Albert Einstein: "After religious teachers accomplish the refining process indicated, they will surely recognize with joy that true religion has been ennobled and made more profound by scientific knowledge."

New Age Spiritually is best classified as a free-flowing spiritual movement. It is best described as a network of believers and practitioners who share similar beliefs, ideas, practices and hopes. In many ways New Age Spiritualists are helping to create a broader and more open future. They are very much in their own class of religion and are not greatly "organized" in the same ways as most religions. There is no single holy text or centralized organization. There is no real formal membership or clergy. The dogma or creed is not a single document that exists for the religion.

However, amongst the practitioners of New Age Spiritualism, there is agreement and some exclusive definitions for their terms. They hold seminars and conventions. There are books which are published and there are group meetings where members can come together to share their ideas.

Ultimately, New Age Spiritualism is a recognition of the very spiritual nature of mankind and the desire to explore this spiritualism without the confines of a single current accepted religious doctrine.

Quoting John Naisbitt:

"In turbulent times, in times of great change, people head for the two extremes: fundamentalism and personal, spiritual experience...With no membership lists or even a coherent philosophy or dogma, it is difficult to define or measure the unorganized New Age movement. But in every major U.S. and European city, thousands who seek insight and personal growth cluster around a metaphysical bookstore, a spiritual teacher, or an education center."

Many New Age Spiritualists include and use these philosophies in addition to their existing religious practices.  In fact, they are often adopted in the hopes to help better understand their existing religion.

Initially, New Age teachings became popular during the 1970's. Partly this was brought about as some people were reacting against what they perceived as the failure of Christianity and the failure of Secular Humanism to provide spiritual and ethical guidance for the future.

New Age philosophies are inclusive of many other beliefs, practices, and approaches. Members are willing to see and work with so many of the ancient, established, and modern principles to better understand their own spirituality. Included their philosophies are Astrology, Numerology, Channeling, Hinduism, Gnostic traditions, Spiritualism, Taoism, Theosophy,Wicca and other Neo-pagan traditions, etc.

*Recent surveys of US adults indicate that many Americans hold at least some new age beliefs:

• 8% believe in astrology as a method of foretelling the future
• 7% believe that crystals are a source of healing or energizing power
• 9% believe that Tarot Cards are a reliable base for life decisions
• about 1 in 4 believe in a non-traditional concept of the nature of God which are often associated with New Age thinking:
• 11% believe that God is "a state of higher consciousness that a person may reach"
• "8% define God as "the total realization of personal, human potential"
• 3% believe that each person is God.

*The group of surveys cited above classify religious beliefs into 7 faith groups. 2 Starting with the largest, they are: Cultural (Christmas & Easter) Christianity, Conventional Christianity, New Age Practitioner, Biblical (Fundamentalist, Evangelical) Christianity, Atheist/Agnostic, Other, and Jewish, A longitudinal study from 1991 to 1995 shows that New Agers represent a steady 20% of the population, and are consistently the third largest religious group.

© TheosEra.com Spiritual Community 2008