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FEATURE - AFTER NEW AGE - THE NEXT AGE

Crisis in New Age Movement May Lead to Metamorphosis, Says Donal Leonard

VATICAN CITY, MAY 12, 1998 (ZENIT) - The "New Age" is in crisis. Not a few specialists have sounded the alarm. According to the experts it remains unclear whether this crisis is bound to bring down this phenomenon (causing the emergence of something else) or whether we will be confronted by a metamorphosis.

Several symptoms indicate this "crisis" according to Donal Leonard, professor of Phenomenology of Religion at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. It is sufficient to consider the drop in prices of crystals (an authentic sign of belonging for the followers of the new religious movements), the failures and closures of many New Age book stores, the crash in sales of books inspired and produced by this line of thought, and a certain "weariness" or outdating of its ideologies and promoters.

According to Leonard, the cause of the crisis is due, on the one hand, to its excessive commercialization. Like other religious movements born in the United States, New Age found itself quickly subjected to the rules of business. Given that such a phenomenon cannot be "new" for very long, "New Age" became an old "product" and its capacity to attract has begun to fall short in market quotas.

On the other hand, New Age's own limitations are also playing a significant role. It had promised a new era, the Age of Aquarius, characterized by happiness, peace, and harmony in all fields of human existence. Nevertheless, this "Age," prophesized by astrology, its theorists, and its spirits, has not arrived. No golden age appeared and, consequently, disillusionment has set in. History has shown that the world never evolves into an age of bliss. On the contrary, at times it even seems to be growing worse. In the last two decades we have been terrorized by new and cruel wars (for example, the war in ex-Yugoslavia and atrocities of Rwanda) and new diseases have arisen, such as AIDS.

Professor Leonard warns that the slump in the New Age market is a phenomenon particular to the U.S., and it may take years for the crisis to reach other countries. Since New Age is more a myriad of networks and currents than a centralized movement, it is unlikely that its demise will be abrupt and complete, like the bankruptcy of a company. Even if it goes down as a movement, it will surely leave in its wake a heritage of religious relativism, anti-dogmatism, and in a certain sense, neo-paganism. In the past two decades, for example, New Age ideas have certainly played a major role in fostering belief in reincarnation. It may die as a movement, but that is no indication that it will "rest in peace."

Granted that the wind has gone out of the sales in the commercialization of New Age, some of the movement's leaders have proposed a new evolution, which implies a new name. Since the term "New Age" now sounds old and out of fashion, its ideologists are speaking of the "Next Stage" or "Next Age." Along with the new name there comes a change in clothing and lifestyle as well. Whereas for self-proclaimed New Age gurus, bold and vibrant colors were "in," the new look for the "Next Stage" is that of pin stripes and silk ties. An example of the changing scene is Deepak Chopra, once an important figure in the Transcendental Meditation movement (until 1993), who went independent and became a millionaire thanks to the publication of his own "bestsellers." But the most profound transformation in New Age's slip into "Next Age" is the markedly individualistic and narcissistic turn it has taken: Due to the impossibility of prophesying a New Era for the whole world, it now claims only to assure individual happiness. The "Next Age" will not come for everyone, it is meant for me.

Donal Leonard considers that the aspects of the "Next Age" most directly concerning the Catholic Church are basically the same as the Aquarius movement. The "Next Age" continues to propose a subjective religiosity, rejects any dogmatic rigidity and ethical demands, and promotes moral relativism in all its forms. Its fundamental characteristics will still be an ideological search that ends up falsifying the concept of God (pantheistic vision), the divinity of Christ (model-master), the reality of sin (illusion), and the truth of the last things (reincarnation). Because it is even more centered on the individual, the religiosity of the "Next Age" presents itself as the construction of the ego ("ego building"), a species of "body building" for the spirit. It is a philosophy diametrically opposed to Christianity, which centers its theology and ascetics in a personal God.

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