New Age Spirituality
By Elaine Murray
New Age Spirituality is all about getting back
your power. Not that you ever lost it. Sometimes you gave your power away,
misplaced it, or forgot you had power in the first place.
And why does the term: "New Age
Spirituality"... seem to bother some religious leaders, especially leaders
of the Christian faith? After all, we are in a new age: The Age of Aquarius. The
concept of an Age exists within ancient spiritual traditions, and lasts 2000
years. It denotes a change process, occurring during those 2000 years, for the
evolution of consciousness, for the good of all. The energy which entered this
plane over 2000 years ago, at the beginning of what astrology calls the Piscean
Age...was Agape (brotherly and sisterly love) - love of one human being for
another, simply because each is worthy of love and part of the same human
family. That energy is only now being accepted in any general manner. It has
taken us the entire Age for us to "get it."
Christ brought this love-energy to our world over
2000 years ago, and we humans have been working on it ever since. We are just
beginning to open, to sisters and brothers everywhere. And now that The Age of
Aquarius is finally here...maybe we have developed that critical mass of
love-energy that is needed for this New Age Spirituality. This time, the message
expands to, "not only are we brothers and sisters...we are one." The
Piscean Age taught us, we are all connected; we must love one another as
ourselves. The "other" is an illusion. You and I are one
consciousness, reflected in an infinite rainbow of seeming difference. All is
one.
The Age of Aquarius is referred to as the
"New Age," but there is nothing new about it. It is simply an
evolution in human thinking. "New Age" thinking, asks that each person
take responsibility for everything that happens in life...because everything in
life is connected. We must learn to love ourselves; for out of love for ones
self, comes love for others. The person who is bound by a negative image,
wallowing in self-doubt, does not permit time or energy to really care about
anyone else. When we confront ourselves, and understand the causes for our
feelings of hatred and anger, we can change the feelings...or even let them go.
This involves taking responsibility for what we feel; becoming more consciously
aware of why we feel what we do. In doing so, we are expanding our conscious
awareness. To use a New Age term- we are "raising our consciousness"
about our unconscious perceptions of who we are, and how we are behaving. Peace
for the world begins with peace within ourselves. The biggest hurdle is learning
how to create that inner peace and balance.
The best way to inner peace...is to go within.
How do you go within? You meditate. If prayer is talking to God, (Divine
Intelligence, Source, Creator or whatever word you prefer to use) then
"meditation" is the art of listening to God, while in an altered state
of consciousness.
By going within, you connect with your
God-Source, and you can receive all the answers to any question about your life
that you might pose. This is what gives you back your power. For truly, you are
a child of God, and as a child of God...a co-creator, One with the Infinite. You
do not need a priest or a minister to intercede for you. And that scares your
religious leaders. They recognize that you no longer need them in the same way
you did in the past. They also recognize; they can no longer control you,
through guilt or fear. Is it any wonder the words, or the concept of New Age
Spirituality frightens religious leaders?
There is no doubt: We have left the Piscean Age,
symbolized by the sign of the fish...and have entered the Aquarian Age
symbolized by the water bearer. It is time to take back your power. It is time
to remember you had it all along.
Elaine Murray is a retired elementary school
teacher who lives on the shores of Lake Erie in Southern Ontario, Canada. She
received her B.A. from the University of Western Ontario and is the author of
"A Layman's Guide to New Age & Spiritual Terms", published by Blue
Dolphin in 1993. She can be reached by e-mailing her at jaguare@kwic.com
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Copyright 2005 - All rights reserved.
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