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New Age

spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s

New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, largely as a result of its highly eclectic structure. Although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual or Mind, Body, Spirit and rarely use the term "New Age" themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term and suggest that it is better seen as a milieu or zeitgeist.

Quotes

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  • The stronger the thunder, the more powerful the lightning. All reiterate—the New Age arrives in storm and lightning. For the lightning there are needed positive and negative energies. If Maya does not furnish the negative evidence, how then can flash forth the sword-blade of positive reality?
  • All have heard about the coming of the New Era. Can the new arrive in inaction? It is better to welcome a new blind puppy than an aged parrot that repeats old things. Examine the stream of the Teachings of life that have been given to humanity. Each, without affecting the preceding, opens new gates to knowledge. The enduring realities of life are fundamental to each given Teaching. Therefore they should be studied not for learning, but for application to life. Only in this way can you create the current of energy.
  • Be assured that the manifestation of the New Era will penetrate even the simplest of souls. The best ones will carry the burden of controversies and battles. The lesser ones can be given the simpler ways. Let them keep their calm when the flames and explosions begin to rage. Remember the symbolic event shown to you when, before the onset of a catastrophe, attempts were made to lead the people out of their halls of pleasure. Not only did the people refuse to leave, but new crowds tried to enter.
  • People are rightfully asking, “How will the significance of thought be different in the New Era? Since the importance of thought is being affirmed so persistently, does it mean that thought is being given a special role in the regeneration of life?” This is perfectly reasonable. During the Black Age, Kali Yuga, thought has revolved around man, and magnetism has only extended over small distances, while in the New Era thought means Space! That is why we must not think personally but spatially.
  • The New Era can be built only by means of culture. Therefore, culture will be proclaimed as the one defense against disintegration. Nowadays one should strive only in this direction. Our Command is to miss no opportunity of reminding people about culture. Though We be regarded as fanatics on the subject, people will nevertheless harken and become accustomed to it. Thus We introduce brain patterns.
  • The generation which will come into active thought expression at the end of this century... will inaugurate the framework, structure and fabric of the New Age [of Aquarius], which will start with certain premises, which today are the dream of the more exalted dreamers, and which will develop the civilisation of the Aquarian Age. This coming age will be as predominantly the age of group interplay, group idealism, and group consciousness, as the Piscean Age has been one of personality unfoldment and emphasis, personality focus, and personality consciousness. Selfishness, as we now understand it, will gradually disappear, for the will of the individual will voluntarily be blended into the group will.
  • We are passing through the transition period between the old age and the new, and the true mission of Christ, so deeply and frequently obscured by theological implications and disputations, embodies in itself the coming revelation. The development of humanity guarantees the recognition of Christ and His work and its participation, consciously, in the kingdom of God. (Forward)
  • It would be of value here to remember that the condition of humanity at this time is not the result of simply one factor, but of several — all of them being active simultaneously, because this period marks the close of one age and the inauguration of the new. This is a transition period between the passing out of the Piscean Age, with its emphasis upon authority and belief, and the coming in of the Aquarian Age, with its emphasis upon individual understanding and direct knowledge.
  • The ancient symbol for the sign Aquarius (into which our Sun is now entering) is that of the Water-carrier, the man with a pitcher of water. This passing of the Sun into the sign Aquarius is an astronomical fact... not an astrological prognostication. The great spiritual achievement and evolutionary event of that age will be the communion and human relationships established among all peoples, enabling men everywhere to sit down together... and share the bread and wine (symbols of nourishment). Preparations for that shared feast (symbolically speaking) are on their way, and those preparations are being made by the masses of men themselves, as they fight and struggle and legislate for the economic sustenance of their nations, and as the theme of food occupies the attention of legislators everywhere. This sharing, beginning on the physical plane, will prove equally true of all human relations and this will be the great gift of the Aquarian Age to humanity.
  • Astronomically, we are not yet functioning fully within the influence of Aquarius; we are only just emerging from the Piscean influence, and the full impact of the energies which Aquarius will set loose has not yet been felt. Nevertheless, each year carries us closer to the centre of power, the major effect of which will be to induce recognition of man's essential unity, of the processes of sharing and of cooperation.
  • Energies emanating from...Aquarius...will (through the effect of its potent force) stimulate... men into a new coherency, into a brotherhood of humanity which will ignore all racial and national differences and will carry the life of men forward into synthesis and unity. This means a tide of unifying life of such power that one cannot now vision it, but which—in a thousand years—will have welded all mankind into a perfect brotherhood. Its emotional effect will be to purify... men so that the material world ceases to hold such potent allure, and may in its later stages bring about a state of exaggeration as potent in the line of sentiency as that which we have undergone in the line of materiality! The final stages of all signs produce over-development of the factor on which they most potently work. At present the effect of this sign is constructive among the pioneers of the race...
  • Many religions speak of the End of Days. It refers not to the end of the world, but rather the end of our current age – Pisces, which began at the time of Christ’s birth, spanned two thousand years, and waned with the passing of the millennium. Now that we’ve passed into the Age of Aquarius, the End of Days has arrived.
  • Although I am unacquainted with astrological lore, I was drawn to the symbolic power of the pervasive dream in our popular culture: that after a dark, violent age, the Piscean, we are entering a millennium of love and light—in the words of the popular song, "The Age of Aquarius," the time of "the mind's true liberation." Whether or not it was written in the stars, a different age seems to be upon us; and Aquarius, the waterbearer in the ancient zodiac, symbolizing flow and the quenching of an ancient thirst, is an appropriate symbol.
  • A separate issue is the return of ancient gnostic ideas under the guise of the so-called New Age. We cannot delude ourselves that this will lead toward a renewal of religion. It is only a new way of practicing gnosticism-that attitude of the spirit that, in the name of a profound knowledge of God, results in distorting His Word and replacing it with purely human words. Gnosticism never completely abandoned the realm of Christianity. Instead, it has always existed side by side with Christianity, sometimes taking the shape of a philosophical movement, but more often assuming the characteristics of a religion or para-religion in distinct, if not declared, conflict with all that is essentially Christian.
    • John Paul II. Crossing the threshold of hope. As quoted in Swarup, Ram, & Johannes, P. (1995). Pope John Paul II on Eastern religions and yoga: A Hindu-Buddhist rejoinder.
  • The Ninth Insight explains how human culture will change in the next millennium as a result of conscious evolution. It describes a significantly different way of life... we humans will voluntarily decrease our population... we will intentionally let the forests go uncut so that they can mature and build energy... humans will typically live among five hundred year old trees and carefully tended gardens, yet within easy travel distance of an urban area of incredible technological wizardry... Our needs will be completely met without the exchange of any currency, yet also without any overindulgence or laziness... The Ninth depicts a human world where everyone has slowed down and become more alert... Think how it would be for two people meeting for the first time. Each will first observe the other's energy field... They will vibrate at a new level and will thereafter touch others in a way not possible before their meeting... The real reason we spent five centuries creating material supports for human life was to set the stage for something else, a way of life that returns the mystery to existence... That is what the information now returning from the scientific method indicates: mankind is on this planet to consciously evolve. And as we learn to evolve and pursue our particular path... the overall culture will transform in a very predictable way.
  • The book of new discoveries and the light of daring is open before humanity, and you have already heard about the approach of the New Era. Every epoch has its Call, and the calling foundation of the New Era will be the power of thought. That is why we call you to understand the great significance of creative thought, and the first step in this direction will be the opening of consciousness, freedom from all prejudices and from all tendentiousness and forced concepts.
  • Not tyranny but true cooperation is necessary. Broadest cooperation is inscribed upon the Banner of the New Era. The main quality of a leader is to be able to assemble co-workers of the most diverse natures and unify them in the same striving. Is not our unification achieved by our devotion to the Teacher? Thus, let us remember that the Teacher directs our advancement by magnanimous cooperation, not by force. Wise concessions in small details to the consciousness not fully grown may not give completely satisfactory results, but at least it will not breed a ruinous atmosphere of irritability and disagreement.
  • The Banner of Peace and the Unity of Women in the name of the New Era of Culture are two of the gigantic historical tasks. Please try to realize how serious is the world situation, and apply all your abilities in order to introduce these salutary ideas. Every step of yours should be thoroughly weighed, and should be in conformity with your great tasks. But never listen to the advice of grey conventionality! All delays will bring even worse wreckage. Uphold the Banner of Culture and the pure affirmations you have received. "Sow widely; it is not right to spill the precious seeds only in your own garden.” The most important is not to be afraid of any hostile condemnations because all our offerings for the General Good have not in them a trace of destruction or selfishness! Insist on your rights in the name of the offerings you bring to your own country!
  • In conclusion, I want to remind you about the absolute inevitability of the New Era. The fiery energies are in their greatest tension attracted toward Earth, and if not accepted, realized and assimilated they will cause terrific earthquakes and other cosmic perturbations, and also revolutions, wars and new epidemics. We are now at the very entrance of a New Era, a New Race, and therefore our time may be compared with the times of Atlantis, the existence of which becomes more and more evident to our science.
    Watch out for all unusual and destructive signs in all spheres of life, and many things will be clearer to you. You will see where are the sparks of the New Era, the era of spiritual knowledge and great cooperation of peoples under the sign of culture. Realization of the coming of this great time should multiply the strength of every sensitive person and should direct him toward joyous, constructive work for the General Good under the Banner, which we shall call the Banner of Peace and Culture.
  • Precisely, the New Epoch will shine with a new realization of the Teaching of Christ. Enlightened spiritual teachers (and there are such already) will return to the true covenants of Christ, to the covenants of the first Fathers of the Church, and to the works of the great beacon light of Christianity, Origen, who laid the foundation for the whole philosophy of Christianity.
  • In the structure of the New Epoch, the main factor of the national welfare will be the education and upbringing of people... From very childhood, respect for knowledge should be taught. In schools, this true and only propeller of evolution should be pointed out through concrete historical examples.
  • The New Epoch is marked by the sign of Aquarius, and its ruler is Uranus... the affirmation of the power of the rays of Uranus always coincides with new trends in the whole life of our planet. It is also significant that the co-ruler with Uranus is Saturn, this symbol of the dark forces. Thus, all great epochs were marked by these two opposites, this struggle of the forces of Light with the forces of darkness. The tension of one side correspondingly intensifies the opposite side.
  • The New Epoch... will bring the renaissance of woman. The Epoch of Maitreya is the Epoch of the Mother of the World. It is remarkable to observe the rapid rise of the women of India. There one can see women occupying the posts of ministers and other responsible positions. Many women of India are excellent speakers. The Indians readily elect women, because they have faith in the common sense of their wives. But, of course, there are also opponents of the liberation of woman.
  • The above discussion shows why the Pope regards the New Age Movement with hostility. He regards it as an old enemy. If it derives from old Gnosticism... then it is easy to understand this hostility. The Movement is subversive of Christianity – its ideas, its externality, its exclusiveness, its authoritarianism.... All this shows that the Movement has a great responsibility to shoulder and a great role to play - an old role in a new context. To play it adequately and honourably, it has to become more conscious of its inspiration, its underlying ideas and philosophy; it has to become aware of its lost Pagan ancestry, its Eastern links and its common spiritual heritage.
    • Ram Swarup. Pope John Paul II on Eastern religions and yoga: A Hindu-Buddhist rejoinder.

See also

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Age of Aquarius

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