James Randi's approach isn't that bad. this cultish new age junk is dangerous. It is more than taking peoples money but taking their minds . carl sagan wanted to educate people which is good but sometimes the best most effective way is in your face and not what people want to hear. I got thrown out by my Jehovah witness family when I refused to follow and believe their lies I lost my biological family

New age is rot and needs to be exposed as mind polluting, Being skeptical is not enough

if i could i would shut down ALL cults and new age gimmicks

Cosmophilosopher wrote, concerning the "new age":

>It really moves into freedom of Religion, which is what it is.

Perhaps the criticism should start when people are abusive, and exploitative, and coercive.<

I totally agree. In fact, I spoke out for the freedom of New Age beliefs, until I was told that these beliefs are in fact Truth, and take legal predecence over my "mere" religious and scientific "beliefs."

I can't imagine anything worse than being grilled by someone working with a civil licensure board and having your religious beliefs questioned, torn apart and "corrected." I was told, among other things, that traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs were a Poison, and not tolerated in massage. My speaking out for the rights of these "spiritually inferior" people was one of the main reasons I lost my license.

The other was my refusal to reject my own beliefs and allow the Massage Board to dicate what is seen as "State-Sanctioned" religious orthodoxy.

This is why I say massage is becoming dangerously cultish. And they are whipping up fanaticism in much of the Spiritual movement (and scaring the heck out of other parts of it) as they proclaim themselves the most powerful Spiritual movement in America, whose beliefs are backed by civil law.

I'm not anti-New Age. I think a variety of beliefs are healthy. But when a spiritual orthodoxy seizes control of a civil profession, then claims the State backs their agenda over any other "mere" religion, it's scary.

Rand

Actually, i like most of what Randi says, i read his newsletter every week.
What i don't understand is why he argues with obviously mentally ill people. That is going nowhere. But i like his attacks on the "Talking to the dead" scammers. But Randi is Randi. He is a crusty guy, that is who he is.

On your last point, i am sure they would love to "shut down" all dissenting viewpoints as well.

In the end, we have freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion. It has to be that way, at least in the type of society i want to live in.

After all, who is going to be the arbiter of "Truth"?
I prefer chaos to a Theocracy.

Coz

Quote
supermonkey
James Randi's approach isn't that bad. this cultish new age junk is dangerous. It is more than taking peoples money but taking their minds . carl sagan wanted to educate people which is good but sometimes the best most effective way is in your face and not what people want to hear. I got thrown out by my Jehovah witness family when I refused to follow and believe their lies I lost my biological family

New age is rot and needs to be exposed as mind polluting, Being skeptical is not enough

if i could i would shut down ALL cults and new age gimmicks

I once was a "New Age" dabbler but quickly soured on it when I discovered that people were all too willing to stab each other in the back to advance themselves or their cause. I thought I would find people of higher integrity in the "consciousness movement." But, as it turns out, they were just like everyone else. In some cases worse, because they were fooling themselves also.

It didn't detract from what I learned. Being a scientist myself, I never bought New Age anti-science propaganda. It wasn't about things that science had to offer. It was about the nature of being and personal awareness. Much of my growing scientific awareness fuels my awe of the universe. The more I learn the more awesome it becomes.

Some day we may be able to quantifiy and measure energy centers in the body sometimes referred to as Chakras by some. If it has some practical or spiritual benefit to be aware of these things then I say go ahead and study them. Believe it if it makes you feel better. Maybe they are real.

As Cosmophilosopher pointed out in an earlier post, it isn't any further out there than believing in the Virgin birth or Christ consciousness.

I'll also add the ascension to heaven of Muhammed on his horse from the top of the Temple mount to the list!

who wrote an autobiography entitled 'Living With Kundalini'.

Krishna was a Brahmin from Kashmir, worked in India as a civil servant, had a family and practiced a form of [i:fb9a778031]kundalini [/i:fb9a778031] or [i:fb9a778031]kriya [/i:fb9a778031]yoga at home. His practice included visualizing the chakra centres in his spine. In the midst of doing this exercise, Krishna had a surge of energy up his spine and it affected his health, thought processes, etc.

Apparently through his home based yoga practice, K triggered a massive neurological eruption that upset his health and nearly killed him. His father had embarked on strenuous yogic practices and also become unbalanced.

After years of suffering, Krishna regained his health and wanted to understand what had happened to him.

What makes his story remarkable is that K chose at first to keep all this secret from his friends and neighbors because he knew he was still a fallible human being and did NOT want to get the reputation of being a saint or guru. He chose to wait many years until his health stabilized and he accumulated enough information to understand what had happened to him--and how to save others from the hazards that had nearly killed him--and gave distress to his family.

So K waited many years before he published his book, because he did not want to provide misleading information.

According to the book's introduction, Gopi Krishna tried to persuade scientists to study this 'kundalini phenomenon, and offered himself as a research subject.

He died before anyone could gather the resources to do a medical study of him.

This area can be researched, as long as the scientists and their sources of funding are [i:fb9a778031]not [/i:fb9a778031]motivated by wishful thinking are conducted accourding to strict double blind protocol and the researchers aggressively identify and rule out all possible causes of fraud--some Indian gurus are experts in stage magic and scientists have to be alert for this.

Oh! I'm so glad to learn that someone has already posted a link to the wonderful article referenced above, written by former New Ager Karla McLaren.

I read Ms. McLaren's article some time ago and then remembered it recently -- when a friend began touting a particular New Age guru's ideas to me. (No thank you, my friend. Been there, done that, and still recovering from it!)

I'm not sure that my friend will be open to reading Karla's article, as he is incredibly gung-ho about the New Age guru at the moment. However, I will probably give it a shot and hope for the best.

Meanwhile, a great big thank you to Karla McLaren, Rick Ross, and others of their ilk who have been such wonderful voices of reason to those of us attempting to heal from various harmful practices and beliefs we've come upon. I'm very grateful for your contributions and dedication. Bless you!

I think Karla has done a huge disservice here. She says she wants to "bridge the gap" but all she has done has flip-flopped from one end of the spectrum to the other. Now her words are being misused to say "I told you so! Look, the New Age is bad! Karla proves it because she left!"

Please.

It's been my personal observation that people who get disillusioned like this were the ones who were probably too overly enthusiastic in the first place.

Not all New Agers are mindless ninnies. I'm sorry that's what she experienced but that has not been my personal experience at all.

My prediction is that Karla will dive head on into this new "better" world of scientific inquiry, thinking this will somehow fill the hole in her heart, and then dillusioned YET AGAIN when she realizes that not everyone in the scientific world is ethical or has all their marbles either.

Drivingthecar, I disagree that Karla has "done a huge disserve," and in addition don't appreciate the tone with which you've delivered your opinion.