New-age movement
Love, light, healing manifestation, the power of now and the law of Attraction, astrology psychic readings, and Crystal healing all, of these hold one common thread birthed from the new-age movement emerging most prominently in the 1970s. The new age movements lay in the notion of societal transitions of personal transformation today. It is rooted in this idea of raising our collective consciousness through the means of personal transformation and its products that are being sold today under the umbrella of new-age really reflected things like yoga, retreats, psychic readings, and astrology chart consultations.
The new-age movement actually encompasses so much. Thus, I think it would be impossible to name its every product but I touch upon some of its main belief systems and practices of it:
Common new age beliefs/characteristics:
- Astrology
- Tarot cards
- Buddhism
- Hinduism
- Taoism
- Yoga
- Mysticism
- Theosophy
- Shamanism
- Channeling
- Hypnotherapy
- Pantheism
- Reincarnation and any belief system that is connected to spiritism and the occult.
These are essential common belief systems and practices spread among people of the new-age spirituality. Now, let’s pay close attention to the name of this movement. Is this really “new” depending on its name like “new-age movement”? if we dig a little bit digger, it is not really new at all.
In this sense, a lot of its basic ideas and philosopher derived from ancient religious practices and ideas predominantly from Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism mentioned above. Due to this, the new-age movement can be criticized for its cultural appropriation. It is often blamed to be stealing freely from most of the shiny parts of ancient religions/cultures without due understanding, education, and respect.
What do people of the new-age spirituality think of God?
They believe everything is God and God is everything. They also believe that the universe is God and all that is in the universe is part of God. By having such an opinion about God, they simply reject the belief that there is only one creator of the universe. In their opinion, the universe is God, and all that the universe includes are part of God. This idea leads toward that man is God or part of God. New agers believe that by accomplishing what they call “Christ-consciousness”, they can be in the same position as God. Hence, New agers subscribe to the philosophy that man is God or that man has the capacity to become “little God” or to become like a God. In a word, they try to find out the power and strength in themselves by applying various practices and techniques of the new-age spirituality. That simply means that all new agers do not admit the idea of monotheism.