New Age Awareness

People need, and have a right to, reliable information on the differences between Christianity and New Age. (Pontifical Council for Culture, Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian Reflection on the New Age, February 3, 2003)

Have you ever been lost in the woods on a moonless night?  In the darkness of night made darker by the trees all around you, it is not possible to see the path you walked earlier, you cannot see where there is a hollow in the ground or where the ground drops suddenly down to an icy stream.  You are alone, far from any possible assistance and you know that it will only get darker and colder.  You kick yourself mentally for having been so foolhardy as to get yourself into this situation.

The world is full of opportunities to make the wrong choice whether physical, emotional, or spiritual.  Today more spiritual paths in the wrong direction are available than ever before because they are marketed and pushed on us from all directions.

The New Age Allure

For many years the New Age idea was sold as lightness & rainbows, cleansing & natural, full of tinkling wind chimes and beautiful crystals, diaphanous clothing, and angelic assistance.  There was always a dark side to the New Age movement, and over the years the dark side has come to the fore. Much of the imagery is of the woods at night, of darkness and of things done in the dark. Darkness is portrayed as a source of confidence, power, community, intelligence, and strength. It is youthful, sexy, romantic, and cool and therefore alluring and desirable.  Darkness has become profitable not just for Satan, but for big business since God’s “limitations” have been left behind. Now there is darkness instead of light, death instead of life, scarring instead of healing, and the idea of the power of the self instead of the power of God.

New Age imagery is all around us – in gift shops and galleries, on greeting cards and soft furnishings – most of the time we are not even aware of the meaning of the designs. Self-help books fill the bookstores and the online marketplace.  Flyers advertising meditation, healing, and contacting the dead through psychics are put up in the grocery store, the library, bookstores, and cafes.

Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life makes clear that individual elements of New Age religiosity may appear innocent, but it is not possible to accept some while rejecting others.  The New Age movement negates the revealed contents of the Christian faith and cannot be viewed as positive or innocuous.  The following questions may help evaluate elements of New Age thought and practice from a Christian perspective.  It is helpful to apply these questions to people and ideas not specifically labelled New Age as well.

Our Relationship with God

Is God a person, or energy?

Is there a description of power or energy inside each person that can be harnessed and controlled by will?  This power will be called cosmic energy, vibration, light, love, the divine Self, supreme Self.  There may be talk of God, but not a personal God.  Instead of the Enlightenment idea of God as the watchmaker, in New Age beliefs He has become the watch itself.  The New Age God did not create all things and does not hold them in being, it is a form of energy instead. Only a thing and not a person.

The Athanasian Creed states “This is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son’s is another, the Holy Spirit’s another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.”.   God wants to communicate with his creatures and lead us to salvation.  He is not a force or energy to be used at will.

True Prayer

Is prayer dialogue with God?  When we pray, are we talking to God or to ourselves?

Mantras, positive self-talk, and mindfulness are often taught as ways to link with cosmic energy and improve one’s life.  These and other methods focus our attention inwards and can be used to alter one’s mental state. This can lead to a vulnerability to outside influence.  It is inward-facing and solitary, though it can feel easy and peaceful.

Christian prayer is a dialogue of love with God. Finding a quiet place, giving yourself time to be calm and focus your mind can help prepare for prayer, but God can reach us as he wills.  Christian mysticism is not a technique, it is a free gift from God.

Jesus – Salvation and Truth

What is the belief about Jesus Christ?  Is there one Christ, or are there thousands?  Do they promise to make you a Christ?

Some examples of false teaching are that Jesus was a fully natural human being who through his own efforts became spiritually elevated to a God-like state as have many more.  Others will say Jesus did not suffer and die on the cross.  Instead, it was an image, or another person, or is only a myth. False gospels, spurious documents, and stories along with information from so-called ascended masters are used to describe a Jesus that fits with the teachings being offered. The purpose of all these false teachings is to deny our redemption by Christ’s death and resurrection.

Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the only Son of God was incarnate. His life, death, and resurrection are historical facts. He was born in a known place at a known time.  He is alive today and is the Head of the Church.  There is only one Jesus Christ.

Salvation

Does salvation come from God or do we save ourselves?

A clear sign is the word “self” – self-fulfilment, self-realization, self-redemption, self-healing.   Does improvement or salvation depend on your own actions, thoughts, and learning?  Does it come from finding the right guru or teacher or master? Is the goal to reach a condition of higher vibration by using the right technique, following the right guide, or joining the right group?  It is very much a matter of pulling yourself up by the bootstrap.

“Salvation comes from God alone.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 169). Our work is to acknowledge the forgiveness of our sins and struggle against sin in our lives and in the world around us. For Christians, salvation depends on a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  The human condition can only be rectified by God’s action and only God can reconcile us with himself.

Truth

What is truth? Does objective truth exist?  Where do we find authority?

Is there a denial of absolute, objective truth?  Does one agree to disagree because truth is a relative thing depending on a person, time, and place?  Is there truth about religious and ethical issues only as they relate to our own feelings and experience?  Does everyone have their own truth?  Do they offer a “New Age truth”?

Jesus is “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14.6).  We give our lives to his truth and values which are objective, not relative.  Beauty, truth, and goodness are constant and objective.  They are knowable by all.  We look to the Revealed Truth in the Bible and the teachings and traditions of the church.  Right and wrong exist and do not change with circumstances.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states “offences against the truth express…a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God.”

Human Beings and Life – Sin, Suffering, and Death

Are all human beings connected to each other and the cosmos deep in the soul? Is individuality an illusion?

Will meditation or other practices lead you to deep within where you will find a connection with “the one”?  It may be called Principle, Mind, Power, Energy, or even God; the goal is to tap into that energy and use it to control the world around you. Ultimately, after reaching higher and higher states of vibration or being, you will lose all individuality, merge with “the one” and become divine.

The Catholic Church teaches that each human being is a unique combination of matter and spirit created by God. Made in the divine image “the human person is a mystery fully revealed only in Jesus (and) … becomes authentically human … through the gift of the Spirit.” (Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life).

Sin

Does sin exist, or is it all just a misunderstanding?

Sin is described as the result of imperfect knowledge. There is no need for guilt or forgiveness because it is all part of everyone’s learning process leading to ultimate perfection.  The most important thing is to follow your desires.

For Christians, sin is a rejection of and separation from God.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins (1 John 1:8-9).

Suffering

What is the explanation of suffering?

Some write that suffering belongs to the material world and has no meaning since only the spiritual is real.  For others, suffering is the result of wrong thoughts or mistakes in the past. In all cases, you must change your thought patterns and behaviours to create the life you wish to live with health, happiness, prosperity, love in abundance.

St John Paul II wrote,

In bringing about the redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the redemption.  Thus each man in his suffering can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.” (Apostolic Letter on human suffering “Salvifici doloris” 11 February 1984, 19.)

Death

What is the attitude about death?

Does the human soul evolve through many lifetimes? The modern Western concept of reincarnation is seen as a process of learning and fulfilment.  Because those who have died move on to a better life next time there is no harm done in abortion or euthanasia.  This belief removes the idea of Hell, but it also removes the idea of Heaven.

In the Creed, we state that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.  By God, we are given intelligence, conscience, and grace.  Through participation in the liturgy and the sacraments, we are brought into ever closer union with Jesus Christ.  We have one eternal life through Christ and ultimately will live body and soul with him in Heaven.

Many people are caught in the New Age logic that they can be a Christian and hold New Age beliefs such as reincarnation. From the beginning of the Church, this “dual-belonging” has never been compatible with the logic of Christ. Jesus teaches us that “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).  James writes we “must not suppose a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:8) and advises us to “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you…purify your hearts, you men of double-mind.” (James 4:8).

Every Catholic Christian must be able to identify and explain the elements belonging to the New Age movement that cannot be accepted or practiced by those who are faithful to Christ and his Church. Many sources of the New Age were anti-Christian and this attitude permeates “alternative” culture today. New Age jargon uses words from science such as energy and vibration combined with words from paganism such as karma and chakra.  For a consumer culture, there is something to suit everyone.  Therefore, whether it is a book or a video, meditation method, or healing practice one must be cautious and examine carefully the core beliefs about God, Christ, and the Human Being.

We are of God…By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 John 4:6).