New Age Ideas

Admin Posts : 25 Join date : 2013-06-22

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Let's simplify this conversation. We all know that the world is not in good shape--so in my opinion it seems redundant to keep reminding us about this... Besides, you'll never be as good as the mainstream media at it.

I suggest we keep the focus on a select number of ideas. One, what we (as in you, or us) are doing now to BUILD THE FUTURE. And two, what do we plan to have in the future and how will we get there.

Conspiracies are all good and dandy. They go hand in hand with freethinking--which is a rare attribute these days. BUT I think there is a better place for them than here. Let's make this a place of positivity, hope and grandeur.

To start us off on a new age within this group, I suggest we discuss the topic of New Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age)

What ideas outline the New Age Movement?

- Our world does not reflect who we at our best can be.

- All our most significant social and political problems go back at least 300 years.

- The political system therefore needs to be transformed, not just reformed, with the help of a new political theory appropriate to our time.

- Holism – seeing everything as connected – is the first step on the way to creating that new political theory.

- Doing away with the categories of "left" and "right" is another essential part of that task.

- Significant social change requires deep changes in consciousness; institutional change is not enough.

- Above all, consciousness needs to become more ecologically aware, more feminist, and more oriented to compassionate global unity.

- Desirable values include nonviolence, diversity, a sense of community, and a sense of enoughness.

- Human growth and development, not economic growth, should be the overarching goal of New Age society.

- Ownership and control of institutions is important. But the size of institutions is at least as important. We must move away from big governments, big corporations, and other large institutions to the extent it enhances our lives.[

- We can begin this process by interlacing hierarchical structures with horizontal networks.

- Global unification is a key goal, but is probably best accomplished by networking at many levels rather than establishing a centralized world state.

- The agent of political change is no longer the working class, or any economic class. Instead, it is all those who are developing themselves personally and spiritually – all who aspire to live lives of dignity and service.

- Evolution is to be preferred to revolution. However, the forces of evolutionary change need not be a statistical majority. A "critical mass" of informed, committed, and spiritually aware people can move a nation forward.

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Focus on THIS collective of individuals and OUR ideas.

New Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The New Age movement is a Westernspiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences

Admin Posts : 25 Join date : 2013-06-22

I always considered the New Age movement to be more related to spirituality than is being portrayed in the above post. Here it seems to be more of a philosophy of life or social philosophy with a spiritual component rather than a spiritual focus. This ideology reminds me more of the hippy movement. While I agree with most of this counter culture, I also feel that the social and political changes that happened in the 1960s were responsible for causing a lot of problems in society. This movement de-emphasized the importance of competencies and differences among people and always seemed to side with the downtrodden and underachievers and fight against the successful.

- Our world does not reflect who we at our best can be.

Indeed, but no perfect world exists. Life is struggle and we must focus on competitiveness and constant improvement.

- The political system therefore needs to be transformed, not just reformed, with the help of a new political theory appropriate to our time.

What theory could replace it? I don't think political theory is our problem. I think our democratic system (or rather Republic) needs some tweaking, but is generally a good ideology. The problem is more cultural and institutional. I believe that the counter culture movement got a lot right but really missed out on the point that the quality of the people really make a difference.We all may be created equal and we all should be treated equally under law, but we all are not equal.

- Holism – seeing everything as connected – is the first step on the way to creating that new political theory.

I agree, but then again the separation of church and state is an important part of our system. As well diversity means separation of certain aspects of life as a means to avoid excessive intrusion on one's personal freedoms. How we strike this balance is an infinitely complex issue. I don't claim I have the answers to it.

- Significant social change requires deep changes in consciousness; institutional change is not enough.

Exactly. I feel that the most social change is going to come from private philanthropic work and private community building rather than from government reform. Until now, the focus has been centered on institutional change and I feel we have reached a point of diminishing returns of marginal utility on this front.

- Above all, consciousness needs to become more ecologically aware, more feminist, and more oriented to compassionate global unity.

I don't agree with the feminist part. It should be balanced.

- Human growth and development, not economic growth, should be the overarching goal of New Age society.

I really focus a lot on personal financial empowerment because it is very important that our basic needs are met and that we can live comfortably. Yet the culture of greed and constant growth is killing our society. A desire for wealth is good only when it is wedded to a strong spiritual and community "core" value.

- We can begin this process by interlacing hierarchical structures with horizontal networks.

This is one of the biggest issues and perhaps it would be relevant for me to start a separate topic on this.

- Global unification is a key goal, but is probably best accomplished by networking at many levels rather than establishing a centralized world state.

- Evolution is to be preferred to revolution. However, the forces of evolutionary change need not be a statistical majority. A "critical mass" of informed, committed, and spiritually aware people can move a nation forward.

Exactly. The majority of people are more or less sheep. Only perhaps 10% (or even less) of the population actually influence society either one way or the other (for better or worse). These are the real movers and shakers of society and history. We don't need numbers. We need quality rather than quantity.