| The New Age in the 21st Century by Gretchen Eckes As a spiritual director, I have had a number of occasions where I have been asked to define the New Age. Because my clientele is largely people who identify themselves as Christians, the request is usually accompanied by a pre-judgment of the New Age as evil, occult, in league with the anti-Christ, and something to avoid at all costs. Some facets of the New Age, such as alien invasions or aromatherapy, are simply treated as something laughable, but others are seen as truly threatening. Many "mainstream" people see New Age philosophy as a lumping together of every kind of weird perspective, teaching or process. It's astrology, Tarot and meditation. It's channeling, psychic phenomena, palmistry, herbalism, Wicca, shamanism, cosmology, numerology and anything "Eastern." There is more concentration on the individual practices of New Age rituals or procedures than there is on what I see as the philosophy of the New Age. And those rituals and procedures are threatening. Threatening to what? Why, America, the Church, and our way of life. And while it may be tempting to dismiss such opinions out-of-hand, it would seem to me more indicative of what the New Age really means to dialogue and try to help people understand it. It is also important for those who actively consider themselves "New Agers" to realize that most criticism is born of fear. There is a fear that these not-really-new ideas will undermine the major religions. There is fear that maybe they've been doing things wrong or believing things wrong for their entire lives. For people who have always lived with the belief that there are absolutes, the fear of making God angry by questioning them is very real and compelling. To read, on one hand, that the New Age is about peace and love, and then be exhorted by their churches to burn copies of Harry Potter on the other, is confusing and scary. Find our beliefs At the same time that we who were children of the '60s or later were encouraged to question, seek, discuss and find our own beliefs, we were warned away from questioning the dogmas and doctrines of our religion. So here is a conundrum that many face: We are encouraged to question in every area of life except the one closest to our hearts. Question the science, but not the religion. Accept the advances in understanding of the physical world, but don't apply those advances to religion. In other words, watch ER or Chicago Hope and learn that leprosy is caused by bacteria and easily cured with antibiotics, but also believe that it used to be caused by demons! The conflict that this set up in people of my generation has been very deep. We could not trust our own inner knowing, and we could not completely trust religion or science. So, to assist my clients, I felt called to pull my own thoughts together and try to make a case for New Age thought that would, at least, give them some food for thought. It appears to me that to begin to reconcile these divisions, we need to let God grow bigger than our own corner of the universe. Allowing God to grow outside the boundaries set by traditional religion, regardless of what kind or denomination, is the first step in understanding the New Age, and I believe it is integral to all who want a deeper sense of connectedness to the Universe. Find the sacred One of my goals in Spiritual Direction is to help the individual determine his or her own beliefs and to find the sacred in the living out of those beliefs. In listening to people try to articulate their belief systems, I have observed that some people come to New Age philosophies through a deep internalization of one or more previously held beliefs. Perhaps you have always been taught that you were created in the image of God, and are now having trouble reconciling that with your personal experience. I would ask you to answer these questions: What would it mean if you found out that you really were made in the Divine image? What would it say about you? What would it say about me? What would it say about Hitler? Or Osama bin Ladin? What would it say about God? This reflection might then lead you to study how other cultures view themselves as created beings. You may delve into the pagan goddess religions or the Egyptian pantheon to see how the ancient peoples saw themselves in relation to their gods and goddesses. Regardless of what you eventually decide, you will have a richer understanding of all the different possibilities and a greater respect for your own and others' beliefs. Once you are permitted to begin questioning all of your cherished beliefs and biases, you may find yourself bombarded with information, and you may be surprised at the number of people who are searching for their truth. And there are millions! All over the world, people are questioning and searching for ways to connect...to each other and to the Divine. In this respect, the New Age has become a worldwide cultural movement. Mainstream bookstores that previously had a very small section on religion and spirituality now find themselves with large departments holding hundreds of books on everything from Celtic spirituality to Kabbalistic Judaism. Letters to the editor in newspapers and magazines show an ever-increasing interest in the longer-term, or big, picture. Many who professed to be atheist have become fascinated with the scientific findings about universal energy and the fact that everything is made up of the same "stuff." It appears that there is something for everyone to adopt as a way to inner peace, union with Spirit, or connection to the cosmos. Seeing the Divine When all is said and done, there are areas that show a commonality in most New Age philosophy. We are in the process of several things: seeking to know more about the self and our relation to the rest of creation; learning to see the Divine, the Holy in all things in creation; understanding that, while we are each individuals, we are also part of the larger whole. By relating to ourselves, then to each other, a "we" is created -- a larger consciousness. We come to appreciate all the ways that the Universe uses to speak to humanity, whether through Tarot cards, Holy Scriptures, direct intervention, or simply the beauty of a flower. We see that if we accept the sacred within ourselves, we must acknowledge it in others, and that what affects them also affects us, and vice versa. People can permit science to become part of our philosophy, knowing that it is another way that the Divine makes itself known. We allow everyone to walk their path in their own way, and at their own pace, recognizing that we can learn from all traditions. Everything belongs to the same We, or Whole, while retaining its own uniqueness. New Agers realize that our definitions of right and wrong, good and bad, are based more in our culture that in any objective reality. We have found that killing people doesn't lead to a harmonious society; it doesn't work for us. Ergo, society has determined that killing people is wrong or bad. And it is. But I believe that that determination doesn't necessarily come from God carving it on a tablet, but from the gift of free will that allows us to find out for ourselves that killing doesn't work. In the New Age, we appreciate more than ever our free will, and the ability to question and come to our own conclusions about why we are here and how we can make a difference in our world. Within and without The New Age also accepts paradox: that people are individuals, yet part of a whole; that "God " is within and without; that there is a both/and relationship in almost everything; that opposites are natural and part of the journey process. This acceptance lets us relax within the outward contradictions of life and wait for the clarity that eventually comes. People know intellectually that there can be no up without down, no right without left, and no good without evil. We take the tension into ourselves and let it move through our spirit, allowing the universe to retain its relativity and learn to balance the opposites. Faith travelers let God become for them the holder of all opposites, all paradoxes, and all dichotomies, in anticipation of their total unity. In the New Age, we extend our compassion and reverence to all of life -- the birds, the mountains, the stars, the fish, the rocks and trees, grass and animals that make up our world. We value them all as part of the same universal love as humanity. Spiritual pilgrims stop restricting God (or whatever name we use for the Unnamable) to narrow church definitions and allow the Divine to truly be omnipresent and omniscient. Letting go of biases, prejudices and pre-conceived notions creates in us a space where the Sacred can make a home. We develop Christ-consciousness and a Buddha-mind and give thanks for all the traditions of the past, looking for, and finding, much good in them all. We acknowledge that those who mastered the tenets of their theologies were examples of the best that humans can be. New Age "believers" are then compassionate for all the times that the Masters have been misquoted, misunderstood or used by others for their own purposes. The New Age culture sees that everything belongs; everything is a part of the great evolution of the universe. We look forward to the growth that will come, on this plane of reality or another. A beautiful chaos Most of all, we finally know and accept that we know nothing. It is all mystery, depth and a beautiful chaos. Each step we take brings us closer, and we may have occasional flashes of the ultimate unity, but we won't arrive at that point in this world. And, would we have it otherwise? For all of us have learned that anticipation is often more fun than actualization, and that the journey is usually at least as good as the destination. Perhaps it would be better to term our time as an "Age of Awareness" or an "Age of Expansion," for that is what we are about. Quantum physics has shown that the universe is expanding even while we sit and read a newspaper article. If All is expanding, then we, at the individual level, are expanding too, and becoming increasingly aware of that expansion. So, maybe the world isn't really in the New Age yet, only at the entrance. However, we are close enough to look inside and see what awaits us. Only when all people have acknowledged their expansion and become aware of their own value and the value of all creation will we then truly enter a new age, where we can hope to manifest all that is good and right in creation, moving ever closer to the full unity for which we are destined. Gretchen Eckes is co-founder of Shekinah, an organization dedicated to assisting people in developing their personal spirituality through story, ritual, workshops and wisdom circles. A graduate of the Center for Spiritual Guidance Training Program, Ms. Eckes also has a private Spiritual Direction practice. For information on spiritual direction, wisdom circles or other Shekinah activities, call Gretchen at (763) 535-4261 or email Shekinahmn@hotmail.com Copyright (c) 2002 Gretchen Eckes |
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