From: djapana2000@yahoo.com   
      
   I originally posted this content on AR Shamanism.   
   >>   
   It has been an area of concern for me to be concidered as a student of the   
   new age movement, however what I have become aware of is that there are so   
   many different cults and sects popping up that are labelled New Age   
   movements by the media and subsequently by most people, that the true   
   meaning of new age practicality has been tarnished.   
      
   The original New Age movement was a break away from the old dogmatic   
   approach to a new personal spirituality, and some of the foundational work   
   which led to the interpretation of new age spiritual theories was originally   
   brought   
   to the public eye in the works of the theosophical society, of which Mrs   
   Blavatsky was a pioneer and a voice. Today new age is more of a generic term   
   for conglomerations of principles incorporated from multiple disciplines.   
    Much of the interpretations made by the spiritist movements has caused a   
   scattered field of opinion as to what new age really means, but from my   
   experience it is clear that to concider yourself a true new ager you should   
   have a realistic perspective on the natural energy that is visible around us   
   in nature, and have a set of beliefs that are not based on dogma, doctrine   
   or secular intervention, but that the beliefs you hold true should be   
   stimulated by revellations in your own life or mind regarding things that   
   you experience and how it affects yourself, your environment and others.   
   Such revellations normally challenge the structures your social environment   
   or cultural heritage has created in your mind, and causes conflict in your   
   heart about the validity of what you have been taught by the people in your   
   life. It is therefor not possible to fishbowl the structure of the new age   
   movement because no two people are alike in their perspective on things.   
   Once you realise that to own a part of yourself, it is essential to take   
   back that part of you which your social conditions has claimed, I believe   
   you may concider yourself a new age person. The true new age is about   
   illumination of a real connection with the authentic spirit which drives   
   everything including the self, and by making such a connection the barrier   
   of social indoctrination is broken down indefinitely.   
   All the rest is just a media storm created to confuse the clingers-on of   
   dogmatic religions and scare them deeper into their weeknight cell-group   
   prayer meetings...   
   I believe that there has always been new agers throughout the history of   
   man, but that the term has merely been tagged on psycho cult movements by   
   the media alongside other more real practices such as reiki and crystal   
   healing in order to keep average joe confused and under the thumb of church   
   and state.   
      
      
   DjApAnA   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)