From: lhughes@b11.ingr.com (Lawrence Hughes)
Subject: Re: religions other than christianity
Organization: Intergraph Corp. Huntsville, AL
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 15:21:10 GMT

In article <4309.29DA8778@umagic.FIDONET.ORG>, Christian.Walters@umagic.FIDONET.ORG (Christian Walters) writes:
> Lawrence Hughes says:
> >Careful to distinguish between "new agers" (whose beliefs contain some
> >aspects of the "old time religions", but also contain a lot of
> >pseudo-psychiatry, cult nutrition, elements of eastern mysticism and
> >meditation, etc.) and actual, current practitioners of the real "old
> >time religions".
>  
> Okay. Sorry if I lump them together too much. Like I said, I know
> shockingly little about them, since New Agers don't come banging on my
> door warning about the end of the world. What I do hear of them, I hear
> from the slightly distorted (!) views of outraged Christians. And these
> days, I don't have the time/money to research New Age stuff to the
> extent it deserves :)

They don't tend to try to push it down everyone's throats - all the contact
I have had with them has been of the "I'm curious - would you tell me about
it" form, in response to which I got reasoned, simple explanations, not
bible thumping, threats of eternal hellfire, accusations of baby murder, etc.
if I didn't swallow their entire spiel immediately, based entirely on their
unsubstantiated claims. Very refreshing, compared to the constant bombardment
of christian propaganda (that Hitler would have understood the tactics of)
that is EVERYWHERE around here (TV, radio, co-workers, tracts in the bathroom,
ad nauseum, ad infinitum). If I ever leave this delightful area, this crap
will be among the top two or three reasons. Can't you guys shut the **** up? 
New agers will share their views, if asked. I personally can't imagine a new
age tent revival, or TV evangelist. There is a MAJOR difference here.

> >There is a genuine continuity of tradition (which has been underground
> >for centuries), which is beginning to emerge now that christians only
> >boycott or harass you, as opposed to burning you at the stake.
>  
> At least when they burned you at the stake they left you alone
> afterwards :)

I'm sure the ashes were very comforted by that.

> Some of the more energetic Christians these days view
> members of "pagan" religions as a sort of challenge or, worse, a "test"
> sent by God.

Typical of their view of the entire world, in terms of their narrow view of
their universe, and ethnocentric in the extreme - can they REALLY believe
that countless stars, each as large and powerful as our own star (SOL), many
with some possibility of supporting life, were put there JUST to provide them
with a little additional (and not very much at that) light on moonless nights?
Can't they concieve of anything existing INDEPENDENTLY of them, that has
NOTHING to do with them? Perhaps that would be a threat to their view of
themselves as the most important things in creation, second only to their god.

> >There is a subset of the "new age" marketing classification that
> >is used extensively by New Age religious adherents, primarily for help
> >in meditation, "centering", and other contemplative exercises.
>  
> Ah! I had begun to expect this. But I would still wager that the New Age
> label didn't show up in your Camelot Musics or Record Bars until after
> those origins had been lost. Those meditations discs do actually show up
> in mainstream stores from time to time, but normally in the same section
> where you find the Jane Fonda Workout Tapes.

Actually, it has been around for quite some time - many people consider the
flautist Paul Horn's album of solo flute recorded in the Taj Mahal, 20 years
ago to be the first "real" new age album. He recently did a retake on CD of
this event, and that disk was filed in the NEW AGE bin, not with Hanoi Jane.
About 10 to 20% of the disks in most new age bins are what I would consider
"real" ones. Even though I sometimes enjoy Mannheim Steamroller, I would not
consider it to be "real" or even "fake" new-age. It is kind of a cross between
"easy listening" and "stage band". And about 0.1 mm deep.

Now I have found the liner notes on some of the Narada music to show that the
artists are really pretty simplistic "greenies", advocating environmental
activism, etc. However, this is largely independent of "new age", although
there is a certain amount of overlap among the respective adherents.

> >On a somewhat more general note, I have always found that it is
> >possible to separate the music of essentially any relgious tradition
> >from its original purpose, and enjoy it tremendously for its own sake
>  
> I think it's a shame we have to put labels on music anyway. I suppose
> it's a necessary evil so people have at least a general-but-wildly-
> inaccurate idea of what a particula recording is like. (I mean, putting
> Leonard Bernstein albums in the Classical section.... sheesh! Some of
> his music is younger than I am.)

Which is why I prefer the term "serious music" (as opposed to "pop music") to
specify a category that contains music by Palestrina, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven,
Brahms, Debussy, Holst, Schoenberg, and Penderetski, but NOT Dave Brubeck,
Johann Strauss, Moody Blues, etc. Which is not to say I can't/don't enjoy
much music from both broad categories, or that there are not very meaningful
subdivisions within each area, but to me, "Classical" is the period within
"serious music" between the Roccoco and Romantic, as typified by Mozart and
Haydn (and early Beethoven).

> Still, I guess it's not all bad. It keeps me clear of overly religious
> stuff.

Like I said, much (originally) overtly religious music can be enjoyed by
anyone, if it is "good" independent of its religious associations - don't
ignore Bach's organ works just because they were (mostly) originally for
accompanyment in Lutheran services - they are great masterpieces on any
scale (sorry, couldn't resist). 

> I wish there was a "political music" label :)

There is. And it is TRULY awful. For years, the only art the soviets permitted
was "art in the cause of revolution". And it proved conclusively to me that
art and politics don't mix. The only composer that managed to to create true
masterpieces in this environment was Dimitri Shostakovitch (listen to his
5th Symphony - fantastic!) - well, maybe some Kabelevsky. However, even the
Gayne ballet suite, with some truly beautiful instrumental passages, has one
of the most rediculous story lines you can imagine, about the good workers
on the commune salving away for the good of the state (and you can imagine
the rest). But then again, "Happy Days Are Here Again" ain't much better. 
No thank you. 

> --  
>  * Christian.Walters@umagic.FIDONET.ORG via Micro Magic

Larry "what's wrong with categorizing things?" Hughes