“The following are some common — though by no means universal — beliefs found among New Agers:
1. All humanity—indeed all life, everything in the universe—is spiritually interconnected, participating in the same energy. “God” is one name for this energy.
2. Spiritual beings (e.g. angels, ascended masters, elementals, ghosts, and/or space aliens) exist, and will guide us, if we open ourselves to their guidance.
3. The human mind has deep levels and vast powers, which are capable even of overriding physical reality. “You create your own reality.”
4. Nevertheless, this is subject to certain spiritual laws, such as the principle of cause and effect (karma).
5. The individual has a purpose here on earth, in the present surroundings, because there is a lesson to learn. The most important lesson is love.
6. Death is not the end. There is only life in different forms. What some refer to as an afterlife does not punish us but teaches us, perhaps through the mechanisms of reincarnation or near-death experiences.
7. Science and spirituality are ultimately harmonious. New discoveries in science (evolution, quantum mechanics), rightly understood, point to spiritual principles.
8. It shares with many major world religions the idea that Intuition or “divine guidance” is a more appropriate guide than rationalism, skepticism, or the scientific method. Western science wrongly neglects such things as parapsychology, meditation, and holistic health.
9. There exists a mystical core within all religions, Eastern and Western. Dogma and religious identity are not so important.
10. The Bible is considered by some, but not all, to be a wise and holy book. Many important truths are found in the Bible, or are referred to only very obliquely. Some say that Jesus was an Essene, or that he traveled to India in his youth to study Eastern religions. Others say that Jesus was a later avatar of Buddha.
11. Feminine forms of spirituality, including feminine images of the divine, such as the female Aeon Sophia in Gnosticism, are viewed as having been subordinated, masked, or obliterated by patriarchal movements that were widely practiced when sacred teachings were first committed to writing. A renaissance of the feminine is particularly appropriate at this time.
12. Ancient civilizations such as Atlantis may truly have existed, leaving behind certain relics and monuments (the Great Pyramid, Stonehenge) whose true nature has not been discovered by mainstream historians.
13. There are no coincidences (see Synchronicity). Everything around you has spiritual meaning, and spiritual lessons to teach you. You are meant to be here, and are always exactly where you need to be to learn from what confronts you.
14. The mind has hidden powers and abilities, which have a spiritual significance. Dreams and psychic experiences are ways in which our souls express themselves.
15. Meditation, yoga, t’ai chi, and other Eastern practices are valuable and worthwhile.
16. The food you eat has an effect on your mind as well as your body. It is generally preferable to eat fresh organic vegetarian food.
17. Ultimately every interpersonal relationship has the potential to be a helpful experience in terms of our own growth.
18. We learn about ourselves through our relationships with other people by getting to see what we need to work on ourselves and what strengths we bring to the other party in order to help them in their life.
19. All our relationships are destined to be repeated until they are healed, if necessary over many lifetimes.
20. As Souls seeking wholeness, our goal is eventually to learn to love everyone we come in contact with.
21. An appeal to the language of nature and mathematics, as evidenced by numerology in Kabbala, gnosticism etc., to discern the nature of god.”
Which aspects of this definition do you agree with?
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age
A1: Yes, I agree with the theory of interconnected energy etc, but would regard myself as agnostic which means I am unsure whether God truly exists or not. I try and remain open-minded, retain a loose way of thinking because it seems often contradictions exist in the world. This is inspired by Conversations With God as the main message, to put it simply is: “It is, and it isn’t…” ie: we are all interconnected but we are each seperate entities. We must experience ourselves as one thing to value the opposite, alone and together, happiness and sadness, ying and yang etc.
So am open to the idea that there may be a God but am not 100% convinced. I find the idea rather comforting though as it soothes loneliness and brings hope/faith so if you want to believe in God, that’s your choice. Make up your own mind about what you believe, don’t let organised religion dictact what is true or false. Trust your instincts, your heart, your mind, your soul. To quote from Stigmata (gospel of Thomas), Jesus said: “The Kingdom of God is inside you and around you, not in buildings of wood and stone. (ie: church) Split a piece of wood and I am there, lift a stone and you will find me.”
A2: I have discussed guardian angels/spirit guides before, not on this weblog but I find it interesting. Apparently, when someone passes away/over, who liked/respected you in their lifetime, they may choose to watch over you and help you out now and again. It maybe a disturbing/scary thought, particularly when the term ‘ghosts’ is used but it is reassurring to feel you have witnesses to your life, what you try to accomplish/achieve, whether anyone else notices you are alive then becomes less important.
I definitely support the existence of extra-terrestrials but as mentioned, not the stereotypical view of ‘little green men’ but as highly advanced/evolved beings. Humans are very primitive by comparison, we lack the spiritual knowledge to balance/control our technological advancement, wars and famine exist, as does the threat of nuclear weapons ending the world. We need to evolve as human beings to find peace / a possible utopia.
These are just my thoughts, what do you think?
Bless you for this list of new age principles. It’s fine time for me to review where I stand on them and I find I now have reservations about almost all of them. I might respond at greater length on my blog
I have put down some thoughts in detail on my blog, in which OpticalParadox is referred to as Epiphany – such a nice girl’s name, don’t you think? – or Fanny for short. Blessings
Interesting list,
I have one small problem with number 3:
“The human mind has deep levels and vast powers, which are capable even of overriding physical reality. “You create your own reality.â€?”
I totally agree we create out own reality but there is one basic flaw in this statement. We seem to equate the mind with who we are. The is a vast realm of our presence (our total consciousness if you will) that extends far beyond the mind. The mind is only the surface of our consciousness…it is the substratum we need to explore in more depth.
The part about UFO’s I am not so sure about…just because I don’t have enough to go on and I am as yet unconvinced for practical reasons…
The last comment I would like to make is that I also am not sure about the title being “New Age Beliefs” This to me is somewhat of an Oxymoron.
What all spiritually enlightened people eventually realize that a belief is merely something you agree to agree with. Real understanding comes through direct experience….you can balieve in anything for your entire present incarnation and that belief will not get you to the real truth…to get to this truth oyu must experience it directly…
One person cleared all this up for me…Eckhart Tolle is one of the few spiritual teachers who can explain everything very clearly in its entirety. I urge anyone who is going through a spiritual awakwening and wants to accellerate the process to buy and listen slowly to the audio version of the unabridged “The Power of Now”
Namaste and best wishes to all,
Ray McCarthy III
Palm Beach, Florida
dharmabear@gmail.com