Copyright © 2014 by Cory Baugher www.KnowingTheBible.net
The New Age Movement
New Age: Characteristics The New Age Movement does not trace its roots back to a human founder. It is a diverse blend of all the ancient religions. A non-doctrinal tolerance towards all faiths as equally valid. Self-realization is the goal to obtaining enlightenment. Skeptical towards modern materialism. Pursues a utopian society for all of humanity.
New Age: History Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) Was a respected German doctor. Developed idea of “animal magnetism,” which is magnetic fluid in humans. Believed all the universe was interconnected. Able to heal people through magnets, pressure points, and hypnosis
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New Age: History Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891) Ukrainian noble who was the founder of the modern occult. Channeled the spirit Master Morya. 1875: Started Theosophy.
New Age: History Alice Bailey (1880-1949) Popularized the title “New Age” Envisioned a unified society called a global “spirit of religion” Developed the concept of the Age of Aquarius Many have called her the founder of the New Age movement
New Age: History Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American poet and leader of transcendentalism. All things are connected to God therefore all is divine. God does not reveal truth it is known intuitively through nature.
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New Age: History Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American poet and leading transcendentalist. Wove Hindu philosophy into his writings. Promoted civil disobedience for the sake of betterment.
New Age: History Carl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Interested in Psychic thought and the paranormal. Dreams allowed you to tap into the collective unconscious that went beyond the individual. You hold your future and spiritual development in your own hands.
New Age: History Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) Professor of Psychology at Brooklyn College. Developed the Hierarchy of Needs, which led to Self Actualization. Believed humans were good and could accomplish anything. Blended mysticism and psychology together.
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New Age: History Along with Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich he developed the term transpersonal psychology (transhumanistic). This also led to the Human Potential Movement.
New Age: History Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) Was a humanist who wrote on topics like parapsychology and philosophical mysticism. 1939: He was initiated into Vedanta. 1954: Published The Doors of Perception. Advocated the taking of hallucinogens to obtain higher consciousness.
New Age: History “It lowers the barrier between conscious and subconscious and permits the patient to look more deeply and understandingly into the recesses of his own mind. The deepening of self-knowledge takes place against a background of visionary and even mystical experience.” (Aldus Huxley. “Wings that Shape Men’s Minds.” Saturday Evening Post. Oct. 18, 1958, pp. 111-13.)
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New Age: History Concerned that humans might be subjugated through mass media, mood-altering drugs, or the misapplication of sophisticated technology. He is widely acknowledged as one of the preeminent intellectuals of his time. Considered to be the “spiritual father” of the hippie movement.
New Age: History Timothy Leary (1920-1996) Was a Harvard professor and psychologist. 1960: Took magic mushrooms (“the flesh of the gods”) in Mexico for the first time. The Harvard Triumvirate began to explore inner space. They experimented with psilocybin on prison inmates.
New Age: History “In the months that followed [our experimentation with psychedelic drugs] we began to see ourselves as unwitting agents of a social process that was far too powerful for us to control or more than dimly understand. A historical movement that would inevitably change man at the very center of his nature, his consciousness.” (Timothy Leary. Politics of Ecstasy, 1970. p. 131.)
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New Age: History “We did sense that we were not alone. The quest for internal freedom, for the elixir of life, for the drought of immortal revelation was not new. We were part of an ancient and honorable fellowship which had pursued this journey since the dawn of recorded history. We began to read the accounts of earlier trippers — Dante, Hesse, René Daumal, Tolkien, Homer, Blake, George Fox, Swedenborg, Bosch, and the explorers from the Orient -- tantrics, Sufis, Bauls, Gnostics, hermetics, Sivaites, sadhus… no, we were not alone.” (Timothy Leary. Politics of Ecstasy, 1970. p. 131.)
New Age: History “Huxley’s eyes were closed. Suddenly he clapped his hands. ‘Your role is quite simple. Become a cheerleader for evolution. That’s what I did and my grandfather before me. These brain-drugs will bring about vast changes in society. We must spread the word… The obstacle to this evolution, Timothy is the Bible.’” (Timothy Leary. “Flashbacks,” p. 44.)
New Age: History 1962: He conducted the Good Friday experiment. The Harvard Triumvirate entered the media and promoted drugs in the western culture. 1963: They were dismissed from Harvard. 1966-67: By the Summer of Love recreational drug use was widespread in Britain and America.
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New Age: History The Hippie movement sought to overthrow cultural norms through displays of bizarre behaviors. It was all about anti-establishment, antiChristianity, free love, and psychedelic drugs. The Haight-Ashbury district in San-Francisco became the center of this social experiment. On October 6, 1966 California banned LCD. The hippies had a “Be-In” to protest the ban.
New Age: History “Human beings need total freedom, that is whare God is at.” “Oh yes, I pray in the morning sun. It nourishes me with its energy so I can spread my love and beauty and nourish others. I never pray for anything; I don't need anything. Whatever turns me on is a sacrament: LSD, sex, my bells, my colors, That's the holy communion, you dig?” “When I find myself becoming confused, I drop out and take a dose of acid. It’s a short-cut to reality— throws you right into it.”—Joyce Ann Francisico (Brown. The Hippies, 1967, pp. 39-40.)
New Age: History The Beatles (1960-1970) Meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and brought him back to America. Songs changed from love songs to songs that promoted Hinduism. They took America on a “Magical Mystery Tour.”
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New Age: History “We’re going to India to study Transcendental Meditation properly. We want to learn properly so that we can propagate it and sell the whole idea to everyone. This is how we plan to use our power now. They have always called us leaders of youth and we believe that this is a good way to give youth a lead. It needn’t be religion if people don’t want to connect it with religion, its all in the mind, a way to calm down tensions, strengthen understanding, and make people more relaxed.” (John Lennon)
New Age: History “He or she has come back as… the four-sided mandala—The Beatles. The means by which to spread the new gospel—music. The sacrament— drugs.” (Timothy Leary. Flashbacks, p. 378.) “…I rejoice to see our culture being taken over by joyful young messiahs who dispel our fears and charm us back into the pagan dance of harmony.” (Timothy Leary. Thank God for the Beatles, p. 375.)
New Age: History They brought back the concepts of Yoga and meditation for enlightenment. The hippie movement grabbed ahold of yoga when they saw that it produced the same effects of mind altering drugs without the “dangers” Hare Krishna mantra “Chant and Be Happy” you can have an altered state consciences. 1,913 times. Spread the phrase “Christ consciousness.” Love and give peace a chance, the world will be one.
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New Age: History “You start with music then you add psychedelic drugs. Millions of kids turned on pharmacologically, listening to stoned-out electronic music designed specifically for the suggestible, psychedelicized nervous system by stoned out, long-haired minstrels. This combination of electricalpharmacological expansion is the most powerful brainwashing device our planet has ever known… an instrument for evangelic education; propaganda that few people over the age of thirty can comprehend… They are laying down a new revelation. The journey to the East.” (Timothy Leary. Flashbacks, p. 379.)
New Age: History “Finally it was time to consummate all these spells by making a living sacrifice and signing a pact with the devil. For Lena was not a ‘white’ witch. She was the real thing – a practitioner of black magic. There was no knowing what she planned to do to seal the bond with Lucifer… Lena said ‘We’ve got to make a sacrifice with the blood of an innocent to the one who has the power.” —Yoko Ono (Albert Goldman. The Lives of John Lennon, p. 586.)
New Age: History “If I’m on my own for three days, doing nothing, I almost leave myself completely… I can see my hands and realize they’re moving, but it’s a robot that’s doing it. It’s frightening, really… I felt like a hallow temple filled with many spirit, each one passing through me, each inhabiting me a little time and then leaving to be replaced by another.” —John Lennon (OP, p. 373-74.)
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New Age: History “But my joy is when you’re like possessed, like a medium, you know. I’ll be sitting around and it’ll come in the middle of the night or at a time when you don’t want to do it – that’s the exciting part. I don’t know who the [expletive] wrote it – I’m just sitting here and the whole [expletive] song comes out. So it, you’re like driven and you find yourself over on a piano or a guitar and you put it down because it’s been given to you or whatever it is you tune into.” —John Lennon (John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Andy Peebles. The Last Lennon Tapes, p. 113.)
New Age: History “Jesus Christ is “garlic eating, stinking, little yellow, greasy fascist bastard, Catholic Spaniard.” —John Lennon (John Lennon. A Spaniard in the Works: Simon and Schuster, p. 14.) “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue that; I’m right and I will be proven right. We’re more popular than Jesus now.” ” —John Lennon (San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1966, p. 26.)
New Age: History “The whole Beatle idea was to do what you want right?... Do what thou wilst, as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody.” —John Lennon (The Playboy Interviews, 1980.)
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New Age: History “It’s incredible, absolutely incredible. Here are these four boys from Liverpool. They’re rude, they’re profane, they’re vulgar, and they’ve taken over the world. It’s as if they’ve founded a new religion, They’re completely anti-Christ. I mean I’m antiChrist as well, but they’re so anti-Christ, they shock me, which isn’t an easy thing to do.” —Derek Taylor (Beatles press manager) (Alfred J. Aronowitz. “The Return of the Beatles,” Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 8, 1964, p. 28.)
New Age: History “When I was younger, with the after-effects of LSD that opened something up inside of me in 1966, a flood of other thoughts came into my head which led me to the yogis.” (George Harrison. “Rolling Stone magazine,” 11/5/87.)
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New Age: History “People we like and admire” —Ringo Starr (Hit Parade, Oct. 1976, p. 14.) “…our heroes.” —Paul McCartney (“Musician” from Special Collection Edition: Beatles and Rolling Stones, 1988, p. 12.)
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New Age: History “Hitler and Jesus were the controversial ones, and after what John said about Jesus we decided not to go ahead with him – but we did make up the image of Hitler. If you look at photographs of the out-takes, you can see the Hitler image in the studio. With the crowd behind there was an element of chance about who you can and cannot see, and we weren’t quite sure who would be covered in the final shot. Hitler was in fact covered up behind the band.” —Sir Peter Blake (Set designer)
New Age: History Tomorrow Never Dies (The Beatles) Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream It is not dying, it is not dying Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void It is shining, it is shining Yet you may see the meaning of within It is being, it is being Love is all and love is everyone It is knowing, it is knowing And ignorance and hate mourn the dead It is believing, it is believing But listen to the colour of your dreams It is not leaving, it is not leaving
New Age: History Imagine (John Lennon) Imagine there’s no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today You may say that I’m a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one
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New Age: History My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) I really want to see you Really want to be with you Really want to see you lord But it takes so long, my lord Hmm (hallelujah) My sweet lord (hallelujah) My, my, lord (hallelujah) Hm, my lord (hare krishna) My, my, my lord (hare krishna) Oh hm, my sweet lord (krishna, krishna) Oh-uuh-uh (hare hare)
New Age: History “My idea in ‘My Sweet Lord,’ because it sounded like a ‘pop song,’ was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was to have the people not offended by ‘Hallelujah,’ and by the time it gets to ‘Hare Krishna,’ they’re already hooked, and their foot’s taping and they’re already singing along ‘Hallelujah,’ to kind of lull them into a sense of false security. And then suddenly it turns into ‘Hare Krishna,’ and they will all be singing that before they know what’s happened, and they think, ‘Hey, I thought I wasn’t supposed to like Hare Krishna!’” (George Harrison. Chant and Be Happy, 1982, p. 33.)
New Age: History “The main thing is to get the kids… nail you when you’re young and brain wash you, then they’ve got you for the rest of your life.” (George Harrison, Beatles, (Loose Talk, Rolling Stone Magazine, p. 70.)
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New Age: History “I don’t think it is possible to calculate just how many people were turned on to Krsna consciousness by your song ‘My Sweet Lord.’” — Mukunda Goswami (Chant and Be Happy: The Power of Mantra Meditation, p. 32.)
New Age: History “The 1960’s witnessed an ‘occult revival,’ the likes of which hadn’t been seen in the west since the fin-desiecle (end of century) days of Madame Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society, and Aleister Crowley’s Golden Dawn.” (Mojo Magazine, Sept. 1999, p.79.)
New Age: History According to the National Health Department: Suicide rose by 400% Unmarried people rose by 536% Pregnancies among ages 10-14 rose by 553% STD’s (Gonareah) among ages 15-16 rose by 226% Divorce rose by 111% Violent Crime rose by 995% Scholastic aptitude dropped by %100.
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New Age: History “A demon had invaded me, had taken possession of my body, mind, and soul. I jumped up and screamed, trying to free myself from him, but then sank down again and lay helpless on the sofa.” “Most research reports” cite “in spite of all other diversity” among LSD experimentation. “…the feeling of an alien being, a demon ceasing possession of oneself are features of LSD inebriation…” (Albert Hofmann (Swiss chemist who discovered LSD). LSD – My Problem Child.)
New Age: History Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
(1918-
2008)
Was the founder of Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM is the process of chanting a mantra over and over until the mind is emptied At this point one experiences peace and clarity
New Age: History 1970’s: The Human Potential Movement was birthed, which teaches that “whatever you can visualize will be realized” Holotropic breathing was developed. Holistic health became a huge emphasis.
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New Age: History George Lucas 1977: introduced New Age beliefs to people through the movie Star Wars The force is everything and permeates everything is the Hindu concept of Maya The concept of the light and dark sides of the force is based on the concept of the Ying and the Yang
New Age: History Steven Spielberg 1977: released his movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind Other movies that had strong New Age concepts are Poltergeist, E.T., and Always
New Age: History Benjamin Crème Head of Share International 1982: claimed that the Lord Maitreya would come in AprilJune of 1982 to bring world peace Maitreya is the Avatar for the Aquarian Age; the name of the future Buddha, according to Buddhist Believes that Maitreya is already here
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New Age: History Shirley MacLaine 1987: made a television show called Out on a Limb It is about her spiritual trek, which fosters in her a growing belief in reincarnation, the existence of aliens, and the immortality of the human soul
New Age: History Oprah Winfrey 1986: started her on show For years it has been the number one rated day time television show in America It has over 10 million viewers Her show is now televised in over 132 countries She brings the teachings of New Age teachers to the everyday person
New Age: History Dr. Helen Schucman 1976: published A Course in Miracles with Dr. William Thetford Schucman dictated the book from an inner voice, which claimed to be Jesus Christ Over 1.5 million copies have been sold in 16 languages Oprah offers a daily radio show on A Course in Miracles lead by Marianne Williamson
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New Age: History Deepak Chopra Is a student of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi He teaches Ayur-Vedic medicine taken from his Yogi He has written extensively on spirituality and the mind-body medicine He is a New York Times best seller His most famous book is Ageless body, Timeless mind
New Age: History Jonathan Edwards Is a psychic that channels the dead In 2001 his television show Crossing Over premiered on the SciFi channel It was the number one show on the SciFi channel He has a waiting list for several years to do readings He is an example of how the New Age leads people to occult practices
New Age: History Surveys show that millions of Americans have adopted New Age beliefs. 50% believe in ESP (extrasensory perception) 25% believe in reincarnation 42% believe they have contacted the dead 15% use spirit mediums or channelers 67% read astrology columns (Fritz Ridenour. So What’s the Difference, p. 67; Steve Russo. They Can’t All Be Right.)
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