You can almost guarantee that if you walk into any shop today, you'll find something from a New Age store. Of course, crystals abound. As a paperweight or mantelpiece decoration, the Buddha himself may appear in the store office, looking well-fed and smiling. As an indicator of the room's entry or a pleasant sound to be heard in the garden, wind chimes are a popular choice. Zen Buddhism's purportedly minimalistic design principles may have influenced both the house and the garden. With a little sniffing, you'll be able to detect the enticing scent of incense from the Far East. If you're patient, you may even stumble across a crystal ball or two. There were even crystal balls displayed next to the cash register in a well-known UK charity shop, cleverly taking advantage of last-minute impulse purchases ("Oh, I'll just take one of those crystal balls before I leave!") in the same way supermarkets display shelves for shop of sweets and chewing gum in the area where you line up to pay for your groceries.
Never be concerned!
If you look through the phone book, you'll find a slew of jobbing alternative practitioners. Anyone who claims to be an expert in any of these fields is clamouring for the opportunity to help you with your aches and pains or save your relationship.
Never fear if you misplace your appointment book! What's in store for you in the future? Consult someone who will (for a fee) read your palms, tea leaves, or even the contents of your trash can to find out.
Doctors are no longer in the headlines. It's preferable to consult with a hypnotherapist, colour therapist, graphologist, or numerologist who can tell you about your past, present, and future - as well as whether or not you have any future at all.
Expensive:
Relaxation tapes of whales, waves breaking on the shore, or Australian aboriginal didgeridoo music can help you wind down at the end of a long day. It's a given that your house has been meticulously designed by a Feng Shui expert who probably charges more than your lawyer! Is this the end of the world?
New Age encompasses all of the above-mentioned diversionary practices, as well as many others. Despite what you may think, I would never want to trivialise the beliefs of those who practise New Age spirituality. I don't mind if they do what they think is best. However, there is one exception. It's become so commercialised that the original spiritual components of New Age practises have lost much of their integrity and are now just products and services in a highly competitive market.
Ever since the Theosophists and Madame Blavatsky signed a contract with the so-called Ascended Masters in the nineteenth century, religious and spiritual beliefs have been plagiarised from a variety of different religions all over the world. There has been a blatant erasure of the historical and cultural context of many beliefs. It has been nearly a century since those beliefs have been sold to a spiritually vulnerable public that has a large amount of disposable income.
Consider the case of the trance channeler who trademarked her spirit guide if you still think New Age isn't over-commercialized!
Native Australians:
The New Age movement has succeeded in turning the ancient art of Tarot card reading into a game of Happy Families. A feng shui-inspired method of wallpaper selection has become a fashionable and pricey trend. The Kabala, a highly revered Jewish esoteric religion, has also become the latest esoteric trend. In order to make it more easily digestible by the New Age fraternity, all of the difficult bits have been neatly removed. meanwhile, Native Australian wisdom has been repackaged and sold as "The Inspirational Thought for the Day" for decades. Of course, there are no longer any traces of many Native American tribes.
The vision vanished. The dreamcatcher is all that's left:
There is nothing wrong with reconnecting with your spiritual roots. It's fine to have a mutually beneficial relationship with the spiritual roots of people and cultures from other countries.
In the remote African villages where I've lived, there hasn't appeared to be any organised New Age movement. However, it's possible that there isn't a ready market for it. Then again, there may not be any cash on hand to accept it. Even if you don't believe that the New Age movement is relevant today, there is no doubt that it is making money by buying artefacts from less affluent countries and reselling them at a profit to New Age adherents in the West, thus perpetuating its myth.
Mythology:
It's time to go for broke. Forget about the gimmicks of the New Age Movement. Find out about the legends and folklore of your own region. Build a set of beliefs that are relevant to the present moment. A $5.95 credo or an enormous Feng Shui bill will not make your neighbours green with envy or turn your accountant white with fear, so don't fool yourself into thinking you have a valid belief system.
Be honest if that's the only option available. Why not express your desire for badges? If you're looking for a particular set of beliefs, look elsewhere.
Let go of the idea that the sound of a cash register ringing equals divine revelation and stop worshipping at the storefront. Above all, we must rediscover the ability to put our faith in our own abilities rather than relying on the advice of others. Instead of being built like Frankenstein's monster Find Article, our belief systems should evolve organically and naturally rather than being constructed from the leftover bits and pieces of everyone else's.
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