New Age Law
New Age Law – Introduction
The New Age does not spend a lot of time discussing law. New Agers prefer to concentrate on personal inner development, getting in touch with the God within. Yet, this primary goal of Cosmic Humanists has implications for the field of law. Marianne Williamson says, “As extensions of God, we are ourselves the spirit of compassion, and in our right minds, we don’t seek to judge but to heal.”1
New Age Law – Inner Truth
In New Age law, all authority resides within the individual. If each of us is God and God is each of us, we can decide the legality of an action only be getting in touch with our inner God. Thus, each of us acts as our own legal authority, and any manifestation of outside authority hinders our communication with our godhood.
Shakti Gawain explains the problem of imposition of outside authority when he says, “The real problem with commitment to an external form is that it doesn’t allow room for the inevitable changes and growth of people and relationships. If you promise to feel or behave by a certain set of rules, eventually you are going to have to choose between being true to yourself and being true to those rules.”2
If we choose to honor a set of rules other than inner truth, we sacrifice our godhood. Gawain reiterates what happens when we look to authority outside ourselves: “When we consistently suppress and distrust our intuitive knowingness,” writes Gawain, “looking instead for [external] authority, validation, and approval from others, we give our personal power away.”3 There is, therefore, a desire in Cosmic Humanist thinking for an abandonment of externally imposed laws to govern society.
Only after achieving higher consciousness by connecting with the God within can Cosmic Humanists act under proper authority. Their actions are lawful when they conform to the reality they are creating. Gawain explains, “As each of us connects with our inner spiritual awareness, we learn that the creative power of the universe is within us. We also learn that we can create our own reality and take responsibility for doing so.”4
New Age Law – Self Law
The New Age concept of self law states that any action we choose is lawful as long as it is true to our inner reality, and by way of contrast, actions are unlawful if imposed by an outside authority. Additionally, once we achieve collective consciousness, we will act as co-creators of reality, where everyone works by his or her own authority.
The Cosmic Humanist reliance on the God within stands in stark contrast to the Christian belief in the authority of the Bible. David Spangler, through the voice of a channeled spirit, disdains the Christian worldview as well as others opposed to Cosmic Humanism. He says, “Their world (of darkness) is under the law and shall disappear.”5 Cosmic Humanists need no such outside authority because “mankind, and all life, is basically good,” according to Kevin Ryerson.6 If humanity is basically good, then law only keeps us from being totally free to achieve godhood.
Cosmic Humanists believe (incorrectly) that the Bible teaches individual autonomy and personal freedom that allows individuals to communicate with their godhood. Ryerson believes that over the centuries the church has twisted biblical truth, which actually teaches that each soul has “responsibility for its own behavior in the realization of its own divinity.”7 Christians, therefore, should abandon law and focus on achieving higher consciousness.
Notes:
Rendered with permission from the book, Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews (Rev. 2nd ed), David Noebel, Summit Press, 2006. Compliments of John Stonestreet, David Noebel, and the Christian Worldview Ministry at Summit Ministries. All rights reserved in the original.
1 Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1989), 37.
2 Shakti Gawain, Living in the Light (San Rafael, CA: New World Library, 1986), 110.
3 Ibid., 37.
4 Ibid., 3.
5 David Spangler, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age (Middleton, WI: Lorain Press, 1976), 65.
6 Shirley MacLaine, Out on a Limb (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1989), 204.
7 Ibid.
8 Mark Satin, New Age Politics (New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1978), 103.
9 Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1988), 118.
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