The Problem of Interpreting the Ancient Scriptures Is Creating Many New Religions (e.g., the New Age Movement)

In yesterday’s blog I said “An international discussion of document interpretations seems appropriate. I made this statement because interpreting scriptures has become a new problem in the 1920s. The new problem is that many new and very different religions are being created. I also pointed out that fewer and fewer people believe that the Old Testament was dictated to scribes by God. Some of the people who do not believe that the Old Testament is the Word of God are Jews and Christians who belong to a new religion known as the New Age. This movement spread through the occult and metaphysical religious communities in the 1970s and 1980 and looked forward to a “New Age” of love and light through personal transformation and healing.

The movement was named in the late 19th century by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, cofounder of the Theosophical Society. She believed that theosophists (who embraced Buddhist and Brahmanic notions such as reincarnation) should assist the evolution of the human race and prepare to cooperate with one of the Ascended Masters of the Great White Brotherhood whose arrival was imminent. Blavatsky believed that, as the world's hidden leaders, members of this mystical brotherhood guided the destiny of the planet.

Blavatsky's successor, Annie Besant, predicted the coming of a messiah, or world saviour, who she believed was the Indian teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti. Members of the New Age believe that divine energy is received by them and raises the level of spiritual awareness. Eventually, the New Age claimed the ability to transmit spiritual energy to the world and allegedly received channeled messages from various preternatural beings such as the Ascended Masters. As the New Age grew in the 1960s, a new organization, the Universal Foundation, appeared. Its wealthy leader, Anthony Brooke, traveled widely beginning in the mid-1960s, predicting that an apocalyptic event would occur during the Christmas season of 1967. Although the event never took place, an international network of New Age groups emerged.

While esotericism grew, theosophy suffered setbacks. In the 1880s Blavatsky was accused of faking miraculous events associated with the Ascended Masters. In the early 20th century the Theosophical Society was hurt again, this time by a series of sex scandals involving its leaders, and Besant was personally embarrassed by the defection of Krishnamurti in 1929. Nonetheless, the society was a significant catalyst in promoting public acceptance of the notion of psychic reality and conducted a program to raise awareness of other religious traditions among its members and the predominantly Christian general public.

The American theosophist, David Spangler, developed the fundamental idea of the New Age movement. The Birth of a New Age in 1976 attracted many leaders from older occult and metaphysical organizations. The collapsing psychedelic movement provided new members and spokespersons such as the psychologist, Richard Alpert, who was an advocate of the use of hallucinogenic drugs to achieve mystical experiences. He found enlightenment in India and returned to the West as Baba Ram Dass and disavowed drug experiences. Periodicals were published. As the movement grew, bookstores opened that specialized in the sale of New Age books, videos, and meditative aids.

The New Age movement became a whole based on two simple ideas. First, it predicted that a New Age of heightened spiritual consciousness and international peace would arrive and bring an end to racism, poverty, sickness, hunger, and war. This social transformation would result from the massive spiritual awakening of the general population during the next generation. Second, individuals could obtain a foretaste of the New Age through their own spiritual transformation. Initial changes would put the believer on the sadhana, a new path of continual growth and transformation.

Although most followers of New Age teachings believe that the new era is still to come, Benjamin Crème announced that a world saviour, or Maitreya, would appear in 1982. The initial interest stirred by that prediction waned when the Maitreya failed to appear..

This discussion of the New Age is supported by Encyclopedia Britannica