1. Why do you believe the New Age movement has been declared dead when millions of people still hold to the idealistic beliefs once made popular by the movement?

In part because as we entered the Reagan years, the New Age movement turned away from being a transformative social movement.  Attention turned inward to explore self-development and personal states of consciousness rather than outward to grapple with issues of societal wellbeing and wholeness.  Instead of remaining a symbol for positive change and a hopeful future, the New Age became an image of narcissism that invited ridicule.

This change in emphasis became cemented in the public awareness with the TV airing of Shirley MacLaine’s miniseries, Out on a Limb.  MacLaine’s adventures with channels and psychics, past lives and power points, while enthralling, suddenly came to define the meaning of New Age for most people from that moment on. 

Literally the day after the Out on a Limb miniseries ended, I went into my local bookstore, part of a national chain, and discovered that the label “New Age” had been removed that morning from the shelves that contained books on alternative energy, ecology, new science, and cultural change -- and placed on the shelves that held books on astrology and psychic development.  Within a matter of weeks, organizations that had hired me to give talks on the New Age wrote either to cancel the engagements or to ask that I drop the term “New Age” from my title. 

2. Do you believe “New Age” is still a fitting emblem for alternative/holistic spirituality?  Why or why not?

Can the New Age overcome twenty years of ridicule and marginalization? Can its adherents overcome twenty years of focus on the self to embrace once more a larger vision and the challenges and responsibilities that come with it?  These are vital questions, for which I do not have an answer. 

It’s possible that the term “New Age” has had its day, shot its bolt, and now some newer term must appear to galvanize the spirit and focus our energies.  But none of the candidates so far have made the grade.  And like her.  And I do believe there is inherent in the term New Age a simplicity and a directness that is hard to beat when it comes to talking about new visions for the future. 

3. Do you believe spiritual idealism still carries the potential to transform society? 

Yes, I do believe the New Age as an idea—as a call to service, as a vision of constructive and compassionate change, and as a statement of human possibility—has a future, not just a past. 

4. How can spiritual idealists recognize each other without a common identity?  Is it possible to join our efforts for the greater good without a common identity?

5.  How do you see alternative spirituality evolving in the future?  

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