MB Civic

Your life was never meant to be a struggle, nor is it a school, and you did not come here to learn anything, but to experience everything physical. You have a purpose driven life. You are both the creator and the created. With the awareness of the purpose that you have given your own life, will come the power to manifest it. The wisdom to create the life that you desire is buried within you. There are no mountains to climb and no guru can give it to you. You simply have to bring the awareness of it into your consciousness

The New Age movement is hardly novel! Its philosophy is rooted in ancient traditions, often based on mystical experiences, each within a different context. Anthropologically, there have always been (wo)men within “primitive” societies who were looked upon as possessing special knowledge and power. Medicine men, or shamans, had undergone a spontaneous catharsis, or were initiated and felt called upon to maintain contact with the spirit world for the clan. When communities became more complex and organized there was little place for these loners. Society began to specialize, people realized and felt drawn to form groups, guilds, or societies, to ensure continuance and growing perfection. Contact with the spirit world was given into the hands of organized religion, which also provided an established answer to questions about the unknown and the Highest Power.

People who felt endowed with special powers could hardly adapt themselves to the corset of established faith. They went underground. Yet they endeavoured to contact kindred spirits and pupils willing to follow in their footsteps to pass on the work. Esoteric tradition became handed down in spiritual groups, communes, or fraternities. Their mutual devotion resulted in a high degree of perfection comparable to the guilds of craftsmen. In their mystical experiences they beheld a spiritual reality that could hardly be reconciled with the dogmatic representation given by the churches. When passing on their experiences, they had to exercise extreme caution, lest being accused of heresy. Yet knowledgeable minds would understand their veiled writings, symbolic representations, or even gestures. In spite of all hindrances and opposition, hidden (occult) spiritual tradition reached unknown shores! One of them being Europe, where interest in ancient traditions was revived at various times.Interest in these traditions alternated. After periods of decline, often as a result of cultural and political conditions, a growing need for revival of old almost forgotten values followed. The occult tradition seems so tremendously powerful that it cannot be suppressed. It develops in cycles of flourishing and decline – each renaissance with a fresh approach, adapted to the spirit of the times.Renewed interest in these spiritual, religious and magical traditions had a tremendous impact on the minds of man. The latest revival in a popularized form is that of the New Age movement in the late sixties.

What became known as the New Age movement injected new life into almost forgotten traditions at a time that Christian faith had lost its meaning for the younger generation.
New Age’s greatest growth has been in the United States. This is not surprising, as it was based on already existent, but dormant, religious/philosophical movements which had come to a head in the nineteenth century. As we have seen Oriental religion and the European occult traditions had made a great impact on the intellectual elite of America in the nineteenth century . The second president John Adams(1767-1848) is known for his fascination with Oriental thought. He was a voracious reader of the translations of Eastern religious works.The leaders who stood at the craddle of the birth of the nation were influenced by Masonic, Spiritualistic and Rosicrucian thought. “A New Order of the Age begins” proclaims the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Eight signatories of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons, amongst whom Benjamin Franklin (see image) and George Washington, as were sixteen subsequent presidents.Prominent American writers, who became known as the Transcendentalists, were deeply influenced by Eastern thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882) was one of the great admirers of Oriental religious classics, notably the Bhagavad Gita. His secretary, Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden, a source of inspiration for hippies a century later.
One of the foremost American psychologists of the time William James (1842-1910) published in 1902 his pioneering Varieties of Religious Experience, building a bridge between psychology and religion. It has become the cornerstone of scientific study of religion to this day. Prof. James also called for a serious study of paranormal phenomena and played a leading part in the foundation in 1885 of the American Society for Psychical Research. A noteworthy event was the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. It was the first time that a platform of this kind had been organized. Before an audience of four thousand people leaders of the great religions presented their views on life. One of the results was a greater appreciation for Oriental religions, who were well-represented. Swami Vivekenanda expounded inner Hinduism; Soyen Shaku, abbot of a Japanese Rinzai monastry: Zen-Buddhism. Anagarika Dharmapala established after the congress an American branch of the Maha Bodhi Society, the first Buddhist society in the West.

This was merely the beginning of a flow of Eastern teachings and guru’s to effect Western thinking.At the same time the Western esoteric tradition also found a following in new schools, movements and cults. Too numerous to go into here presently.New Age was primarily a movement amongst the younger generation in the late sixties that demanded to play a greater part in all aspects of society. Through the use of mind-expanding drugs a greater reality was being unfolded to them that called for other explanations than traditional religion could give. Its concepts of God and Love were too narrow to accommodate the overwhelming experiences they had on their trips. Transcendence, self-realisation, yoga, meditation, all part of existing traditions, were being rediscovered and practised.
Originally it had been given the name: the Age of Aquarius to signify the new era of spiritual enfoldment as foretold in astrology.
In the early seventies, when the movement was well on its way, the name New Age was adopted. Of course it was a term with whiskers on. William Blake schreef al in 1804-08, in zijn voorwoord van Milton: “Rouze up, O Young Men of the New Age!

As might be expected New Age unleashed counter-forces from the side of fundamentalist Christian denominations. Especially after Marilyn Ferguson wrote in her book The Aquarian Conspiracy that the fraternity dedicated to this philosophy constituted a worldwide network. Dedicated persons would recognize each other in a few minutes without secret signs, but merely by a short exchange of ideas. This was seen as a sort of Satanic conspiracy. Especially people who followed so-called occult practices came under suspicion. The orthodox Christian establishment found allies in the equally dogmatic Sceptics and members of CSICOP in their efforts to suppress and misrepresent New Age and occultism in the media. But in effect it were the Christians who started misrepresenting the life of Jesus. This is the conclusion of some modern biblical scholars. The oldest document of the Jesus tradition that survived is that of the Thomas gospel, part of the Nag Hammadi papers discovered in Egypt in 1945. In it a gnostic Jesus comes forward that has more affinity with the New Age than the fundamentalism of extremist Christianity.Christians consider the Bible the word of God whereas a little research shows that the oldest 4th century codices we have is the product of countless copying errors, inconsistencies, alterations and invention of fairy tale-like stories, often borrowed from pagan sources, to instill awe in the figure of Jesus who supposedly endorsed their dogmatic views but who may have been a heretic himself. For one thing, the gospels were not written by the apostles.

The most important event in Jesus life, the crucifixion, may not even have taken place. It is not mentioned in the oldest first century documents. The later Christians instilled fear in followers with their prediction of the end of the world to come in in their lifetime, started bloody persecution of heretics and Jews. Thus they made a mockery of what their supposed founder taught.
New Age has not traveled to the end of the road yet. It is reaching a stage of maturity in which wheat is being separated from the corn. Yet, it still comprises a broad spectrum of activities from the commercial rip-off to unselfish dedication to serve mankind spiritually. Many do not wish to be associated with the name because it reminds them of the turbulence associated with the uprising of the younger generation in the late sixties and the lamentable drug excrescences. One may pray that the movement will sustain its original purity and raise high the spirit of new generations, giving it an immense vista of life and a purpose to live for.

You might be a New Ager if…. you carry crystals on every part of your clothing – Including your belt buckle ! –
you feel that your illnesses are caused by the tanic possesion, Pranic dissonance, or an imbalance between Yang & Yin –
you name your child Aquarius Moonwind Morningstar Jonathan Livingston Seagull –
you have a PET named ” Karma – Ra – Rainbow Bodhi ”
you refer to said pet as your ” Animal Companion ” –
you practice Tai Ch’i & drink Chai Tea,

How do you tell a New Age witch from a NeoPagan Witch? You throw them both in the water. The NeoPagan Witch will float, whereas the New Age Witch will sink under the weight of all their overpriced crystals….
Q: How many yogis does it take to change a light bulb? A: Into what?
If Martians live on Mars and Venusians live on Venus , who lives on Pluto ? Fleas

HOW THE TWELVE SIGNS DEAL WITH NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES
ARIES: “Who’s in charge here? I’d like to see God right now, please. Am I dead? Gee, I never thought that could happen to me! Where can I get a crystal palace backlit with white light like that one?”
TAURUS: Leaving the body, Taurus realizes that he or she no longer has a stomach and immediately returns to the body (thud!), without seeing tunnels, light, God, etc., making Taurus skeptical for the rest of his or her life.
GEMINI: The key thing to the zodiacal twins isn’t the experience itself, but how they can embellish it when telling the story (or writing about it). Since Geminis are comfortable in all worlds, except those without telephones, they usually bounce back to the body fairly rapidly– and the mouth tends to work before the rest of the body comes back to life.
CANCER: Cancerians can live to be 125 years old, and they don’t usually have near death experiences, but they can come awfully close to having a near life experience when they get brave and venture out of their house for “supplies.”
LEO: “Nooooooo, I am NOT dead. I am not, I am not, I am not . . . Who are those guys in the white robes? What’s that they’re singing . . . ? They’re off key. I can sing better than that! Where’s the choir director? I need a microphone immediately. Unless it’s Rolling Stone or Spin, hold my calls.”
VIRGO: Working a marathon 60 hours straight, Virgo collapses and leaves the body. She moves through that delightfully clean and sparkling tunnel of light, occasionally reflecting upon possible improvements . . . but soon becomes so worried by the thought of her loved ones “managing” without her that she snaps back into the body like white lightning, sits up, and calmly pronounces herself alive, glancing at her watch.
LIBRA: Floating out of the body, then in, then out, then in, and finally out again . . . Libra sees a tunnel and a vibrant being of light at the other end. “Wow, is that Jesus ? Wait a minute, maybe it’s Kwan Yin . That looks like something she’d wear.” Never deciding whether to go through the tunnel (after all, what’s death without someone to share it with?) Libra ends up back in the body by default, hounded by a mysterious compulsion to start a dating service for discarnate souls.
SCORPIO: Since most Scorpio’s have nine lives, they tend to brainstorm different ways to trigger the near death experience. Once nearly dead, most can barely get to the end of the tunnel without meeting some being with whom they have astral sex. When asked whom they prefer to greet them on the other side, 75% name a favorite vampire, and Medusa is a strong contender.
SAGITTARIUS: Sag floats out of her body and has to laugh at the stupid way she bought the farm. After somehow BREAKING the tunnel of light, she absolutely refuses to return to the body, since she’s been trying to get out of it for all these years (via clumsy accidents). Because Sag is immensely curious about whether the so-called organized religious have any validity at all, this stroke of luck leads to some amaaaaaazing lessons, until, alas, the astral folks tire of her and trick her into returning to Earth for the duration.
CAPRICORN: It might take Capricorn a little while to realize he is dead because there are special rooms set up to look like executive offices for newly-dead Goats. A sharp-looking, older gentleman-ghost comes in and gives Cap an instruction manual titled HOW TO PROFIT IN THE ASTRAL MARKETPLACE, plus a “job evaluation” type assessment of Cap’s achievements and mistakes over the lifetime, followed by a pink slip (meaning the body revived). Caps tend to return to their bodies quickly, unable to tolerate non-physical existence for long.
AQUARIUS: Aquarius gets to the pearly gates, sees that heaven isn’t run by consensus, and opts for hell, where at least there is an appealing anarchy and rules are made to be broken. Ironically, Aquarian near-death experiences tend to be extremely traditional, i.e., God the Father, St. Peter , the celestial choir and so on (another reason to rebel and opt for hell). Once in the underworld, they bedevil the hell out of Satan and his cronies with their loud and vigorous campaigns for progressive reforms, and are quickly expelled back to the body.
PISCES: For some reason, our Piscean friends barely notice their near death experiences. Instead, during a typical day at the office, many Pisceans report seeing beings with long-suffering expressions on their faces and who patiently tell the Piscean to go back to his or her body.

WHICH PET WOULD GO BEST WITH EACH SIGN?
Aries: Anything, as long as it’s got a lot of energy!
Taurus: A turtle: it¹s slow-moving, doesn¹t need a lot of attention, and won¹t compete with its owner for food.
Gemini: A talking parrot; need I say more? Well, of course I do, but–
Cancer: Anything, as long as it needs to be nurtured
Leo: A big, bold, ferocious feline, as long as it doesn¹t compete with its owner¹s place in the sun.
Virgo: Let¹s see, I have to get up at 7:30 to feed it, let it out at 7:45, at 10:00 I need to go to the grocery store to pick up three cans of food, which will cost $3.86, including tax–
Libra: Hm, good question. One the one hand, a dog is active, affectionate, and companionable. On the other hand, a cat is pretty independent and won¹t require as much time and attention. Oh, I don¹t know. What would you do? Are you sure?
Scorpio: A cat. Secretive, mysterious, and unpredictable? What¹s there not to like?
Sagittarius: A horse, of course! Let¹s hope it¹s got enough stamina to keep up with me.
Capricorn: Do I have to pay for it?
Aquarius: A hamster. First, I¹ve got to set up a detailed cage with tubes going from here to here, and an energy sensor–they don¹t make anything like that? That¹s okay, I¹m sure what I come up with will be much better.
Pisces: Fish. When their owner forgets about them for weeks on end, they¹re easy to replace. If Pisces remembers to replace them…
Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. — Steven Wright

YOU MAY NEED A NEW PSYCHIC IF…
He keeps shaking black crystal ball and says, “Ask again later.”
Every time you draw the Death card, she yells “Go Fish!”
Looks suspiciously like that guy who fixed your muffler last week.
His idea of an “out of body experience” involves whipped cream and women’s clothing.
His spoon bending requires two pliers.
Sign in window: “As Seen on ’60 Minutes.”
During card-reading, asks if you want to “hit” or “stand.”
Insists that your astrological sign is “The Armadillo.”
Psychics Magazine rates her just below fortune cookies, just above your mom.
Shakes her crystal ball, then predicts a large snowstorm.

Two psychic healers meet in the street – “You’re fine – how am I?”