Vol. 7, No. 7, 1990

Articles on the New Age

Craig Branch

"Of the Aquarian Conspirators surveyed, more were involved in education than any other single category of work. They were teachers, administrators, policymakers, educational psychologists. They are, as one expressed it, `...in peaceful struggle' within the system trying to transcend the limits of the old structure; but their efforts are too often thwarted by peers, administrators, parents.

"Mario Fantini, former Ford consultant on education, now at the State University of New York, said bluntly `The psychology of becoming (New Age transcendence) has to be smuggled into the schools'" (The Aquarian Conspiracy, Marilyn Ferguson, p. 280-281; emphasis and parenthesis mine).

So reports respected New Age mentor Marilyn Ferguson in her sociology textbook which has become a New Age manifesto. Those two paragraphs summarize an alarming trend which has been spreading though schools all over the country from kindergarten through college.

The issue that faces us is whether religious ideology and practices can be promoted in the classroom. Specifically, can children be exposed to the influences of the New Age (a synthesis of Buddhism - Hinduism, Zen, Occultism) in the classroom?

New Age education has used various labels such as transpersonal education, confluent education, integrative education and global education. The religious premises on which these new approaches are based are that each child is god in his true identity. This god-self has been sealed because of the illusory, cognitive, logical, rational left side of the brain.

Various religious techniques, especially meditation through deep and progressive relaxation techniques, guided imagery and visualization, can awaken and tap into the intuitive "higher-self" of the student. The presupposition is that the child already has within - infinite wisdom, power and potential.

Closely allied to this is another objectionable widely-used curriculum called values clarification. This "teaches children to discover and clarify their own values rather than having them imposed by outside authority," (Understanding the New Age, Russell Chandler, p. 154).

One of the major problems for parents and school administrators is that the New Age programs are dressed up to look secular and scientific. Added to the problem is that most westerners do not understand eastern religions enough to recognize them in their more subtle forms.

It is important to understand that these techniques are synonymous with eastern medi¬tation and hypnosis.

The disguising of the terminology is not an accident. Well-known educators, Jack Canfield and Paula Klimeck advise their fellow educators, "Centering (that is, relaxation exercises) can be extended into work with meditation in the classroom. [Advice: If you're teaching in a public school, don't call it meditation, call it `centering']. (Education for a New Age: New Age Magazine, Feb. 1978, p. 36).

Again Ferguson reveals:

"For example, tens of thousands of classroom teachers, educational consultants and psychologists, counselors, administrators, researchers, and faculty members in colleges have been among the millions engaged in personal transformation (New Age/eastern mysticism conversion). They have begun to link regionally and nationally. Even a tiny minority of committed teachers, counselors and administrators can set off seismic shocks with programs that work (Aquarian Conspiracy, pp. 281, 314; parenthesis mine).

"Because of its power for social healing and awakening [such as, transformed children can transform society] they conspire to bring the philosophy into the classroom in every grade, in colleges and universities, for job training and adult education" (Ibid, p. 288).

Evidence abounds all over the country that this agenda is being carried out. Watchman Fellowship offices regularly receive complaints (that turn out to be accurate) that school curriculum are using these new age/occultic techniques.

The typical pattern of entry seems to be through health curriculum, self-esteem and counselling programs, stress reduction and gifted children's programs.

Frequent violators are the DUSO (Developing Understanding of Self and Others), Pumsy the dragon, TAD (Toward Affective Development), Quieting Reflex and Success Imagery, Bridges, Flexing Your Test Muscles, Peace, Harmony and Awareness and several aspects of A.P.P.L.E. programs, Autogenics, THTM (Teenage Health Teaching Modules), Neuro-linguistic Programming, Self Concept, Self, Inc., Yoga classes, T'ai Chi Chuan, Mind Sight, Waldorf Schools, and some Montessori schools.

This phenomenon is not just occurring as isolated incidences or just in California and Colorado. In Alabama, the public schools have offered classes on "Spirit journeying and guided meditation; Astral travel and accessing information from the infinite outer plane; healing power of crystals, astrology and metaphysics, an evening with trance-channelers, and Exploring your ESP potential."

Much can be done to eliminate these programs but it takes careful planning and preparation. Watchman Fellowship has developed an effective approach with overwhelming documentation which demon¬strates the illegality and unethical nature of these programs.

Parents need to organize and respond intelligently with their goal not to just remove a program, but to move the state and local school boards to adopt policies which would censor these programs from entering the system, as well as prohibiting any teachers from using them.

The New Age techniques and curriculums are fraught with danger and problems. The Federal Appellate Court has already ruled on an analogous case when Transcendental Meditation was being used in public schools even though it had changed its name to Science of Creative Intelligence.

Also, many psychiatrists and psychologists warn that it is very dangerous to subject children to altered states of consciousness (meditation - hypnosis) by school teachers who are not mental health professionals.

The American School Board Journal recently supported our contention in an article which stated, "...school boards should consider issuing policies about religious issues... before disputes arise... and prevent the costly political, emotional, educational, and financial consequences of litigation," (August 1989).

If New Age teaching is observed, please contact Watchman Fellowship for information on how to proceed to eliminate this occultic exposure.