Bible 12 - New Spirituality - Test Study Guide

Define Transcendentalism

A movement from the early 1800's that believed in the inherent goodness of people and the imminence of the divine with in nature

Define consciousness

The divine interconnected essence of reality

Define Pantheism

The believes that everything is God and God is in all things

Define Reincarnation

The process be which the body passes away but the soul continues it's question for enlightenment in another form

Define Nirvana

The transcendental state of peace that comes through the release of suffering, self, and karmic bondage

Define the Gaia Hypothesis

The theory that all living organisms form a collective self-regulating living entity

Define Om

This world is sacred because it's the manifestation of Krishna, the divine vibration and consciousness of the universe

Define meditation

The are of of using one's mind to induce a higher state of consciousness

Define channeling

The practice of communicating with disembodied spirits

Define Monomyth

All religions basically tell the same story

Define Deep Ecology

The environmental philosophy that contends that all living creatures should have legal rights

Define Ecofeminism

The political philosophy that links the oppression of women and the exploitation of the environment

Define Namaste

"I bow to the divine (god) within you"

Define Karma

The belief that good is returned to those who do good, and evil is returned to those who do evil

Define New Spirituality

A pantheistic world view that teaches everything and everyone are connected through divine consciousness

Define a the Law of Attraction

Good thoughts produce good energy; bad thoughts produce bad energy

What are the basic tenets of New Spirituality?

New Spirituality is a pantheistic world view that believes in an impersonal force is god, which exists in everything marking it so everything is god. It's based on self-effort and self enlightenment, where roots of Hinduism and other Eastern religion have been recycled in to New Spirituality. Also, this world view believes that the physical world is an illusion and that truth and enlightenment are found within. Lastly, higher consciousness can be obtained through meditation.

What's a human according to New Spirituality?

Humans aren't unique individuals, instead they're just an expression of universal consciousness. All knowledge exists in the god within us. As humans connected to higher consciousness, we discover the god within us, so we have a connectedness with the universal consciousness.

What's the problem with humanity?

There's no such thing as human sinfulness, free will, or individualism, so the believes that we are sinful (negative ego) and/or are individuals is what stands in the was of achieving divine, higher consciousness. We aren't fallen; we are evolving up ward and failing to understand the true nature of universal consciousness within us is "what's wrong with us". Getting rid of "ego negativity" and embracing the godlikeness within us is what will help us as a collective society to achieve perfection.

What's the solution (i.e. how should I we live)?

The source of suffering is ego and willful ignorance regarding one's own 'god conscience'. So, it something is wrong, it's because we have willed it to be so. For example, it we are poor, we wants to be poor, or it we are sick, them we wants to be sick. This leads to if someone were to intervene in someone else's suffering, them it will mess up their karmic cycle, because either they willed to be in that position, or karma gave that person suffering for something that happened previously.

Contrast New Spirituality/Karma vs. Christianity/Grace concepts

Karmic debt is what shapes your future, meaning that the more "good karma" you accumulate, then the closer to godhood you become and vice versa if you accumulate more "bad karma" than good. In New Spirituality, the way to get out of bad karmic debt is through reincarnation, which is the process by which a person pays off their karmic debt through successive rebirths or incanations in different bodies. The final goal is to merge into collective divine consciousness, and for the soul to be released from the body. However, with Christianity, salvation can be only found through faith in Christ's "debt payment" on the cross. God came down in human flesh (incanation) and paid humanity's sin debt once and for all. The Grace concept is an unconditional gift of undeserved favor - through a Jesus Christ. Those who accept Christ's debt payment receive eternal life with Him. Those who rejects His gift of salvation will be held accountable for the it own sin debt and free will to live separate from Him eternally.

Explain the deficiencies (flaws) of New Spirituality

New Spirituality rejects the idea of a personal God and provides no real solution to real-life problems. It rejects the unique deity of Christ, and there's no empowering for lasting change. Also, it rejects the innate sinfulness of human it's and gift of salvation and transformation provided in Christianity alone. It rejects the special revelation of the Bible and other core Christian doctrines, instead it relies of self-defeating claims of moral relativism. New Spirituality is an endless cycle of words and self-effort, so the burden of achieving 'nirvana' or merging into 'Brahman' to find ultimate, enlightened consciousness lives solely on the individual. Lastly, it creates the necessity for intermediates.