Dream on . . .

On the evening of Saturday, July 24, 2004, at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Mr. Prem Rawat, born in India and widely known as Maharaji, spoke to a near capacity audience. The event was free, financed by private funds non-revealed, and you had to scramble to get a ticket. There were metal detectors at the doors, everyone was checked – backpacks, large bags, cameras and recording devices were not permitted into the hall. What was the issue with Mr. Rawat presence that he would require such protection and security measures? His message was the message of peace! His message of peace did not repeat the request of Our Lady at Fatima, where She asked for the consecration of Russian to Her Immaculate Heart. Nope. The vehicle of Mr. Rawat’s peace mission is Man. Yup, peace is within man. Mr. Rawat believes that there is nothing external to man to bring about peace, only his own efforts are required to bring peace into our individual lives and then society, as a global society, will benefit by this individual transformation. Mr. Rawat was introduced to the public with these words (also on an advertising leaflet): “He started addressing audiences at age three and began travelling the world presenting his message at thirteen . . . he offers to show those who wish to make peace a reality in their lives a practical method which he calls Knowledge (with a capital K) . . . If we have the feeling, we do not need the word. Peace needs to be in everyone’s life.”

Mr. Rawat was talking about ‘everyone`s life’. Let us recall that for the New Age, “this entire planet is inhabited by only one form of life.” (Howard Bloom, ‘The Café at the Beginning of the Universe’, what is enlightenment: redefining spirituality for an evolving world, Issue 25, May – June 2004, p 38) But this is the foundation principle of pantheism: “. . . Pantheism . . . the Divine Force, which encompasses and permeates the world, investing itself under every known form; Nature, co-equal with God, and finding its perfection in man; truth, a work of intuition rather than of induction; the religious sentiment going hand in hand with materialism; mortification of the flesh joined with a licentious conduct in life. A state of perfect impassibility . . . To attain it, any means is lawful, every act is allowable.” (Abbé Con-stant Fouard, Saint Peter and the First Years of Christianity, Roman Catholic Books, originally published in 1892, p 319)

This is the basis of the NAM. Hence the difficulty in trying to grasp a thread of continuity amongst the multitude of new age subjects, theories and paraphernalia – the road is not an issue, there are many roads in the NAM. They are wide roads. These wide roads have lots of different New Age shops scattered about them, enticing you with all manner of intrigue and experiences. They appeal to the pride of man and hiss: you shall be as Gods. “(Pride) is the excessive love of one’s own excellence. It is ordinarily accounted one of the seven capital sins. St. Thomas, however, endorsing the appreciation of St. Gregory, considers it the queen of all vices, and puts vainglory in its place as one of the deadly sins. In giving it this preeminence he takes it in a most formal and complete signification. He understands it to be that frame of mind in which a man, through the love of his own worth, aims to withdraw himself from subjection to Almighty God, and set at naught the commands of superiors. It is a species of contempt of God and of those who bear his commission . . . By it the creature refuses to stay within his essential orbit; he turns his back upon God, not through weakness or ignorance, but solely because in his self-exaltation he is minded not to submit.” (The Catholic Encyclopaedia, Volume XII, 1913 edition, p 405)

But God has warned: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.” (Isaias 55: 8 – 9) Thus one day God will show man how much his existence depends on Him in all aspects, and it will be a hard but salutary lesson: There can be peace only insofar as the order God has put in things, individuals, society, is respected.

Conclusion

A special “Knowledge”, feelings and experiences, man sufficient unto himself, the absence of God, man’s inner potential for transformation, evolution, enlightenment – these are the themes of the new age movement. Ultimately, it involves the development of a mindset, and this mindset is often solidified through a wide spectrum of available new age practices whether that be through the belief systems encompassed by the esoteric orders, theosophy, the kabbala, yoga, Wicca, Gaia, channeling, the Celestine prophecy, astrology, out-of-body experiences, dream interpretation, transcendental meditation, feng shui, Buddhism, aromatherapy, runes, I Ching, karma etc. etc., it will lead to the mindset that man and his world is God.