New age movement. Orthodox view New era religion

Tatyana Ginzburg "New Age Movement"

The New Age movement, which reached public prominence in the West in the 1970s and 1980s, is a movement for the revival of spirituality, esoteric tradition, and the revision of established views.

The name of the movement comes from its focus on the advent of the New Age, the Age of Aquarius, which will begin to emerge in humanity with the advent of the twenty-first century.

The New Age movement is an exception among religious movements because it is not represented by any one particular religious organization, institution, sect, or the like. Although there are many organizations that can be classified as New Age.

History of the New Age Movement

The beginning of the movement dates back to the early 1970s.

For some time now, Christianity with its "pre-scientific" cosmology has ceased to be an adequately thinking part of Western society. By the 1960s, it had lost its ability to continue to provide Western civilization with the viable model it had carried out for centuries. The development of science made it possible to explain the origin of life without involving the image of God. The inertia and conservatism of Christianity repelled many progressive-minded people from the church.

On the other hand, the impartial science of secular humanism that took the place of Christianity decades ago was also unsatisfactory and unacceptable to society in its desperate search for spiritual changes in life that science was unable to provide. Existentialism, atheism, nihilism, and secular humanism (naturalism) could not answer questions about the meaning of life in a way that satisfies the deepest human need for spiritual values.

If a person consists of only matter, then why live? What is the meaning of existence if a person dies completely with the body? - questions like these made thinking people think. And naturalism did not give an answer to them.

A spiritual crisis has formed in the West, which has created the prerequisites for the emergence of a completely new approach, a new spiritual brand.

And then, society's gaze turned to the East.

Eastern philosophy, presented mainly by Hinduism, had already been introduced to the West in the previous century. The VEDANTA Society was among the first to establish itself in the United States as early as the 1890s. Other influential oriental movements preceded the appearance of Swami Vivekananda. Transcendentalism, the Theosophical Society headed by Blavatsky, Spiritualism, opened a new order of thought in the Christian Western World - they plowed the field in which the New Age rose and exploded in the 70s.

And thanks to this:

By 1971, many Eastern teachers had opened ashrams and centers in the United States, and their books, presenting various aspects of the New Age relationship, were being published. The East-West Journal was born, the first national journal focusing on the New Age Movement, created by the Boston Macrobiotic Society. And there was the first popular book representing the ideas of the New Age: "Be Here and Now" (1971) - Ram Dass (Richard Alpert).

Core Beliefs (principles)

What is the New Age movement?

As we have already noted, it does not consist of a single group, but rather, as the name suggests, is a social force. Defining the New Age movement is not an easy task. As a social force, it is not identified by one specific creed or a single authoritative book. On the contrary, there are many new age books that offer authoritative explanations.

The most correct way to define the New Age is to see it as a network of organizations, or to use the phrase of two New Ageers: Jessica Lipnak and Jeffrey Stamps, as a meta-network of organizations that are autonomous but linked together.

"Networks are made up of self-confident and autonomous participants - people and organizations that function as self-contained wholes and interdependent parts."

The question we are interested in here is what are the main factors that bind these organizations together under the New Age label?

Through many years of reflection on this issue, it was possible to identify seven main components of the New Age:

1. Monism

New Ageists believe that the diversity of the cosmos comes from one primary source. All diversity springs from the one divine energy. In The Turning Point (1982), New Age author and physicist Fritjof Capra attempts to point out that the basic malady of the human race is that it is unable to discern the basic unity of all reality. Monism very naturally leads to pantheism.

2. Pantheism

For New Ages, "God" is the ultimate principle identified with the universe. God is everything and EVERYTHING is GOD. The only right search that humanity can make is to rediscover and accept the divinity that is within each person. Separation from God is separation from the conscious and psychological recognition of divinity within all nature. What Capra leads to is the idea that all human history is a movement towards the recognition of the divine. Therefore, each person must choose the SADHANA or the path by which he or she will undergo the transformation that will eventually lead to such a discovery of the God within. However, for many, this sadhana may require more than one lifetime. Therefore, New Ages believe in concepts such as:

3. reincarnationIand Karma

concepts drawn entirely from Hinduism. In essence, all New Ageers accept the idea that good and bad karma results in either punishment or merit as people are thrown into the wheel of rebirth. Belief in reincarnation provides an alternative explanation for the problem of evil, in relation to the Christian concept of Hell and the constant condemnation of sinners.

4. Universal relayandGandI

Since the discovery of the inner divinity is the ultimate goal of the New Ageists, and monism is the basic theological belief system upon which the New Age is based, there is only one religion. All the various religions of the world are simply alternative paths to the same goal. The New Age believes that he is able to transcend beyond the limited limits of specific world religions. This is because many religions are based on conventional truths that express beliefs and are therefore limited by language and knowledge. Gordon Melton (one of the New Age theorists) shows that Truth (loyalty to life as expressed by true religion) is “unknowable to New Ageers, inexpressible in simple language. It is an experience, and only partially can be expressed in words. There are a huge number of ways to come to the Truth, differing in their effectiveness, more than correctness.

This does not mean, however, that the New Age is not open to formulating its basic principles (belief systems). Of course, everyone can consider their own belief system as the “best way”. But what is the “best way” for one may be an obstacle for another. Since there are many paths that lead to the top of the mountain (some difficult, some easier), each trail at the end of the path leads to the same result, reaching the top. Universal religion is a mountain with many paths or sadhanas. No path is the only correct path.

5. Personal transformationandI

Whichever path a person chooses, several priorities appear on the horizon. The first is personal transformation. This entails a personal mystical or psychic experience that usually results in a shift from the old paradigm to the new one. This first step in the transformational process is to adopt the worldview of monism. But, it comes not through the recognition of the conventional truths of known formulations, but through mystical experience.

Several more or less independent approaches to this transformational process taking place inside a person have been formed. It is a holistic health movement, a consciousness movement and a movement for human development.

Holistic Health Movement:

Transformation leads to healing. The New Ages, however, are not medical aficionados. Traditional medicine is considered unnatural. This movement uses new treatment models. The basic premise of holistic health is that human beings deserve to be treated as real individuals, rather than as physical bodies with all sorts of illnesses. Elizabeth Kimbler-Ross, a hospice pioneer, is an outstanding example of treatment that attempts to respect the self-esteem of people with terminal illnesses.

Along with this overriding principle, consistent with New Age philosophy, is the idea that humans, and all living beings, are part of the natural order. Therefore, natural healing uses practices such as acupuncture, biofeedback devices, chiropractic (manual therapy), exercise, massage techniques, diet (many New Age fans are vegetarians), natural herbal preparations, and many other types of therapies. What new age people avoid is artificial pills, surgery. Natural healing allows the universal life energy to be included in the healing process. Information provided according to the Journal of Holistic Health and Medicine.

The Eastern philosophic-spiritual movement has also influenced holistic health with its recognition of a unifying invisible magical force in and around the human body, called "Qi" in Chinese, "Ki" in Japanese, Prana in yoga, and other names in various world cultures. Unlike the word "spirit" in the West, the word qi for this energy force in the East usually has a practical meaning, and has a direct impact on health.

Movement of Consciousness:

To put it bluntly, there is no organized "movements of consciousness". The consciousness movement includes those who promote altered states of consciousness.

This, the initial premise is that the experience of spiritual awareness outside of conventional norms will allow a person to bridge the gap between matter and consciousness, which in reality are one (monism). The main promoters of this idea were Terence McKenna, John Lily, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, also known as Baba Ram Dass. The use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, LSD, Holotropic Breathwork, and other breathing techniques allows you to achieve altered states of consciousness and transform your consciousness.

Human Development Movement:

The third important aspect of the "transformational" process is the so-called human development movement. It is possible that this movement, more than other driving factors, influenced the spread of New Age in Western culture. Douglas Gruthuis observes, "Ranging from the low end of popular psychology (I'm OK, You're OK) to the myriad encounter groups that began with Carl Rogers, the movement has emphasized human potential and good human qualities."

Organizations and workshops that qualify themselves as part of the human potential movement: Esalen, FORUM, Life Spring, Arica, Summit Workshop, Scientology, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, and many others. Businesses and corporations across the West are actively involved in technology for human development. The workplace is the ideal space to capitalize on the increased productivity that comes from investing in training and seminars. The largest corporations, including RCA, IBM, Boeing, Ford, General Dynamics, fund staff trainings designed to realize greater efficiency and potential. The psychological techniques used in these trainings, however, came out of a New Age or humanistic orientation.

6. Planetary Vision

At the same time, beyond personal transformation, lies the global goal of New Age - planetary transformation. Since nature is seen as an aspect of the One, the earth is seen as the single most important being that sustains life. Gaia's hypothesis is that the earth retains life within and produces it from itself, being an integral living organism.

As a result, New Age preference is a political platform dominated by environmental issues. Pollution from waste products, nuclear radiation, car exhaust, acid rain, chemical fertilizers is a major concern for those who share the most important New Age ideals and the paradigm shift towards planetary transformation. The Green Movement (Gripis), the Global Ecovillage Network, the Gaia Foundation are those organizations that are actively investing in solving such problems.

7. New Age Eschato/ new age eschatology

Eschatology(gr. Eschatos- final + Logos- doctrine) - a religious doctrine about the final destinies of the world and man.
Distinguish:
- individual eschatology - the doctrine of the afterlife of a single human soul; and
- world eschatology - the doctrine of the purpose of the cosmos and history, their end and what will follow them.

Some forerunners of the New Age such as Theosophy, Alice Bailey and others foresaw the coming of a world leader or great AVATAR who would usher in the rise of the New Age. In the early 1980s, New Age spokesman Benjamin Creme attracted media attention by predicting the coming of Christ in the person of Lord Maitreya. When Maitreya did not appear, Cream's popularity quickly died. However, the vision of the coming of one world leader is still the hope of the New Age dedicated to the religious-political order. Those who abandoned this ideal turned their attention from the personal avatar to the personification of the cosmos as such. In August 1987, thousands of New Age people gathered for the much publicized Harmonic Convergence. This was supposed to be the moment when the real New Age (New Age) would begin. This was the time when New Age ideas became extremely popular in the media. Shirley MacLaine's autobiography, Out of the limb, became a bestseller. ABC launched a five-hour program with McLain's newfound spirituality. Her book spawned thousands of converts. Despite all this success, McLain herself seemed disillusioned with her role as a popular New Age leader. In several interviews with popular magazines, she has expressed regret that her interest in New Age has earned her Guru status. She turned down the role and longed to return to her past role as an actress. Her book, however, is still being read by an innumerable number of fans.

Personalities (People)

McLain is not the only example of a famous New Age person. She has been seen to be a popularizer of the New Age Movement. But, it is worth carefully distinguishing between popularizers and intellectuals.

A huge number of authors and thinkers are the creators of New Age ideas, in the fields of philosophy, religion, physics, occultism, psychology, mythology, holistic health, education, politics, economics, sociology, etc. Names appear within this wide spectrum: Alice Bailey, Jan Barbour , Anne Besant, Helena Blavatsky, Richard Buquet, Joseph Campbell, Carlos Castaneda, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Baba Ram Dass, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Eldous Huxley, Carl Jung, Ken Case, Thomas Kuhn, John Lily, Jessica Lipnak, Abraham Maslow, Ouspensky, Ramthu, Carl Rogers, Theodore Roszak, Mark Sateen, David Spangler, Rudolf Steiner, Jeffrey Stamps, Ken Wilber, Paramahansa Yogananda, Maharishi Maharsh Yogi and many others.

Among the activists of the Russian New Age movement I would like to mention: B. Zolotov, I. Kalinauskas, V. Stepanov, P. Mamkin, G. Shirokov, V. Antonov, A. Sidersky, S. Vsekhsvyatsky, S. Strekalov, P. Burlan, V. Maykova.

Since the goal of New Age is to manifest the integrity of reality, it is not surprising that the entire spectrum of knowledge is being redefined and restructured in the context of a global paradigm shift. Instead of viewing knowledge as diverse and multivariate, the New Age movement seeks to bring all areas of knowledge to one monistic picture of the world, completely unified and integrated. There are substantial works in this direction, such as Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics (1975), Turning Point: Science, Society, and Rising Culture (1982), also Ken Wilber's The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977), and The Eye of Spirit » (1983).

Along with New Age philosophers and theorists, there are also many popularizers. Shirley MacLaine is not the only one among them. Celebrity names appear on a spectrum of art and pop art. These are such names as John Denver, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas…. and many others.

In Russia, perhaps, A. Sviyash, Norbekov, Nikolai Kozlov, Igor Vagin, whose books with 88 tips about life are published and distributed in millions of copies, can easily be attributed to the popularizers of New Age.

New Age Communities

Notable New Age communities are:
Communes, ashrams, and eco-settlements around the world, such as: Findhorn (Scotland), Damanur (Italy), Farm (USA), White Lotus (Austria), Auroville (India), Crystal Waters (Australia)

Schools and centers for personal growth and spiritual development: Institute of Peace, Urantia, Lama Foundation (New Mexico), Forum, World Relations Centers, Lifespring and similar training companies, dances of the Peoples of the World, many eastern groups around the world (Osho centers, Dhamma House , Vedanta Society, Bahai, Meher Baba, Ananda Marga, Sri Chinmoy Center, Krishna Society....).

prospects

1. Transpersonal Psychology, and accordingly the Associations of Transpersonal Psychology in Europe, America, Russia, etc., and other institutions and organizations that promote transpersonal psychology.

2. Global Network of Ecovillages, uniting many communities, ashrams, eco-villages around the world, and helping to develop these communities.

3. All kinds of literature, reflecting a broad view of the global spiritual community.

Now, perhaps, you will not meet a person born at the end of the 20th century who would not remember such words and phrases as “Sadness”, “Enigma”, “Era” or “New Age”. Just about a movement that was very popular in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Some of the “young” also, of course, know what Enigma is (we are not talking about a cipher machine) or New Age, but the real “boom” of New Age came at that time. Although, who knows, maybe it's just coming?

In order to return briefly to the past, evoke nostalgic emotions and replenish the baggage of knowledge, we decided to talk about what New Age is, in addition to the musical direction, the best examples of which are able to take away somewhere into unknown worlds, a separate reality, to the origins of the universe...

new age

The term "New Age" (derived from the English "New Age", literally meaning "New Era") serves as a general name for a complex of various mystical movements and currents, which are mainly syncretic, esoteric and occult in nature.

If we consider New Age in a narrower sense, then this concept is used to describe ideologically related religious movements whose ideology resonates with such terms as "New Age", "New Age", "Age of Aquarius", etc.

The New Age movement was primarily formed in the 20th century, but continues to grow and spread even today. Some teachings related to the New Age are based on the views of theosophy, nagualism, hermeticism, occultism, shamanism, etc. Moreover, supporters of one doctrine can share the beliefs of supporters of others, interact with them and even participate in the same work.

Precisely because in many cases we are talking about the same individuals, a number of researchers adhere to the general name "New Age" for each group with similar views and ideologies.

New Age supporters are united by the promise of a "Great Transformation"; the advent of the New Era, which will certainly replace modern culture. It is said that the New Age culture is more perfect and will be marked by the spiritual, mental and technological breakthrough of all mankind. Some groups, in particular many astrologers, call the new age the Age of Aquarius, which is expected to begin within the 20th-22nd centuries.

New Age differs from generally accepted religious movements in the absence of any specific spiritual view or teaching, and also in the fact that it includes a mass of metaphysical, esoteric and occult teachings, concepts and practices.

The New Age trend found a response not only in the West, but also in Russia. Quite specific associations and organizations were also formed in our country. The teachings in them are often positioned precisely as educational, enlightenment, health and even sports, but not religious in any way. We'll talk more about New Age in Russia, but for now let's get back to the history of the movement.

A Brief History of the New Age

The term "New Age" became widespread in the media and literature in the early 80s of the last century, although its origin occurred much earlier. In the 20th century, New Age was developed as a subculture, partly formed in the 19th century. New Age was preceded by such occult teachings as sacred geometry, hermetism, astrology, cabala, magic, mesmerism, anthroposophy, theosophy, spiritualism and others.

New Age gained popularity due to the cultural and spiritual crisis that has matured in the culture of the West, and the penetration into the mass consciousness of the ideas of such religious traditions as Buddhism, Hinduism, shamanism, etc. Already in the first half of the 20th century, the institution of the church began to lose people's trust, it was New Age religious movements.

After the end of World War II, many associations of a syncretic, esoteric and occult nature appeared in Western countries, which united under the name "New Age". In the late 1970s, the New Age reached its apogee in the West with the development of independent theosophical groups in Great Britain and other countries. The concept of "New Age" owes its popularization to Alice Bailey, who presented herself as the spiritual heir to the Theosophical Society.

But if in the 70s the New Age was focused on social values and moral traditions, service to humanity and altruism, then in the 80s it became part of an even broader phenomenon, also called "New Age" - then a lot of alternative-minded people began to look for ways of spiritual development, creating, so to speak, a "spiritual market", where everyone could find what suits him. So New Age has ceased to be focused on social values and reoriented to personal ones.

New Age Basics

The central idea of New Age is the idea of the transformation of human consciousness, according to which the “I” of a person discovers its unity with the Universe and the creatures inhabiting it, and the idea that implies the definition of a sacred individual principle and the possibility of its connection with the Absolute.

All this is connected with the basic provisions of the New Age, including:

Strength (impersonal deity)
Eternal Universe
Cyclic life
The illusory nature of matter
The need for rebirth
The evolution of the human being into the divine
Identity with God
Revelations from representatives of extraterrestrial races
The need to change consciousness (etc.)
Occult practices (mediumism, astrology, etc.)
Special views on health (vegetarianism, etc.)
Pacifism
Syncretism
world order

And the most popular New Age elements include:

Shamanism, neo-paganism, etc.
Spiritual hierarchy, mystical groups
Mantra recitation
Magic, divination, rituals, etc.
astral exits
Psychedelic practices
Meditation
Reiki, healing, non-contact massage
Taijiquan, qigong, yoga, oriental gymnastics and martial arts
Music in the style of "New Age", meditation and trance music

But of particular interest, along with all the components of the New Age, is the issue of time perception. And this should be given special attention.

Time in New Age

If the Western world has a linear perception of time, then in the New Age, time is most often seen as a relative and cyclical process. This is clearly shown, for example, in the Mayan calendar, which is used in the New Age and is a vicious circle.

Some authors, for example, Carlos Castaneda, Eckhart Tolle, Lee Carroll, Armando Torres, Norbert Klassen and others, as well as special interpretations of Buddhism (Zen Buddhism), etc. offer the perception of time as an integral and unified substance.

According to New Age adherents, from the perspective of the other world, time is illusory. The transcendent nature of time is emphasized and opinions are expressed that go beyond the boundaries of a linear understanding of time, which indicates the need to perceive reality "interspatially", which includes the relativity and illusory nature of time. These ideas are somewhat similar to the ideas of time in some religions.

By the way, about religions.

New Age and religion

If we talk about the relationship between New Age and religions, then in recent years a considerable number of religious movements have developed, the roots of which date back to New Age, moreover, both Western movements and Eastern ones:

International schools of Sufism developed, not as strongly tied to Islam as traditional Sufism.
Osho, who developed a set of dynamic meditations, is very popular.
P. D. Uspensky, to some extent similar to Sufism, also became widespread.
Many people began to show interest in shamanism, nagualism and Toltecianism, which was greatly facilitated by the work of Carlos Castaneda and his associates - Florinda Donner and Taisha Abelar
Many centers have opened where they teach martial arts and gymnastics, as well as yoga, qigong, reiki, meditation, etc.
The practice of channeling (receiving information from Mahatmas - Great Teachers) has spread
Centers for DEIR (further energy information development) are actively developing in the post-Soviet space

The reciprocal influence of the New Age on the countries of the East led to a sharp jump in new religions, and even their uncontrolled development:

Japanese Aum Shinrikyo Society
White Balgar Society
Chinese Falun Gong Movement
Japanese Oomoto-kyo movement
Persian Baha'i religion
Vietnamese religion Cao Dai

As for the "relations" of the New Age with Russia, the situation is as follows.

New Age in Russia

New Age in Russia developed under the strong influence of the concepts of the teachings of Nicholas and Helena Roerich "Living Ethics" (or "Agni Yoga") and the movement of followers of Agni Yoga that appeared in the 90s of the last century. But, at the same time, other New Age trends that came from the West were able to penetrate into Russia, still closed by the Iron Curtain. Gradually, the movement began to become more diverse and gain more and more adherents.

Today in Russia, the New Age includes a huge number of various theoretical and practical trends that have developed under the influence of Taoism, Buddhism, Sufism, yoga and much more. Among them are mystical spiritual practices, healing, meditative practices, psycho-trainings, systems, etc.

In addition, there were also centers for the dissemination of ideas, one way or another related to the New Age, for example, shops, centers for self-development and spiritual practices, book publishers, etc.

Most likely, it will be wrong to say that the New Age has outlived its time. It would be more correct to say that the development of the New Era has been transformed and moved to a new stage. Modern society no longer reacts so violently to various innovations, including new trends in the spiritual sphere; people have the opportunity to choose and strive for comprehensive development, and human consciousness in general has become more malleable and thirsty for knowledge about the unknown.

Life without spirituality is impossible, and which path to choose is the business of each of us. The main thing is to move forward, and it is possible that some of the living people will be able to look at the real New Age with their own eyes, and even become a part of it.

Om mani padme hum

"Human history is a series of changing eras: the era of Aries is replaced by the era of Taurus, the latter is replaced by the era of Pisces, the basis of religiosity of which is Christianity, which plunged humanity into the dark ages of hostility and wars. But even that should soon be replaced by the era of Aquarius with its new high religiosity In order for this bright future to come sooner, a person needs to expand his consciousness - to realize that he is a god, he is divine, like the whole cosmos, and everything that exists is a single whole: "everything that surrounds me is me." human abilities, it is necessary, first of all, to abandon religious prejudices ... "

If you are familiar with such ideas, then you have already encountered the preaching of the new religious neo-pagan movement "New Age".

The saying "everything new is well forgotten old" turned out to be absolutely true in the religious sphere. The "newness of thought" in The New Age is nothing more than a revival of the most archaic religious notions of mankind. New Age syncretic religiosity transforms and adapts elements of the Gnostic sects of the early centuries of Christianity, Eastern, ancient and humanistic philosophies, Western medieval magic, Jewish cabalism, Eastern mysticism, and ancient pagan religions to the standards of modern consumer society.

A new biological species of man

"Friedrich von Hayek, the brilliant theorist of the market economy, said in 1984 in Hamburg that for the existence of a liberal society it is necessary that people free themselves from certain natural instincts, among which he especially singled out the instinct of solidarity and compassion. Recognizing that we are talking about natural , innate instincts, the philosopher revealed all the greatness of the project of modern society: to turn a person into a new biological species ...
A small race of those who will be able to wrest from their hearts and souls some instincts and cultural taboos will make up the "golden billion" that will rightfully subdue the lower races. The instinctive ban on killing one's neighbor will be automatically eliminated, for those who belong to a different species are no longer neighbors" (Sergey Kara-Murza. Eurocentrism. The Hidden Ideology of Perestroika. M., 1996).
As history shows, racism is a latent (hidden) ideology of Western society. In different periods of its development, this ideology found its expression in various forms. But in the 20th century, the ideology of racism acquires a mystical coloring - first in Nazi Germany, and then in the "democratic" United States.
In the 60-70s. in the USA there is a kind of occult-pagan "renaissance". It is due to a sharp surge in public interest in Eastern mysticism. Here a broad neo-pagan movement was born, called the "New Age" ("New Age").
Gradually, the States are turning into a mecca of the occult. From here, the movement begins its "victorious" march across countries and continents.

Roots of neo-paganism

The origins of the movement were laid in the 19th century by spiritualism and theosophy. Spiritism (from lat. spiritus - soul, spirit) - belief in the possibility of communicating with the souls of the dead. It originates in the USA, spreads throughout Western Europe and reaches Russia.
Theosophy (from the Greek theos - god and sophia - wisdom, knowledge) - the religious and mystical teaching of the Russian writer Helena Blavatsky (1831-
1891). In 1875, together with Colonel Olcott, she organized the Theosophical Society in New York City (USA). In 1878 she wrote the book "Isis Unveiled", and in 1888, in England, her fundamental work "The Secret Doctrine" was published.
These works have become classics of occult literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In the last years of her life, she founded the magazine "Lucifer". Blavatsky expressed her attitude towards Christianity very clearly: "Our task is not to restore Hinduism, but to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth."
In her teaching, she predicted the advent of a "new era." In this era, the birth of the "sixth race" will take place. The occultist attributed the current generation of people to the "fifth race". A characteristic feature of the new race should be occult-magical abilities.

Classification of neo-religious cults

In a narrow sense, the New Age movement includes religious cults that arose in the second half of the 20th century. Among them, it is customary to single out Christian (Biblical), Eastern (Orientalist), psychotherapeutic (scientific) cults. The main idea that unites the conglomeration of these sects is the belief in the end of the Pisces era (fish is the Christian symbol of Jesus Christ) and the entry of humanity into the Aquarian era.
According to movement theorists, historical Christianity should give way to "more modern" Christian cults such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon sect), Jehovah's Witnesses, Unification Church (Moon sect), The Family ( Children of God), "Church of Christ" (Boston Movement), "Worldwide Church of God", "Local Church of Witness Lee", neocharismatic sects (related to the "Faith Movement"), etc.
Supporters of Eastern cults, such as the "International Society for Krishna Consciousness" (a sect of Hare Krishnas), the cult of Osho Rajneesh, "Transcendental Meditation", the cult of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, "Bahai Faith", "Sahaja Yoga", "Brahma Kumaris", the cult of Sri Chinmoya, "Reiki", Zen Buddhism, neo-Buddhist cults, etc., propose to "dissolve" Christianity in Eastern mysticism and reduce it to the level of "one of the ways of salvation" (how can one not recall H. Blavatsky, who declared: "No religion is higher than Truth").
Supporters of science cults such as the "Church of Scientology", the "Silva Method of Mind Control", etc., propose to replace Christianity with some kind of pseudo-scientific surrogate.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today in the United States, according to various sources, there are more than five thousand sects related to the New Age movement. More than 20 million Americans are members of them. If we count all those who sympathize with this movement, then the number of people involved will increase several times.

Ideology "New Age"

The American scholar Norman Geisler identifies the following concepts of the "New Age":
- impersonal God;
- eternal universe;
- illusory nature of matter;
- the cyclical nature of life;
- the need for reincarnations (transmigration of souls);
- the evolution of man into the Divine;
- ongoing revelations from unearthly beings;
- the identity of man with God;
- occult practices;
- vegetarianism and holistic (holistic) methods of health protection;
- world global order;
- syncretism (the unity of all religions) (cited by A. Kuraev. Satanism for the intelligentsia. T. 2. M., 1997).
So, the religious and philosophical basis of the movement is pantheism - a doctrine that identifies God and the world. As a result, New Age supporters come to the conclusion that man himself is God.
But if God is not a person, but just a faceless Absolute, then He turns out to be completely indifferent to the categories of good and evil. Ramakrishna, one of the gurus of this movement, stated this: “The Absolute is not associated with either good or evil ... Whatever the sin, evil or suffering that we find in the world, they are suffering, evil and sin only in relation to us ... "Thus, the supporters of the movement put themselves, speaking in the language of F. Nietzsche, "beyond good and evil."

Rehabilitation of Satanism

The New Age has made the worship of Lucifer a perfectly respectable, acceptable and fashionable practice...
Lest there be reticence, here is a quote from David Spangler's Meditations on Christ: "Christ is the same power as Lucifer; Lucifer prepares a person to identify himself with Christ.
Lucifer - the angel of human inner evolution - works within each of us to lead us to integrity, thanks to which we can enter the New Era ... The acceptance of Lucifer is inclusion in the New Era "(quoted by A. Dvorkin).
It is no coincidence that Anthony LaVey, founder of the American "Church of Satan", argued that Satanism, with its indulgence of human vices, is nothing but the American way of life.
Another ideologist of the movement, Osho Rajneesh, declares that black magic is "one of the greatest opportunities for human development" (cited by D. Ankerberg. D. Weldon).

Karmic philosophy of movement

In order to give their teaching some moral appeal, the ideologists of the movement operate with such concepts as reincarnation (transmigration of souls) and the law of karma.
According to this doctrine, the present position of a person is entirely due to his behavior in the past.
"incarnations".
Karma (in Sanskrit - action, the fruit of action) is the total amount of actions committed by every living being and their consequences, which determine the nature of his new birth, that is, further existence. Therefore, every person reaps the fruits that he sowed in past "incarnations".
In addition, karma and reincarnation in the minds of the New Agers justify even murder. In the "Bhagavad Gita As It Is" (the main book of the Hare Krishna sect. - Approx. Aut.) Krishna orders Arjuna to destroy his relatives in battle because such is their karma.
And the leader of the savage sect, Charles Manson, committed ritual murders, claiming that everything he did was in accordance with the law of karma" (A. Dvorkin, op. cit.).

Occult practices

A characteristic feature of the movement is the interest of its adherents in occult methods and practices.
With the help of meditation, yoga, channeling, visualization, methods of neuro-linguistic programming, alternative medicine and other occult practices, neo-pagans seek to achieve physical and mental health, succeed in business, learn how to manage other people, get in touch with "unearthly beings" and "cosmic energies" , achieve some kind of "enlightenment" and, ultimately, become "god-like" beings.
Fortune magazine points out that half of America's top 500 businessmen are involved in the New Age movement for maximum use of human resources (and seen by Christians as the first step towards the occult).
Among the companies that opened their doors to New Age gurus were Pacific Bell (which spent $173 million to train its managers in "Human Performance Courses" with overtly occult teaching techniques), NASA, Ford "and General Motors, Ai-Ci-Hey, I-B-Em, Boeing, Singer, R-C-Hey and Bank of America" (D. Marshall. New Age Against the Gospel, or The Greatest Challenge to Christianity, 1995).
The occult is also penetrating the American education system: "It is especially distressing that throughout America in schools where Christian prayer, yoga, Eastern meditation, practices related to the category of Hindu prayers were banned, not only are allowed, but are actively encouraged," - Christian researcher Dave Hunt pointed out.

Penetration into the Christian environment

In order to attract Christians into their ranks, the ideologists of the movement claim that every person is a "Christ", since the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was supposedly a mere mortal who achieved "Divine enlightenment."
“When the Religious Center at Princeton University did a survey of US Christians in early 1992 on what impact New Age teachings had on their faith, almost a quarter of them answered that they saw no conflict between Christianity and New Age teachings. This message pales against the background of the answer of the polled Catholics: 60 percent of them believed that Catholicism and the "New Age" are in perfect harmony "(Archimandrite Alexander Mileant. Seven-headed dragon. Indian-occult teachings in the light of Christianity).
In 1971, a book by the French Catholic, Benedictine monk J.-M. Deschane "Christian Yoga" was published in New York. In 1972, in the same New York, the book "Christian Zen" by the Irish Catholic priest William Johnson was published.
The main conductor of the New Age ideology among Protestants is the "charismatic movement". Charismatics also practice occult techniques, covering them up with Christian phraseology.
Having put Hindu pantheism as the basis of their philosophy, the ideologists of the movement came to the conclusion that it was necessary to destroy world religions, dissolving them in some kind of "universal religion".
The liberal Protestant theologian John Hick, quite in the spirit of E. Blavatsky, cited as an example "a Baha'i temple in Chicago, each of the nine entrances of which bears the name of one of the spiritual "teachers", including Christ.
All nine parishes lead to a single altar located in the center. Hick uses this example as an illustration of his position that "all roads lead to God"" (cited by D. Marshall).
This is the kind of religion that New Age ideologues and their henchmen in the Christian camp are trying to create.

Political project of neo-paganism

“Western New Agers see the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe as a major step towards the integration of the world, which they see as a necessary condition for the global triumph of the New Age ideas. The movement was created and controlled by Freemasonry and has clear goals.
And it was no coincidence that they regarded Gorbachev as a person who carried out the plans of the Hierarchy to unite the world and prepare for the coming of the "Savior." One of the main ideologists of the movement, Benjamin Krim, considers the UN a "temporary body" preparing the coming to power of a world government.
“In every issue of his newspaper Imergence, he trumpets that the new leader of the world will be a collective image of the Christ the Christians are waiting for, the Jewish messiah, the Hindu Krishna and the new Buddha the Buddhists are waiting for, and the Muslim Imam Mahdi.
This great world leader, as Krim says, will bear the name "Lord Maitreya", and he will proclaim and personify the age of Aquarius, the New Age... According to the propaganda of the "New Age", before this age comes, it is necessary to destroy the main ideological enemy - Christianity "(D. Marshall. Decree. Op.).
From an Orthodox point of view, "today's 'charismatic' movement, Christian 'meditation' and the 'new religious consciousness' (movement 'New Age' - ed.), of which they are a part, are all harbingers of the religion of the future, the religion of the last humanity, the religion of the Antichrist, and their main "spiritual" activity is to introduce into the everyday life of Christianity demonic initiation, until now limited only to the pagan world" (Hieromonk Seraphim [Rose]).

Causes of the occult-pagan "revival"

From now on, a new race of "god-like" masters are those who make up the "golden billion" of humanity. The Hindu theory of reincarnation (reincarnation) is designed to strengthen the representatives of the "master race" in the belief that they will incarnate an infinite number of times for life in a "liberal capitalist paradise", and the law of karma will allow them to feel like "free individuals", not bound by any moral obligations towards each other.
As for those who did not enter the "golden billion", they will be obliged to work for their "god-like" masters, because they have such "karma". World religions, especially Orthodoxy and Islam, containing the resource of resistance to the New World Order, are subject to eradication.
Their place should be taken by an ersatz religion tailored to the standards of the "world community."
In order to keep the colonial peoples in line, they also need to instill a "New Age" ideology. Then the slaves of the New World Order will also imagine themselves to be "god-like beings", but less "enlightened" (and therefore poorer) than the representatives of the "golden billion".
It is these people who will follow the Antichrist, because they will see in him "the first among equals." Those who dare to challenge the "planetary triumph of liberal values" are to be eradicated.
We see how the religion of Antichrist is born before our eyes. It is a product of Western liberal-capitalist civilization with its cult of "racial" superiority over other peoples, zoological "individualism" and the mysticism of "business success".

The new world order proposed by the supporters of the New Age movement penetrates quite successfully into all social groups and strata of society. For this order, there are no borders of states and the difference of languages.

“Human history is a series of changing eras: the era of Aries is replaced by the era of Taurus, the latter is replaced by the era of Pisces, the basis of religiosity of which is Christianity, which plunged humanity into the dark ages of enmity and wars. But even that should soon be replaced by the era of Aquarius with its new high religiosity. In order for this bright future to come sooner, a person needs to expand his consciousness - to realize that he is a god, he is divine, like the whole cosmos, and everything that exists is a single whole: "everything that surrounds me is me." In order for unlimited human abilities to manifest, it is necessary, first of all, to abandon religious prejudices ... ". It is in this vein that thousands of books on esoteric topics have already been written and published.

If you are familiar with such ideas, then you have already encountered the preaching of the new religious neo-pagan movement "New Age".

The saying “everything new is a well-forgotten old” turned out to be absolutely true in the religious sphere. The "newness of thought" in The New Age is just a revival of the most archaic religious ideas of mankind. New Age syncretic religiosity transforms and adapts elements of the Gnostic sects of the early centuries of Christianity, Eastern, ancient and humanistic philosophies, Western medieval magic, Jewish cabalism, Eastern mysticism, and ancient pagan religions to the standards of modern consumer society.

A new biological species of man

“Friedrich von Hayek, the brilliant market theorist, said in 1984 in Hamburg that in order for a liberal society to exist, it is necessary for people to free themselves from certain natural instincts, among which he especially singled out the instinct of solidarity and compassion. Recognizing that we are talking about natural, innate instincts, the philosopher revealed all the greatness of the project of modern society: to turn a person into a new biological species...

A small race of those who will be able to wrest from their hearts and souls some instincts and cultural taboos will make up the "golden billion" that will rightfully subdue the lower races. The instinctive ban on killing one's neighbor will be automatically eliminated, for those who belong to a different species are no longer neighbors.(Sergey Kara-Murza. Eurocentrism. Hidden ideology of perestroika. M., 1996).

As history shows, racism is a latent (hidden) ideology of Western society. In different periods of its development, this ideology found its expression in various forms. But in the 20th century, the ideology of racism acquires a mystical coloring - first in Nazi Germany, and then in the "democratic" United States.

In the 60-70s. in the USA there is a kind of occult-pagan "renaissance". It is due to a sharp surge in public interest in Eastern mysticism. A broad neo-pagan movement, called the New Age, was born here.

Gradually, the States are turning into a mecca of the occult. From here, the movement begins its "victorious" march across countries and continents.

Roots of neo-paganism

Theosophy (from the Greek theos - god and sophia - wisdom, knowledge) is the religious and mystical teaching of the Russian writer Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891). In 1875, together with Colonel Olcott, she organized the Theosophical Society in New York City (USA). In 1878 she wrote the book "Isis Unveiled", and in 1888, in England, her fundamental work "The Secret Doctrine" was published.

These works have become classics of occult literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the last years of her life, she founded the magazine Lucifer. Blavatsky expressed her attitude towards Christianity very clearly: "Our task is not to restore Hinduism, but to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth."

In her teachings, she predicted the advent of a "new era." In this era, the birth of the "sixth race" will take place. The occultist attributed the current generation of people to the “fifth race”. A characteristic feature of the new race should be occult-magical abilities.

Classification of neo-religious cults

According to movement theorists, historical Christianity should give way to "more modern" Christian cults such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon sect), Jehovah's Witnesses, Unification Church (Moon sect), The Family ( Children of God), Church of Christ (Boston Movement), Worldwide Church of God, Witness Lee Local Church, neocharismatic sects (related to the Faith Movement), etc.

Supporters of Eastern cults, such as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (a sect of Hare Krishnas), the cult of Osho Rajneesh, Transcendental Meditation, the cult of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Bahai Faith, Sahaja Yoga, Brahma Kumaris, the cult of Sri Chinmoya, Reiki, Zen Buddhism, neo-Buddhist cults, etc., propose to “dissolve” Christianity in Eastern mysticism and reduce it to the level of “one of the ways of salvation” (how can one not recall H. Blavatsky, who declared: “No religion is higher than Truth").

Supporters of science cults, such as the Church of Scientology, the Silva Method of Mind Control, etc., propose replacing Christianity with some kind of pseudoscientific surrogate.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today in the United States, according to various sources, there are more than five thousand sects related to the New Age movement. More than 20 million Americans are members of them. If we count all those who sympathize with this movement, then the number of people involved will increase several times.

Ideology of the "New Age"

The American scholar Norman Geisler identifies the following concepts of the "New Age":

Impersonal God;

Eternal universe;

Illusory nature of matter;

The cyclical nature of life;

The need for reincarnation (relocation of souls);

The evolution of man into the Divine;

Ongoing revelations from unearthly beings;

Identity of man with God;

Occult practices;

Vegetarianism and holistic (holistic) health practices;

world global order;

Syncretism (the unity of all religions) (quoted by A. Kuraev. Satanism for the intelligentsia. T. 2. M., 1997).

So, the religious and philosophical basis of the movement is pantheism - a doctrine that identifies God and the world. As a result, New Age supporters come to the conclusion that man himself is God.

But if God is not a person, but just a faceless Absolute, then He turns out to be completely indifferent to the categories of good and evil. Ramakrishna, one of the gurus of this movement, stated this: “The Absolute is not associated with either good or evil ... Whatever the sin, evil or suffering that we find in the world, they are suffering, evil and sin only in relation to us ... "Thus, the supporters of the movement put themselves, speaking in the language of F. Nietzsche," on the other side of good and evil.

Rehabilitation of Satanism

The New Age has made the worship of Lucifer a perfectly respectable, acceptable and fashionable practice...

Lest there be reticence, here is a quote from David Spangler's Meditations on Christ: “Christ is the same power as Lucifer; Lucifer prepares a person to identify himself with Christ.

Lucifer, the angel of human inner evolution, works within each of us to bring us to integrity, thanks to which we will be able to enter the New Era ... The acceptance of Lucifer is inclusion in the New Era ”(cited by A. Dvorkin).

It is no coincidence that Anthony LaVey, the founder of the American "Church of Satan", argued that Satanism, with its indulgence of human vices, is nothing but the American way of life.

Another ideologist of the movement, Osho Rajneesh, declares that black magic is “one of the greatest opportunities for human development” (cited by D. Ankerberg. D. Weldon).

Karmic philosophy of movement

In order to give their teaching some moral appeal, the ideologists of the movement operate with such concepts as reincarnation (transmigration of souls) and the law of karma.

According to this teaching, the current position of a person is entirely due to his behavior in past "incarnations".

Karma (in Sanskrit - action, the fruit of action) is the total amount of actions committed by every living being and their consequences, which determine the nature of his new birth, that is, further existence. Therefore, every person reaps the fruits that he sowed in past "incarnations".

In addition, karma and reincarnation in the minds of the New Agers justify even murder. In the Bhagavad Gita As It Is (the main book of the Hare Krishnas), Krishna tells Arjuna to destroy his relatives in battle because such is their karma.

And the leader of the savage sect, Charles Manson, committed ritual murders, claiming that everything he did was in accordance with the law of karma (A. Dvorkin).

Occult practices

A characteristic feature of the movement is the interest of its adherents in occult methods and practices.

With the help of meditation, yoga, channeling, visualization, methods of neurolinguistic programming, alternative medicine and other occult practices, neo-pagans seek to achieve physical and mental health, succeed in business, learn to manage other people, get in touch with "unearthly beings" and "energies of the cosmos" , achieve some kind of "enlightenment" and, ultimately, become "god-like" beings.

Magazine Fortune points out that half of America's top 500 businessmen are involved in the New Age movement for the maximum use of human resources (and perceived by Christians as the first step towards the occult).

Among the companies that opened their doors to New Age gurus were Pacific Bell (which spent $173 million to train its managers in "Human Performance Courses" with overtly occult teaching techniques), NASA, Ford "and General Motors, Ai-Ci-Hey, Ai-Be-Em, Boeing, Singer, R-C-Hey and Bank of America" (D. Marshall. New Age Against the Gospel, or The Greatest Challenge to Christianity, 1995).

The occult is also penetrating the American education system: “It is especially distressing that, all over America, in schools where Christian prayer, yoga, Eastern meditation, practices related to the category of Hindu prayers were banned, they are not only allowed, but actively encouraged,” - Christian researcher Dave Hunt pointed out.

Penetration into the Christian environment

“When the Religious Center at Princeton University did a survey of US Christians in early 1992 on what impact New Age teachings had on their faith, almost a quarter of them answered that they saw no conflict between Christianity and New Age teachings. This message pales against the background of the answer of the polled Catholics: 60 percent of them believed that Catholicism and the "New Age" are in perfect harmony ”(Archimandrite Alexander Mileant. The Seven-Headed Dragon. Indian-occult teachings in the light of Christianity).

In 1971, a book by the French Catholic, Benedictine monk J.-M. Deschane "Christian Yoga" was published in New York. In 1972, the book Christian Zen by the Irish Catholic priest William Johnson was published in the same New York.

The main conductor of the New Age ideology among Protestants is the "charismatic movement". Charismatics also practice occult techniques, covering them up with Christian phraseology.

Having put Hindu pantheism as the basis of their philosophy, the ideologists of the movement came to the conclusion that it was necessary to destroy world religions, dissolving them in some kind of “universal religion”.

The liberal Protestant theologian John Hick, quite in the spirit of E. Blavatsky, cited as an example “a Baha’i temple in Chicago, each of whose nine entrances bears the name of one of the spiritual “teachers”, including Christ.

All nine parishes lead to a single altar located in the center. Hick uses this example as an illustration of his position that " all roads lead to God"(quoted by D. Marshall).

This is the kind of religion that New Age ideologues and their henchmen in the Christian camp are trying to create.

Political project of neo-paganism

Western New Agers see the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe as a major step towards the integration of the world, which they see as a necessary condition for the global triumph of New Age ideas. The movement was created and controlled by Freemasonry and has clear objectives.

And it was no coincidence that they considered Gorbachev as a person who carried out the plans of the Hierarchy to unite the world and prepare for the coming of the "Savior". One of the main ideologists of the movement, Benjamin Krim, considers the UN a "temporary body" preparing the coming to power of a world government.

The New Age is trumpeting that the new leader of the world will be a collective image of the Christ the Christians are waiting for, the Jewish messiah, the Hindu Krishna and the new Buddha the Buddhists are waiting for, and the Muslim Imam Mahdi.

This great world leader will bear the name "Lord Maitreya", and he will proclaim and personify the age of Aquarius, the New Age ... According to the propaganda of the "New Age", before this age comes, it is necessary to destroy the main ideological enemy - Christianity "( D. Marshall.).

"From the Orthodox point of view," today's "charismatic" movement, the Christian "meditation" and the "new religious consciousness" of which they are a part, are all harbingers of the religion of the future, the religion of the last humanity, the religion of Antichrist, and their main "spiritual" activity is to introduce into the everyday life of Christianity demonic initiation, hitherto limited only to the pagan world" ( Hieromonk Seraphim [Rose]).

Causes of the occult-pagan "revival"

As for those who did not enter the "golden billion", they will be obliged to work for their "god-like" masters, because they have such "karma". World religions, especially Orthodoxy and Islam, containing the resource of resistance to the New World Order, are subject to eradication.

Their place should be taken by an ersatz religion tailored to the standards of the “world community”.

In order to keep the colonial peoples in line, they also need to instill the ideology of the "New Age". Then the slaves of the New World Order will also think of themselves as "god-like beings", but less "enlightened" (and therefore poorer) than representatives of the "golden billion".

It is precisely such people who will follow the Antichrist, because they will see in him "the first among equals." Those who dare to challenge the "planetary triumph of liberal values" are to be eradicated.

We see how the religion of Antichrist is born before our eyes. It is a product of the Western liberal-capitalist civilization with its cult of "racial" superiority over other peoples, zoological "individualism" and mysticism of "business success".

The subculture of the new age (new age) is, in fact, a new movement - apolitical, esoteric and mystical, so the language does not dare to call it a purely youth subculture. New age is based on specific religious preferences and self-knowledge, and this is what distinguishes it from popular youth subcultures based on musical tastes. This subculture became global in the 1980s, when dozens of movements appeared: from religious and sectarian to sports and therapeutic. Often, New Age adherents are addicted to healing practices, such as yoga or qigong, martial arts, Buddhist meditations, non-contact massage, mantra chanting, Kabbalah, alchemy, magic and magical rituals. Interest in magic and Eastern practices in the new age is not so strong today.

The "chip" of the new age is in determining values, and they, like those of yogi sadhus, are to achieve nirvana and enlightenment. This subculture is no less positive than hippies: support for universal human values, the value of a proper lifestyle (vegetarianism, abstinence, kindness), the unity of science, mysticism and religion, belief in supernatural entities like angels, demons and spirits.

New age musical preferences

As for the musical tastes of the new age representatives, they prefer the rock direction, and the styles can be completely different: from heavy metal and crabcore to indie rock and gothic. The subculture gave rise to its own direction of music, however, it does not have a clear line, often any incomprehensible multifaceted trend is called new age, some music lovers are sure that the genre developed in the 1970s from the intersection of experimental jazz and electronic music, for example in Germany it is: Popol Vuh , Deuter, Can, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. During the emergence of the subculture, musical groups liked to use natural soundtracks, mixes of classical and folk music, and meditation music was also called new age.

The face of the New Age is an advanced, spiritually developed, well-read person, passionate about esotericism and various Eastern practices, from which several statements follow that make up the picture of the world of any New Age: the universe is eternal, time is cyclical, reincarnation is real, a person is similar and equal God, all religions are one, a person can become closer to God through self-knowledge. The main idea of the movement and its prophecy is the transformation of human consciousness into a global collective and its release to a new level. That is, in terms of views on life, we have an explosive mixture of a monk, a hipster and a Krishnaite.