New Age Fallacies: Watch Out For These Symptoms

The New Age marketplace includes countless well-meaning people. We applaud those who insist on honesty with their offerings and don’t put profits first.

However, like any industry, it has its share of tricksters and hucksters. Many don’t mean to mislead, but they feel pressure to generate income and press, and in the process lose their integrity.

Note: this article may seem “negative” to some people, but by pointing out the harsh reality of the mystical marketplace, our goal is to help you avoid falling for New Age hype, which can waste time and money and seriously hinder your spiritual progression.

Since the 1980s we’ve investigated virtually everything under the metaphysical rainbow. In the early years, we experienced a lot of dead-ends, but as time went on we gradually learned how to tell the difference between authentic mysticism and claptrap.

Cosmic carnival barkers make wild promises and statements including these: achieve never-ending prosperity and bliss through unity consciousness training; master ascension beyond the polarity of this dimension; rid yourself of your life’s karma without having to balance it directly; create the reality you want, overriding your predetermination; dissolve your spiritual parameters; everything is shifting to a new dimension and you can shift into the reality you want; extreme financial and love life success is your birthright; you can have it all due to the new potent spiritual era we are in at this time; everyone is transiting from cause and effect to resonant causation so you can create whatever you want though the power of intent; get rid of all the bad stuff in your life through forgiveness training; and so on.

Misinformation plus the desire for profit along with the power of persuasion, particularly when helped along by a gang of merry demons from the dark side, makes New Age dead ends all too common.

Watch for these telling symptoms of New Age funny business to save time and money:

1. In a bookstore you happen across a book entitled “Achieve Anything, Guaranteed!” and suddenly have an unexplained feeling of abdominal bloating. It’s your subconscious telling you the author is full of it.

2. The urge to vomit after a Facebook friend recommends liking a New Age fan page entitled “Rise Above Your Financial Debt Through Easy Spiritual Exercises,” isn’t because of what you ate for lunch.

3. Pay attention to the irritability you sense beneath the surface of your consciousness after you notice that famous best-selling author is promoting what seems like his hundredth book about getting the “life you deserve.”

4. That persistent ringing in your ears isn’t tinnitus, it’s your spiritual guides telling you that the “Find Your Soul Mate in Less Than 30 Days” programs and other too-good-to-be-true promotions are to be taken with a grain of salt.

5. Feelings of disorientation and not knowing where you are for periods of time don’t necessarily mean you’re in the twilight zone or that you need to see a doctor. One can’t help but suffer such symptoms after being bombarded with New Age seminar promo e-mails like this: “...Millions of people have read his books, but few have heard these secrets live. In attending this seminar, you will learn about the single, simple exercise that immediately makes people get rid of suffering for good and prosper!

Perhaps the author’s marketing team needs to add a disclaimer: “This man is a creative writer and showman, about as far from a spiritual teacher as you can get. So when you don’t get the results we promised, remember that we’ll say anything to make money. And we do!

If you experience any of these or similar symptoms on your spiritual path, note the topic of your focus, and remind yourself that sometimes a desire for profit and recognition come before truth or a well-researched claim.

We would like to remind New Age promoters that the New Age industry won’t ever be viewed favorably by sending people down the primrose path of illusion. It’s best to temper those big promises with a dose of reality and a disclaimer. Also, authentic mysticism is about self-discovery, not escapism.

Our findings show that you can’t cheat fate, but you have free will to make the most of your predestination, within the framework of your fate.

Maintain a sharp sense of disce
ment and you’ll save an enormous amount of time and money on your spiritual journey and avoid the New Age malarkey.

Copyright © Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo