New Age

{{bronze}}{{newage}}{{cquote|The New Age? It's just the old age stuck in a microwave oven for fifteen seconds.|||[[James Randi]]}}

"'''New Age'''" is a catch-all term for a wide range of [[spirituality |spiritual]] and [[social]] movements, most of which developed from the [[Human Potential Movement]] of the 1960s and 1970s. Characteristic of the so-called New Age movement is the focus on spiritual matters, with an emphasis on individuality. Those with an interest in such matters often tend to attribute New-Age beliefs to real or alleged [[Asia]]n [[mystic]]s, particularly [[India]]n and [[Tibet]]an ones, and many New-Age type beliefs draw heavily from Eastern [[religion]]s, particularly [[Hinduism]].

Essentially functioning as a consumer-friendly version of occultism, the New-Age movement lacks intellectual rigor and shuns [[scientific]] approaches to [[reality]], ostensibly due to the [[NOMA| perceived separation]] between science and spirituality, but also under the pretense of a vague [[postmodern]]ism. Because of this, New-Age believers typically take a pick-and-mix approach to spirituality, adapting beliefs and practices from a wide variety of sources such as [[Hinduism]], [[neopaganism]], [[ufology]], [[Zen]] [[Buddhism]], and any other weird concept that may appeal to them.

The key concepts in practice are a form of [[vitalism]], and — of course — [[money]].

==Beliefs==
New-Age "thought" is not a monolithic body of work and jumbles together many contradictions and competing ideas – though, in a form of "[[vindication of all kooks]]", all ideas within the cultural tent are treated as valid to some degree, and calling attention to contradictions is considered rude. You take on an indiscriminate hodgepodge of woo and sand it all down into lifestyle accessories. See [[#Threads_of_the_New_Age|the list below]].

[[Rationalist]]s generally consider the New-Age movement a load of [[pseudoscience |bollocks]], and several well-known [[skeptical]] writers (particularly [[James Randi]] and [[Martin Gardner]]) honed their skills using the early New Age movement for target practice.

===Vitalism===
In general, New Agers tend to embrace [[vitalism]] as a binding principle of the [[Universe]] – though they don't commonly call it that – believing unsystematically that such things as [[extrasensory perception]], [[psychic]] phenomena, [[astrology]], and the [[paranormal]] all can be observed and can have direct impact on the daily lives of people.

===Positivity!===
New-Age writers commonly downplay the importance of [[logic]] and overvalue [[intuition]] while avoiding "negative" emotions like fear and anger. Avoiding these emotions usually means suppressing them (not good!<ref>{{wpa | Repression (psychoanalysis)}}</ref>) and consciously avoiding getting oneself into situations where fear or anger may arise. This includes completely avoiding people who are depressed or desperate – even if those people are one's friends or family. New Agers are usually glibly instructed to "let go" of the people in their [[real life | lives]] who are pulling them down.

This is consistent with the remarkable [[Asshole| self-centeredness]] of New Age [[philosophy]], in sharp contrast to the emphasis on [[Charity| charitable]] works and outreach to others exhibited in many [[religion]]s. The whole point of New-Age thinking is development of one's own spirituality, one's own happiness, and the importance of keeping one's [[vibration#Woo| "vibration"]] high:

{{cquote|While it may seem as if lightworkers are not engaging in social issues, the opposite is actually true. While everyone else is out there fighting, arguing, debating, pushing, warring, and creating conflict, a true lightworker knows that the way to change our planet is to hold the vibration of what we want: peace, love, compassion, kindness, gratitude, and joy. While everyone else is sinking down into the mud to fight about things, the lightworkers are cleverly keeping their vibration high.|||Erin Pavlina<ref>[http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2011/11/why-dont-lightworkers-engage-in-social-justice-issues/ "Why don't lightworkers engage in social justice issues?"]</ref>}}

There is some overlap with the [[Neopaganism| neopagan]] faith-community, though even neopagans find their patience tried by the New-Age mindset, calling the New Agers [[Fluffbunny| "fluffbunnies"]] and sometimes saying that "New Age" rhymes with "sewage",<ref>
For example:
{{cite book
 |last1                = Campion
 |first1               = Nicholas
 |author-link1         = Nicholas Campion
 |orig-date            = 2012
 |chapter              = The Writing of Heaven: New Age Astrology
 |title                = Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=gQUHDAAAQBAJ
 |edition              = reprint
 |location             = Abingdon
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |publication-date     = 2016
 |page                 = 68
 |isbn                 = 9781317177791
 |access-date          = 12 December 2021
 |quote                = As Robert Wallis has observed, 'neo-Shamans and Pagans often use New Age as a derogatory term, denoting a shallow, woolly approach to spirituality, with one Pagan suggesting "newage" be pronounced "rather unkindly, as in 'sewage'"'.
}} 
</ref>
due to many New Agers' seeming self-centeredness, lack of commitment, and focus on the "sweetness and light" aspects of paganism.

[[Christian]] [[fundamentalist]]s frequently use the phrase "New Age" as a [[snarl word]], apparently a [[code word]] for a poorly-articulated [[Satan]]ic [[conspiracy theory]] to bring down Christianity. Again, New Age practitioners themselves usually concentrate on pleasant concepts and avoid uncomfortable ideas like "Satan".

==Money==

Despite their hand-wavey dismissal of all things profit-related (''e.g.'', them paying you), New Age proponents have a firm commitment to [[Capitalism|commerce]] (''i.e.'', you paying them).

They tap into a strong market for books and personal services relating to inchoate [[woo]], particularly among the bored and comfortable classes. Seminars can prove profitable — witness [[Werner Erhard]] or [[Keith Raniere]]. "[[Psychic]]s" such as [[John Edward]] (1969- ) and [[Sylvia Browne]] (1936-2013) got quite wealthy pretending they could talk to the dead.

Having a reasonable income, New Agers tend to wash more consistently than other [[hippie]]s &mdash; unless you get a ''lot'' of them in a town, in which case the bums gather.

New-Age rituals and paraphernalia became big [[business]]; some places such as [[Sedona]] ([[Arizona |AZ]]), Salem ([[Massachusetts |MA]]),  Glastonbury ([[United Kingdom |UK]]), Daylesford (Australia) and the Blue Mountains anti-vax belt (Australia) have a particularly large business presence of New-Age practitioners plying their trade.

There is a visible class distinction between the nice well-off middle-class New Agers with money &mdash; the sort of people who can afford science-[[denialism|denial]] as an affectation &mdash; and the smelly hippies without money.

==Origins==
New Age traces back to the [[Spiritualism]] movement of the 19th century and Helena Blavatsky's [[Theosophy]], as well as the [[Aleister Crowley|Order of the Golden Dawn]] and Swedenborgianism. It may occasionally borrow from or share ideas with still older esoteric movements such as [[Freemason]]ry and [[Rosicrucianism]], from which the Order of the Golden Dawn was derived. [[Alice Bailey]]'s Theosophy-influenced [[occult]] writings of the 1930s and 1940s are sometimes cited as the origin of the modern New Age movement; some Alice Bailey followers, most notably [[Benjamin Creme]], were influential in popularizing New Age ideas in the 1980s and giving the movement its modern form.

Other early possible progenitors include the ''[[Urantia Book]]'' (1955) and ''[[Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ]]'' (1908), both consisting of allegedly [[Channelling|channeled]] material mixing Christianity with Eastern religious thought (and in the case of Urantia, a [[cosmology]] of [[extraterrestrial]] spirit beings); the channeled "readings" of [[Edgar Cayce]]; and the practices of Spiritism which included such things as table rapping, [[Tarot]] cards, and the [[Ouija]] board, which later re-emerged in popularity among the [[Fun:Hippie|hippie]] movement. The Findhorn Foundation in [[Scotland]] (founded 1963) and the [[Esalen]] Institute in [[California]] (founded 1962) are also cited as origins of the New Age.

The actual term "New Age" was used as early as 1809 by {{wpl|William Blake}} (a popular figure in New Age circles) who described a coming era of spiritual advancement in his preface to ''Milton a Poem'' by stating: "When the New Age is at leisure to pronounce, all will be set right." A weekly journal of Christian [[socialism]] titled ''The New Age'' was published as early as 1894. It has been held to be a significant influence on modernism in [[literature]] and the [[art]]s during its heyday.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110723094646/http://www.modjourn.org/render.php?id=mjp.2005.00.001&view=mjp_object General Introduction to ''The New Age'' 1907–1922], Brown University & The University of Tulsa — The Modernist Journals Project, retrieved 2010-10-28</ref> Psychoanalysist [[Carl Jung]] was a believer in a coming "Age of Aquarius." In a letter to his friend Peter Baynes, dated 12 August 1940, Jung wrote a passage: "This year reminds me of the enormous earthquake in 26 B.C. that shook down the great temple of Karnak. It was the prelude to the destruction of all temples, because a new time had begun. 1940 is the year when we approach the meridian of the first star in Aquarius. It is the premonitory earthquake of the New Age."<ref>''Letters of C. G. Jung'': Volume I, 1906–1950, p. 285</ref> Following Jung, Alice Bailey published the book ''Discipleship in the New Age'' (1944), which used the term New Age in reference to the transition from the astrological age of Pisces to Aquarius. Another early usage of the term was by the American artist, mystic, and philosopher Walter Russell, who spoke of "this New Age philosophy of the spiritual re-awakening of man...Man's purpose in this New Age is to acquire more and more knowledge" in his essay "Power Through Knowledge," which was also published in 1944.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100202093423/http://www.philosophy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4&Itemid=1 "Power Through Knowledge"], retrieved 2010-10-12</ref>

===Into the mainstream===
Widespread usage of the term ''New Age'' began in the mid-1970s (reflected in the title of monthly periodical ''New Age Journal'') and probably influenced several thousand small [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] book- and gift-stores that increasingly defined themselves as "New Age bookstores."<ref>Algeo, John and Adele. ''Fifty Years Among the New Words: A Dictionary of Neologisms''. Cambridge University Press, 1991. {{isbn|052141377X}}</ref><ref>Materer, Timoty. ''Modernist Alchemy: Poetry and the Occult''. Cornell University Press, 1986. {{isbn|0801431468}}</ref>

As traditional belief systems (including religions and political ideology) were seen as self-limiting, some aspects of this movement veered into [[freethought]], but much of the movement took a simultaneous interest in developing new spiritual outlooks and it was quickly overshadowed. Spiritual movements which flourished around the same time included [[Transcendental Meditation]], the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness|Hare Krishna]] sect, and esoteric [[Christian]] sects such as the [[Unification Church]], the evangelical "[[Jesus Freaks]]", and [[crystal woo|Crystal Healing]].

The Human Potential Movement of the 1960s and 1970s was originally a [[secular]] movement rooted in [[pop psychology]] and the [[existentialism|existentialist]] philosophy popular at the time, and not at first given to much interest in spiritual matters; typical of this era were [[Erhard Seminars Training]] and {{wpl|Lifespring}} seminars, popular [[self help]] books such as ''Psycho-Cybernetics'' (1960) and ''I'm OK, You're OK'' (1969), and [[primal scream therapy]]. The Human Potential Movement taught the achievement of "self-actualization" through a variety of means, often based on freeing oneself from negative scripts imposed on ones life by other people (such as parents or peers), or during early childhood.

By the 1970s, a fusion of the secular with the spiritual was inevitable, most notably taking on influence from Zen, Hinduism, some forms of [[Cafeteria Christian|liberal Christianity]], and belief in [[supernatural]] phenomena. Popular books such as Richard Bach's ''Jonathan Livingston Seagull'' (1970) successfully combined the promise of unlimited potential and self-actualization with spirituality. This was followed by an increasing interest in "unexplained phenomena," such as [[Bigfoot]] and the [[Bermuda Triangle]], as well as the alleged mystical powers of [[pyramid]]s, often promoted by mass-market books and TV shows like ''[[In Search of... (TV series)|In Search Of]]''. Later in the '70s, a [[sci-fi]] influence and interest in extraterrestrial life (including interest in the [[Roswell]] crash) was heralded by films such as ''[[Fun:Star Wars|Star Wars]]'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind''.

The New Age came into its own in the 1980s offering a smörgåsbord of spiritual choices to the seeker, by then largely devoid of its early roots, and often characterized by a complete lack of skepticism and by an annoying stylistic vagueness and [[Style over substance|slick marketing]]. Notable events popularizing the New Age term, and beliefs, included full-page newspaper ads placed (circa 1982) by Benjamin Creme's groups heralding the arrival of "[[Maitreya]]," a purported New Age avatar or "[[Christ]]"; the "Harmonic Convergence" when in August 1987 New Agers gathered at alleged [[sacred]] sites around the world to herald a new era of world peace and spiritual transformation, based on a loose interpretation of the Mayan calendar ([[2012 apocalypse|sound familiar?]]); the rise of New Age bookstores and free [[advertising]] the smörgåsbord of activities available; and the popularity of [[crystal]]s, trance [[channeling]], "[[aura]]" photography, [[runes]], and similar [[woo]].

==Threads of the New Age==
The fundamental guiding principle of the New Age, to the extent that there is one, is vitalism, as mentioned above – the idea that there is a physical universe and a spiritual realm, that are separate but interact. Since the New Age is essentially a grab bag of philosophies, it is easiest to describe some of its components in a list:

*[[Alternative medicine]] — New Agers often show active hostility to actual [[medicine]] that ''works'', preferring something with that personal touch from someone woo-friendly.
*[[Anima mundi]] — believing that the whole world is alive… in some sense. Expect frequent overlap with (if not complete containment in) [[pantheism]] and/or the [[Gaia hypothesis]]. 
*[[Astrology]], [[Chinese astrology]], and sham [[astronomy]] — In addition to the fevered ramblings of those who carry on a long-discredited form of using the [[star]]s and [[planet]]s to [[Precognition|predict the future]], New Agers (who often overlap with [[UFO]] fans) often ascribe special significance to certain real or imagined features in [[space]] (see [[Photon belt]] as an example of the latter). A popular New Age pastime is predicting doom and gloom every time planets, [[moon]]s, and/or stars seem to "line up."
*[[Channeling]] — the act of allowing your body and mind to become a "host" for a higher spirit, usually a long-dead spiritual [[guru]]. Usually consists of bad acting and vague religious platitudes, but "channeler" JZ Knight managed to get a [[What the Bleep Do We Know?|popular Hollywood movie]] made about her and her character "[[Ramtha]]."
*[[Spiritualism|Communication with the dead]] — At the same time one of the most popular and most widely reviled New Age practices, there is a large market for trying to reach loved ones who have died. [[Medium]]s, practitioners of such feats as [[séance]]s, tend to cater to the weaknesses of the bereaved and desperate, and rationalists consider such people to be the most damaging and blatantly thieving of the hucksters in the movement, especially since the "dead" tend overwhelmingly to talk in vague, feel-good babbling. 
*[[Crystal]]s — They love them, because they're shiny and natural, and because New Agers are obsessed with light.
*[[Cultural]] appropriation — A form of cultural [[imperialism]] in which items are removed from their wider cultural context. Usually this invoives white middle-class [[West]]erners stealing elements from cultures perceived to be [[Noble savage|primitive and tribal]], e.g. [[Native American]]s or [[Celtic religion|Ancient Celts]], or exotic, i.e. Asian, and completely misinterpreting them.
*[[Dolphin]]s – they sure do love their dolphins. This seems to trace back to John C. Lilly's experiments in the 1960s with [[LSD]] and dolphins in which he tried to foster human communication with dolphins by ingesting LSD himself while in a tank with them. New Agers might be shocked and surprised to learn that some dolphins ''feed'' on mammals, including sea lions. Vicious [[rape]]y predators that pretend to be peaceful, loving, and beautiful is not too bad a metaphor for the New Age movement.
* [[Energy]]: A vague term in New Age thinking which can mean any number of different things, and bears no real resemblance to the use in physics or other actual science — see [[energy woo]].
* [[Entanglement]] — The true technical, and extremely advanced, meaning of this discovery is rejected by the New Age because its disciples haven't a hope of understanding it. They substitute a vague concept which they claim can explain many "observed" mysteries such as [[remote viewing]], [[telepathy]], and [[ESP]]. See also [[Quantum woo]].
*[[Extrasensory perception]] — largely drawn from the Human Potential movement. Many New Agers believe that, given enough training, it is possible to see things that cannot be directly observed (remote viewing or [[clairvoyance]]), to read minds ([[telepathy]]), or to predict the future or view the past (precognition and postcognition). Despite the efforts of a band of overly credulous scientists in the 1960s and 1970s (called "counterculture physicists" by Martin Gardner, among others), no reliable [[evidence]] of psychic phenomena has ever come to light.
*[[Fun:Fairies|Fairies]] — Belief in fairies, faeries, [[furry fandom|furries]],{{lie}} devas, [[angel]]s, and other sorts of entities in this and other dimensions that can be contacted for advice and healing.
*[[Technobabble|Frequency]]. New Agers have no idea of the meaning of this term, so they assign it to everything. People, rocks, planets… The one thing they ''never'' talk about is what instrumentation they use to ''measure'' frequency (or what units they use to define it).
*[[Healing]] — Various forms of "[[energy]] work," epitomized by the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, and the use of [[Reiki]] are taught and used to heal others of real and imaginary ailments. Crystals, [[aromatherapy]], and [[Audio woo|sound therapy]] all play a role in the desire by every New Ager to be a Christ-like healer.
*[[Indigo children]] — Apparently, impatient children will grow up to change the world for the better.
*[[Light woo]] — Belief that staring into the Sun provides nutrition, light from the Moon alters your mood, that shining [[Color therapy|colored lights]] on people can cure them of various ailments, and other nonsense ideas centered around light and natural sunlight.
*[[Magical thinking]], such as the currently-fashionable [[Law of Attraction]].
*[[Moral relativism]] — i.e. everything is equally correct, as long as you agree with us.
*[[Pseudoscience]] – Rather than simply present their material as religious, New Agers often cloak their beliefs in the language of science, with constant ill-defined use of the terms "energy" and "vibration," as well as a heavy dose of quantum woo, being the most common abuses. As with medicine, New Agers often have active hostility to actual science or engineering that works, and outright scorn for the [[peer review]] process and the [[scientific method]].
*[[Pyramid#Pyramid woo|Pyramid Power]] — the belief that the pyramidal shape somehow acts like a lens to focus cosmic energy. Some New Agers actually put their razor under a plastic pyramid in the belief that this will sharpen the blade overnight.
*[[Quantum woo]] — New Agers, as a rule, really like the "observer" principle of the orthodox Copenhagen interpretation of [[quantum mechanics]], and when they need a scientific-sounding Band-aid to impress the rubes, "quantum" is a word that gets a lot of use. The fact that Copenhagen is a drastic (and very old, and primitive) oversimplification of a brutally difficult subject, as well as the fact that it really doesn't make any sense in this context, didn't stop Gary Zukav<ref>''{{wpl|The Dancing Wu Li Masters|The Dancing Wu Li Masters}}'' at Wikipedia (William Morrow & Co., 1979)</ref> and Fritjof Capra<ref>''{{wpl|The Tao of Physics|The Tao of Physics}}'' at Wikipedia (Shambhala Publications, 1975)</ref> from giving [[embryo]]nic New Agers just enough leeway to make them look horribly foolish. They tend to think [[Deepak Chopra]] is a genius.
*[[Reincarnation]] and [[Confabulation#Past-life regression|past-life regression]] – Loosely drawn from reincarnation doctrine in Hinduism and Buddhism, reincarnation is a common belief among New Agers, and the attempt to recover memories of past lives is a common practice. Observers have noted that one's past life personalities were never janitors or office clerks – kings, queens, and famous generals are very much in demand for past lives of the New Ager. Now are the dead contactable or are they leading new lives? During the 1980s, actress [[Shirley MacLaine]] promoted past-life regression, leading to considerable ridicule.<ref group=note>MacLaine ultimately eased off on the woo and went back to acting, though there are no indications that she's given up any of her battier beliefs.</ref>
*[[Sacred Geometry]] — Esoteric meanings and symbolism are attached to certain geometric forms and ratios, such as the {{wpl|Vesica piscis||.}} New Agers believe that such shapes offer insight to the inner workings of the universe.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20001217133200/http://www.charlesgilchrist.com/SGEO/SGIntro.html</ref>
*[[Scam site|Scamming]] — While it is clear that a good number of New Age practitioners actually believe the tripe they put out, many of them are no more sincere than a garden-variety [[televangelist]] and are in it only to take money from [[Fun:Sucker|gullible folks]] who want to believe that there's Something Out There. They are, however, absolutely sincere about money.
*[[Shamanism]] — The need to be "someone special" frequently manifests itself in the fashioning of a new identity, as a mystical healer who travels on the astral plane to communicate with spirits and the dead, modelled after the purported beliefs and rituals of traditional cultures in the Amazon, [[Siberia]] and the American West. Bonus points if they combine all three.
*[[Deepity#Everything is connected|We are all connected]]. A cliché of the New Age, this sounds cute but has no useful meaning whatever.

A good number of New Agers also espouse [[liberal]] politics (however they actually behave), making easy [[straw man]] targets for [[libertarian]] "debunkers" like [[Penn and Teller]].

==New Age music==
The New Age movement has spawned a [[music]]al style with the same name – usually airy-textured instrumental fluff, often with dolphin sounds mixed in. It can be rather relaxing and enjoyable, but it is in no sense profound – though it borrows much from jazz and classical music, it is far more simplistic than either one (excluding Enya and Loreena McKennit). It is sometimes played in elevators and waiting rooms, in place of Muzak, and is often played in stores selling such items as candles, incense, crystals, beads, etc.

The exact definition of New Age music is not very precise, and not all artists labeled as such are involved with the New Age movement. Some artists outright reject the tag to dissociate themselves from it.<ref>http://articles.latimes.com/1987-04-16/entertainment/ca-568_1_beautiful-music</ref>

A joke: What do you get when you play New Age music backwards? New Age music.

==See also== 
*[[Constance Cumbey]] – an evangelical Christian writer who condemned the New Age movement
*[[David Icke]] – New Age meets extreme wingnuttery and conspiracy theories
*[[The Spirit Science]] – a New Age Youtube channel featuring all of the woo and pseudoscience. ''All of it.'' And, of course, Space Jews.
*[[Texe Marrs]] – an anti-New Age writer who promotes the exact same conspiracy theories as David Icke, illustrating an odd example of [[Horseshoe theory|extremists meeting at the outer fringes]]
*[[Papyrus]] – the official font of the New Age

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110217033613/http://home.fuse.net/astronomy/new_age_writing.html Ten rules for writing New Age Jargon in order to sound really intelligent and profound!], Larry Brown.
*[http://sebpearce.com/bullshit/ New-Age Bullshit Generator]
*[http://www.humanreligions.info/new_age_criticism.html Criticism of the New Age: Ridiculous Practices, Daft Beliefs and Pseudoscience by Vexen Crabtree]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20010806125424/http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Opposing_Views/New_Age/ DMOZ listing for New Age>Opposing Views]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats]]
[[Category:Cultural appropriation]]
[[Category:Esotericism]]
[[Category:Magic]]
[[Category:Moral panics]]
[[Category:New Age| ]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Woo]]

Categories: California, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, Cultural appropriation, Esotericism, Magic, Moral panics, New Age, Religion, Woo