In the past thirty years, a false and alien spirituality has invaded our culture and found its way into our Christian Churches as well.  It is called New Age spirituality and it has us  looking inside ourselves to find a Higher Self or True Self to discover our divinity or god power.  It borrows ideas from non-Christian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and mixes them with occult practices, which includes the manipulation of energies. It holds the belief that god is an impersonal energy force.   It is based on the heresies of Monism (all is one), Pantheism (everything and everyone is god) and Gnosticism (salvation comes through secret knowledge and that matter is evil).

To combat these dangerous errors, the Vatican has released a 62-page document which exposes the beliefs and practices of the New Age.  It is called Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian Reflection on the New Age.   It was written to inform Catholics of this growing problem, and to warn them that New Age beliefs are contrary to Christian belief.  The document states People need and have a right to reliable information on the differences between Christianity and the New Age (#1.2)  It goes on to say that  The New Age is still very much alive and part of the current cultural scene.(#1.5)  Why is this so?  The document gives this reason:  The success of the New Age offers the Church a challenge. People feel the Christian religion no longer offers them or perhaps never gave them something they really need.  The search which often leads people to the New Age is a genuine yearning: for a deeper spirituality, for something which will touch their hearts, and for a way of making sense of a confusing and often alienating world. (#1.5)  There are also believers who think it is permissible to mix New Age beliefs with Christian beliefs.  The document states that its influence is clear from the rapidly growing numbers of people who claim that it is possible to blend Christian  and New Age by taking what strikes them as the best of both.  It is worth remembering that deviations within Christianity  have also gone beyond traditional theism in accepting a unilateral turn to self, and this would encourage such a blending of approaches.  The important thing to note is that God is reduced in certain New Age practices so as furthering the advancement of the individual(#1.1) However, the document explains that this cannot be done.  It says ..given the underlying vision of New Age religiosity, it is on the whole difficult to reconcile it with Christian doctrine and spirituality.  (#2)  John Paul II warns with regard to the return of ancient Gnostic ideas under the guise of the so-called New Age: We cannot delude ourselves that this will lead toward a renewal of religion.  It is only a new way of practicing Gnosticism. (#1.4)  It says,  Since the New Age movement makes much of a communication with nature, of cosmic knowledge of a universal good thereby negating the revealed contents of the Christian faith it cannot be viewed as positive or innocuous (harmless).

The document states, It is essential to bear in mind that people are involved with New Age in very different ways and on many different levels.  It goes on to say It seems that, for the most part, people are attracted to particular therapies or practices, without going into their background, and others are simply occasional consumers of products which are labeled New Age. (#2.5)  Listed below are some of the ideas, practices, and groups listed in the document as New Age:

Enneagram, Mantras, YOGA, Chakras, Self Healing, Color Healing, Sound Healing, Altered States of Consciousness,  Cabbalism, New Age Music, Ancient Egyptian occult practices, EST training course, Channeling, Acupuncture, Biofeedback, Chiropratic* Kinesiology, Homeopathy Iridology, Some types of massage, Rebirth, Various Kinds of Body Work,  (Orgonomy, Feldenkrais, Reflexology, Rolfing, Polarity massage, Therapeutic touch, etc.) Meditation and Visualization, Nutritional therapies* Psychic healing, various kinds of herbal medicine* Healing by crystals, Metals, Music or colors, Reincarnation therapies, Some Twelve Step Programs and self-help groups* Sensory isolation, Fasting and Sleep Deprivation*, Holotropic breathing, Hypnosis, Wicca (Witchcraft), Parapsychological experiences, Transcendental Meditation.

Pantheism, Gnosticism, Monism, Sufism, Lore of the Druids, Celtic Christianity, Mediaeval alchemy, Renaissance hermeticism, Reincarnation, Cosmic Unity, Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Karma, Transpersonal psychology Human Potential Movement, Feng-shui. Belief that believing in the existence of evil can create only negativity and fear.  No distinction between good and evil.  No sin, just imperfect knowledge. Belief in friends or counselors from the spirit world called angels or avatars, Great White Brotherhood. Belief that we can create our own reality. Personal inner experience is the highest authority.  A sense of letting ones individuality sink into the great ocean of being, a sense of harmony and fusion with the whole, nature as a living being.  Cosmos is animated by an Energy, and is seen as a organic whole.  Cosmos is identified as a divine  Soul and Spirit.  Belief that people are born with a divine spark.  The fundamental idea is that God is deep within ourselves, or self-realization.  The difference in creator and creation is called Dualism and it is thought to be an erroneous concept.  Belief in theosophy. Belief in evolution (also in a spiritual sense, that we are moving toward a fusion with the divine.)  Expansion of consciousness.  The belief that the path to the inner universe is through the unconscious, Jungian psychology (depth psychology) and the collective unconscious.  The belief that one has access to former lives through dreams and meditation.  Right brain thinking.  Continuum of consciousness, cosmic evolution, quest for unitive consciousness, getting in touch with inner energy or cosmic energy. Belief that love is energy a high frequency vibration.    THE BELIEF THAT COSMIC ENERGY, VIBRATION, LIGHT, LOVE, EVEN THE SUPREME SELF ALL REFER TO ONE AND THE SAME REALITY, THE PRIMAL SOURCE IN EVERY BEING.   The belief that the Higher Self is our real identity. (also called True Self) Divine energy is Christic energy.  This Higher Self is a bridge between God as divine Mind and humanity. The Higher Self contains the memories of earlier incarnations. Esotericism (search for knowledge). Use magic (occult) to obtain power. All religions are the expression of the same reality.  Age of Aquarius.  Want one-world government. Believe that looking within we can know the universe and change it.  Global religion and new world order.  Worship of Mother Earth (Gaia)  Radical ecology or the belief that the divinity of Mother Earth (Gaia) pervades the whole of creation.  The belief that Jesus is not God, but one of many historical manifestations of the cosmic and universal Christ For New Age, the Cosmic Christ is seen as a pattern which can be repeated in many people, places, times; it is the bearer of an enormous paradigm shift.  It is ultimately a potential within us.  Belief that the death of Jesus on the cross is either denied or re-interpreted to exclude the idea that He, as Christ, could have suffered.          

In a select Glossary (#7.2), the following New Age concepts, practices, or groups are explained.  They are: Age of Aquarius, Androgyny, Anthroposophy, Channeling, Christ, Crystals, Depth Psychology (Carl Jung), Enneagram, Esotericism, Evolution, Expansion of consciousness, Feng-shui, Gnosis, Great White Brotherhood, Hermeticism, Holism, Human Potential Movement, Initiation, Karma, Shamanism, Spiritualism, Theosophy,   Transcendentalism, Wicca.   It also lists those who have had the most influence on New Agers.  Among the list were TEILHARD DE CHARDIN, CARL JUNG, AND THOMAS MERTON. (#9.2)

This document states that this list is not complete.  However, it does cover most of the New Age concepts and practices.

*Those marked with the asterisk are NOT explained in the document.  However, some Chiropractors use New Age therapies. Others stay clear of the New Age, and many people benefit from their treatments.  In regard to the herbs, some doctors use spiritually potenized herbs that are prepared through psychic methods, and consumed orally.

Many of the New Age  ideas are taught in Catholic retreat centers, parishes, and classrooms.  The document addresses this problem.  It says, The Catholic Church has its own very effective networks, which could be better used. For example, there is a large number of pastoral centers, cultural centres and centres of spirituality. Ideally, these could also be used to address the confusion about New Age religiosity  in a variety of creative ways, such as providing a forum for discussion and study.  It must be unfortunately admitted that there are too many cases where Catholic centres of spirituality are actively involved in diffusing New Age religiosity in the Church. This of course would have to be corrected, not only to stop the spread of confusion and error, but also that they might be effective in promoting true Christian spirituality. (#6.2)

The document gives this important statement.  IT IS THEREFORE NECESSARY TO ACCURATELY IDENTIFY THOSE ELEMENTS WHICH BELONG TO THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT, AND WHICH CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL TO CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH.  (#4)  This document can be accessed by typing in www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PCCPCIDA.HTM.

Sword of Light & Truth Ministries, Inc.