CIM Briefing Papers

C.I.M. Outline #2

                      THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

The New Age Movement is impossible to define in one simple
sentence.  It is very broad and diverse, but here are some major
criteria which seem to be universally true of the movement:

1.  It is basically Eastern philosophy often "clothed" in
    scientifically-sounding terminology (see Scientology).  It
    also readily applies western technology.  It is a form of
    mystical humanism.    

2.  The main ingredients of its philosophy are:

    a.  The unity or connectedness of all things.  We are one
        with all other things.  
    b.  All is God.
    c.  Reality is spiritual rather than material as in Western
        thinking.  Reality is what you perceive or think,
        therefore, since you create what is real, you are god! 
        ("You can achieve what the mind can conceive!") 
    d.  The goal of New Age thinking is to achieve a higher form
        of consciousness (where you realize your oneness with all
        things and that god is within you).
    e.  Nota bena.  Evolution is a basic assumption of the New
        Age worldview.  Everything and everyone is in a state of
        becoming.  New Agers are optimistic.

3.  The main ingredients of New Age philosophy are found in Gen.
    3:4,5.  It is anything but new.

    a. "you shall not surely die"   Re-incarnation.
    b. "Your eyes will be opened"   Enlightenment.
    c. "You will be like God"       Humanism.
    d. "Knowing Good and evil"      Knowledge "Gnosticism"

4.  New Age thinking finds its way in into our culture in the
    following ways:  (Note: we are not saying that all the
    following are bad, only that they are the conduit for New Age
    ideas) Science fiction, holistic health movement, back-to
    nature movement, new trends in psychology, parapsychology,
    martial arts, rock music, children's cartoons, motivational
    seminars (positive thinking), new religious cults, occult
    practices, quantum physics, and generally speaking, leftist
    political causes("one worldism").

5.  New Agers can generally be associated with the following
    beliefs and practices: God is impersonal (a force), the
    universe is eternal, matter is illusionary, life is cyclical,
    the necessity of reincarnation, evolution, need for eastern
    meditation, occult practices, vegetarianism, pacifism, one-
    worldism, syncretism.

5.  Best Christian books:

    Unmasking the New Age, by Doug Groothuis.  It is probably
       college level.  
    For a more popular treatment see: Understanding the New Age,
       by Russell Chandler, or The New Age Cult, Walter Martin.

6.  The New Age Movement does have elements of conspiracy.  It is
    funded by large foundations which have produced several
    important think tanks; it has plans for permeating all of
    western culture.   
 
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