New Age Spirituality

New Age is a spiritual movement that dates back to the latter half of the twentieth century in Western culture. Nevill Drury describes this movement as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology, holistic health, parapsychology, consciousness research and quantum physics" in his book on The New Age: Searching for the Spiritual Self. Rather than subscribing to a singular religion or belief system, New Age is a spirituality that defies such labels and offers a practitioner the option to mold one's belief system around their own experiences and life understanding. Such a method allows me to explore many faiths and practices, as has been exhibited in this blog, without hindrance or judgement. New Age spirituality is about exploration in order to understand and embrace many paths of spiritual enlightenment. There is no singular religious, scientific, or philosophical practice that is central to New Age spirituality, and is instead an eclectic collection of aspects that are selected and embedded in one's own lifestyle.

I feel like this syncs up well with Jediism, and might possibly make a good Special Interest Group topic, particularly for those who don't feel wholly drawn to another religious practice, and are just looking for something spiritual without such labels as Abrahamic, Pagan, or Eastern. Any thoughts?

I was New Age for a long time before I found Jediism. It's a wonderful way to look at the universe.

Not only does it sync up well with Jediism, it seems to be a branch from the same tree.

When I was in college, I was writing up a research paper for a religions class I was in. I can't quite remember the topic, but I was talking about Tolle (The Power of Now) and how while studying that book I came to realize that my Aunt (that lives in Utah in the heart of Mormonism) had become a New Age believer.

I had corresponded with my Aunt for months and a lot of the subjects she was discussing with me were New Age topics. Of course, I didn't understand that until I was at the library and saw all the authors in the New Age section that she was referencing.

Anyway, you should make a pilgrimage to Sedona AZ. It's supposed to be the epicenter of New Age spirituality. I've been there several times, but never as a Jedi.

MTFBWY,
LTK

If you do go to Sedona, I happen to know a Jedi out there. . Been a member of the community since 1998, and I have had the opportunity to meet him in person.

Jediism is kind of new age. Also, we have the pagan section, which isn't really pagan, but neo-pagan. It's abuse of language.

It's kind of funny my family has always refered to me as the "new age,hippie,flower child"...then I joined TOTJO. They just shake thier heads and say it figures...I love keeping them on their toes..:silly

I suggest a new name..."Here and Now Spirituality" we'll need T Shirts!!!

I am currently new age/wiccan I embrace nature spiritualism and meditation but I rather an open mind by wonder than closed by belief so here I am seeking knowledge in another path that draws me. Each day I have learned some thing new, seen many similarities with my current beliefs, and find jediism to be more my path of serenity.

ren wrote: Jediism is kind of new age. Also, we have the pagan section, which isn't really pagan, but neo-pagan. It's abuse of language.

We do, yes, but New Age isn't really wholly Pagan as it is a sampling of Western, Eastern, Pagan, and even Secular practices. And Jediism is definitely New Age-y, I agree. So I'm curious why there isn't more New Age-centric material here. There are bits and pieces included in the Pagan and Eastern studies forums, but I feel there could be more, especially with the awesome size of the Pagan rite member count.

A lot of us were born with open minds and a "New Age" mentality. That combined with being born into a nerdy, Martial Arts crazed family is what kinda set me on the Jedi path. I didn't even know about the idea of Jediism until a couple weeks ago. Two years ago I began to practice what I once termed "energy manipulation". I got really big into New Age practices at the start of this year, and most of what I've been doing is clearing myself of physical, spiritual, emotional and mental negativity/impurity as well as beginning steps to overcome my human ego. However my main focus of meditation has been to connect with the Universal Life Force. So finding a whole community of Jedi really brightened my life. I also incorporate the use of crystals, mantra, affirmations and decree into my daily practices.

Here are some of the general beliefs among the New Age community that I've noticed. Think about the Universe as a sort of physical simulation in which we experience Life, Death, and Rebirth many times over in an effort to grow as spiritual beings. None of what we perceive as reality is true. The realms of Light beyond this are acknowledged as the true Reality.
"Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter" - Yoda
Physical existence is a giant act that we are all playing in for the sake of ultimately returning to Source as fully evolved beings. The key here is not that it's all an act, but that we are also writers of our own script. Each detail of our lives are pre-planned not by another, but is planned ourselves before we incarnate, for our highest good.
Darkness is seen as coming from within humans as a by product of negative emotions, and unresolved karma. Therefore the true Reality(The spirit world... so to speak) is pure love and light, and is not dark in any way.

That's... just from what I've seen.