New Age Movement

Reincarnation, aruras, and energizing crystals — surely these are the stuff of fairy tales, nothing more. People don’t really speak to ancient Egyptian holy men, or listen seriously to Shirley MacLaine, for that matter — do they? Drawing from a range of occult, pagan, and pseudo-scientific traditions, the New Age Movement is broad, diffuse, hard to nail down — and insidiously dangerous. Its belief in the “divinity of humanity,” its emphasis on “self-actualization,” and its looking forward to a coming utopian “new world” have tremendous appeal. But does it have the truth?