From One Skeptic to Another: 10 New Age Ideas That Might be Worth Considering
by This article explores 10 New Age ideas that I have found to be worth looking into at some depth. Nevertheless, I have remained a devout skeptic about all things New Age. The Truth I live by is that you must find truth that resonates for you—not what someone has told you is true, what you read in a book about what is true, what you were taught is true, or what a religion says is true. Personal experience is the only way to authentic spirituality.
Many people, including myself, have found that religion, in the traditional way that it is understood and practiced, does not fulfill the yearning in their hearts for the experience of meaning and joy in their lives. This has led me on a long and ongoing journey to look for truth in various places. At this point in my life, one of the things that I passionately believe is that truth is not contained and fossilized in just one place, just one religion, or just one perception. While remaining devoutly skeptical as an honoring of my own experience, I’ve struggled and continue to struggle to come to the realization that if we do not judge even that which seems outrageous and false at first, we can discover wisdom in all that we find right as well as all that we find wrong about different spiritual paths.
Judging New Age Thought
My initial experience with the New Agers was one of judgment. What they said seemed very Pollyanna-esque, reality-denying, and fantasy-focused. Everything seemed to be smiley faces and blissful experiences of love without an acknowledgement of the difficulties and great unanswerable questions presented by human life. Many New Agers are also dabble in psychic phenomena, astrology, crystal healing, reincarnation, and a whole host of other esoteric and hard-to-understand practices, which for the uninitiated (read: me) seem very out there.
10 New Age Ideas Perhaps Worthy of Consideration
Nevertheless, I’ve continued to dabble in New Age ideas because the messages that New Agers share acknowledge the best in human nature and the human desire for peace and wholeness, which in my understanding is what we all seek. I don’t subscribe to all of the New Age ideas, but I do seek to understand the grains of truth contained in them by trying to put the ones that resonate for me into practice.
Here are 10 New Age ideas that I have found valuable and applicable to my life:
One: Living in gratitude is the key to life. If you live with an attitude of thankfulness, an attitude of abundance, your life will go more smoothly. If nothing else, I have experienced that your perception, and hence your reality, is happier when you live in gratitude.
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Post CommentKatie Marie
On July 22, 2009 at 8:21 am
This was very well written. I liked the enumeration of the 10 ideas and their descriptions.
Rynn Michaelz
On July 22, 2009 at 8:37 am
This is an interesting and well written article, well done.
xoxo
On July 22, 2009 at 10:07 am
Good points. I couldn’t agree more. God bless all of us.
jamie mullen
On July 22, 2009 at 1:45 pm
The ninth idea is actually a buddhist idea but thats not surprising seeing as most new age teachings are just age old eastern philosophy watered down for western audiences. If these ideas really intrigue you I would recommend trying to find some english translations of some taoist, hindu or buddhist reading material.
Ruby Hawk
On July 22, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I agree with you.
ellenhart
On July 23, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I really enjoyed reading this a lot. very good
joe
On July 23, 2009 at 2:59 pm
very nicely done. If only everyone could work to put these principles into practice. the world could be a much happier place.
Dr Curtis Barnett
On July 29, 2009 at 11:05 pm
You just keep on amazing me! This was fantastic!
Jeremy James Noye
On August 10, 2009 at 11:03 am
Great article again WriteEditSeek. The more of you I read, the more fascinated I become.
I think my favourite new age concept is a mix between number two and seven. I can’t remember where I read it or who described it to me, but it’s along these lines:
Every action you perform, every thought in your head, produces energy. This energy builds up around you in an aura. Negative thoughts and actions produce negative energy, and the opposite is also true. The type of energy you surround yourself with with directly affect the type of energy that is attracted to you. Unlike most things, like attracts like. Positive to positive, negative to negative. Basically, if you think positive thoughts and perform positive actions, good things will happen to you.
Great article!
CaSundara
On August 24, 2009 at 1:51 pm
“Personal experience is the only way to authentic spirituality.”
I couldn’t agree more strongly if I tried! It makes life much harder, though – I often wish I was someone who could just accept someone elses version of the truth…