"The fundamental assumption of the New Age is that all reality
is fundamentally one."
- Dr Steve Kumar in his book
Answering the Counterfeit.
This is known as monism and means that everything in the universe
(including us) is all part of the same thing - any differences are an
illusion. In other words, we are part of God, since we are part of the
one that is everything. (Remind you of Star Wars' Force?)
Another basic belief (that actually stems from monism) is that (ironically)
New Agers believe they can get closer to their "real selves"
by getting further away from actual reality through meditation, chanting,
yoga, etc. In other words, New Agers believe "... that it is through
cosmic consciousness that we attain cosmic oneness" (Dr Steve Kumar,
ibid.) where all distinctions such as good/evil, male/female, human/God
disappear.
Relativism is something which is widespread and not just limited to
the New Age Movement, but is something that the New Age Movement cannot
be without. Relativism is believing that truth is subjective and changes
depending on exact circumstances and the people involved. It's why people
falsely believe that all religions are valid, all viewpoints are equally
valid, and all lifestyles are valid. It's evidenced in self-defeating
claims such as "That's just your belief" (which is just
a belief itself) and blatently self-refuting
statements such as "There are no absolutes" and "Nothing
is knowable." Part of relativism is moral relativism - the belief
that our moral decisions can be based purely on our own thoughts and
feelings, that anything is OK if it feels right and doesn't directly
hurt anyone else.
(As a related matter, tolerance of beliefs and behaviour has come to
be forced on people, often in the name of political correctness. To
be intolerant of other religions, beliefs, and even behaviour, is made
out to be the ultimate sin, yet hypocritically complete tolerance does
not extend to the view that unrestrained tolerance is not always a good
thing. That is, the view that some behaviours should not be tolerated
is not tolerated. This leads to hateful intolerance of anyone, for example,
refusing to tolerate immoral or even self-destructive behaviour.)
New Agers believe that if they believe something is true then it is
true (fideism), and that because
a worldview appears attractive, it must be OK for them to believe it.
