The New Age movement since 1980 edit

 
Marilyn Ferguson was author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, which has been called "a bible of the New Age movement".[1]

Many commentators who seek to define the post-1960s New Age movement have stressed its breadth. For example, a cover story in Time Magazine characterizes it as a smorgasboard of beliefs, facts, and rituals, with most members subscribing to some parts but not to others.[2] Historian Alan Mayne says some parts may seem "bizarre or utterly fantastic" to ordinary people, but other parts not at all. [3] In his book The New Age Movement in American Culture, Richard Kyle attempts to define the content of the movement by means of its principal spokespeople and their books. [4] Kyle credis Ram Dass with helping to initiate the movement in the early 1970s by popularizing Eastern spirituality.[4] He cites David Spangler and the creators of A Course in Miracles for spreading esoteric ideas and practices, Marilyn Ferguson for producing a comprehensive introduction to the movement's goals, and Mark Satin for "presenting a vision for a new political and economic order".[5] Ferguson's book The Aquarian Conspiracy, which The New York Times called "a bible of the New Age movement",[1] includes chapters on spirituality, politics, and cultural topics: self-help, personal relationships, science, education, and more.[6] Spiritual, cultural, and political chapters are also included in Kyle's book[7] and other movement overview books, both from the 20th century[8][9] and from the 21st.[10][11]

Kyle saw the movement as aiming to "transform" both individuals and society.[12] So did many others. One of the earliest books about the movement's goals was journalist George Leonard's The Transformation (1972).[13] The New York Times quoted this passage from The Aquarian Conspiracy: "A leaderless but powerful network is working to bring about radical change in the United States. Its members have broken with certain key elements of Western thought and they may have even broken continuity with history."[1] Futurists Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps – recognized as New Age-influenced thinkers[14] – declared in their book Networking that "an entirely new culture" is arising in the U.S.[15] They described it as "Another America … an Emerald City of ideas and visions and practical enterprises …, a domain that is very new, and at the same time, very old."[15]

Observers have long attempted to define, judge, and anticipate the New Age movement's future. In the 1980s, Time Magazine expressed concern about the possible left-wing or far-right implications of the movement,[2] while journalist Annie Gottlieb looked forward to an evolution of the New Age and New Left into a "New Center".[16] In the 1990s, Mayne suggested that the movement's emphasis on consciousness could radically reshape ordinary assumptions about people, culture, and politics.[3] In the 2000s, the authors of The Cultural Creatives argued that the New Age movement was a "transitional phenomenon" that would fade as the new culture it expressed became more "normal in society",[17] while The New York Times suggested that many of the cutting-edge ideas in Ferguson's book had already become "commonplace".[1]

Second part of paragraph on Yair Lapid edit

In May 2020, following three elections, Lapid was named leader of the opposition in Israel.[18][19] A month prior, Lapid had written an essay in which he described his version of centrism as "the politics of the broad consensus that empowers us all. Together, we are creating something new".[20]

Up From Socialism edit

In his mid-70s, Satin wrote the book Up From Socialism (2023).[21] It was edited by Adam Bellow, a son of the novelist Saul Bellow.[22] In a review, law professor David Yamada – who says he taught Satin at NYU School of Law – describes the book as reflections upon Satin's political and personal life "in a first-person, journalistic style. It is very opinionated, not overly concerned with political correctness, and sometimes rather detailed about the author's romantic connections".[23] In a response that Yamada later added to the article, Satin wrote:

David ... does not realize how much his perspective has contributed to my Up From Socialism book. That book is, among other things, an exposé of the nastiness, competitiveness, ego-drivenness, and bullying that went on in the New Left of the 1960s, the supposedly more idealistic "transformational" movements of the 1970s–1990s, and the supposedly more buttoned-down radical-centrist activities of our day – not to mention what's going on in the new New Left!

In Up From Socialism, I trace much of this awfulness back to many activists' poor relationships with self, parents, and partners; that's why there's little separation in my book between the personal and the political. And that's why the explicitly stated moral of my book is, "Only by becoming kind people can we create a kind world". ... I am a more or less Bad Guy through much of my book![24]

Satin attempted to explain another aspect of the book on his page at the Civil Rights Movement Archive website: "[In my new book], radical politics no longer means taking an extreme side of an issue and acting as if you're right and everyone else is wrong (or, especially today,"evil"). Rather, it means listening empathically to the fears, needs, wants, and wisdom of people on all sides of an issue, and then working with all sides to develop genuine (not mushy-middle) solutions that address everyone's core interests. That is the kind of movement we need today, not a revival of the movements of the Sixties".[25]

Without the blog content edit

In his mid-70s, Satin wrote the book Up From Socialism (2023).[26] It was edited by Adam Bellow, a son of the novelist Saul Bellow.[27] Shortly after publication, Satin attempted to describe the book's political perspective on the Civil Rights Movement Archive website: "[In my new book], radical politics no longer means taking an extreme side of an issue and acting as if you're right and everyone else is wrong (or, especially today,'evil'). Rather, it means listening empathically to the fears, needs, wants, and wisdom of people on all sides of an issue, and then working with all sides to develop genuine (not mushy-middle) solutions that address everyone's core interests. That is the kind of movement we need today, not a revival of the movements of the Sixties".[28]

Notes edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Grimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Friedrich, Otto (7 December 1987). "New Age Harmonies". Time Magazine, vol. 130, issue no. 23, pp. 62–66.
  3. ^ a b Mayne, Alan J. (1999). From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms. Praeger Publishers / Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 167–68. ISBN 978-0-275-96151-0.
  4. ^ a b Kyle, Richard (1995). The New Age Movement in American Culture. University Press of America, pp. 66–67 ("Spokespersons and Their Books" section). ISBN 978-0-7618-0010-1.
  5. ^ Kyle (1995), cited above, p. 67.
  6. ^ Ferguson, Marilyn (1980). The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s. Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., distributed by Houghton Mifflin, pp. 9–10. The spiritual chapter is Chap. 11 ("Spiritual Abundance") and the political, Chap. 7 ("Right Power"). An example of the cultural chapters is Chap. 10 ("The Transformation of Values and Vocation"). ISBN 978-0-87477-191-6.
  7. ^ Kyle (1995), cited above. Examples include Chaps. 6 ("New Age Religious and Philosophical Assumptions"), 7 ("Science and Education in the New Age"), and 8 ("The New Age Reaches Out: Politics and Economics").
  8. ^ Lipnack, Jessica; Stamps, Jeffrey (1982). Networking: The First Report and Directory. Doubleday. Examples include Chaps. 8 ("Growing Networks: Personal and Spiritual Growth"), 4 ("Sharing Networks: Communities and Cooperatives"), and 6 ("Valuing Networks: Politics and Economics"). ISBN 978-0-385-18121-1.
  9. ^ Gottlieb, Annie (1988). Do You Believe in Magic?: Bringing the Sixties Back Home. Simon & Schuster. Examples include second section of Part Three ("Spirit"), second section of Part Four ("Work"), and "Conclusion: The Evolutionary War". ISBN 978-0-671-66050-0 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum.
  10. ^ Capra, Fritjof; Luisi, Pier Luigi (2014). The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. Cambridge University Press. Examples include Chaps. 13 ("Science and Spirituality"), 15 ("The Systems View of Health"), and 18 ("Systemic Solutions"). ISBN 978-1-107-52144-5.
  11. ^ Dinan, Stephen (2016). Sacred America, Sacred World: Fulfilling Our Mission in Service to All. Introduction by Marianne Williamson. Hampton Roads Publishing, distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser. Examples include Chaps. 2 ("What Is a Sacred America?"), 14 ("Educating Our Children"), and 27 ("Transcending Political Polarities"). ISBN 978-1-57174-744-0.
  12. ^ Kyle (1995), cited above, p. 113.
  13. ^ Ray, Paul H.; Anderson, Sherry Ruth (2000). The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World. Harmony Books / Random House, p. 207. ISBN 978-0-609-60467-0.
  14. ^ Porter, Jack Nusan (2008). Is Sociology Dead?: Social Theory and Social Praxis in a Post-Modern Age. University Press of America, pp. 138, 158. ISBN 978-0-7618-3867-8.
  15. ^ a b Lipnack and Stamps (1982), cited above, p. 1.
  16. ^ Gottlieb (1988), cited above, p. 154.
  17. ^ Ray and Anderson (2000), cited above, p. 189.
  18. ^ Gross, Paul (May 2020). "Yair Lapid Is Now the Leader of Israel's 'Democracyt Camp'". Fathom Journal. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  19. ^ Heller, Aron (21 May 2020). "New Opposition Leader Lapid Says Netanyahu 'Embarrassing' Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  20. ^ Lapid, Yair (22 April 2020). "Only the Center Can Hold: Democracy and the Battle of Ideas". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  21. ^ David Yamada,"Autobiographical Reflections: Mark Satin's Up From Socialism", Minding the Workplace blog, New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School, November 13, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  22. ^ Mark Satin, Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics, Bombardier Books / Post Hill Press, 2023, pp. 339–340. ISBN 978-1-63758-663-1
  23. ^ Yamada, "Autobiographical", sixth paragraph.
  24. ^ Mark Satin, in Yamada, "Autobiographical", last two paragraphs.
  25. ^ Mark Satin, Mark Satin, last paragraph, c. 2023. In Civil Rights Movement Archive, "Activists" section, "Roll Call" sub-section. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  26. ^ Mark Satin, Up From Socialism: My 60-Year Search for a Healing New Radical Politics, Bombardier Books / Post Hill Press, 2023, ISBN 978-1-63758-663-1
  27. ^ Satin, Up From Socialism, pp. 339–340.
  28. ^ Mark Satin, Mark Satin, last paragraph, c. 2023. In Civil Rights Movement Archive, "Activists" section, "Roll Call" sub-section. Retrieved May 23, 2024.