The Problem With New Age Spirituality
I’ve been doing spiritual work for nearly two decades, and I’ve noticed some unhealthy trends over the years with the rise of New Age spirituality. As someone who’s studied different lineages (ancient Hindu, Hermeticism, ancient Egyptian, Rosicrucian, etc), I can say that spiritual-minded people who are seeking answers are either getting lazy or getting tricked.
Here are some of my rants about modern spirituality and the rise of New Age nonsense.
It’s all about light, love, and unicorns, which negates our shadow side and authentic emotions and prevents people from doing the deeper work. The shadow part of ourselves is where the real alchemical magic can occur. It’s where we face our demons and shortcomings, and turn lead into gold. If everything were light and love, where is the space for spiritual growth and other expressions of the soul to occur? The sooner we can see that both sides have their own agenda, we step out of the game of polarity and into a state of nonjudgment and love. Don’t think those who say “only light and love” don’t have an agenda? Keep reading (also look up spiritual bypassing).
There is no discernment, so people willingly believe influencers and teachers who have flashy videos and marketing tactics. Few can now tell the difference between someone spreading true wisdom, which is knowledge taught for the greater good, to those who are selling snake oil. Most people are drinking the Kool-Aid and buying what people put out on the internet at face value. People are not questioning hidden spiritual agendas or statements people are putting out there, most of which are fear-based.
Fearmongering. Fear is the force that has the most control over a person’s soul, so it’s no surprise that fearmongering is the most common modo operandi of spiritual leaders, (and I use the term leader loosely because true leaders don’t lead with fear). This is rampant in the news and on social media. “If you don’t do XYZ, this terrible thing will happen to you.” “The world is coming to an end. The New World Order is taking over.” “The Greys and Reptilians are trying to take over the human race.” “The probability of this asteroid hitting Earth just doubled in one week!” “If you don’t raise your vibration, you will be stuck in this crappy 3D world.” “Everyone in Hollywood is clones”! The list goes on, but these are just a few examples. Pro tip: If the message is fear-based and sensational, run away. Check in with yourself and your intuition. Take a deep breath, and see what’s true for you. The good news our thoughts create our reality, so if you don’t get trapped in fear-based thinking, it can’t take control over you.
There is a lack of understanding of esoteric wisdom from the lineage it comes from. The teachings are often corrupted as they get passed down from one person to the next. The curse and the blessing of the Age of Information is that people can access the answers to almost any query they have. The curse is it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to decipher fact from fiction, and lately, reality from AI-generated content. This increase in information creates a vast amount of new potentials that have never existed before, leading to increased confusion, chaos, and entropy. In other words, sometimes simpler is better. The teachings of our subtle body anatomy, the structures of this construct, or Universe or whatever you want to call it, Hermetic wisdom, etc have become distorted.
No initiation process. Way back when, back in the times of the Atlanteans, ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks, Mayans, etc, people who were interested in mysticism and spirituality had to go through an initiation process. In other words, they had to do the damn spiritual work to understand and remember who they were at the core of their being and know that we are all divine creations. Your average Joe didn’t have access to the mysteries of the Universe. The powers that were made sure that this sacred information was in safe hands. Nowadays, anyone can access this information, and it’s not always used for good. Moreover, I’m seeing a pattern, mostly thanks to social media, where people can become “experts” in spirituality almost overnight. They do an online six-week course, get their digital certificate, and claim they hold the secrets of the world. Add in some catchy reels with ethereal background music, some decent video editing skills, extroversion, and a voice of authority and you’ve got yourself a spiritual influencer who can gather the masses and their money. It’s rare that a lot of these influencers actually do the inner work. And no, getting fired from your job or breaking up with your boyfriend doesn’t count as a dark night of the soul.
There is a guru mentality in which people who are seeking answers become drawn to leaders who have magnetic personalities, and they end up creating a hierarchical teacher-guru dynamic. This causes the student to: 1) shut down their discernment for what’s true for them vs what’s true for their teacher; 2) shut down their sovereignty; 3) not understand that we are all divine and have the capability to connect directly with Source; 4) seek their answers and ways of working with energy and connecting to the Divine. This guru dynamic is why there has been a rise in cults over the years, including in places you wouldn’t expect. Once you understand how this relationship works, you start to see this dynamic play out everywhere, including in our governments, major corporations (i.e. worshiping certain companies because they seem like the golden ticket to being cool— I’m looking at you Apple), obsessing over celebrities and pop stars (i.e. Taylor Swift and Beyonce), and basically all major institutions. When the followers aren’t thinking for themselves, it creates a potentially dangerous hierarchical top-down power model.
The belief that light is “good” and the dark is “bad”. You cannot know the light without knowing the dark. Getting locked into a good vs bad dynamic keeps you stuck in polarity and prevents you from seeing the bigger picture and gaining the wisdom both dichotomies offer.
The same goes for “high vibes only.” Firstly, why are high vibrations the “only” good ones we want to experience? What about lower vibrations from drums and bass instruments? Drums have been used for millennia as a way to shift your brain state to connect with the Divine. In regards to brain waves, it’s the lower frequencies that allow humans to reach higher states of consciousness. For example, Theta is about 4-8 Hz and is associated with deep mediation, creativity, and super learning, whereas Beta is 12-30 Hz, which is the normal waking state. Going to even slower brain cycles per second, we have Epsilon, which is 0.1- 0.5 cycles per second in which deep consciousness and healing occur. When we look at the light spectrum, infrared light has tremendous health benefits, and although the wavelength is longer than light in the visible spectrum, the frequency is lower. As for sound, sound therapy at 40 Hz has been shown to improve fibromyalgia symptoms. Sound therapy at 40 Hz has also been shown to be effective at treating brain injuries. Another study showed that sound frequencies between 10-100 Hz induced enhancement of neurite outgrowth. Another study concluded that sub-sonic sound frequencies between 30 Hz affected the differentiation potential of neural-like cells in the stem cells of fat tissue. Applying low-frequency sound wave stimulation (between 16-160 Hz) can also reduce chronic back pain. The Schumann resonance of the Earth is only about 7.8 Hz. The sound Om from the ancient Hindu tradition is a low-frequency sound. So all this high vibe-only rhetoric is pure crap! Again, this type of thinking keeps people trapped in polarity.
The obsession with ascension. This dovetails off of my previous point about high vibes only. This obsession creates several problems. 1) The goal becomes moving one’s consciousness or awareness to higher and higher dimensions and realms without being grounded and present in the body. This can leave the body susceptible to other entities, energies, and forces coming in when you aren’t present in your body. It can also lead to what’s called an ascension crisis in which a person goes through a spiritual crisis without the proper guidance or support from a teacher.
The obsession with “channeling”. It seems like everyone these days is channeling some “God-like being” from the upper dimensions and “downloading” all of society’s precious answers, and only these people have this unique ability. The problem goes back to one of my earlier points— few people have discernment, so they can’t decipher who or from where exactly they are getting their information. It could be another entity that is disguising itself as a grand ascended master, but sadly, most people can’t tell the difference between communicating with archangel Michael from Michael Jackson (I love MJ btw). It also creates this sense of gatekeeping information in which only the people who channel can access this kind of information when in reality, we ALL have psychic abilities that we can hone and harness to get our answers. Channeling is just one psychic ability, and there is no extrasensory ability or siddhi that’s better than another. That kind of thinking keeps you stuck in comparison and polarity.
Negating important aspects of the soul such as the ego, thought forms we create, and its externality. There are too many spiritual circles to count that criticize the ego. The ego forms part of our soul’s expression, and even the “darker” side of the ego shouldn’t be stifled because it shows where a soul is working and learning. It’s ironic because there are even more spiritual leaders who have an unhealthy egoic expression and become spiritual leaders for attention, fame, and wealth. You know what I’m talking about. Those who charge tens of thousands of dollars for their programs, “sacred” journeys to places like Egypt and Peru, merchandise, pyramid schemes, and more. I won’t name names, but there are some pretty big personalities on social media who feel like they can practically put a price on your soul. Sorry to repeat myself again, but this is why discernment is vital.
It’s all about psychotropics rather than doing the inner work without substances. If I have to hear another story about someone’s “Aya” journey, I’m going to lose it. I definitely believe that psychotropics have their time and place and can truly be the medicine someone needs; however, it seems like there is a trend towards escapism, fast-tracking spiritual growth, and being dissociated under the guise of using sacred plant medicine. Many are middle-class or wealthy white Westerners who have little understanding of the indigenous traditions surrounding psychotropic plants. Moreover, many of these retreats and ceremonies lack the proper support to help people integrate their experiences using psychedelics. I also know people who go from one Ayahuasca retreat to the next, and getting to these higher states of consciousness becomes almost addictive and a way to escape their physical day-to-day reality.
What can we do?
I’m not a doom-and-gloom kind of fearmongering person, so I do believe that there is hope and that these trends in New Age spirituality are meant to open our eyes. I truly can’t emphasize cultivating your own discernment enough. People need to get their BS meters back online! It’s very important to always check in with your body and intuition after consuming content or learning from a teacher if the content resonates and rings true for you. I have gotten in trouble with many of my spiritual teachers for asking certain questions or sharing my unique experiences doing a certain technique that goes against the grain. But you know what, it’s worth ruffling some feathers if it means waking people up to their own truth. We have to be asking ourselves constantly, is this true for me? Do I agree with this statement/ teaching/ point of view/ energy technique? Unfortunately, people aren’t taught discernment because it threatens the power structures. Time to call BS on this.
I also believe that each person needs to understand which psychic sense(s) are strongest for them. Channeling may not be the best way for you to get your answers for example. I did several years of training at a psychic school that emphasized pretty much exclusively clairvoyant abilities. I came across fellow students who had other abilities that clairempathy and claircognizance, which were negated by the teachers because the focus was too heavily on clairvoyance. I got in trouble at that school when I started questioning some of their techniques as you can imagine! So even if you are taught to read energy in the form of images and colors for example, you might find you hear energy better. Trust what your body and psychic senses are telling you, even if it goes against what you are taught. And importantly, if your teacher punishes you for your innate skills, run away from them as fast as you can because they aren’t good teachers.
Study the ancient texts and lineages! As a perpetual student, I know I am biased when I say this, but this is important because the original teachings have become so corrupted for the centuries. Go back to the original teachings and pull out the nuggets of wisdom that resonate with you, and leave out the rest. Don’t be afraid to modify the teachings to work with our modern day lifestyles. Nowadays, you do not need to retreat to a hidden cave in the Hymalayas and mediate nonstop for 20 years to get your answers. However, there is wisdom in those teachings.
Lastly, I will say you can’t shortcut spiritual growth. In a hustle and bustle world, everyone wants a fast track pass to the finish line. Mysticism doesn’t work that way. I don’t think you necessarily have to suffer in order to learn important lessons, but you sure as hell can’t do a six-week online course and call yourself an ascended master let alone teacher. You have to integrate the teachings into your everyday life and be a living example of the teachings. And through this process, you will figure out what works for you and what doesn’t, what needs to be modified, where you still need to learn and grow, and what wisdom you can share to be of greater service. It’s not about the number of likes, followers, and views you have on Instagram and Tik Tok people! It’s about embodying the teachings and sharing that wisdom.
