Spirituality/General: A New Age By Any Other Name...

Nobody likes the term New Age. The magicians and neo-Pagans who’ve spent years learning their craft loath it, partly because they fear that it places them in too close of a proximity to the touchy-feelie Shirley MacLaine give-me-a-crystal-and-I’ll-cure-the-world types. The scientific folks, who define the likes of meditation and spiritual symbols in terms of their effect on wave forms, the weak force, the strong force and the H-bar constant want to be taken seriously as spiritual scientists and think that the term trivializes their work. Those who are devoted to the discipline and study of Tibetan Buddhism or other yogic practices don’t want to be confused with any of the above.

Hardly anyone would deny that there needs to be a word like New Age. The American Buddhist, who sits down at least once per day to chant the name of a deity like Green Tara or Vajra Sattva, would probably admit to having something in common with the Shirley MacLaine fan who uses a quartz crystal in an attempt to contact the alien’s rescue ship. Even the born again Wiccan, who practices a modern reconstruction of ancient European Paganism, would understand that the bliss ninnies, the magicians, the alchemists, the Buddhists, and the practitioner of yoga all belong under a single category. As diverse as these groups are, they tend to share a similar world view and a similar approach towards spirituality. To all New Agers, God is found within, not outside, the self.

The objection is to the term. “New Age,” which is seen as having been usurped and trivialized by the media. The hard core, the witches and magicians, think the term too diluted, associated with the already mentioned Shirley MacLaine and commercial ripoffs like the Miss Cleo. Those more aligned with the mainstream, the Tibetan Buddhists or practitioners of yoga for example, find that the term tends to separate them from the rest of society.

This dissatisfaction with the term New Age is not new. About ten years ago I interviewed Catherine Jourdan, who was then teaching meditation and stress management techniques for the Center for Life Enrichment in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina. She said, “I find myself rather annoyed with the term 'New Age.' I find that I don't really know what New Age is. I've gotten out books on our shelves when people have asked me this question before, to try and see if anybody has a definition of what New Age is, and they (definitions) are as diverse as there are trees outside.”

Indeed, defining the term does present a problem. Some say that New Age refers to the astrological changing of the millennium, the age of Pisces giving way to the age of Aquarius. Others attribute the term to occultist Aleister Crowley's "age of Horus," a reference to Egyptian mythology. Crowley said that this would be a time when the "conquering son" Horus would take the throne to avenge the death of his father, Osiris. Still others say that the New Age actually began some 2,000 years ago with the birth of Christ.

“I prefer the term that was used before New Age,” said Vincent Bridges, co-author of Monument to the End of Time: Alchemy, Fulcanelli, and the Great Cross and head of the New Age publisher Aethyrea Books. “That is, 'the human potential movement.' We're going to be completely human. We're going to be more than human. I like that perspective. This means that if we find some old techniques that really aid the human potential, they're cool. But if we come up with some new techniques that give us a whole new grasp on the human potential, that's just as good.”

The main problem with the current term has to do with public perception, which has been tainted both by media depictions and by the religious right. “I find that the people who do the best job of defining what they believe New Age to be are its detractors,” Catherine Jourdan explained, “the people who are afraid of the term New Age.”

Almost every Christian bookstore carries several titles condemning the New Age, and televangelists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson often preach against the evils of New Age thought. To the religious right, New Age is often equated with Satanism, an idea that many New Agers find amusing. As one Wiccan priestess said, “Satanism is a Christian concept. We don't believe in the devil.”

Unfortunately, no matter how unsatisfactory the term is, there is no name that is as universally understood. Terms like “human potential movement” or “new thought” might be more accurate, but using them will usually illicit blank stares. Everybody knows what New Age means – or they think they do.

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