tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19219922.post7889017667662499840..comments2024-03-03T21:51:46.662-05:00Comments on stylos: Mary now appearing in Nelson County, VirginiaJeffrey T. Riddlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16374856944409335186noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19219922.post-52987603664828676382023-05-15T18:08:16.214-04:002023-05-15T18:08:16.214-04:00M e d j u g o r j e 💛M e d j u g o r j e 💛Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19219922.post-64987982748085031992007-06-14T13:49:00.000-04:002007-06-14T13:49:00.000-04:00Hah, yeah I passed this place out in Nelson County...Hah, yeah I passed this place out in Nelson County just a few weekends ago on our way to go hiking. If you are familiar with Nelson County, it's fairly typical. There was a whole feature in Newsweek a while back detailing the New Age "hotspots" in the country and Nelson county made the top ten. <BR/><BR/>While generally I think these folks and the Monroe Institute to be fairly harmless, I think it also demonstrates why many Neopagans, myself included, are distancing themselves from anything resembling New Age type Mysticism. Mainly, my main criticisms come down three points:<BR/><BR/>1) Lack of personal Responsibility. (i.e. "do what you feel"). True growth and progress requires sacrifice. That's not very marketable, but it's true nonetheless<BR/><BR/>2) Speaking of marketing, there always seems to be dollar signs attached to the New Age movement. For example, even if I <I>wanted</I> to learn about out of body experiences, I couldn't even personally afford to attend the Monroe Institute. This is true on the smaller level too, with people selling crystals to put them touch with the "healing powers of the Earth" (While completely ingnoring the strip mine and slave labor often used to extract those minerals.) <BR/><BR/>3) It's a generational thing. As a GenX'r, I'm generally suspicious of everything connected to the 60's. Their free love gave us AIDS, their drugs gave us addictions, and their newfound environmentalism was soon traded in for a Lexus SUV and a McMansion in the suburbs.<BR/><BR/>Even so, as I said, I find most of these folks mostly harmless and generally I merely fault them for being ineffectual. The same can't be said of some in the radical fundementalist political right. Also to be fair, I realize that there are many Baby Boomers who still take seriously the lessons of working for peace, sustainability, corporate responsibility and social justice they learned in the 60's. I also acknowledge that my generation is far from perfect either, and I already fear how the next generation will judge mine.Tree hugginghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18269999808226336464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19219922.post-30568143908987485252007-06-12T14:04:00.000-04:002007-06-12T14:04:00.000-04:00I believe this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, iro...I believe this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, ironically (since he is perhaps the Father of such New Age movements), sheds a lot of light on this current claim to commune with this apparition of Oneness. "People only see what they are prepared to see.” If we are prepared to see the truth then we have already searched the Scriptures; apart from the Bible, men are prepared to see whatever they can conjure up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com