Something I will never understand about the new year is why it begins in the middle of winter. Nothing is new but the numbers and dates; the weather certainly doesn't change.
I just got a BookMooch account yesterday [brknee] and so far I really like it. Soon I'll send out my Terry Pratchett book and hope more people request some other ones... I need points. I found a book I want to request but I'm waiting awhile until I do so; while I wait I'm browsing as well and I'm looking for books on Hinduism. Hence the inspiration for this post, because...
While looking through this list of which Hinduism is listed as a topic, I see an awful lot of those self-help religious books, and a few New Agey books as well. Self-help books I can tolerate the existence of all right, but I need an outlet to express my hatred of the New Age mentality. Some Wikipediac lines on New Age:
- Spiritual beings (e.g. angels, ascended masters, elementals, ghosts, and/or space aliens) exist and will guide us, if we open ourselves to their guidance.[20]
- Feminine forms of spirituality, including feminine images of the divine, such as the female Aeon Sophia in Gnosticism, are deprecated by patriarchal religions.[1][2]
- Children are being born today with a more highly developed spiritual power than earlier generations[26][27]
Now, my first issue with New Age is the complete essence of it: globalization. I abhore globalization in every form, least of all when applied to religion and spirituality. A global religion would render regional cultures and their subsequent religions [or vice-versa] totally irrelevant. New Age, drawing on certain beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Celtic religions may appear at first to uphold these religions, but it does just the opposite. Picking and choosing from different religions renders them all irrelevant because they all have doctrines stating "This is the way." As far as Hinduism goes, the quote that is used to justify this massacre of religions, "One truths, many paths," is probably less understood than they think. Hinduism itself has a number of different paths within its own Vedic and Hindu teachings. In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna re-iterates to Arjuna time and time again that his path is that of the warrior, and each caste has different duties and obligations. Krishna talks about different yogas, not different religions. With much the same attitude Christ uses to say that marriage is below the priesthood, Krishna emphasizes that he is the incarnation to worship, but he is an incarnation of Vishnu, a god with many incarnations. Krishna is Vishnu and Vishnu is Krishna; extend this to other Hindu deities and ____ is God and God is ____. Follow the Vedas and Upanishads and Krishna. All religions state something to this effect: "This is the way," "This is the truth," or, to quote Mr. Christ, "I am the Way and the Light, there is no path to the Father but through me." Every religion has a base of This Is The Absolute Truth, and for good reason; if its followers do not believe it to be the truth, why would they be followers?
My second issue is really one of taste and aesthetics. New Age is ugly and vulgar. New Age is like the Dollar Store shelf for religions. It has vulgar "Native American Indian" artwork - Realistic representations of women in the sky with stars in their hair and wolves howling at them from a mountain is not traditional or real Native American Indian artwork -, Egyptian idols that mean absolutely nothing as they are not idols in a true sense, and the art and music is all vulgar because it means nothing. Religious art is religious art is religious art and without a solid religion there is no meaning to the art; it's a useless handicraft. I suppose "the universe" quite enjoys having useless handicrafts stored in its space.
My third real problem with New Age is that it's the single most PC spirituality in existence. There's nothing less offensive [except perhaps to a Christian or Islamic fundamentalist] than, "Well, you go your way and I'll go mine and we'll both end up just fine." New Age says, "Hey, we're all fine and equal and whatever you believe is great, let's just respect everybody and get along happily." That isn't the essence of religion. The essence of religion, as I keep saying, is We're Right and You're Wrong, which usually translates to Believe This Or It's On. Religious wars exist for a reason. Usually these wars are, admittedly, a personal vendetta of the ruler of the people, but the people don't fight unless given a reason. The reason may not be true, and it may not even be valid, but The Masses believe it to be both and so fight for it.
In conclusion, the Universe dislikes New Age and so do I.
No comments:
Post a Comment