I wanted to respond to ENR separately
Ex-NewRager wrote:
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One thing I have noticed very prevalent in new age circles and practitioners is the heightened level of anxiety new age produces. The constant drumming into your head that everything is significant and has meaning or lessons encourages the development of obsessive thought.
Hm... I'd be
very cautious to apply this to solely new age circles &/or practitioners.... Anxiety is a very common & I feel, over the last few decades, has become an increasing sign of the general populace's
discomfort with what is happening around them. To restrict this only to these "circles" would be misleading & also, not doing justice to other areas of the population suffering from anxiety... This is not even mentioning 'anxiety disorders' - it is purely & simply
listening to more than one 'segment' of the population - whether they be old people, Wall Street traders, people that have lost their jobs... Seriously, that is looking at the topic proper from a peephole perception...
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Just log onto any new age discussion board for evidence. You'll see everyone asking for prayers or healing over very minor things that your garden variety human wouldn't give 2 seconds of thought to.
It depends where you look... Seems to me that you have zeroed in on the 'desperados' of the new ageys...
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It seems that new age practitioners can't get on with their day without the constant support and encouragement of their "group". They also seem to suffer in highly disproportionate numbers (to the rest of the population) from allergies and sensitivity issues. They cannot tolerate certain foods, noise, people who don't believe what they believe, bad energy (which by the way exists in anything they don't agree with), dust, cities, office environments etc.
Hm... Pardon me for pointing out the...uh...'obvious', but, what websites do you go to? Can you name a few the you mention here in a kind of 'they're all the same'?
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All of this is a symptom of the highly circular and obsessive thinking encouraged in new age tenets. The idea that the world is basically toxic because they are highly evolved and sensitive beings. That everything which happens in their day is either a lesson or a sign. That the appearance of someone or something which irritates them is a message that they have issues to work on. With this kind of thinking I don't think I could get on with my day without a support group either.
Well, to take up a point here, unfortunately with technology & science having moved on to a much more advanced level of
intruding our atmosphere as well as our personal sphere, breathing a much more 'loaded' (polluted) air than our ancestors ever did. The overuse of 'remedies' for every little ailment that seems to be 'promoted as dangerous' by the media outlets, thus unnecessarily 'alarming' people have, almost as if through an adverse affect of overusing a 'remedy fix for everything' a not really surprising 'aftereffect' of allergies & henceforth unkonwn illnesses on the rise.
These 'over-the-counter', readily availbale pills pushed, without remorse by the pharmaceutical mafia, GM food which actually negatively affects your body's natural biology by the likes of Monsanto only add to a weaker overall immune system. And unfortunately,what with the tampering food (additives R' us), it is really not that surprising that people become sick & as a result, are therefore more 'sensitive' to foods than they used to be...
The contaminated milk scandal in China is an excellent example of what I mean. But, it is most decidedly
not limited to China...
Most tapwater in the US, as an example, is not safe to drink. Unless one can truly trace the source (literally as well metaphorically), it is better to use a water purifier. Even bottled water isn't a safeguard. Asbestos is not an 'exaggerated' allergy reaction.
Noise
does have a negative affect on your overall well-beingness... (example, your neighbour who is reguarly drumming up the volume heavy-metal style at all hours of night & day, airports or plant noise are known to affect people living in these areas to a considerable degree in their ability to relax & switch off & get much needed rest).
This is not in any way restricted to 'new age practitioners' it's much more a
consequence of industrialised nations being exposed, to a degree of 'onslaught' from the outside on the individual from a variety of sources, from breathing in more exhaust fumes, fumes from chemical plants, bug sprays, accidents of nuclear reactors, big fires (the CA fires come to mind here) etc. than our grandparents ever imagined.
The application of & resulting exposure to these 'factors' have not been as present & a 'part of our daily life' to this degree previously. To simply 'blame' practitioners for having allergies (granted, they may 'twist it' to "apply" it within their own methodology) is a bit simplistic.
It is a scientifically proven fact, that because of an overapplication of vaccination at too early an age, the body has no chance to develop its own natural immune system, which leads to a higher degree of being susceptible to allergies & sicknesses.
So, all 'new age scares' aside, this is just a very real factor modern societies have to deal with in our day & age.
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Which proves my point that new age is dangerous not because of any dark spirits or what-not but because it destabilises the human mind to the point of mental illness.
Well, I wouldn't be so generous as in giving new age that much credit. Sorry, if that may come across somewhat 'sarcastic' but I think you're giving new ageys way too much importance & 'weight'... Energy, yes - there's the word! - is very neutral in & of itself... It is
intention that changes its 'colour'...i.e., Einstein never recovered from having been (unknowingly & unwittingly) instrumental in 'co-'creating the atomic bomb.
It is only when the nucelar energy that was discovered, was turned into a devestating, ferocious means of destruction that nuclear energy became synonomous with 'bad', 'terrible' & 'destructive'.
There
is negative energy. To deny this would be to 'cultivate' a one-sided perceptiopn, such as insisting that there is only "sun" or only "rain", when it is neither. Too much sun burns you up & dries out the landscape, too much cold, freezes & kills you if you're exposed to it too long.
If one chooses, on the balance to
appreciate two sides of the same coin, then you realise that one
cannot exist without the other, provided neither side takes over to the detriment of the other. That doesn't work. So 'dark forces'
do exist & they need to be
looked at rather than denied (this is actually one of the reasons I believe this website is here in the first place! And, please correct me I'm wrong....!)
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Ex-NewRager
It ascribes significance to insignificant events and the individual loses their perspective and ability to see the world in a rational way. Part of what gives us our ability to bounce back from tragedy or setback is the belief we have that "this doesn't really matter", "we can overcome it". But when you have the mindset that it does matter, then suddenly problems are exponentially big. A credit card debt is no longer just something you have to pay off, it's a sign you are not worthy of abundance. It says something about your soul and destines you to never being able to be better off financially because this is a soul lesson. Isn't this the very definition of disempowerment?
"Tragedy or setback" as you refer to it, is a very individual thing... It's never as 'easy peesy, lemon squeezy' as you would like to believe... Say, if you or someone close to you would suffer from a terminal illness (& I mean the real deal here, not some new agey "fancy" illusory illness), to then walk around & quip "this doesn't really matter, we can overcome it" would, I think, be rather flippant.
Crises' as 9/11 has proven,
do have an enormous impact - they
do affect you & somebody who has their whole life turned upside down, loses all that they ever held dear within one single day, or just disappear (as lot of children are abducted to sects or for other devious agendas) - I assure you, they won't just "skip it off their shoulder" as hapharzardly...
People that return from war (& there are plenty of Vets out there, it's an ideal place to re-adjust your perception of "nothing is that serious to make such a big deal of it") are seriously damaged people. Not necessarily 'just' physically. Damaged beyond repair.
To put all the teachings in the "forget it - it only disempowers you" pot, is missing some truths that are up to the individual to come up on. It disempowers you
if are not selective. Distinguishing the gems from the rubbish is what makes all the difference, and then some... It can teach you more than you ever thought possible, but the weeding out process is
your 'job', your responsibility.
There are degrees/levels (not in a cult-fashion)...that is the learning that is there for the taking. Subtlety, finetuning & filtering out are important. The rest, as they say, is up to you.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2008 02:26AM by xythos.