Marija Dalbello

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Image credit Victor GAD
Marija Dalbello New Age
Rutgers School of Communication, Information, and
Library Studies dalbello_at_scils.rutgers.edu http//
www.scils.rutgers.edu/dalbello
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New Age _______________________________________ i
dentity crisis product (secular modernity loss
of community) response to the cultural
uncertainty of our times Rooted in 2 key
utopian ideologies of modernity utopianism of
the Enlightenment project de-traditionalized NA
monism motto of secular Enlightenment Have
courage to use your own reason! theistic
utopianism the self of the NAger is
intrinsically good (inner experience) God in
traditional theism is infinitely more than
anything we can hope to be God in NA is being
what, in essence, we already are Christian
seeks salvation through worship, prayer,
obedience, and discipline, understanding of
texts NA actualization through working on
ego-attachments to master what is inside
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New Age _______________________________________
internalized form of religiosity de-traditionaliz
ed need to shed ego-constraints brought about
by socialization and institutions perennialism a
utonomy and freedom highly valued authority
lies within the experience of the Self or the
natural realm self-ethic important self-respons
ibility metanarrative operationg on the
experiential level perennialized outlook (wisdom
is found at the heart of all religious traditions)
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New Age _______________________________________
self-directedness vs. external authority / dogma
/ doctrine teachers and leaders (learning to
experience) vs. anthropomorphic gods monism (New
Age) vs. theism (Christianity-Judaism-Islam
Hinduism) vs. secularism (Enlightenment
project) spirituality (theism allows for
explanation of God transcending human
comprehension NA works within human measure -
God cannot exceed human comprehension in horror,
there is no God just anxiety, some scientific
resolution possible but God is also above human
comprehension)
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New Age _______________________________________ D
evelopments 18th / 19th -century deists,
freethinkers, Swedenborgians - influence of
eastern or pagan ideas, rejected orthodox
religion in favor of sacralized rendering of
nature and other esoteric themes self-spirituality
, sacralized self in the 18th19th century
Romanticism The London Theosophical Society,
founded by Rev. Jacob Duche in 1783 (William
Blake) Counter-culture of the Fin de Siècle Mme
Blavatskys Theosophical Society active and
attracting followers Mirra Alfassa (Auroville -
ashram in Pondicherry) Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn (1888) Aleister Crowley joined Ordo
Templi Orientis, a German occult order in 1912
in 1922 founded Abbey of Thelema in Sicily
(magical community from which to launch a new
era)
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lavatsky, Jung, Gurdjieff Mme Helena Blavatsky
(1831-1891) (Theosophical Society most
influential 19th century rendering of New Age
fundamental unity of all existence and faith in
perennialized view of religious traditions
international offshoots) Jung (1885-1961)
archetypal (perennial components of the human
psyche) Gurdjieff (1866-1949) taught that we are
able of obtaining objective consciousness
(enlightened state but we are not aware of it
because we are prisoners of external
circumstances emphasis of transformantional
techniques impact on est and other seminars
focusing on the harmonious development of man
formative for NA repertoire which is established
by 1920s) The sixties and the Age of
Aquarius the commune movement in the
1960s Institutionalization of counter-cultures in
the 1970s (changing the mainstream civil rights
movement)
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New Age _______________________________________
Counter-cultural spirituality since the
sixties alternative values and experiences but
not advocating to drop-out of society antimodernis
t harmonial spirituality (seminar spirituality
and prosperity entitlement matching
internal/external processes holistic
interconnectedness) Prosperity beyond the
counter-culture Self-spirituality in the
corporate context est-influenced movements
Gurdjieff-inspired Krone Associates for Pacific
Bell specialized trainings, events, businesses
Publicationsdirected at business people