Vatican on New Age and Spirits' response - Part 2

Other implied truths

Some of the traditions which flow into New Age are: ancient Egyptian occult practices, Cabbalism, early Christian gnosticism, Sufism, the lore of the Druids, Celtic Christianity, mediaeval alchemy, Renaissance hermeticism, Zen Buddhism, Yoga and so on.
There is some truth in all schools and religions. All of the Truth was not given to any one person or group, alone, but to everyone in part, in proportion to his development. To know the Whole, we must draw from each of them those parts that were entrusted to them. However, all the old conceptions should be reviewed in light of every new information.

Much of the old teachings have already been rendered obsolete by more recent findings and revelations. There is always progress in all things.

Here is what is "new" about New Age. It is a "syncretism of esoteric and secular elements".(16) They link into a widely-held perception that the time is ripe for a fundamental change in individuals, in society and in the world. There are various expressions of the need for a shift:

- from Newtonian mechanistic physics to quantum physics;
- from modernity's exaltation of reason to an appreciation of feeling, emotion and experience (often described as a switch from 'left brain' rational thinking to 'right brain' intuitive thinking);
- from a dominance of masculinity and patriarchy to a celebration of femininity, in individuals and in society.
As explained earlier, New Age concepts and teachings relate both to the things in the world and the things of the spirit and of heaven.

Newton's physics and our physical brain functioning are worldly concerns.

Rational thinking is part of spirit development and at our present stage, we are just beginning the early phase of abstract thinking. Though largely unremembered, intuitive thinking relates to the knowledge gained from our past life experiences. Masculinity and femininity are just two different aspects of our being. In our many incarnations, we will at times be male, female, gay or lesbian until we are able to attain to a more complete and balanced development. Until such time that we are already "perfect", every seeming abnormality or aberrant behavior is for us really a normal condition and learning experience in the spirit sense, they being within the realm of human possibility.

Perhaps the clearest example of this, in terms of the relationship between New Age and Christianity, is the total recasting of the life and significance of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to reconcile these two visions.
The "vision" of the Church in regard to Jesus is its own conception and not at all according to how Jesus introduces himself and his God in his own words. The Holy Trinity is also another of these purely Catholic conceptions. Jesus never did teach these. All thoughts and teachings by others including those of the Church that contradict his direct teachings should be rejected, outright.

We should listen instead to Jesus - To the Master who knows, not his students who don't. His words are clear in the Gospels. Truth just needs to be more clearly understood.

2.21 One of the most common elements in New Age "spirituality" is a fascination with extraordinary manifestations, and in particular with paranormal entities. People recognised as "mediums" claim that their personality is taken over by another entity during trances in a New Age phenomenon known as "channeling", during which the medium may lose control over his or her body and faculties.

To convince skeptics initially, the medium or psychic performs only during deep trance, receiving and delivering messages given to him word for word, in a voice not his own, secretly and privately, under cover of darkness. Upon returning to consciousness, he remembers nothing of what transpired. Usually, the communications go far beyond the extent of his personal knowledge and experience.

As acceptance grows, further proofs become unnecessary and the medium is allowed to receive and relay information consciously, interpreting pictures and thoughts during daytime and in public. He can also recall everything that happened. Finally in the advanced forms of mediumship, the medium's eyes can be open and his body will exhibit no extra physical exertions or rigidity. Telepathy most closely approximates normal, unimpeded communication here on Earth.

As language improves and ideas are more effectively concretized, the messages become more meaningful, rational and better suited to the target audience, according to the audience's capacity to comprehend. At this advanced stage, the rules that apply in our evaluating information coming from any and all sources, whether from an authorized source or unauthorized, confirmed or unconfirmed, should at all times be observed fully.

Other friends and counsellors from the spirit world are angels (which have become the centre of a new industry of books and paintings). Those who refer to angels in the New Age do so in an unsystematic way; in fact, distinctions in this area are sometimes described as unhelpful if they are too precise, since "there are many levels of guides, entities, energies, and beings in every octave of the universe... They are all there to pick and choose from in relation to your own attraction/repulsion mechanisms".(22) These spiritual entities are often invoked 'non-religiously' to help in relaxation aimed at better decision-making and control of one's life and career. Fusion with some spirits who teach through particular people is another New Age experience claimed by people who refer to themselves as 'mystics'.
We communicate with those spirits that can offer us the information or help that we need and want. It is up to us whom we want to communicate with and what kind. Spirits are of all classes just like people on earth.

If we seek spiritual guidance, then we should invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirits. If we should need worldly advice or just want to be entertained, then we call on Familiar Spirits.

But everyone should take heed lest they be deceived. Only those who are serious and sincere merit the attention of high minded spirits. If we are frivolous and trivial, we will attract only those of our same kind.

In all of these activities, we should be open to new ideas. We should listen. But we should reserve our judgment until we are able to more thoroughly study the matter and arrive at our own conclusions. Only after should we decide on a course of action, whether to accept or reject the advice. But regardless, no harm can come to us unless we ourselves allow it.

2.22 Phenomena as diverse as the Findhorn garden and Feng Shui (23) represent a variety of ways which illustrate the importance of being in tune with nature or the cosmos. In New Age there is no distinction between good and evil. Human actions are the fruit of either illumination or ignorance. Hence we cannot condemn anyone, and nobody needs forgiveness. Believing in the existence of evil can create only negativity and fear. The answer to negativity is love. But it is not the sort which has to be translated into deeds; it is more a question of attitudes of mind. Love is energy, a high-frequency vibration, and the secret to happiness and health and success is being able to tune in, to find one's place in the great chain of being.

New Age teachers and therapies claim to offer the key to finding the correspondences between all the elements of the universe, so that people may modulate the tone of their lives and be in absolute harmony with each other and with everything around them, although there are different theoretical backgrounds.(24)
The first rule in seeking for Truth is to first analyze, test and question everything. We are to accept only those propositions that test true in the light of our personal experience and reject all that do not.

No source in our world is 100% complete, true or accurate. Feng Shui is an art, not a science, and while some may base their recommendations on certain valid known or little known natural principles, much is superstition, nevertheless, depending on the practitioner.

Of course, there is good and evil by comparison to one another. But no one should be condemned because all of us are prone to error, we being still in the process of learning. We are still on the main innocent and ignorant spirits - many are even devilish and mischievous. Jesus said of us, "They don't know what they are doing." But Jesus also said, "You must be perfect as the Father is perfect." And so we all shall in His time.

But even as we forgive, we should nonetheless exert all efforts to prevent the recurrence of harm to our self and others.

Love must be lived. Those who don't do not know love. It is not enough to think or believe only. The proof of knowing is in the doing.

Regardless what New Age and other teachers say, we should "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto us."

2.23 Formal (allopathic) medicine today tends to limit itself to curing particular, isolated ailments, and fails to look at the broader picture of a person's health: this has given rise to a fair amount of understandable dissatisfaction. Alternative therapies have gained enormously in popularity because they claim to look at the whole person and are about healing rather than curing. Holistic health, as it is known, concentrates on the important role that the mind plays in physical healing. The connection between the spiritual and the physical aspects of the person is said to be in the immune system or the Indian chakra system. In a New Age perspective, illness and suffering come from working against nature; when one is in tune with nature, one can expect a much healthier life, and even material prosperity; for some New Age healers, there should actually be no need for us to die.
This is just saying that our faults and character weaknesses are the root causes of all physical diseases and for that matter all unwanted situations and circumstances that come to be part of our life.