New Age

[Matt Gregory]

New Age is very widespread here in America. The Western U.S. is throughly entrenched in New Age thought. Here in the Midwest it's mostly Christian at the moment, but New Age is slowly creeping into it and replacing it. This is truly a formless mode of thought and it's not an easy thing to detect since it can assume any guise. I think it's basically about aimless dreaming and wondering. A culture of laziness and passivity.

[sevens]

I'm sure Kevin and David love you, brother.

It's spreading! Ahhhhh!

[Matt Gregory]

What's the matter, Sevens? Don't you like the topic?

[sevens]

Well,

I love Phish. And I enjoy Nature. Astral Travel will blow your mind. Out-of-Body experiences, too. I try not to let envy and jealously infiltrate my mind. Subtle poisons, man. Carl Jung is awesome. Enlightenment is fun. Laughing with other humans ain't bad. Women rock. You know, the real ones. You can learn many wonderful things about the universe through them - with them. Did you know? Let me reword that - more direct and more weighty, perhaps. Being a Genii ain't too bad either.

Transmutate, Matt.

Just be careful what mode of mind you adopt.

[sevens]

Oh, Nietzsche!

If only you would have taken your own advice -- spun your wheel, into a child's sun! Why then do you think you thought yourself a sun, lying there motionless, on insane beds? Fear you harboured, beneath all your shining beacons. You, the greatest of psychologists! Still attached to your mother's adoration! Still weary over a timid father, whose power you could not yet will! But, leaders are rare. And, geniuses, all the more for it.

[David Quinn]

seven wrote:

I love Phish. And I enjoy Nature. Astral Travel will blow your mind. Out-of-Body experiences, too. I try not to let envy and jealously infiltrate my mind. Subtle poisons, man. Carl Jung is awesome. Enlightenment is fun. Laughing with other humans ain't bad. Women rock. You know, the real ones. You can learn many wonderful things about the universe through them - with them. Did you know? Let me reword that - more direct and more weighty, perhaps. Being a Genii ain't too bad either.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." - Jesus

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[sevens]

Thanks for the advice, Jesus.

- Daimon

[Leyla Shen]

Why, David, when he responds to you probably for the first time in plain English, do you respond with metaphor?

[David Quinn]

I thought it was pretty straightforward and direct. I'm not sure the point can be made any more plainly.

-

[Blair]

It's a Paradox.

The Wise man inverts his behaviour to make the student gag on his own vomit.

[sevens]

And what of the treasures, inside the heart and eyes, of a child?

Where else is Heaven to be found?

"Verily, you must become like a child, to see the Kingdom of God."

-/+

[Diebert van Rhijn]

New Age is very widespread here in America.

I think "New Age" is extremely poor defined, maybe because it covers so much territory. It seems to cover all kinds of medical, religious, historical and philosophical stuff spanning the whole of written history and beyond.

This all-embracing attitude that an average 'new age' shop or bookshop shelf implies by stacking so many things in one area, is probably more related to our modern mass-consumption supermarket society, than to any distinguishable movement as such.

Therefore I see it as a folly to speak about any real 'new age' movement that is spreading, in a religious sense. If anything is spreading it's a decline of dedicated religous or philosophical paths, leaving us with filled but empty supermarket shelves of the fragmented remains.

[David Quinn]

At bottom, "New Age" simply means feminine consciousness. It is the feminine expression of religion.

-

[sevens]

Be careful of your word choices, Mr. Quinn.

(Diebert's on point, by the way)

[sevens]

Arrrrrrg!

What is feminine about traveling within the mind - consciously? Don't Tibetan monks train their minds for such freedoms? And, what is feminine about exploring the regions of your mind, through depth psychology?

Isn't this the task of the sage?

(taps)

[David Quinn]

The fragmentation and the consumerism is also a reflection of feminine consciousness. The New Age mentality could only have arisen in the modern era to coincide with the rise of feminine values in the world (such as those found within democracy, femininsim, and consumerism). It is girl's own mysticism.

-

[sevens]

Mighty Quinn,

Where's your eskimo gone? So, your ice cold 'logic' states:

The Modern Age is so overun with Femininity, that it is the root of all evil!

Money.
Wars.
Computers.
Trees.
Bubble Gum.
Dirt.

All 'Feminine'.

Word choice, word choice.

Interesting, Dave.

(Hey, you do have a point though. When men can separate from their mothers, they can better understand women - and themselves. Thus, 'balance', and not a one-sided Dic-tatorship can be restored)

(Tap)

[David Quinn]

seven wrote:

What is feminine about traveling within the mind - consciously?

There is nothing wrong with travelling within the mind as such. But when it is incorporated with a relentless avoidance of Reality, truth, consistency, logic and rational clarity, then it simply degenerates into fantasy and feminine whimsy.

Don't Tibetan monks train their minds for such freedoms?

Ideally, they are training their minds to swim freely in Truth. But in practice, most Tibetan monks are trained to gullibly obey whatever their masters commmand and to give up their individualistic spark for Truth, which kills off their chances completely.

And, what is feminine about exploring the regions of your mind, through depth psychology?

Isn't this the task of the sage?

Yes, provided it is done with a mind that is fully focused on the nature of Reality and is strongly committed to the task of eliminating all falseness.

To use an analogy, if we compare the task of becoming enlightened to that of leaving home and travelling over treacherous mountain ranges and searing deserts and finally reaching a golden paradise beyond, the New Age person is someone who leaves his house only to tend to the back garden and play with the butterflies outside.

It's not enough to simply leave your house. You also have to burn your bridges, go in a specific direction and never come back.

-

[sevens]

(I'm Enlightened, David)

[David Quinn]

sevens wrote:

The Modern Age is so overun with Femininity, that it is the root of all evil!

Money.
Wars.
Computers.
Trees.
Bubble Gum.
Dirt.

All 'Feminine'.

Computers are probably the most masculine product on this list. They arose, initially at least, out of the pure masculine focus on invention.

Money is probably the most feminine. A woman's main focus in life is money. This is why 80% of floor space in shopping malls cater exclusively for women - their beauty products, shoes, dresses, hairdressers, bags, accessories, etc. It is also why the the first thing a woman looks at whenever she first meets a man are his shoes.

War is a case of the masculine mind being manipulated and dragged down by feminine concerns. Wars are usually fought over land, nationality, wealth, religion - all feminine concerns. Man may pull the trigger, but behind him stands woman, nodding in approval.

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[sevens]

Was being silly there.

-

Women check out a guy's shoes for many reasons.

Money not being, necessarily - the top priority.

-

Hmm, now, tap shoes...

(smile)

[Matt Gregory]

Therefore I see it as a folly to speak about any real 'new age' movement that is spreading, in a religious sense. If anything is spreading it's a decline of dedicated religous or philosophical paths, leaving us with filled but empty supermarket shelves of the fragmented remains.

I was beginning to think the same thing, actually. "New Age" seems more like the ebb of structured/disciplined thought. The swamp of animalistic desires that becomes apparent when people get tired of conformity.

[Matt Gregory]

The fragmentation and the consumerism is also a reflection of feminine consciousness. The New Age mentality could only have arisen in the modern era to coincide with the rise of feminine values in the world (such as those found within democracy, femininsim, and consumerism). It is girl's own mysticism.

It seems to me that it's the result of science undermining religion along with all of its values, but then not giving any kind of replacement, so everyone seems to be waiting for science to come up with some purpose of life and passively letting the feminine aspects of society bubble up and become apparent. I really don't think New Age has any profound influence on anything.

[zarathustra]

Hey Q, why don't women have men's brains?
cause they don't have dicks to carry them in - ha! ha! ha!

[Matt Gregory]

Ok there, dickhead.