TWO SIMPLE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING RELIGION IN AMERICA

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TWO SIMPLE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING RELIGION IN
AMERICA
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1. There are FIVE building blocks to Religion in
America
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2. and the U.S. is a hot-house for New
Religions

• Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
• Seventh Day Adventists
• Christian Scientists
• Jehovahs Witnesses
• Shakers
• Oneida Perfectionists
• Branch Davidians

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HOMESTEADS OF THE MIND BELIEF PRACTICE IN
METAPHYSICS
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Remember the U.S. is a hot-house for new
religions

• RELIGION (A p. 9)
• 1. System of symbols
• 2. Creed, Code, Cult, Community
• 3. Which helps people Orient themselves in the
  world
• 4. Regarding borders
• 5. Ordinary Extraordinary life

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AND RELIGION-LIKE MOVEMENTS

• Metaphysics that branch of philosophy which
  considers non-physical dimensions of reality
  (emotion, thought, Being, God)

• metaphysics any speculation about the odd,
  unusual, super-natural

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I. Definitions correspondence

• CORRESPONDENCE
• There are multiple levels of REALITY
• Theyre all connected
• We want to attain harmony among all the levels
• Often this means being one with Nature
• NOTE cousin to, but different from the
  Jewish-Christian-Muslim notion of Fall and
  Redemption

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Definitions magic

• 2. Magic
• there are multiple levels of Reality
• And I can learn TECHNIQUES
• To CONTROL reality
• NOTE this is the opposite of Religion! which
  calls for submission to not control of Gods
  will

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Definitions combination

• 3. Combination (Syncretism)
• Mixing ideas practices from multiple religions
  and philosophies
• Note many mainstream religions were originally
  syncretistic

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Definitions mysticism

• 4. Mysticism
• The experience of other Realities
• The techniques needed to experience other
  Realities
• Note most mainstream religions include
  mystical elements

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Definitions occult

• 5. Occult
• hidden, secret secret realities are
  revealed only to the select
• Note how different this is from the Christian
  idea of the gospel or Jewish Muslim
  messages publicly proclaimed for everyone

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II. ANCIENT ROOTS OF MODERN metaphysics

• Hermeticism
• Ancient Greece
• Hermes Trismegistus
• (Greek-Egyptian god)
• Hermetic Books
• Mystic magical practices

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Ancient Roots

• 2. Neo-Platonism
• PLATO (428-348 b.c.)
• Multiple layers of Reality
• Thought can penetrate to higher reality
• Neo-Platonism
• 3. Gnosticism secret Platonic-like learning

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Ancient Roots

• 4. Astrology
• The Stars determine our fate

• 5. Alchemy
• There are secret ways to turn lead into gold!

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Ancient Roots

• 6. Kabbalah
• Ancient Jewish mysticism
• Multiple realities
• Angels demons
• Secret signs codes

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Ancient Roots

• 7. Rosicrucianism Freemasonry
• 1600s
• Protestant groups
• Brothers of the Rose Cross
• Magic, secret powers
• Influenced early Free-Mason Brotherhoods

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III. Colonial metaphysics

• ASTROLOGY
• Natural astrology how the stars function
  scientifically
• Judicial astrology how the stars shape human
  choice
• Colonial ALMANACS

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Colonial metaphysics

• WITCHCRAFT
• 1692 Salem Trials
• The Woman in the Wilderness Brotherhood
• cunning folk
• colonial enthusiasm for the odd, strange,
  unusual, weird

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IV. The BOOM in metaphysics in 19th Century
America

• 1. The
• TRANSCENDENTALISTS
• Poets, essayists
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Neo-Platonists (human thought can penetrate to
  Higher Realities)

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The Boom Transcendentalists

• Combination/
• Syncretism mix all religions together!
• Influence of E. Swedenborg (1688-1772) visions,
  conversations with angels, maps of Higher
  Realities

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The BOOM Spiritualism

• 2. Spiritualism
• There are easy-to-learn techniques
• To contact
• And Control (!)
• The Spirit-World!

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Spiritualism

• Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910) the Seer of
  Poughkeepsie
• Mesmerism/ Animal Magnetism
• Mediums Séances
• 1893 National Spiritualist Association

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Spiritualism

• 1848
• Upstate New York
• The Fox Sisters (Margaret, Kate, Leah)
• rappings spirits
• Fake?

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The BOOM Theosophy

• 3. Theosophy
• HELENA BLAVATSKY (1831-1891)
• ANNIE BESANT (1847-1933)
• Secret knowledge mix from several religions
• Important source of information about Asian
  religions
• Promises of a New Age

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The BOOM New Thought

• 4. NEW THOUGHT
• Phineas Quimby (1802-66) you can think your way
  to health success if you know how!
• Mary Baker Eddy Christian Science

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The BOOM New Thought

• Warren Felt Evans (1814-1889) HOW TO think your
  way to health success The Mental Cure (1869)
• Think Positive!
• 10 (or 12 or 15) Keys to Positive Thinking!

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The BOOM New Thought

• Charles myrtle Fillmore UNITY
• Norman Vincent Peale Christianity Positive
  Thinking!

1952
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The BOOM Parapsychology

• 4. PARA-PSYCHOLOGY - do humans have mental
  capabilities of which were still unaware?
• William James
• Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception (1954)

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V. The Continuing Fascination with metaphysics

• NEO-PAGANISM
• Pantheism worship of Nature
• Wicca Gerald Gardner, 1950s
• Neo-Druids

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Continuing fascination

• 2. SCIENCE metaphysics
• SCIENTOLOGY
• L. Ron Hubbard
• SCIENCE is the source of truth but a secret
  science can lead to health happiness

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Continuing fascination

• 3. UFOs
• HEAVENS GATE
• Marshall Applewhite
• 1997 suicides

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Continuing fascination

• 4. NEW AGE religions philosophies
• More on this later!