By Ray Yungen
In the last [few decades], many groups and individuals have come forward with various psycho-technologies for maximizing personal growth and human potential—this potential being in the higher self. New Agers understand that metaphysics must be presented in a way which will attract the greatest number of people—the advantage being that those who might reject any perceived attempts to slip them religion of any kind, would find the idea of growth techniques acceptable. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi did this with his Transcendental Meditation program emphasizing “the Science of Creative Intelligence” rather than mantra yoga, which is what it really is. Others have promoted scientific sounding terms like alpha state awareness or intuition development, which are just imaginative names for meditation.
The advantage New Agers have in enacting significant change in our society is evident in the following quote:
Metaphysics can be taught in highly religious terms, or it can be taught as a pure science, without any religious connotations whatsoever.1
When metaphysics is presented as a science, it is possible for a person to not be aware of its spiritual influence. Many people now coming into direct contact with the Ancient Wisdom do not realize nor understand what it’s all about. They may be told it concerns the latest findings on human development, since many times the people presenting it do not want them to know its true nature. The goal is to merge these practices into society so they will be considered normal and acceptable. To accomplish this, they change terms; meditation becomes centering, and the higher self may be called anything that sounds positive. The key is to rename any terminology that might turn people off. A metaphysics teacher once boasted to me that, “All I have to do is drop the mystical connotations and businessmen eat this stuff up. The experience sells itself.”
The following example illustrates this point well: I was talking once with the owner of a New Age bookstore when I noticed she had the hard-core material (i.e., channeling, spirit guides, etc.) located toward the back of the store, while the more mainstream books (i.e., self-help, holistic health, transpersonal psychology, etc.) were up in front. I made the comment that no difference between the two existed since they were both based on opening yourself up to the power of the higher self. The owner’s face broke into an impish grin and, putting her index finger over her lips in a hush gesture, she replied, “I know, but don’t tell anybody.”
(from For Many Shall Come in My Name by Ray Yungen)
Notes:
1. Bryant Reeve, The Advent of the Cosmic Viewpoint, op. cit., p. 260.
Related:
The New Age, Politics, and the Department of Peace by Ray Yungen
Man’s Dangerous Hunger for the Occult and the Supernatural by Carl Teichrib
