Image credit: Victor GAD
Marija Dalbello
Reading Interests
of Adults
New Age
Rutgers
School of Communication and Information
dalbello@rutgers.edu
Overview
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Introduction
What is New Age, and New Age fiction?
Genre characteristics and appeal
New Age Movements, a History
Types of New Age fiction
Conclusion: The Age of Aquarius, are we there yet?
What is “New Age” movement
Definitions
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The term (especially as in “the New Age Movement”) has
come to be used to designate those who maintain that inner
spirituality - embedded within the self and the natural order as
a whole - serves as the key to moving from all that is wrong
with life to all that is right. (Heelas, p. 16)
New Age is an overall attitude and context of spirituality in
response to the cultural uncertainty of our times
What is “New Age” fiction
Definitions
_______________________________________
“New Age fiction is a meeting point of science fiction and
mythical reality … expresses a belief that a collaborated spiritual
evolution outside of religion is not only possible, but likely.”
“The genre itself is rather vague […] you can stretch it to include
other realms, different states of being, space/time continuums,
spirit entities, supra-consciousness and such phenomena—what is
obvious is a desire to explore the higher reaches of human
potential. It’s almost there, the gift of wings, words that render
asunder the mask of reality and touch the core of that unknown,
unsought ecstasy. You reach out, the elastic universe stretches to
its brink. Then it snaps. So close, yet so far away.” From: “New Age
Fiction: The Word According to God,” by Anupama Bhattacharya
What is New Age
Spirituality genres
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Spirituality genres share concern with the numinous
Religious fiction, horror, New Age - commonalities and
distinctions:
Theism (allows for explanation of God transcending
human comprehension)
New age works within human measure (God cannot
exceed human comprehension)
In horror, there is no God, just anxiety about the
numinous, some scientific resolution possible but God is
also above human comprehension)
New Age fiction presents simplified wisdom, popular and
populist spirituality accessible to everyone
What is New Age fiction?
_______________________________________
Eclectic avant-garde literature, genre vague but spiritualism
important
On mind-games, altered consciousness, beyond the limit
Syncretism, eclecticism, even consumerism
Examples: from H. Hesse’s Siddhartha to P. Coelho’s Alchemist
Term with present meaning from 1971 but roots much older
Genre associated with secular modernity
Identity crisis product, loss of community
Rooted in two key utopian ideologies of modernity
What is New Age
Utopian ideologies of modernity
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Utopianism of the Enlightenment Project and Theistic
Utopianism
Motto of secular Enlightenment: “Have courage to use your
own reason!”
De-traditionalized new age *monism
Simplifying wisdom so that it can be accessible to everybody
Changing the world and collective consciousness
But is that possible?
*monism=unity
What is New Age
New Age, Theism, Enlightenment
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Traditional Theism
Monism
(Christianity, Judaism,
(New Age)
Islam)
Secularism
(Enlightenment
project)
External authority,
dogma, doctrine
Selfdirectedness
Science
Anthropomorphic
gods
Teachers and
leaders
Education
Theism
Monism
Rationalism
What is New Age
New Age and Traditional Theism
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Traditional Theism
(Christianity)
New Age
God is more than we can
be
God in new age is in
essence what we already
are
Christians seek salvation
through worship, prayer,
obedience, discipline of self
New age actualization
through working on egoattachments to master what
is inside
Understanding of texts
Inner experience (Ego of
New ager is intrinsically
good)
What is New Age
Characteristics, outlook and appeal
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De-traditionalized self (need to shed ego-constraints brought
about by socialization and institutions)
Perennialism (wisdom is found at the heart of all religious
traditions)
Internalized form of religiosity
Autonomy and freedom highly valued
Authority lies within the experience of the Self or the natural
realm
Self-ethic important
Self-responsibility
Operation on the experiential level
Genre characteristics and appeal
What readers like
_______________________________________
Interest in the possibilities of human consciousness
Reaching and expression of human potential
Self-directed discovery and exploration
In-between reality and mysticism
Story line is secondary
Message is primary
Bad fiction?
Historical development
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18th and 19th century Romanticism
Deists, freethinkers, Swedenborgians
Influence of eastern philosophies
Rejection of religion
Sacralized rendering of nature, esoteric themes
Self-spirituality of the Romantic movement
The London Theosophical Society (1783)
Founded by Jacob Duche
William Blake
19th and 20th century: Counter-culture of fin-de-siècle and
beyond
Mme Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (1888)
Alesteir Crowley
Joined Ordo Templi Orientis (German occult order) in 1912
Founds Abbey of Thelema in Sicily (magical community to
launch a new era) in 1922
Secret societies
Mirra Alfassa (Auroville, Pondicherry) (1968)
Historical development
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Beginnings: Theosophical Society
Most influential 19th century rendering of New Age
Mme Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891)
Fundamental Unity of all existence
Faith in peremnialized outlook on religious traditions
International off-shoots
Archetypal symbols
Carl Jung (1885-1961)
Archetypes - perennial components of the human psyche
The Red Book
New age repertoire established by the 1920s
Gurdjieff (1866-1949)
Taught that we are able to achieve enlightened state (objective
consciousness) but imprisoned in external circumstances
Emphasis on transformational techniques
est and other seminars focusing on the harmonious development
Formative for new age repertoire
Historical development
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Counterculture movements: The Age of Aquarius
1960s: Commune movements
1970s: Institutionalization of counter-cultures
Changing the mainstream, civil rights movement
est (Erhard Seminar Training), Landmark Foundation, THP
Countercultural spirituality since the “sixties”
Alternative values and experiences but not dropping out of society
Anti-modernist
Harmonial spirituality (seminars, prosperity)
Entitlement
Matching internal / external processes
Holistic interconnectedness
Prosperity beyond the counter-culture
Self-spirituality in the corporate context
est-influenced movements (THP)
Gurdjieff-inspired Krone Associates (for Pacific Bell)
Specialized training, events, business
Publications directed at business people
Types of New Age fiction
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Literature of unbridled optimism - feel-good reads
Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Khalil Gibran, Prophet
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Little Prince
The Tao of Pooh
Guiding the collective evolution
James Redfield, The Celestine Prophecy
Guiding self-development (on a journey)
Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist
Spirit speak and sacred traditions
Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection
Priscilla Cogan, Winona’s Web
Carlos Castaneda, Teachings of Don Juan
And everything else: utopias, esoteric, altered states
Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis
Herman Hesse, Siddhartha, Glass Bead Game,
Steppenwolf
Aldous Huxley, The Island
Conclusion
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New Age fiction is a by-product of Enlightenment utopianism
Spirituality genre, similar to horror and religious fiction
New Agers are secular, optimistic, western, and liberal
New Agers are eclectic in their spiritual practices
New Age is commercially viable
Secular religiosity at its core
A product of mass culture
Life-positive, right?