DISK 1

Elitist movement?

Many people haven't started thinking yet, closed for ever

A women's movement? (Other theme?)

Several authors claim so

The twin soul, a total relationship

Idealisation

Parents and others are "fellow hikers," not parents

No family hierarchies, no guilt, no natural dependence

Children choose their parents

Choosing with an adult perspective on the threshold of new life

Are aware of the shortcomings of the parents, how it will be

"Role reversals"

Granqvist and attachment theory

Dad may have been son, mom may have been ex-partner

Criticism of parents, dark upbringing

Recognized from Granqvist's AAI interviews, seen there as signs of poor attachment (fragm?). But perhaps more of a contrast phenomenon, to an overly bright outlook on life, other things become extra imperfect?

Self-sufficient

Fend for yourself, don't need others

Gender perspectives, separations

Men shamed, rationalizing, for women a triumph, having set themselves free, enabling self-realization

1. Inspiration and practice

What do the interviewees say about the background to their spiritual interest, what phases this interest might have gone through, how they would characterize this today, and in what ways they practice this interest today or it inspires them in their everyday lives?

Growing up, parents, childhood home

Strictly Christian home

Abuse, oppression, etc.

Normally Christian

Went to church, sang choir

Parents now state church, former free church

Intellectual home, many discussions

Don't talk about death

Atheist home

Nada, nothing

Not God, Buddha, nothing

Alternatively, "open"

Daddy Taoist

Mom and colleagues seen UFO

Death? No, no.

Breakup, applicant

For some, the interest has come in adolescence, for others in adulthood. Others say it's been there since childhood. For someone a crisis, which first led to the church, then on

Brooding on death

Humanity not healthy

Cold War, 1980s

Teachers gave philosophical riddles

Sowing philosophical seed

World Religion, Sufism

First a Christian, then a Christian.

Assembly, took care of

Crowded, but afraid of the newage swamp

Inspired at confirmation camp, NT

Time of applicants

Turning point, crisis

Deep depression, suicidal thoughts

Turned with vision, poetry, one morning

Seans, from skeptic to convinced

Sought help for bodily ailments

Striking insight, rather than arguments of reason

Separation

Opened for personal development, "Storsläggan"

Spiritual belonging

Different sources of inspiration. Some enjoy respect as "enlightened", i.e. with their own deep insight. Others are more teachers, good at their field, inspiring. It is common to be an eclectic. Several teachers are recognized and perceived as a vanguard of humanity, with special gifts

Lit

Madame Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, Henry T. Laurency, Martinus Thomsen, Alice Bailey, Paul Brunton

"Channeled"

Ambres (Sture Johansson), Set (Jane…)

Now living teachers

Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, Ken Wilber, "The Hicks Couple"

Movements

Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Hylozoics, Martinus Cosmology

AMORC, The Rose Cross

The traditional religions

The Bible is referred to from time to time, the Buddha is mentioned with respect, even Christ

The Bible: As you sow, you shall reap, the one who takes to the sword

Other sources of inspiration

Science, the new physics, astronomy

Fiction writers

Fyodor Dostoyevski, Leo Tolstoy, August Strindberg, Marianne Fredriksson

Musician

Di Leva

Psychologists

Carl Gustav Jung

Ideal

Striving to contribute to a more humane and just world

Posture

Living in the moment, forgiving

Happy, warm, loving, cordial

Even skeptical

Be tolerant of other views

Vegetarianism

Not eating animals, more for ethical than health reasons

Applications

Law of Attraction, The Secret

Practice, meditation

Meditation, healing, affirmations, Light Body Massage

Missionary, outgoing

Motives for participating in study, getting thoughts into health care, academia, "sow a seed"

Studies

Gatherings

Retreats, lectures, courses

Part of group not so attractive

Reading is demanding

Aquarius important place

The Viewfinder, The Year of Light

YouTube, internet

Generalists, eclectics

What do you call it?

"New Age" is not good.

All respondents reserve the concept of "new age"

Criticism as well as the public's

Actually a "dereligion" (?)

DISK 1

What's it going to be called?

Ip doesn't like new age, negative connotation

Receiving used (Frisk), arguments for (Löwendahl)

Movement or Culture (Hammer)

Use the term emic vs etic (epic?)

"Newness", new in relation to what? This spirituality is the "religion", which Jesus, for example, embraced

Practice, smorgasbord or not?

For (Wikström et al), against (Granqvist et al)

Eclecticism

See these "enlightened" founders of different movements as elements of the same flow of thought, interest in several, one after the other

Vegetarianism

Animals as valuable as humans? Very problematic with this.

7. Feelings and health

What do interviewees say about illness and health? What do they tell us about personal experiences of ill health and ill-health and the reasons behind it? How can you achieve better health?

Suffering is part of development. Some stages are difficult, such as the "zone of unhappy marriages"

Difficult childhood experiences

Bad experiences in childhood can cast their shadow over life as an adult

Crisis and development

For someone

Gloomy feelings, sadness, depression

Severe depression

Lifelong anxiety

You go to a psychologist, but you get referred to the "prällen". But they may not answer your questions either, and then you will be re-referred and given pills.

"The Zone of Unhappy Marriage"

Restlessness, went to church

What helps psychologically

Understanding reason

Not just root in childhood, but get concrete homework, advice

Reincarnation and karma can provide perspective on one's difficulties, which make them easier to bear

Problems with "awakening"

Suddenly regaining memories of past lives can make you feel bad, a respondent felt almost "psychotic", as if she had lost the anchorage of reality.

"Spiritual problems"

A spiritual interest can cause problems

Psychological development must precede the spiritual

You have to be open

"Spiritual emergency", which may resemble psychosis, but is basically a spiritual awakening

The "kundalini energy" that can be activated and rise up the spine and "burn up the crown chakra"

Fear of death

Fear of death can disappear with new age/newness. The body is just an "old car", then it is better to get a new one in the next life

Death is even seen as a positive thing, then you get to "another level in the universe where everything is fine"

Personal development

Spiritual development must be preceded by personal, psychological development

View of diseases

Trouble can of course be far too concrete, based on an imagined causality with causes in previous lives. It is easy to ignore that so-called reincarnation memories can have a symbolic meaning

If I'm afraid of water, for example, that doesn't mean I've drowned in a previous life.

People often remember being celebrities, historical greats.

You take in other people's bad feelings "telepathic"

Hypersensitivity

Spiritual development can also lead to heightened sensitivity, so you need to be extra careful about what you are exposing yourself to.

Some environments may have "bad energies" which means that you will operate below your real level

As you become more "open", this makes you also receptive to different influences

Keep your peace and light

You don't have to get angry

Problems with roots in past lives

Spray phobia, hard talk, forgotten how to swim, polo collars

Treatments, consultations

Media, séances, healers, regression therapists, alternative medicine, hypnosis, guided fantasies, rose massage

Even regular psychotherapy

Symptoms of past lives disappear

Self-care

Meditation, affirmations

Care, therapy

Health care is viewed with skepticism

A respondent who had previously worked in the usual care stopped over time, as she felt that this had become too mechanistic

Try to get your friends not to get vaccinated.

Psychologists and therapists

They should be more open to spiritual perspectives.

They're "in these mental corridors and tramps."

Therapists can put out phobias and things like that, but they should aim higher than just "dog psychologists"

Childhood experiences are not always enough to explain inconveniences later in life, past lives can come into play

The one-life perspective is not enough

Regression therapy, which helps people come into contact with traumas in past lives, is valuable

Transpersonal psychology is promising, a psychology that also takes in the spiritual perspectives

Solve the problems yourself

We have great opportunities to solve our problems ourselves.

Through studies and self-reflection, a lot can get an explanation

Gaining knowledge of your past lives can cause some symptoms to

Health Benefits of New Age/New Age

Get rid of stress, anxiety, fear of death

Worries about, for example, the economy can ease, when you understand that you are being cared for

Reincarnation and karma together are a "key" to understanding one's destiny, one's life

An understanding of how men and women are involved in a great development makes it easier to understand why relationships can be so problematic

New age/newness has helped the respondent to mature

DISK 1

Individual and universalist

The group differs from both atheists and traditional Christians, who have more in common from certain angles

Pre-psychoanalytic view of causes of ill health

External circumstances, energies, the bad feelings of others are captured "telepathically"

Concrete causal hypotheses

Infertility

A comfort to think that you probably had children many times before, do not need to get it this time

Where does darkness go?

You don't have to be angry, everything has a meaning.

Dark thoughts also create bad karma.

Basically, you are the originator of everything you suffer from.

Everyone matures

Transpersonal psychology

Lukoff, in DSM4

Various useful concepts

Pre-trans fallacy (Wilber)

Spiritual bypassing (Wellwood)

Self-help culture

Aspelin, critical

Risk of underdiagnosed suffering

Granqvist, In The Psychology Magazine

"Bad religion"

More difficult to "acquire security"

A different kind of regression?

Is the regression that can be positively described with the traditional religion, different from that which the new age stimulates

Having "answers to everything"

The play area to be there (Winnicott), risk the adult world invades this area. And vice versa?

3. Destiny and life laws

"If there's going to be some fucking justice in the universe, it's got to be like karma. And if karma is to work, there must be reincarnation as well."

What do interviewees say about how fate is created?

Reincarnation and Karma

Assume each other, they are the "key"

Reincarnation

Progressive, moving forward, towards perfection

Not possible to be reborn as animals, "we have already been, it is finished"

No soul migration theory, "jump theory", like Buddhism and Hinduism

You can be reborn in another country, different culture, depending on what you need to "work on"

Slow progress, parallel to evolution

All mankind is evolving towards perfection

The goal is to avoid incarnating more, become completely "spiritual"

Hierarchies

Everyone is moving forward, but we are at different levels

Different cultures are also at different levels of development.

The New Age is related to the history of the world, but interprets it in its own way (not "creationism", the dinosaurs lived 6,000 years ago, for example)

Thousands of years ago, we were barbarians.

Younger and older souls, "I am an old soul"

We are not real people yet, we are animal people.

Karma

A mirroring policy

Already found in the Bible, "as you sow you shall also reap", the law of sowing and harvesting

Everything we send out, of thoughts and actions, comes back to ourselves.

Mechanical, in a sense "old-fashioned" law

Karma is not a penal law, no anger or revenge, it is "mechanics", it is adapted to needs.

Repercussions can come quickly, or after several lives

When we learn from our mistakes, and act differently, we receive the "forgiveness of sins", then the remaining karma is neutralized in this area. And, conversely, that we are experiencing something is a sign that we are not yet finished with it, not learned

Christ did not die on the cross for our sins, His blood could not "purify us", such is overconfidence

Serious errors also give a forced development

We are responsible for our own destiny.

The Theodicé problem gets a solution, it's not just that we need suffering to develop, we choose it ourselves.

Everything we encounter, we are the cause of, and responsible for

We have, concretely, laid the foundation for past lives.

We are planning our own incarnation.

On the eve of a new incarnation, in the spirit world, we can see our future life and make certain choices, with an "adult" perspective.

Children choose, or at least agree with, which parents they come to

The importance of childhood

In the material there are slightly different views on the importance of childhood, to what extent this is somewhat separate from our "karma"

Own "heritage", vs. the importance of genes. We ourselves have a kind of "spiritual DNA" that is passed on from past lives.

Life is a school

Many metaphors: Life is a school, contains "a learning plan", it is a great theater, an educational process, a sandbox

Suffering has "meaning"

We learn from the experience

Even things that happen to people around us are intricately entwined in what we ourselves are going to experience, it is directed at us.

What we learn will be enjoyed in future life, in the future.

Poorly solved data gives "backlog"

Don't compare yourself to others, everyone follows their own curriculum.

Great talent at a young age (e.g. Mozart) testifies that this is what he has practiced in previous lives

We're going to eat the whole "cake", bit by bit, finally we've got experience of it all, then we're done.

Nature of suffering

Painful experiences are something "uncomfortably good"

Suffering is "a wake-up call," analogous to the physical pain that can tell us it's something we need to fix or try to cure.

A violent ex-partner can be described as the "magn ) the interviewee needed to move forward

Suffering is the engine of the individual's development.

We will learn compassion, love, humanity

It is human morality that should be developed.

Turning point, "start walking the path"

At a turning point, a limit, when we want to start taking conscious part in our development, acting more ethically, acting in accordance with the "laws of life"

People with a new worldview have come past this point, they are a kind of vanguard

Male and female

Jung's terms "anima" and "animus", the female and masculine aspect of man, are referred to

There are two different approaches to gender in connection with reincarnation. You can either change gender, or you can keep the same sex for the duration of your development.

The goal in both cases is to become androgynous, hermaphrodite

The dissolution of marriage, then one no longer breeding children, the individual becomes perfect in himself, can "polarize with himself"

You create your reality

You can also use the law of karma in your own favor, to create what you want, let this "work" for yourself.

"You create your own reality"

This can be likened to a kind of "chemistry", how to mix the ingredients to get the fate one desires

The Law of Attraction

Set your thoughts correctly

"Affirmations" can be used for this, to change one's

Material wealth can also be created.

DISK 1

Reincarnation in a Western vintage

The reincarnation embraced by the New Age is a modern, Western invention. It comes mainly through Theosophy. (Hammer et al)

Reincarnation has a lot of public acceptance. Surveys from different parts of the Western world show 20-25% support, and it is growing

No "jump theory", clear distinction

No Buddhist "extinction" either, more than symbolic, of the "ego" etc, no Nirvana

Hammer refers to Hegel

Link to Darwin and the theory of evolution, however, the newnd "evolution" is targeted (Hammer)

Elitist view of humanity? (Elsewhere?)

Everyone is divine, everyone is progressing, but some are ahead, some are behind.

There seems to be an idealization of those who are far ahead, the so-called "enlightened" people. These possess superior maturity, humanity, knowledge

Karma in western vintage

Nor is this view of karma a "Hindu". It is a Western variant, which also came through Theosophy, among other things, the Everything else, except the mechanistic responsibility of the individual, is purged. (Hammer et al)

Buddhism is "Western"

This also applies to Buddhism, which has had a great influence. Also this is a "Western" variant, adapted to our time (Sanner)

Bible references

As you sow, you will also reap

But also: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

The meaning of suffering

Probably no reasoning, and no concept, is so often used in the interviews as the "suffering" and its meaning.

A "cult of suffering"?

There is no mercy, no forgiveness of sins, except that which comes with penance and repentance, perfection in thought and action.

There are no "victims"

Without mercy also means without guilt, deeply speaking is no cause of anyone else's suffering.

Christian author Arlebrandt sees new age/newness as a cynical outlook on life

New age/newness is the "religion" resurrected

The spirituality that Jesus embraced, for example,

"Perennial wisdom"

Is it an egocentric view of life?

Everything that happens is linked to the person experiencing it, even if it also involves others (relatives who get sick and die, for example)

The theodicé problem gets a solution that cannot be said much about. But at an emotional or psychological "price", for the one who embraces this explanation? And possibly for the surroundings with…

Rational view of one's own and others' suffering and difficulties

Here, perhaps, this fits with the "law of attraction" in as well, to create for yourself the life you want

Slow development

Perhaps there is a difference between different forms of new age/new age? Those included in this study agree that there is no "quick fix", it takes time to become perfect

The importance of childhood?

Do parents have any responsibility, can they be blamed? The material also contains statements that can be interpreted as such. Which seems to be contrary to the new worldview. Or is this worldview so radical, idealistic?, that other things, the usual way of perceiving causation, "slip through"?

Great community engagement

In the material there is a great commitment to injustice, oppression, for example by women in Muslim cultures. At the same time, this overall model of responsibility is claimed, which leaves hardly any room for "structural" explanations or causal descriptions. A similar duality as with the importance of childhood?

Where does darkness go? (Better suited in final discussion, when Etabl & Health has been reported?)

In such a bright, positive outlook on life, with high ideals of mercifulness, etc., where at the same time so much responsibility lies with the individual, where does aggression go?

Violent reincarnation memories, full of horrors (Hammer)

Projection of authority, which in almost all respects is perceived as flawed, corrupt

etc. (See ant!)

4. God and a Greater Order

"Yes, I think the universe is burging, the universe is learning the whole… Kind of like a fractal, like a tree, it kind of… We can be seen as a… When we look out into the world, we really look back at ourselves and our own… The universe looks back at itself through us…" -p10

What do the interviewees say about a higher, orderly instance in existence?

(For the sake of readability, I use the word "God" in the text, and the pronoun "he", without taking a position on these issues myself.)

How do you look at God?

The image of God in the new age seems to be rather "images of God". Unlike in other questions, such as reincarnation and karma, the interviewees' answers are more vague and heterogeneous.

Personal or impersonal

To describe this higher, orderly instance in existence, the interviews use a variety of metaphors or descriptions

More impersonal: The universe, a Force, a Power of God, A Strong Energy of God, Pure Love, The Great System of Life, etc.

However, this God may have intentions or a life experience, may want to

I know what's going on. God can also teach.

More personal descriptions: God knows the individual, wants it well, etc. "He knows everyone by name."

"The Chief of Angels"

Height above duality

Perhaps this could be neither personal nor impersonal fit in under non-dualistic as well?

Neither male nor female. Gender pronouns and domicile inappropriate, as God encompasses everything and everyone, everywhere

Neither good nor evil

A struggle to understand or take a stand

One interviewee says she struggled with the idea of God, but now leans toward the fact that there is no personal god

It can even be risky to try to label or call in God, as he exceeds all our concepts

An interviewee says that the day someone can prove God "technologically," "with equations," then she'll believe

In contrast to the image of Christianity

The new-age god is described in negations, he is not like the Christian god (he is also not like the "non-god of science")

Some say they talked to God, but one of the respondents doesn't think that sounds likely.

The new god, as I said, is also not a "He", nor a "Father"

God is not "sad" or disappointed in us. One respondent had come across this view in the church, and perceived it as "a low-water mark."

God does not need to be appeased or made amends. "Is God so fucking primitive that…"

The new god is fair, has no favorites. He doesn't even care if you believe him or not. "He shines over everything and everyone."

No "old man up in the clouds"

Is it possible to communicate with God?

You can pray even if you have a new age/new-age god image

God knows what to say, even before we say it, says one respondent, referring to the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible. Prayer is not necessary in the usual sense.

There is no doubt

Although it is an impersonal, arcafiable god, there is no doubting this great, orderly instance.

The Divine in Man

Man will also evolve to become divine. Basically, she is already this, as a facet of the greater, all-encompassing, god. But she will also be the mind, loving, omniscient, "enlightened," as well as those who have gone before

Man has "a higher self," a "higher self," an eternal, indestructible "atomic spark"

God's consciousness is the sum of all individuals' souls.

Is it a godly sense that can bring comfort?

It can, but the comfort and ministry rather comes from individuals with "divine qualities" who are closer to us humans (see below)

The new-age image of God makes it necessary to abandon the "if-there-is-a-god-who-sees-me" idea, according to one respondent

Officials

God has representatives at lower levels, who by their very nature are like God, all-loving, omniscient. These are the ones that people can be in contact with, communicate with. These representatives exist of many kinds

Guardian angels, spiritual guides

Relatives and friends who have died and who can help us from this level

Heavenly advice, which helps, for example, when we are to incarnat in a new life

Some animals, dolphins for example, may possess a higher wisdom

Mother Earth is a living being, and can put up with much of what humanity is doing.

Visitors from other planets, UFOs, come from a superior civilization, and they engage in how we treat each other and the planet.

Perfect people, "enlightened", Masters, etc.

Exalted spirits that are "channeled" through people on earth, Ambres, for example

Jesus is cited by most respondents as an example.

Pythagoras was a wise man in his day.

DISK 1

Personal or impersonal?

Hard nut to crack. Some descriptions seem to be on the boundary between these characteristics

Possibly a parallel to the "wave-particle duality" of quantum physics, which is a branch of normal science mentioned with respect in the material

Psychology's View of God

Freud's criticism is well known, including Abraham Maslow, Ellis

Can't be doubted?

How, on the other hand, can one doubt something that just "is" and encompasses everything and everyone?

A "machine"?

A rounding mark, a connection station, for our own energies spinning out in the Cosmos waiting to return to its origins

Is it a god that can be related, that one can learn from, mature

What if God were to be described as "a parent"?

Our image of God at least also includes our experiences of our parents, perhaps even something beyond this, etc. (Rizzuto, Wikström, etc.)

Administrator of our suffering

"Tough Love"

He makes us suffer, but it is for our own good.

Jmfr Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, the different paths to religiosity, and specific to the new age (problematized!)

AAI interviews, attachment thoughts

Similarities with so-called disorganized attachment, where the parent image is of someone who is capricious, arcane, unpredictable

Depressed, schizoid? If not even psychopathic?

Some interesting thoughts about what makes a good therapist, can fit in here (Tudor-S, Sigrell, etc.)

God is a mirror

God is like a mirror, but what kind of mirror? Is it a living counterpart, or mostly a reflective surface that allows us to see ourselves as inconseveringly as possible?

Is it a god's image that risks leaching us, blunting us, for lack of treatment, relationship

Jmfr "still face" experiment

Jmfr therapeutic "abstinence", which is considered to favor transmission, etc.

Man himself is "divine"

New age means a "sanctification of the self" (Heelas)

Jmfr "oidipal triumph", you don't need god, he's just there as a kind of resource or background principle, we create ourselves perfectly.

Can the atheist's "non-god" be more personal even?

Jones claims that everyone has a picture of God. If he asks his atheist students what the God is like they don't believe in, "they always answer."

A "non-god" can be more alive, a better counterpart in a relationship, to develop in relation to, than a god who has no qualities, is invariant, is "everything"?

The "warm" new age/new-age god?

The warmth and concern is something the supporter manages to put in there himself?

Jmfr Granqvist et al who believes that the new age cannot help the individual with repairing bad attachment experiences, but it can ordinary religion: "acquired security"

"Divinity," love, is to be found at a lower level

How to understand this breadth of individuals who, at levels closer to man, can show all this parental-like concern, understanding. Does this relate to the fact that God seems so "abstract", or even old testament to harsh and demanding?

It is also found in Christianity. Jesus, The Virgin Mary, the Saints

Christ

The Biblical Christ is a great ideal for virtually everyone in the study. He seems as idealized as the Church is criticized.

Harry Månsus, priest, with great experience of new age/newness, who claims that in such circles one even speaks more about Christ than one does in the Church

Each New Age approach has its own "Christianology", he says

The greatest representative of a perfect man (Hammer)

6. Knowledge and faith

Old paradigm vs. new?

New age/newness represents a new paradigm, which will replace the prevailing paradigms in both religion and science.

These older paradigms shall in some respects be extended, complemented, while in other respects they need to be replaced

Two hundred years ago, the idea of microorganisms was considered "metaphysics", today such a scientific fact. Something similar will happen with many of the performances that exist today in new age/ newness

There is only one truth

At the same time, new age/newness represents a "core message", which previously existed in a "urre religion". People need to get back to the "absolute truths"

Man is undergoing basically the same development, to be the same.

This means that the individuals who become "enlightened" can fully understand each other, they agree, although they may speak different "dialects"

However, it is too much to ask that a presented doctrine, even if it comes from an "enlightened" source, should be completely flawless.

Holism, it's all connected.

A central element is the "holistic", how everything in life, people and other things, is connected and affects each other in an intricate way.

This gives a deep sense of context and meaningfulness

Normal science, intr for

Quantum physics, for example, points to something that will be compatible with new age/newness

Science-sounding terminology

Many concepts and expressions are borrowed from, or similar to, the way science expresses itself.

Laws, principles, energies, frequencies, paradigms, dimensions, facit, logic, empiricism, atoms

Man brings his "spiritual DNA" to a new life

A method called HoloSync has the effect that new neural pathways can be created in the brain

An alternative physicist, who is close to newness, is predicted to be able to find the "unit theory" in physics that Einstein failed to create and that has eluded science for so long.

Knowledge and faith

New age/newness differs from religion because it is not based on faith. Instead of accepting only certain dogmas, you can investigate and get the new allegations confirmed yourself.

Normal science is also limited, selective: "One must never despise empiricism"

When you have taken note of the perspectives shared by an "enlightened" person, it can be said that you yourself have received wheat in these areas, this is not to be regarded as faith, in comparison to religious who accept different dogmas.

"You live in your little world, and you believe in God, you believe in Jesus, you believe in what is in the Bible. But believe me, you just think… Martinus, for example, knows…

Alternative knowledge paths

Enlightenment, as I said, which is a direct path to pure knowledge

Impulses, aha experiences, insights

Telepathy and the like

Mind reading, channeling, contact with deceased relatives and friends, mediums, séances, memories of past lives explaining things in this life

Communicate with animals, synchronicity, an invisible planning that one can become aware of, that something is "meant" to happen

Alternative ways of influencing

Law of Attraction, Law of Attraction

Healing, Prayer

"Enlightenment"

There are people with in-depth insights into life that they have not received through studies, but through "self-vision". These people can speak with great authority also about existential and metaphysical things.

Personal confirmations

There are ways to confirm that the new age/new-age notions have a basis for reality

Recognize themselves in places, children who remember past lives, power of thought proves, true dreams, sync, the wisdom of the body

Enlightenment, telepathy, mind reading, mediumism, deceased spirits, reink.memories, animal communication, synchronicity, strange coincidences

Laughed this week, séance.

"I understand… But I know."

To unread people can possess great knowledge, unusually humane people, prayer answers, to make something happen with the power of thought, out-of-body experiences, true dreams, precognition, "sync"

One respondent tells me that he laughed for a week, after reading a few pages in a new book. This was for him a strong confirmation that it was true what he had read.

Get in touch with relatives at séance, who cannot be doubted, to meet old friends and relatives in this life who you feel so clearly that it is not the first time you have met

Doubt, skepticism, an ideal

It is important to be critical and questionable. An open, exploratory approach is contrasted with those in new age/newness that even respondents perceive as "fuzzy"

One does not have to submit to a spiritual authority, but can value oneself

You also don't have to be loyal to a particular doctrine, or a certain group.

Going to a talk can provide inspiration, new thoughts, but you don't have to accept everything you hear

To remain a "seeker"

Skeptics, need to be convinced

"Self-Criticism," of the New Age

New age/newness can be commercial, "a subjectivist swamp", dogmatic, too group-oriented

New age can lead to a simplified thinking, such as "law of attraction": "Think of a car and it will be yours tomorrow approximately"

It can also be ethically questionable.

etc.

New age, great explanatory power

Coherence, logic

That newness can explain things that neither religion nor science can explain

New age a demanding outlook on life

New-age literature is not something you lethargic, it requires careful study

You can get to a point where you want to really try to comply with the new

As I said, newness offers no "forgiveness of sins", it is exhorting

Provides insights into contexts that you don't usually think about as much

Coherence, logic (forcl. power?)

DISK 1

There is only one truth, new age.

Not so fuzzy

New age/newness is often described as fuzzy. But in the material there is also a lot of criticism of the phenomenon of "new age"

Christian theology from both an ethical and a logical perspective

The theory of evolution is affirmed, with the addition that it is targeted

Science is seen as an ally, as laudable, "God creates through science"

The secularization process is being affirmed

A new paradigm will solve an old

Science and religion are to be transformed. At least in the field of religion, this is at the same time a return to a "religion" that existed before the great world religions came into being.

(Kuhn)

This is often referred to as "Scientism" and "religism" (Hammer et al.)

Scientific terminology

Divided relationship to normal science, one wants to measure oneself with and be recognized by those who count in the world, after all

Concepts are given new meaning

Newspeak (Orwell 1984)

"Loaded languange" (Lifton)

Love, real love, logic, the uncomfortably good

5. Establishment and society

What do the interviewees say about who has the power and interpretation in the world? Thoughts and perceptions of the Church and natural sciences, but also many other sectors, can be found in many places in the material, which makes a particular theme justified.

Religion, the Church, priests, power structures

The priests are too busy what they want to convey, dogmas, instead of listening to the people.

A narrow view of homosexuality has led one of the respondents to leave the Church of Sweden

One has always considered herself very religious, but she has never felt at home in church.

Many wars have been started in the name of religion, it has been the cause of much oppression and many dictatorships. Religion is a very dangerous phenomenon.

Some positive things are also highlighted about the Church:

Theology, interest

The Bible has been distorted, above all it is the Catholic Church that is responsible for this.

Christian theology is simplistic.

However, there are Bible quotes that are absolutely correct: "as you sow, you should also harvest", for example, or "it is in him that we move, live and are there"

There are gospels that have been suppressed, such as the Gospel of Thomas, as well as a gospel written by a woman.

The Gospel of Thomas says nothing about sin, but all the more about love, which has been challenging for church rulers

The concept of sin has been invented to keep people at bay.

That the Church can give forgiveness to sins is an overconfidence, here neither "indulgences nor American Express" is good enough.

People's suffering or destiny is not something god can change.

The claim that "God's ways are inexhaustible" is a misconception.

Christianity has had a task at a time when people were not in a position to understand so much.

New age/newness is consistent with a "religion" that existed before the established world religion took shape. In the future, all people will embrace this "urreligion"

In fact, all religions have the same basis.

Eastern religions

Hinduism and Buddhism also have a simplistic or erroneous theology.

One respondent once wanted to convert to Buddhism, but met a llama who would initiate her. However, he perceived him as too angry.

Secularization

It's nice to live in a country like Sweden that is so secular.

Academy, college, researcher

The academy is a dead place.

Western philosophy is focused on breaking down

Science

Evolution is true, but needs to be supplemented

God creates through science, it is only incomplete.

Science needs to catch up, and recognize a spiritual dimension in existence

Ordinary scientists don't believe that extraterrestrial civilizations can have advanced technology so advanced that they can travel here.

Authorities, society

Politicians and those in power should be "showing people, like Jesus, in that direction"

The National Board of Health and Welfare is too skeptical about alternative forms of therapy, etc. At the same time, it's good too, because otherwise you don't know where it would end.

The security services

The security services of different countries cooperate and have a shadowy, secret agenda. They may have spiritual insights, but use them in a destructive way.

Psychiatry, health care, even positive

Psychology and psychiatry need to take the impression of the new perspectives, as it is today they cannot provide "a rational solution to the mystery of life"

They only prescribe pills.

"Valium and snack therapy are not enough."

Sometimes misunderstands spiritual experiences, and regards them as "psychosis"

Psychologists only take root in childhood, when they should instead give concrete advice, homework

One respondent tells how, when she was diagnosed with severe depression, she had to go to psychotherapy through the County Council and had great benefit from this.

Capitalists, big business

Too much focus on money

Some have scoted at the economic crisis

"Today it's money, basically everything."

Media

The media goes the business of power and chooses to remain silent about things that would be uncomfortable

Ridicules things that come out of the ordinary

Journalists go "like sheep cooks like this and just run their usual stuff"

There are journalists who basically have an understanding and an interest in alternative perspectives, but they choose to remain silent or play with, "stop bricks"

DISK 1

Idealization vs. Devaluation

The criticism of society's institutions and authorities is harsh, while it is expected that there are also completely "perfect" individuals in their own ranks.

Here is a socially critical, "anti-authoritarian" trait, it seems, that may have roots in the new age/new age's childhood.

While there are "enlightened" leaders.

Fairness, solidarity with the vulnerable, a desire for equality.

The church's potentates throughout history. Priests of our time. Science is missing the mark. The media is covering up the truth. The academy is dead.

"People", ingroup-outgroup

The public doesn't understand much of the new. The supporters are a vanguard.

The idea that the world is not yet mature is revealed in several places in the material

Strong community engagement and individualism

Science is an ally, after all.

Science is the "tool of God"

God creates through evolution.

Quantum physics and astronomy are promising, presenting exciting findings that are perceived to be in line with the new

Conspiracy theories

There is a touch of conspiracy thinking in the material. Media, security services, etc. (Voas et al)

However, objections to "UFO religions", such as Scientologists, who are perceived as too negative

8. Future and vision

"Yes, we will evolve into Jesus. When we're on target, we're like him, right?

What do the interviewees say about how the future will look like? Personal dreams and goals, in the short and long term? What does the interviewee say about how things will go with the world?

Personal goals, short term

To get as far as you can get spiritually in this life. Both in theoretical understanding, as well as becoming more open to a spiritual reality

"Have worked away all their blockages and limitations, or to "have cleaned up the swamp"

Several respondents have a desire to be able to work in the future to help others based on the spiritual insights

A respondent has a vision to become a great healer

To have a good economy on a private level and to meet a new partner

Being on an ashram in India and working with yoga and meditation

The time perspectives are different

Dreams one has for the next life can be considered relatively close, compared to the enormous development one is involved in

An interviewee wishes the planet would have evolved a lot for the next time she comes back. That it should then be possible to engage in space travel, for example

Personal goals, long term

In the longer term, dreams are about "coming before God and having achieved their full potential."

Statikan, Pleroma, Kingdom of God

Life on Earth is considered a kind of low level, the development forward goes through many levels and "heavens"

When you are finished here on earth, you can act as a guardian angel from the spiritual side.

Perfection does not mean extinction, as in Buddhism, but rather that one should then be "ready for bigger things"

You can fly around, you're not limited by a physical body anymore.

The future of the world

In five hundred years there will be many in this world who are "enlightened", in three thousand years the world will have achieved perfection.

Humanity agrees on all major issues.

There are no longer different religions.

A just world, a paradise

Environmental degradation puts a strain on the planet, but this will be able to be remedied and healed.

The energy level on the planet is constantly rising.

We may be in touch with extraterrestrial visitors soon.

The politicians of the future will be enlightened, wise individuals

The Nordic countries are the forerunners

In the Nordic countries there is a greater human ability than in many other places, we who live here have progressed further in our spiritual development.

This matures, for example, manifest themselves in stricter laws to protect animals

The fact that we have not been involved in war for many hundreds of years is also a sign of the level of development.

Concern

There may be another great war.

There can be a meteor coming down and knocking down, so we need to develop technology to colonize space. Extraterrestrial visitors may have this knowledge, which we can learn from

We are at a crossroads, we need to develop clean energy sources

A paradise, enlightened world, perfect people

DISK 1

Citizenship

The New Age is not just about the advance of the individual, the same development is the whole planet

Maybe this has changed since the 70's (Hammer)

Not politically correct

The view of other cultures as more primitive is not so politically correct, but common and reasonable, based on new age/newness

Is the new age becoming mainstream?

FINAL DISCUSSION 1

"The Negatives of Psychoanalysis"

If one punctures the conditions with which man, according to psychoanalysis, needs to be reconciled with and in some sense submits, it seems that new age/newness neglects them all.

Is new age/newness a homogeneous group?

One or more populations

Is this group different from new age/newness in general?

Is the new age "bad religion"?

Can not help the individual with "acquired security", repair poor attachment experiences

Tempts/pressures the individual to live below their normal level

The Winnicott play area, where does it go? Is the New Age an example of what Winnicott describes as the child's play area that has been "extended throughout the cultural and religious sphere", etc.?

A different kind of regression

In the service of the self, life service

Have "answers to everything"

Is new age/newness "a smorgasbord"?

Where does darkness go?

Violent Reincarnation Memories (Hammer)

Manic defenses

"Borderline"

The perfect religion for a borderline community (Wikström)