h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When did the term "New Age" come into being? Perhaps in a broader sense, new age refers to the changes in mankind brought on by the incredible technological and social changes of the 20th century, enprecedented in history.

Alas, I do not know the precise etymology of the term.

Although, Merriam-Webster's WWWebster Dictionary dates it to 1956, and encyclopedia.com states that the “term popularized in the 1980s to describe a wide-ranging set of beliefs and practices. Growing from 1960s and 70s U.S. counterculture…”

As to the new age of man thing, most cultures propose this kind of sweeping every fifty years or so with varying focuses. Witness, Protestant reformation, the Renaissance, the industrial revolution, the “Information Superhighway”. Remember, the only constant is change.

Do the Ladies really appreciate New Age Man. Surely we were put on the earth to be there for the ladies to pamper to our needs. We have to be there for there world to be complete.
The Man goes out to work and the "lady of the house" cooks, cleans, shops and brings up the children

What do new Age Men do?

Carries a big club to bash new-age women on the noggin and drag her back to his cave by the hair (obviously!)
Get real, man. New Age (as opposed to "old age") has to do with our inherent understanding of ourselves as human beings and our place in the great cosmic scheme. Children know this already, before we forget. Learn from them.

It seems to me that the essence of the New Age is the revival of belief in reincarnation. The main difference this time is the emphasis on personal experience, and the link between previous lives and mental and physical problems in this life. The great weakness, ie the zany aspects of the NA , is the lack of intellectual discipline, the lack of ability of New Agees to think their experiences through so that true lessons can be learned from them. But this is the same as Christianity in the early days, or any other religion for that matter. The greatest damage is caused by the continuing desire for security and certainty, which leads people to pin their ego's to any two armed monkey that promises them certainty - gurus, bishops, politicians and dictators and other etceteras. Wisdom lies in insecurity - I have spoke !!!

Reincarnation occurrs when a being inhabits a new (previously unincarnated) bidy - okay...but like,
do we/they need permission/agreement with concerned parties? on second thought, it all sounds kind of weird...

You hit on something that I have recently come to believe in quite strongly: mainline Christianity simply hates the idea that their pre-Nicene fathers and writers held to a supernatural mindset similar to that of the New Agers. Of course, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Irenaeus had the written word of God to support them and guide them as they lived their lives in God, whereas Ms Starshine Daffodyl of San Francisco has little more than a crystal pyramid, some Deepak Chopra books-on-tape and a vague feeling of contentment.

Added to that, it is my opinion that easily half of all "New Age" literature is bunk written for money and power over the weak. As an industry, NA is at best flaky and misguided. At worst, hypocritical and (dare I say) evil.

"The integrity of the upright guides them.
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity."
-- Proverbs 11:3

Show me a unified body of thought on reincarnation and I'll give Vishnu the time of day, but the fact is, it is the product of folklore and wishful thinking, subject to the eye of the beholder. As cool an idea as reincarnation may be, it simply does not exist.

The term 'New Age' was originally intended to refer to the Age of Aquarius, which is some astrologically important event caused by a wobble in Earth's orbit. No one could quite agree when the AoA begins, so a bunch of people decided to live as if it was already here. They became the first hippies.

Jung said the AoA began in 1940. Many other believe it will begin in 2012, but estimates based on the movements on the sun through Pisces (or something) range from 2035 to 2793.

While the New Age was originally about everyone getting along, treating each other with peace and love, finding God's/Goddess's/gods' true plans for us, reconciling Christ and Buddha, etc, it has indeed now been hijacked by commercialism and the term has become diluted. I am currently reading a bok on pagan gods and goddesses, and in the intro the author reccomends that serious 'New Agers' find a new label for themselves, leaving the term 'New Age' for dippy materialists who want to fool themselves into thinking that their lives have meaning.

hi

I think the New Age really exists.

According to our society's calculations on my super fast Casio, the New Age started in Autumn 1997.

I can't give you the exact date because that would be telling.

Omrow