What is New Age and how are new age religions dangerous?

What is New Age

New Age (from the English New Age - "new era, century") is a generalized name for religious movements, which include various cults and sects. Most of them originated in the 20th century. Many, but not all, New Age followers are looking forward to the New Age - the era of Aquarius, hence the name.

The movement cannot be called united, it does not have a common leader. The followers of some of the teachings included in it do not at all consider themselves part of the religions of the new century.

How did this movement come about?

The origins of New Age were laid by the mystical teachings of the 19th century: spiritism, new magic, and especially theosophy. The latter, on the basis of Buddhism and Hinduism, occult and Christian ideas, was created by the Russian writer Helena Blavatskaya, who then emigrated to the United States. The main concept of Theosophy is the expectation of the birth of a race with supernatural powers. This was to mark the New Age. In the wake of the interest in mysticism, which captured many educated people of that time, the teachings of Blavatsky became very popular in Europe.

But back in the 80s of the XIX century, Madame Blavatsky was caught staging miracles during theosophical magic sessions.

For a long time, the views of theosophists remained popular only among fans of the occult, until in the 1970s and 80s the American mystic David Spengler began to spread the doctrine of the New Age in the United States. It was then that most of the New Age movements emerged. One of the main ideas of Spengler was that the release of some spiritual energy brings the advent of the era of Aquarius closer and people can influence this. That is, a person in the New Age has become not just a puppet of otherworldly forces, but an active participant in the change of the universe.

This thought laid down on fertile ground. Young people did not believe in old ideas and wanted to change the world. The post-war generation protested against violence and injustice, was interested in psychology and Eastern practices, and looked for the limit of human capabilities. The New Age responded well to such requests and therefore claimed the role of a new religion, reflecting the trends of that era. All this attracted many supporters to the movement, and it became truly massive.

What teachings are attributed to the religions of the new century

In the narrow sense of the word, only those movements can be attributed to the New Age, the followers of which believe in the future onset of a new order: usually the era of Aquarius, replacing the era of Pisces. This is Theosophy and the multitude of cults that have spun off from it.

But in the end, the term turned out to be very popular. Today, it is also understood as all alternative religious and mystical concepts that arose in the second half of the 20th century and later. This includes teachings with a wide variety of, sometimes conflicting ideas and elements.

In the religions of the new century, astrology and mysticism coexist with pseudo-historical concepts, parapsychology and parascience, as well as conspiracy theories. For example, Scientology intertwines the concept of basic human needs and belief in deities, universal energy and rebirth.

Some religious scholars conditionally divide the New Age movement into five movements:

Neo-Orientalist - based on Eastern teachings: Hare Krishnas, the cults of Osho and Sri Sathya Sai Baba, "Transcendental Meditation", "Sahaja Yoga" and others.
Neo-Christian: "Church of Unification" (Moon sect), "Children of God" ("Family"), "Witness Lee Local Church" and others.
Scientology - "Church of Scientology".
Spiritual, magical - the teachings of Carlos Castaneda, based on Indian mythology, and other similar cults.
Satanic - "Church of Satan".

The boundaries of the currents are blurred, so some movements can be attributed to several groups at once. For example, "Transcendental Meditation" is sometimes referred to as Scientology.

Due to the use of training and the abundance of manipulative practices, religions of the new century also include some pseudoscientific concepts. For example, transpersonal psychology and NLP T. Leary, M. Stewart. Technologies for changing consciousness in destructive cults. This is largely due to the fact that in the New Age, practical "benefit" is much more important than worshiping a certain higher being. It can be spiritual or physical healing, achieving enlightenment, solving financial and other life problems, and so on.

Why New Age religions are dangerous

It may seem that the New Age is another harmless entertainment for those who like to speculate about a worldwide conspiracy and wear a tin foil hat. But this movement can cause serious harm.

Pulling out money

New age religions are distinguished by their commercial approach and offer their followers a wide variety of goods and services. Consultations with a guru and classes supposedly leading to enlightenment, all kinds of amulets, rituals, potions, paraphernalia and literature - New Age teachings earn on everything.

At the same time, they are often disguised as educational, health-improving, cultural, and not religious organizations. For example, personal growth trainings and courses.

More often than not, it’s not limited to buying a couple of books and attending a few seminars. Preachers of religions of the new century do not hesitate to use manipulative techniques. Therefore, they manage to completely clean out the pockets of the follower and force him to take loans, sell property and even steal in the name of a “great goal”.

Brainwashed

When people become discouraged in society or are going through a difficult period, they look for ways to soothe their heartache. And new age movements, with their rigid structure, clear "truths" and simple recipes for happiness, may seem like a way out of a difficult situation.

The set 1 is known.

2. cases when the creators of new religions deceive their followers and exert psychological pressure on them.

Membership in such organizations can destroy the psyche, cause the rupture of all social ties and the complete degradation of the personality. Even if a person can be pulled out of the clutches of the New Age sects, the psychological trauma he receives there is sometimes very difficult to heal.

Promote pseudoscientific and anti-scientific beliefs

Newagers believe not only in relatively harmless astrology, palmistry or numerology, but also promote various unconventional methods of treatment and psychotherapy. These include bioenergetics, homeopathy, dianetics, special breathing techniques, NLP and other practices whose effectiveness has not been confirmed by research.

With their help, they can offer to treat the most serious illnesses. For example, cancer or AIDS. And this is already really dangerous.

Threatening lives

New Age sects very often found themselves involved in some dark affairs.

There are many examples when their members were involved in the death of people. Many such cases have been linked to Scientologists. For example, in 1998, the head of the Scientology community of Lyon, Jean-Jacques Mazier, was convicted of manslaughter. He was found guilty of leading to suicide by city cell member Patrice Wick. Also widely known is another similar case related to the death of an American woman Lisa MacPherson. Scientologists did not allow doctors to visit her, and as a result, the woman died from a blockage of blood vessels in her lungs.

Sometimes the Newagers even commit terrible crimes. For example, the Japanese sect Aum Shinrikyo (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) carried out a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. Twelve people died, some of whom spent years in hospitals without regaining consciousness. The total number of victims of this organization is estimated at thousands of people.

Therefore, religions of the new age can be dangerous not only for your wallet, but also for physical and mental health and even life.