How working for an “energy healer” prompted me to question the pseudo-psychology of self-appointed gurus.

For the full presentation, see the video embedded below:

Conclusion

What would I say is the take-away that I’ve learned from my previous involvement in the New Age? I think, like most people, I went there looking for answers to all the things that seemed wrong with my life and wrong with the world around me. The New Age claimed to have answers. They claim to speak truth and provide meaning, but their promises are empty and their profundity is hollow.

“…they are clouds without water, carried by every passing wind… walking according to their own desires, they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.”‭‭ Jude‬ ‭1:12 & 1:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

They claim to vibrate love, non-judgement and acceptance, but their definition of love is shallow and self-serving, and acceptance is a cunning way of saying “tolerate my BS without question, otherwise I’ll label you as offensive” or perhaps “low vibration”. It’s a way of discrediting and dismissing legitimate critiques and is ironically very judgmental.

A big problem is how invested they are in their own delusions. They really believe the BS they create and they protect their fantasy construct by rejecting scrutiny of their assertions and anyone with the audacity to speak the truth. Rational thought is a New Age sin, and “feeling” like something is true for you is completely valid, even if your feelings bear no resemblance to reality.

Rather than adopt a humble mindset where they consider the possibility that not everything they believe is true or even beneficial for them, they attach their self worth to all the “spirituality” junk they’ve been hoarding. They’re constantly chasing the next level because they’re chasing a mirage. They won’t find what they really need in pseudo-spiritual buzzwords about transcendence, awakenings, higher dimensions, ascended masters, or cosmic vibrations.

One of the biggest problems I found when trying to discern whether the New Age offered anything authentic, was that I basically had to get a degree in psychology to understand how full of crap they actually are. I’m hoping that content like this will help you to figure it out for yourself. I believe that information should be accessible so people can be empowered to make informed choices, and protect themselves from predatory behaviour.

Blind faith isn’t really faith; it’s just blindness.

References

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Erlandsson, A., Nilsson, A., Tinghög, G., & Västfjäll, D. (2018). Bullshit-sensitivity predicts prosocial behavior. PloS One, 13(7), e0201474–e0201474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201474

Littrell, S., Risko, E. F., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2021). ‘You can’t bullshit a bullshitter’ (or can you?): Bullshitting frequency predicts receptivity to various types of misleading information. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(4), 1484–1505. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12447

Petrocelli, J.V., Watson, H. F., & Hirt, E. R. (2020). Self-Regulatory Aspects of Bullshitting and Bullshit Detection. Social Psychology (Göttingen, Germany), 51(4), 239–253. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000412

Rieger, E. (Ed.) 2017, Abnormal psychology: Leading researcher perspectives, 4th edition, McGraw Hill, Sydney.

Roderique-Davies, G. (2009). Neuro-linguistic programming: cargo cult psychology? Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 1(2), 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1108/17581184200900014

Zedelius, C.M., Gross, M. E., & Schooler, J. W. (2022). Inquisitive but not discerning: Deprivation curiosity is associated with excessive openness to inaccurate information. Journal of Research in Personality, 98, 104227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2022.104227