New Agers and New Thoughters -- what do you think of them?

[ZOS23xy]

It's hard to generalize. Everyone is an individual. I know this. But something unusual recently occurred to me. My New Age and New Thought friends go around saying things like "teach only love," and yet they are often some of the most hateful, revengeful, neurotic people I know. (New Thought is a liberal type of Christianity, often referred to as "New Age Christianity.")

To be fair, I have indeed met some New Age and New Thought people who "walk the talk." But most I have known are judgmental, angry, self-righteous people. Their talk is good. I like what they have to say (that we should all be kind and get along). But they usually don't live by it, and so I have come to avoid New Agers and New Thoughters as much as possible.

And, oh, don't get me started on the fact that most New Age and New Thought teachers and products ("The Secret" etc.) are frauds, money making scams.....

Any thoughts?

New Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Thought - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One thing I've come to realize is that New Age and New Thought is usually very closely aligned with the recovery movement. In other words, many New Agers and New Thoughters are former (and often current) addicts. (Boy. It's a good thing this forum allows for rants.... lol)
Twelve-step program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Take out "New Age". place in Roman Catholic, blacks, Muslim, KKK, Baptist, Mormon, etc...

You're stereotyping isn't new. Neither is your ignorance.

I believe in some of what you call "New Age" but I was meditating and doing yoga and following disciplines long before that term cropped up.

A lot of anger going on the various groups is trying to break from from nuerolinguistic mind patterns. Often also called "the embedding" where you seperate your past by disassociating with the language you learned. Some people can take it to extremes. For others its a new venue for hatred.

 

[ZOS23xy]

I never got into new age stuff. As with all religions/faiths there are those people that represent the worst of everything. One bad apple.

I have met angry, bitter, judgmental people from all walks of faiths. Some of the worst were in my dad's church. It's not the fault of the religion, the fault lies with the individual.

And what they were taught. For a good number of us on this board recall being told about the "evils" of homosexuality? Or not to touch yourself or it will fall off?

 

[ZOS23xy]

I still feel the same way about them, but I agree that in the 60s the new age movement helped to challenge traditional, strict social mores that needed re-thinking.

If it's just about free-thinking and viewing things objectively, then that's fine - it's just all the weed, sitting underneath healing crystals, and philosophical bollocks that gets on my nerves.

Talking about over generalizations.....

 

[Industrialsize]

IMO New age rhymes with sewage.

 

[ZOS23xy]

One of the most annoying things about the New Agers is the self-righteousness, and I include Wiccans in this. There is so much irony. The New Agers ridicule the mainstream religions for being arrogant and oppressing everyone and acting like they know everything, yet the New Agers do the same.

Ah, your Truly High Arrogance, what is it that you do to make yourself into a better human being? Standing around bitching about other people doesn't sound so spiritual...

 

[D_Ellerby Eatsprick]

Ugh. The Secret. LOL. My mom bought me that book for Christmas one year thinking it'd help me with positive thinking, not that I had any problems with positive thinking. I prefer to have it balanced between optimistism and pessimism. For example, I applied to a job that was for the position of activity coordinator. My mom thought that by writing down activity coordinator on a piece of paper and putting it off to the side, that I would get the job. :/

I aced the interview and was told I did really well but 3 candidates had beat me because they had experience and better background than me.

 

[ZOS23xy]

The "secret" is pure hokum. I got a backwash of anger from people when I wrote in a review: "were the premises of this book true, we would all win the lottery, look like movie stars and never have a worry again. "

Some people are pretty touchy.

But people want direct simple answers. Hard work, discipline and trying seem to be beyond the grasp of many. Pop a beer, turn on the tube and fill yourself with images in a passive mode.

 

[B_henry miller]

Exactly one of the many aspects of New Ageism that Jennifer Saunders so accurately skewered in AbFab.

I love this episode where she goes on a New Age retreat and the asshole is pretending to channel someone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8dJZ2H5UnI

People in the New Age actually do this. You've probably heard of JZ Knight, this fraud in Washington state who claims to channel a 10,000-year-old man from Atlantis. People believe this bullshit! They spend tens of thousands of dollars for retreats on it!

 

[B_henry miller]

:wtf: ???

That is a load of bunk. While the "NEW-AGE" philosophy teaches free will it says nothing about not doing something for the betterment of mankind QUITE THE CONTRARY !

HH

There is no set dogma for the "New Age." It's a very general umbrella term. It's all a free-for-all. The defining characteristic is probably that the adherents (the "New Agers") are mostly white and middle class.

 

[B_henry miller]

Oh, that reminds me.... Another tactic of New Agers is to "shame" people when they practice any kind of critical analysis or express any emotion other than a "positive" emotion. A lot of policing going on in these "religions" that ironically preach that we all need to be free....

And ignorance means unexperienced, uneducatred. I've known thousands of New Agers over a more than 15-year span. And I am referring to some of the big stars in the industry, people who make it on to Oprah and Larry King Live. I've seen what goes on behind the scenes with these people. They are all fakes and frauds.

Take out "New Age". place in Roman Catholic, blacks, Muslim, KKK, Baptist, Mormon, etc...

You're stereotyping isn't new. Neither is your ignorance.

I believe in some of what you call "New Age" but I was meditating and doing yoga and following disciplines long before that term cropped up.

A lot of anger going on the various groups is trying to break from from nuerolinguistic mind patterns. Often also called "the embedding" where you seperate your past by disassociating with the language you learned. Some people can take it to extremes. For others its a new venue for hatred.

 

[BigDallasDick8x6]

That's another great irony. So many New Agers say they are different from the mainstream religions, but they end up being just like them.

You said it. I know a lot of "alternative" people including some Wiccans. Despite being sexually adventurous, I am very traditional in a lot of ways from Neo-classical decorating style to taste in literature etc. Really into the Classics and Western Civ etc. Raised on Bullfinch's instead of Dr. Suess. You get the idea. So I *might* be biased, LOL......

Anyway, from my admittedly biased viewpoint -- what really strikes me about my New Age friends (another friend unkindly calls them Airy Fairies) is that they seem so determined to tear everything else down -- organized religion, patriarchy, capitalism, etc etc etc. All structure whatsover. THEN -------they go out and build an alternative belief system and structures! WTF? That's an awful lot of work to wind up right back where you started. Yeah the ideology is different but if you're saying all structures are confining and repressive and then you build your own structures and circumscribing belief system.......

 

[BigDallasDick8x6]

We were in the Piscean age and are now going into the Aquarian age.

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
A -quar - i - us!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and peace abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions

[.....]

Peace will guide the planets
And lo-ove will steer the stars!

For example....

9/11
Afghanistan
Iraq
Somalia
Tibet
North Korean nuclear program
Iranian nuclear program
Bombings in London and Madrid
Columbian drug wars
Juarez drug wars
Middle East suicide bombers
Mumbai hotel attacks
On and on and on

Yes, things seem to be getting much better.

Peace and harmony indeed

 

[B_henry miller]

Anyway, from my admittedly biased viewpoint -- what really strikes me about my New Age friends (another friend unkindly calls them Airy Fairies) is that they seem so determined to tear everything else down -- organized religion, patriarchy, capitalism, etc etc etc. All structure whatsover.

Under the guise of tearing down all oppressive and inauthentic structures, the New Agers just go about doing whatever the hell they want. The vast majority that I have known do not give a shit about others. They care about their own hedonism, and they have convinced themselves that their own hedonism somehow benefits the rest of the planet.

 

[D_Smidley Smelliepits]

It's all about "change yourself and you'll change the planet"... amazingly naive

 

[B_henry miller]

It's all about "change yourself and you'll change the planet"... amazingly naive

No, it's all about attaching slogans like "Change yourself and you'll change the world" to some sort of product that you sell for $29.99, or a weekend retreat for $2,900.

 

[ZOS23xy]

Oh, that reminds me.... Another tactic of New Agers is to "shame" people when they practice any kind of critical analysis or express any emotion other than a "positive" emotion. A lot of policing going on in these "religions" that ironically preach that we all need to be free....

And ignorance means unexperienced, uneducatred. I've known thousands of New Agers over a more than 15-year span. And I am referring to some of the big stars in the industry, people who make it on to Oprah and Larry King Live. I've seen what goes on behind the scenes with these people. They are all fakes and frauds.

Shame you? Not my intention. Your thinking is bland enough that it fits into "cookie cutter mentality". What you stated is flat, without too many facts, over the top generalizations and negative viewpoints.

Known "thousands"? --then be more specific. ALL fakes and frauds.....everyone but you....

My interest in people is to clarify the thinking they show. Seems to me I've encountered a few of your texts where you were Typing Under the Influence
(maybe wine)....you misspelled "uneducated".

Poking at people and trying to shame them is something that is practiced by the Roman Catholic Church, Judia, Islam, Scientology....and so on.

 

[ZOS23xy]

I DESPISE the term NEW-AGE mainly b/c most of the beliefs that a new-ager believes in are ANCIENT and pre-date Christianity by thousands of years.
There is nothing new about NEW-AGE ! It comes from our planet transitioning from one age into another . We were in the Piscean age and are now going into the Aquarian age. The ideas of the last age (Christianity, Organized religion etc...) are seen as part of the old age and the new age is one of more spiritual liberation . Yet the idea of Reincarnation, Astrology, Numerology and so on are not new but since there is a new acceptance if you will for these ideas they are lumped into the NEW AGE


HH

The transition is from the Age of Capricorn to Aquarius.

 

[2322]

The transition is from the Age of Capricorn to Aquarius.

It's the Piscean age to the Aquarian Age. We regress through the zodiac.

 

[ZOS23xy]

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
A -quar - i - us!
Aquarius!
Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and peace abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions

[.....]

Peace will guide the planets
And lo-ove will steer the stars!

For example....

9/11
Afghanistan
Iraq
Somalia
Tibet
North Korean nuclear program
Iranian nuclear program
Bombings in London and Madrid
Columbian drug wars
Juarez drug wars
Middle East suicide bombers
Mumbai hotel attacks
On and on and on

Yes, things seem to be getting much better.

Peace and harmony indeed

Time and context have not been kind to this song, let alone the musical, HAIR.


It came out at the crisis point in American: Civil rights, Vietnam War, the deaths of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy. The rise of civil disobedience. The Manson Family. Drugs. The Weathermen. Black Power. Nudity in the movies. The Six Day War. The IRA in Ireland. The Beatles. Banning people from the airwaves for saying "God"....etc. The cycles come and go.

Perhaps we are the age known as Kali Yuga.

 

[ZOS23xy]

It's the Piscean age to the Aquarian Age. We regress through the zodiac.

I have been corrected. Thank you.