Customer Reviews

The New Age: The History of a Movement

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Nevill Drury (born 1947) is an editor and publisher, as well as author of many books such as Exploring the Labyrinth: Making Sense of the New Spirituality, Music for Inner Space: Techniques for Meditation and Visualization, Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic, Merlin's Book of Magick and Enchantment, Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans, The Shaman's Quest: Journeys in an Ancient Spiritual Practice, The Occult: A Sourcebook of Esoteric Wisdom, The Illustrated Dictionary of Natural Health, etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 2004 book, "The New Age is essentially about the search for spiritual and philosophical perspectives that will help transform humanity and the world. New Agers are ... eager to explore their own inner potential with a view to becoming part of a larger process of social transformation. Their journey is towards totality of being. Their essential quest---one that I also happen to share and endorse---is for a holistic worldview that offers both insight and hope for the challenging times that lie ahead."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"...Madame (Helena Petrovna) Blavatsky was undoubtedly a fraudulent medium. Nevertheless, Theosophy was very successful in introducing significant ideas into the metaphysical arena. Several have persisted to the present day, greatly influencing the New Age movement." (Pg. 26)
"Gurdjieff, however, proposed what he called the Fourth Way---the Way of the Sly or Cunning Man---which required that the spiritual seeker should be 'in the world but not of it.' In pursuing the Fourth Way, one could ground oneself in everyday experience, and there was no need to renounce one's human relationships in order to achieve a spiritual breakthrough." (Pg. 34)
"There followed two deaths at Esalen that were not drug-related... (one woman) was sexually involved with (Fritz) Perls. The news that (she) had shot herself devastated members of the residential programme at Esalen, and had a profoundly sobering effect. It was later revealed that Perls had mocker her suicide threats during a Gestalt therapy session... If you were threatening to kill yourself, Perls would tell you to go right ahead and do it. The mood at Esalen now changed dramatically, and Perls's relationship with (Michael) Murphy began to sour." (Pg. 74)
"Towards the end of (Muktananda's) life, however, there were persistent reports of sexual misconduct with female Siddha yoga devotees, and also claims that the Siddha Yoga Foundation had begun to transfer substantial funds to its bank accounts in Switzerland." (Pg. 139)