holy place!

"The more one searches, the less one finds! The wind bloweth where it listeth, and comes when least expected!

One of the earliest recorded 'peak' experiences was that of Moses when he went to the mountain top alone. There, he saw a burning bush, and he knelt and removed his shoes as he felt a sanctity in that place. Moses spoke to the voice, asking who this was, a name was given, "I am who I am"! During this communication, the voice of God told Moses that the people must have laws to maintain order and these 10 commandments have been handed down throughout the world as the best way to maintain a civilised society. Not just a transcendant experience but a learning of the highest level for mankind as to how to treat each other in an ethical and moral way.

A true vision of the almighty is without manipulation or the need to convert! If the story is told it is not to impress, to receive money or to boost the ego or sense of power.  Many consider there is a natural law, in all countries of the world, which is to 'do unto others as you would be done by'. Certainly, truth, compassion, justice, peace and caring are the same whatever the language. In fact, truth can only be the truth if it is the same for the poor as it is for the rich, otherwise it is a lie. If someone tells you something about their beliefs, always examine it against two measures - whether it is the same for the very poor as it is for the rich, and whether 'do unto others as you would be done by' applies! These are the only two measures of spirituality!

Unfortunately, the New Age has reduced these life changing and life improving moments to trivial talk about seeing white feathers - which means an angel is around - or by meaningless co-incidences, which described a similar synchronicity, which Carl Jung said is a meaningful co incidence. It's plainly uneducated! 

New Age philosophers and Mind Body Spirit practitioners speak of 'the Universe' as an unlimited source of abundance for all anyone could want. However, they need constant reminding that our unique planet is a finite resource. It has become polluted and is increasingly toxic, and all of nature is suffering on account of human greed, waste, and stupidity. The Universe is an expanse of vast and unknown space, with numerous black holes. 

The New Age purports to present modern ideas and beliefs of a spiritual kind, but nature - the produce of the divine and creative intelligence, is dismissed while they obsess over gemstones, the excavation and mining of which pollute, cause illness amongst the extremely poor and exploited miners who have no health insurance when injured, and also cause the cutting down of forests and other habitat which is the sole home of many endangered species. 

There is a denial in the New Age that 'evil exists'. One moment adherents are quoting Carl Jung's synchronicity theory because it suits them, the next moment they are discounting what he said about the dark shadow which exists within us all, and which we should get to know because until we do, we will put it outside ourself into others. 
 
Less is more - abundance of air flights and other travel, an obsession with the material world which causes global warming, and more and more non degradable plastic and polystyrene, put into land-fill and incineration, pollutes the air, the soil and the sea. For those who are interested in spirituality, they need to understand themselves, and others, certainly, being in control of their desires, being a person capable of altruistic actions on behalf of others, giving to those desperately in need rather than spewing vast sums of money on trivialities, are basic spiritual values. Can you imagine someone spending many thousands of pounds on a designer vagina, when people are suffering huge privatisations in the poorest of countries? Why do westerners subject themselves to dangerous activities when the poorest of this world struggle with the most basic level of survival? It defies comprehension and shows extreme ignorance, selfishness and lack of spiritual thought to spend vast sums of money of trivia and irrelevances when other people need water, food, pain relief, an antibiotic, all basic requirements, so unaffordablefor some. 

New Age gurus are those who speak endlessly of 'consciousness', 'awareness', 'enlightenment' and other meaningless words, yet their relationships with others need investigation, their relationship with the needy of this world are forgotten and their selfishness knows no bounds. If they could only stop speaking about themselves for a moment, they might be able to notice the utter nonsense they speak! Written by Racine!