The Truth contest, Essential Oils and New Age Spirituality

[AceBoogie]

Though there is no official doctrine or set of beliefs for these folks, I think this type of 'religion,' if it can even be called that, is becoming more and more popular now days as a result of mostly younger folks or millennials rejecting most forms of mainstream religion. Still hanging on to their dogmatic ways of thinking, but rejecting the concepts presented by religions like Christianity or Islam, the people believe that they are somehow separate or different from other religious folks, but they've actually just created a new sort of anti religion. A set of beliefs that is not really agreed upon or debated, just a general idea that, "We're not religious, we're spiritual."

The New Age Spirituality movement's beliefs/ideas/practices etc. include but are not limited to:

The Truth contest
The Law of Attraction
Essential oils
Healing Crystals
Prayer
Mantra
Yoga
Meditation
Mindfulness
Mind expansion
Use of psychedelics
Pacifism
Vegetarianism
Veganism
The Age of Aquarius
Alternative Medicine
Ancient aliens/UFOs/Aliens
Animal magnetism
Creation myths
Chakras
Channeling
Astrology
Apocalyptic prophecies

The great thing about being a part of this movement is, you're not necessarily required to believe in/practice/think about all, or any for that matter, of these things! It's a sort of net gun of spiritual thought/practice. They borrow many practices and beliefs from various religions, allowing themselves to move freely from one contradicting idea to the next, all the while maintaining that everything they are saying makes perfect sense if you just 'open your mind.'

Now as with any set of beliefs, you can cherry pick certain things from it and probably get quite some use out of those things. I actually practice meditation quite often and find to be very helpful in calming my mind and allowing me to think more clearly. But you won't see me going online spending hundreds of dollars on essential oils that 'promote vitality and positive thinking' all while 'channeling my crown chakra.' Not for me.

While I am sort of poking fun at this stuff, I'm honestly interested to see what people think about the New Age Movement and some of their beliefs. And do you consider yourself spiritual?

What do you find to be most interesting about these beliefs or practices? Do you believe in any of these things yourself?

[Jesster]

I have two different views on this. On one hand, I think their beliefs are as silly as any other religious beliefs. They just can't commit, which makes them very dodgy on what their actual beliefs are and why they hold them. On the other hand, this sort of belief is far less likely to cause problems for anyone who disagrees with them. I won't stand in their way of doing this, but I will mock them just as equally if they ever try to push their ideas on me (and some have). I do, however, have more friends with these new-agey beliefs than Christian friends despite the sample size. They seem to be less pushy, so I'm cool with that.

[AceBoogie]

I agree with you there Jesster; the folks that I know who are into this kind of stuff are usually pretty private about it. I'm sure if they're around other spiritual people they're a little more open about it, but I've never had someone preach to me about how I need to channel my heart chakra or wear crystals around my neck to protect me from demons when I astral project myself into the fifth dimension.

And the lack of commitment to any one set of ideas is what allows them a little more room to argue when they're pressed to explain themselves. As a Christian you are, nine times out of ten, tied to the Bible. If you cherry pick certain ideas people see through your veil very quickly, whereas if you cherry pick ideas as a 'new ager' you're not really tied to anything because no one ever made a claim that certain beliefs or practices are fundamental tenets to being spiritual.

[Doubting Thomas]

My wife is into essential oils, I just let her run with it because she tends to get into things like that for a while and then move on to something else. And I don't mind the smell of the oil. When my sinuses are stuffed up, the peppermint smell seems to help. But I don't doubt that a lot of the essential oil stuff is pure woo. If you think certain oils will help with X, then you'll think the oils help with X.

Just one anecdotal bit of "evidence" for essential oils: I had a tick on me, and she put some lavender oil on it, and it came right off. Of course I'm betting that it wasn't necessarily the lavender oil but probably any oil, like cooking oil for instance, likely would have made the tick detach.

[Alex K]

I'm religious now because I'm a vegetarian? Who knew!

[Athene]

I wouldn't consider vegetarianism, in and of itself to be "New Aged Spirituality". That could be a matter of necessity, simple dietary preference,  etc. 
I don't put much stock into any of the other stuff, though...none, actually.

[Jesster]

I'm religious now because I'm a vegetarian? Who knew!

I wouldn't consider vegetarianism, in and of itself to be "New Aged Spirituality". That could be a matter of necessity, simple dietary preference,  etc. 
I don't put much stock into any of the other stuff, though...none, actually.

I definitely don't see the religious/spiritual edge to either of these, either. The only reason I can think of for them being on this list is that a lot of new age spiritual people are vegetarians/vegans simply because of their religious beliefs. There are good and bad reasons for it. That doesn't make the act itself bullshit in any way, though.

[paulpablo]

Yeh I'm a bit confused as to why 3 things in particular are mentioned.  The veganism, animal magnetism and the law of attraction.

I would agree that there's a lot of bullshit that's talked about animal magnetism and the law of attraction.  Women will say there was no chemistry between this guy they went on a date with and it can usually be translated to he had a crap job or he was telling shit jokes or something.  And there's a lot of bullshitery that goes on with these pick up artists and all of that.

I do think that there are measurable proven ways to be more attractive and have a more magnetic personality in general though it just won't work all the time.

[AceBoogie]

I'm religious now because I'm a vegetarian? Who knew!

Can you please quote where I said that being a vegetarian makes one religious? If I wrote that I'm not seeing it, and I'd really like to clear that up if I did. Thanks

I wouldn't consider vegetarianism, in and of itself to be "New Aged Spirituality". That could be a matter of necessity, simple dietary preference, etc.
I don't put much stock into any of the other stuff, though...none, actually.

You're right, vegetarianism, in and of itself, doesn't have anything to do with "New Aged Spirituality." However, many 'New Agers' certainly do become vegetarians for moral reasons that stem from their beliefs in things like karma, reincarnation, cleansing of the chakras or the pineal gland and/or the general spiritual well-being, and that's why I included it in the list.

I definitely don't see the religious/spiritual edge to either of these, either. The only reason I can think of for them being on this list is that a lot of new age spiritual people are vegetarians/vegans simply because of their religious beliefs. There are good and bad reasons for it. That doesn't make the act itself bullshit in any way, though.

Emphasis mine.

I thought it was pretty clear that this was the connection I was attempting to convey. I suppose I wasn't clear enough. I agree, being a vegetarian or vegan isn't necessarily 'bullshit' in and of itself. But I was clearly drawing a connection between vegetarianism and veganism with spirituality. I mean this is a thread about New Age Spirituality by the way.

Not sure if you guys are just nitpicking or if you legitimately were not able to make that inference. Or maybe the context of the thread wasn't clear enough.

[vorlon13]

Had a guest in the house recently that left a vanilla/coconut/something else plug in air freshener thing here.

The house reeks. Whatever touchy feely happy wappy effect it's supposed to have isn't working on me.


Grrrrr.