THIRTEEN .sx YOU HAVE THE POWER .sx For thousands of years communities , secret brotherhoods and loosely-affiliated networks have heralded the New Age , the arrival of heaven on earth .sx From the ascetic Essenes guarding their specialized knowledge on the shores of the Dead Sea , to the pockets of wild-eyed libertines touring Europe during the Middle Ages , to the intrigues of the Rosicrucians and the other-worldly intellectualism of the Theosophists , innumerable groups have believed that they have the power to bring about a new era .sx Today's New Age has garnered from its heritage a spiritual hotch - potch of abstruse theories and esoteric snippets , sprinkled with a liberal dose of Eastern exoticisms .sx The result :sx a vast umbrella movement embracing countless groups , gurus and individuals , bound together by a belief that the world is undergoing a transformation or shift in consciousness which will usher in a new mode of being , an earthly paradise .sx Rather than filing itself away under philosophical or theological labels , the New Age provides seekers with a spiritual core around which they can orbit , picking up whichever rays of enlightenment they feel hit the mark , or resonate with their own inner truth .sx By dismissing logical argument , by putting intuition above intellect and feeling above theory , the New Age happily embraces wildly differing creeds .sx For the New Age is not 'either/or' but 'both/and' , as its proponents so often insist .sx Therein lies much of its appeal :sx the New Age has something for everyone .sx While it attracts its fair share of confirmed 1960s children , it also draws in businesspeople , so-called 'New Age yuppies' , health professionals , lawyers - anyone who wants to take control over their life and at the same time escape , just for a while , from the monotony of everyday existence .sx It does help , however , if you are reasonably well off :sx the New Age brand of enlightenment doesn't come cheap .sx What distinguishes a New Age convert ?sx At one extreme , the New Age is a fashion item :sx at the beginning of the 1990s , several magazines and newspapers ran New Age fashion spreads , the clothes ranging from a return to 1960s psychedelic gear to white , loose-fitting outfits intended to symbolize the spiritual purity and holistic values of the wearer .sx Casual New Agers wear the clothes , sport crystal jewellery , read the odd book and attend a course now and again .sx At the other extreme are the committed New Agers .sx And while some might still be wearing their original 1960s clothes , many wear business suits , sport Filofaxes and only betray their spiritual allegiances when they open their mouths :sx key New Age words such as 'commitment' , 'empowerment' , 'transformation' , 'integrity' and 'unity' come tumbling out in a tone of high seriousness .sx While today's New Age revival can in part be attributed to the approach of the millennium and the threat of the environmental crisis , it is the desire for power and control which accounts above all for the current upsurge of interest in the movement .sx Despite its aversion to labels , the New Age can be summed up by one simple phrase :sx you have the power .sx Power is , it appears , an increasingly valued commodity in the latter part of the twentieth century - one which mainstream religions often fail to provide .sx Instead , they tend to emphasize powerlessness - and besides , say New Agers , most mainstream religions treat women appallingly and are divorced from real life .sx Whereas at first the twentieth century saw a drifting away from religion , the New Age marks a return to an all-embracing , all-powerful spirituality .sx Of course , the heady sense of being privy to supposedly secret information has lured people towards esoteric paths for centuries .sx But what is different about the twentieth century search for power and control is that rather than simply being sought after by fringe groups or oppressed sections of society - as , for instance , with the revolutionary millennial sects of the Middle Ages - it is all - pervasive .sx Over the past few decades , the average man and woman has been bombarded with information revealing how traditional seats of authority - the Church , the government and the family - have failed and deceived them .sx In tandem with such revelations , social commentators have been claiming that humanity is feeling increasingly out of control over everything from the minutiae of everyday life to world events which threaten their very existence .sx Not only are we living in a rapidly changing world , but also the mass media is continually making us aware of the situation .sx Many people were already half way to the conclusion that the self was the only place where they could locate Truth .sx The New Age simply pushed them over the edge by handing them the tantalizing concept of the 'empowered self' .sx In the late 1960s , American psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton described the new type of being produced by modernity as " Protean man " - named after the shape-shifting Greek God Proteus .sx " Protean man , " he said , " is incapable of maintaining an unquestioning allegiance to the large ideologies and Utopian thought of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries .sx " Modern man was , he claimed " confused about limits " .sx The response to this crisis was , he said , twofold .sx Some people chose to " hold fast to all existing categories " , creating " nostalgic visions of restoring a golden age of exact boundaries , an age in which men allegedly knew exactly where they stood " .sx The opposite response , he said , was " to destroy , or seek to destroy , all boundaries , in the name of an all-encompassing oneness " .sx The New Age sets out to break down the boundaries of reality , the boundaries of religions , the boundaries of nations and the boundaries of mind-body-spirit .sx Boundaries imply alienation and separation - and for the New Age , separation is the greatest evil .sx True to its 'both/and' doctrine , the New Age also returns men and women to a golden age - one in which they are all-powerful , no less than gods .sx In practice , however , it is often the New Age leader or guru who has the power :sx the follower will be told to locate truth in his or her inner self - but the leader will interpret what the inner self says .sx And although the New Age teaches a profound sense of 'self'-responsibility , many converts seem eager to hand over all semblance of personal decision-making to a leader who provides direction on everything from their choice of partner to what to eat and how often to wash .sx The New Age also allows no boundaries between God and man - hence the difficulty with the Judaeo-Christian God who is seen as separate from his creation , and hence the New Age teaching that you are God .sx There must also be no distinction - no 'separation' - between the individual's reality and the outside reality , a doctrine which gives rise to the New Age maxim :sx you create your own reality .sx For some converts , the maxim can be immensely liberating ; for the unconverted , it can be infuriating :sx logical argument becomes impossible .sx In practice , 'you create your own reality' lays itself open to abuse .sx The emphasis on self can easily lead to selfishness , and even callousness :sx one New Age convert , explaining his philosophy of life , remarked that of course he could treat women how he liked because it was up to them how they chose to experience his behaviour .sx On a larger scale , some New Age groups teach that since people are " responsible for " and " create " their own reality , there is no point in giving to charity .sx During the massive 1985 Live Aid campaign , at least one New Age group staunchly refused to contribute any money .sx Although some of today's New Agers are active campaigners on issues which concern them , many have decided that a meditation or a dance will work just as well .sx The idea that you create your own reality can also create profound feelings of guilt :sx someone suffering from an illness might be told that it is simply their " story " - and it is up to them to get rid of the victim mentality and change the punchline .sx The New Age tends to dismiss the existence of absolutes , among them pain and death , which are often seen as simply yet another dogma .sx The one absolute which the New Age does promote is the power of the self .sx New Agers themselves are often quite open about the dangers of self-discovery .sx LSD turned breath-control therapist Stanislav Grof recently co-wrote The Stormy Search for The Self , advising seekers on how to deal with crack-ups on the path towards enlightenment .sx Others are worried not so much about the psychological as about the spiritual dangers of the New Age .sx Some leaders of established religions are so horrified by the emphasis on power that they are convinced Satan is behind the movement - a demonic puppeteer pulling the strings with the ultimate aim of effecting a world takeover .sx Many New Agers actively promote the movement as being both dangerous and covert - and even the charge of Satanism is transformed into an attribute by some prominent New Age figures who see Satan not as the Anti-Christ ( against Christ ) but as the ante-Christ ( before Christ ) , preparing the way for heaven on earth .sx Virtually all the derogatory remarks made about the New Age can also be seen as the very essence of what makes the movement so attractive :sx the New Age is not 'either/or' but 'both/and' .sx Some believe that , before long , the New Age will develop an orthodoxy .sx While this would , in a sense , strip the New Age of what it is , it might help to ensure that New Age leaders are prevented from taking advantage of their spiritual authority :sx followers would have some code of practice against which they could measure their leader's behaviour ; something concrete to hang on to in times of uncertainty .sx While some New Agers are happy to flit from group to group , others become totally dependent on the movement and if their faith is shaken they can feel immensely let down .sx Sometimes , the disillusionment can be shattering , and the struggle to rebuild their lives well-nigh overwhelming .sx While there are countless New Age leaders whose behaviour towards their followers is faultless , there are a number who have abused the power which their personal charisma , together with the persuasiveness of their teachings , has given them .sx These leaders are accountable only to themselves - and their followers have little , if any , means of redress .sx The story of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness ( MSIA ) provides a good illustration of the problem .sx Teachings within the movement encourage followers to reject criticism of them or their leader as " negative" .sx Specific charges of malpractice by MSIA leaders are dismissed as tales that cannot be substantiated short of " personal experience " .sx Those who become unhappy within the movement have either to obliterate any negative thinking , or leave it .sx The founder of MSIA is Roger Hinkins .sx Born in Rains , Utah , in 1934 to Mormon parents , Hinkins was an ordinary kind of child , distinguished from his schoolfellows only by his claimed ability to see the auras or colours surrounding people .sx After gaining a degree in psychology , Hinkins took a job as an English teacher at Rosemead County High School , California .sx Then the transformation occurred :sx falling into a coma following a kidney stone operation in 1963 , Hinkins claimed to have undergone a profoundly enlightening near-death experience and , on returning to the living , became aware that a spiritual being - John the Beloved - had entered his body .sx In Christian belief , John the Beloved is St John the Evangelist , one of Christ's apostles .sx From then on , Hinkins adopted the name of John-Roger , or J-R .sx He also claimed he was the embodiment of the Mystical Traveller Consciousness - a being , so his followers came to believe , which appears only once every 25,000 years , and without whom it is virtually impossible to reach God or the " soul realm " .sx In his spare time , J-R began to lead evening classes , preaching his new-found spirituality and gradually gathering a group of firm devotees around him .sx Meanwhile , he continued his more mundane teaching at Rosemead until , one day , the headmaster walked into his classroom to find the lights extinguished and curtains drawn :sx J-R had been introducing his pupils to hypnosis .sx Deciding that his spiritual teachings took priority , J-R and the school went separate ways .sx