allalong,
I understand your concern. I would definitely NOT lump The Dalai Lama in with the charlatans. He is a legitimate religious leader. I don't know as much about Thich Nhat Hanh, but i believe that he is also legit.
It is my understanding that the books by Don Miguel Ruiz draw from the Toltec tradition. I have no reason to think of him as a cult leader, but maybe others have more information than me.
The others, (on the 2nd list), i am not familiar with.
I have been "New Age" since the 70's. At that time, it was just a bunch of people exploring spirituality, energy, psychic phenomena, etc. They developed their personal philosophies according to what they intuited/ believed. It was not organized.
Between then and now, certain people saw a potential for profit, started referring to it as "New Age," and tried to impose a structure on it, with themselves at the top. Bits and pieces of old, traditional religions, unfamiliar to the West, also got swept up into the whole mess.
My advice would be to look at the behavior of the people involved. Are they making crazy promises about "empowerment" while delivering just the opposite? The beliefs are irrelevant. Look at the beliefs of most of the Western world. They would seem crazy to some. Yet, our culture is largely based on those beliefs.
I understand your concern. I would definitely NOT lump The Dalai Lama in with the charlatans. He is a legitimate religious leader. I don't know as much about Thich Nhat Hanh, but i believe that he is also legit.
It is my understanding that the books by Don Miguel Ruiz draw from the Toltec tradition. I have no reason to think of him as a cult leader, but maybe others have more information than me.
The others, (on the 2nd list), i am not familiar with.
I have been "New Age" since the 70's. At that time, it was just a bunch of people exploring spirituality, energy, psychic phenomena, etc. They developed their personal philosophies according to what they intuited/ believed. It was not organized.
Between then and now, certain people saw a potential for profit, started referring to it as "New Age," and tried to impose a structure on it, with themselves at the top. Bits and pieces of old, traditional religions, unfamiliar to the West, also got swept up into the whole mess.
My advice would be to look at the behavior of the people involved. Are they making crazy promises about "empowerment" while delivering just the opposite? The beliefs are irrelevant. Look at the beliefs of most of the Western world. They would seem crazy to some. Yet, our culture is largely based on those beliefs.