What Is New Age?
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No one speaks for the entire New Age community. Within the movement, there
is no agreement on how to define it or even that it is sufficiently cohesive to
be called a movement; although there does seem to be more and more people
moving in the same direction. What follows then are thoughts that reflect
The Door Opener's ideas and ideals and borrow from writings of David Spangler
and other New Age philosophers. The term New Age is a metaphor for the process of striving for personal growth through which people are trying to become more fully awake to their inherent capacities and to use their energy for a greater good. The New Age is the condition that emerges when life is lived in a creative, empowering, compassionate manner. It manifests when we recognize and honor both the intrinsic wholeness of the world and the value of everything within it. It arises when we honor each person, animal, plant or object as unique yet also as a part of ourselves. The New Age is a process happening now, not some future event. It is a special creative attitude to bring to everyday, ordinary affairs: as in nurturing your marriage, in gracefully meeting the demands of parenthood, in doing your work well, in supporting others, and in confronting your shortcomings and boundaries. Often the New Age is seen as only the pursuit of Eastern philosophies or the occult, or involvement with channeling, crystals, reincarnation and psychic phenomena. Indeed this is a part of the movement, however, to equate the New Age with psychic phenomena is a limited and distorting view. For New Age activities take many forms that are not only involved with the paranormal or the religious. They include such things as ecological restoration and balance, new understandings of education and of the capabilities of the human intellect; citizen diplomacy missions to Russia; the exploration of empowerment politics and holistic thought and activity in areas such as science, the arts, music, business and health. The New Age deals with issues of planetarization and the emergence of an awareness that we are all one people living on one world that share a common destiny. It represents social, political, economic, psychological and spiritual efforts to recognize and include all that our modern society has tended to exclude: the poor, the dispossessed, the feminine, the ecological and inwardly, all the painful repressed and unintegrated material we carry. The New Age is the integration of these hidden and suppressed elements of our personal and collective lives so that we may individually and as a species achieve wholeness. It is a redefinition of humanity's role within creation, emphasizing our servanthood rather than our mastery, our stewardship rather that our dominion. The New Age stresses Responsibility - both taking it and using it wisely. By taking responsibility for our lives and the events that befall us, we take back the power we have given away to others, regain control of our lives, and heal ourselves and the planet. We explore alternatives that give us new choices. Alternative approaches to health and healing which better integrate mind, body, emotions and spirit. Alternative ways of living that trade what is expected for what is effective. Alternative philosophies that better integrate what we see with how we feel. Alternative politics and social ideas to enable us to get along and prosper more equitably. We are fascinated by our possibilities and the possibilities for humankind. This leads us to explore leading edge science in areas as diverse as consciousness research, mind/brain relationships, the holographic universe, quantum physics and nutrition; as well as the properties of crystals, altered states of consciousness and parapsychology. We delve into and try to integrate in our understanding philosophy, psychology, physics, religion and medicine. The movement is also making a tremendous contribution, often overlooked by the media, to teaching and the understanding of learning styles; to creativity and consciousness research; to healing through focusing on the mind/body connection; to business through humanistic management practices; to bettering relationships through attention to personal responsibility; and even to enhancing sports performance through visualization techniques. Most of all, the New Age continues to provide for millions a guiding vision of ways to become a more loving human being working to make a better world. |