1. When I put down Leah Sottile's book, Blazing Eye Sees All Friday night, I made a firm resolution, as I obeyed Copper's urgent command to roll over and face him, to finish the book on Saturday.
I checked in on basketball scores, learning that I missed one of the most thrilling finishes ever to a tournament game when Houston roared to 9-0 scoring run with just 42 seconds left to defeat Duke 70-67. I
I ate.
I tended to other domestic duties.
But, I spent most of the day reading.
Sottile's book provoked me to think a lot about deliverance.
I might not have this exactly right, but the words "New Age" don't refer so much to the time we live in, but to a time that is to come, a New Age of harmony, bliss, prosperity, reconciliation, beauty, and other utopian qualities -- a New Age humans can help bring about through attending to the teachings of deceased masters who speak through mediums, channelers, and other prophets -- like the mostly women leaders Sottile profiles.
Again and again, Sottile told one story after another about individuals who became obsessed with, even manic about, a New Age commune or community/organization with a prominent New Age figure, often through online platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Skype, and other means of direct communication. Many of these people were looking to be delivered from the unhappiness of their lives or from the corruption of the world we live in. The leaders of these collective New Age entities effectively persuade followers with paranoid conspiracy stories and theories. It's the cabals, the government, Jews, the illuminati, and other key players in these conspiracies that followers must be saved from and in the New Age, they will be vanquished.
2. Sottile researches and explores the viciousness, greed, abuse, mind control, and exploitation that lies behind the pastel colored veil of universal love of the New Age entities she focuses on.
It's awful.
It's disheartening.
It parallels similar abuses in the Christian world.
Egomaniacal leaders in both worlds link their promises and manufactured joy to money, selling merchandise, seminars, and, in the New Age world, elixirs, potions, creams, and spiritual paraphernalia like crystals, candles, and other goods.
3. I thought a lot today about people I know and others whom I've had conversations with or observed who I'm convinced have benefitted from and not been corrupted by their involvement either as individuals or with friends in New Age-y kinds of things. When it comes to reasonable and thoughtful readings of Tarot cards, to focus on inherent (but not exclusive) human goodness, the benefits of meditation and yoga, connectedness, the power of cultural mythologies, and other similar things, New Age-y kinds of things have bolstered and enhanced my life long practices of Christianity, added dimension to my spiritual life, and have not led me down divisive or dangerous rabbit holes.
My life continues to be enriched by a variety of spiritual influences and it's deflating to read a book like Leah Sottile's or to read stories from other sources about abuses of power and the greedy acquisition of money in spiritual movements and Christian churches and fellowships when the potential for goodness and meaningful service to others can be so strong and ought to be at the heart of these spiritual traditions.
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