Bias against New Age

[silent thunder]

I'm curious about the seemingly hateful bias against anything labeled New Age.

 

Our instincts, intuition and insight are as valid now as at any point in human history. More so in fact, since we are manifest and involved in the current exchange of energy patterns in the now as opposed to those who wrote the classic tomes of the past.

 

Now certainly, human experience exists as an energetic pattern and certain truths are truthful over 1,000 or 10,000,000 years of experience, regardless of living in a jungle or a city, technological or primitive. But to completely discount and ignore new teachings or to inhibit or resist the desire to explore and discover new insights smacks of being a slave to an unchanging reality tunnel. Hard and inflexible is the way of death. Soft and pliant is the way of life.

 

All things in nature change.

Teachings included.

 

One of the great things about open minded scientists or spiritualists... they change their perspective when new valid information becomes available.

 

The Way of the Sage.

 

 

[nine tailed fox]

basically what new agers are saying is this

 

there are no chakras, no energy channels, no chi energy, no chi kung, no nei kung, no alchemical process for awakening, no energy bodies, no kundalini, no tantra, no mantra, no magic, no spell, UNLESS (and its a BIG UNLESS), you believe in them

 

basically a new ager can shoot kundalini, directly from his penis to the moon AS LONG AS he believe in this

 

could be true ? what do you think ?

Edited July 27, 2013 by nine tailed fox

[silent thunder]

basically what new agers are saying is this

 

there are no chakras, no energy channels, no chi energy, no chi kung, no nei kung, no alchemical process for awakening, no energy bodies, no kundalini, no tantra, no mantra, no magic, no spell, UNLESS (and its a BIG UNLESS), you believe in them

 

basically a new ager can shoot kundalini, directly from his penis to the moon AS LONG AS he believe in this

 

could be true ? what do you think ?

 

I haven't come across this particular teaching, but it's an interesting point.

 

Belief is so intimately tied to perspective and perspective is functional reality for any given individual.

I would venture that believing something makes it real for the one believing within the parameters of their perception.

[nine tailed fox]

so you mean all the daoist alchemy and buddhist cultivation

 

its all just a matter of belief ?

 

if thats the case than if you believe that watching tv everyday will make you enlightened, its should work , what do you think ?

 

all the cultivation methods depends on your belief and only if you believe that its true, only than it will work for you

 

if i practice chi kung but dont believe in chi energy and chi kung, it will not work

 

is that what you are saying ?

[三江源]

.

Edited July 25, 2014 by cat

[silent thunder]

so you mean all the daoist alchemy and buddhist cultivation

 

its all just a matter of belief ?

 

if thats the case than if you believe that watching tv everyday will make you enlightened, its should work , what do you think ?

 

all the cultivation methods depends on your belief and only if you believe that its true, only than it will work for you

 

if i practice chi kung but dont believe in chi energy and chi kung, it will not work

 

is that what you are saying ?

 

I'm curious as to why there seems to be a bent toward disregarding teachings as useless that are coming from present age teachers that aren't based solely on a school of classical thought/philosophy.

[三江源]

.

Edited July 25, 2014 by cat

[silent thunder]

Is Eckhart Tolle considered new age? David Deida?

I hear Tolle denigrated as a useless new ager frequently... Adyashanti and Pema Chodron too, which is surprising since they seem to me to come from established Buddhist systems.

 

It's almost as if there is a cultural bent toward thinking any new insight, or new take on a teaching is a lie or useless tangent.

Perhaps this is the effect of having been lied to so prolifically in our culture by media, government, teachers and family.

[Apech]

I think maybe the problem is that New Age is so mixed .... from charletons (sp?) to genuine people including some who are genuinely awakened ... as its not an orthodoxy its hard sometimes to see the wood for the trees?

[Chang]

The concept of "New Age" is a very broad church indeed and means many, many different things to many, many different people.

 

Unfortunately it has now become a term, almost of abuse, to represent that which is silly and airy-fairy.

[silent thunder]

I think maybe the problem is that New Age is so mixed .... from charletons (sp?) to genuine people including some who are genuinely awakened ... as its not an orthodoxy its hard sometimes to see the wood for the trees?

 

No doubt, as with anything, I run it through my filter and see how it plays out.

But then, I do that with the classics as well.

[三江源]

.

Edited July 25, 2014 by cat

[Esteam'd Punk]

What we 'know' is what we've chosen to believe. What if someone learns from a teacher who provides nothing but lies? The student believes his teacher to be correct, therefore making the student see only what his beliefs allow; which could be lies.

 

Let it all be a mystery, because everything is an illusion.

[silent thunder]

The concept of "New Age" is a very broad church indeed and means many, many different things to many, many different people.

 

Unfortunately it has now become a term, almost of abuse, to represent that which is silly and airy-fairy.

Yea, all to often it seems to be a gut reaction that allows folks to disregard things without really encountering them or giving them a chance. Guess it gets back to fundamentalist thinking and reality tunnel protection.

[Esteam'd Punk]

I think maybe the problem is that New Age is so mixed .... from charletons (sp?)...

Charlatans.

[nine tailed fox]

new age revolves around the concept of "law of attraction" basically

[Apech]

Charlatans.

 

Thonks.

[Esteam'd Punk]

new age revolves around the concept of "law of attraction" basically

I'm not too much a fan of the LOA, quantum physics is less bullshitty.

[Esteam'd Punk]

Thonks.

I say.....

[Apech]

I heard a Buddhist story about a student who regarded his master as a living Buddha and through his devotion, on death he attained enlightenment ... but when in his enlightened state he looked back at his master he saw that he had still many lifetimes to go.

[三江源]

I heard a Buddhist story about a student who regarded his master as a living Buddha and through his devotion, on death he attained enlightenment ... but when in his enlightened state he looked back at his master he saw that he had still many lifetimes to go.

Yes. So the student is the prima materia.

[silent thunder]

Tibetan Ice was very helpful in unpicking some issues with adyashanti, recently, wasnt he? my guess is that he has the ability to do the same re. Tolle and Chodron. You have to know a lot, to make a meaningful discerning critique.

 

Perhaps the dismissiveness towards such teachers is a protectiveness that the true wisdoms not be diluted and lost sight of. That we should live with watered down teachings is not a good prospect.

 

Too much spouting of undigested quasi truths is offputting.. its the same, surely, as wandering friars of old who would tote 'holy relics' for sale everywhere they went..

 

it doesnt mean that there are no holy relics.. it means the water is muddied and we dont wish to buy old dog legs bones and pray to them.

 

The question of wether the prayer itself will make the dog leg bone holy , over time.. well, hmmm.

 

Yes Tibetan Ice has some really good insights and is widely versed.

But not all wisdom will be relevant to all other's paths. I can't dismiss all of Adya on another's accounting, I must run it through my system.

 

I get the protectiveness factor and that is likely a major source of the dismissiveness.

Not wanting to muddy the waters, nor sully the holy.

 

But I come from a perspective that it is patently impossible to hide truth, nor to sully the holy.

If it's manifest, it's holy to me, be it a dog turd, a consecrated altar or a merit crystal from a monk's remains.

 

I guess it comes down to where you are on your path. There are certainly many teachings in the christianity I was raised with that no longer serve me. But they did serve me at one point and still do, insofar as they show me what I am not aligned with currently.

[Apech]

Yes. So the student is the prima materia.

 

yes ... but also the philosophers stone ... or to put it Buddhist-wise your liberation is possible because you have Buddha-nature ... all else, your master, your deity ... whatever, reflects this back to you ... or to put it another way you look with two eyes. With one eye you see your teacher is an ordinary being who does ordinary things but with the other eye you recognise his shining perfection ... which is your shining perfection too. If you ask fro blessings from the ordinary side you get ordinary blessings, if you ask from the other side you get true blessings ....

[rene]

To me, everybody has their own ideas about what this same thing we feel actually is - and some people and some traditions think their explanation and practice is the only true and valid manifestation of this... so anything that is different then theirs, is seen as not only wrong, but a risk to their parametered thoughts and so is subject to ridicule. It's like the metaphor of fingers pointing to the moon - we are all pointing at the same moon, yes? Ridiculing others' ways of pointing shows only our own loss of sight of what is central to us all.

 

 

 

 

[nine tailed fox]

I'm curious as to why there seems to be a bent toward disregarding teachings as useless that are coming from present age teachers that aren't based solely on a school of classical thought/philosophy.

 

because its annoying

 

what would you feel if you had a person who is always saying

 

that you fly if you just believe in it enough but he can actually never fly

 

(this is a common line on new age forums, flying thing is really popular)

Edited July 27, 2013 by nine tailed fox