Even if the New Age movement had overcome its challenges and remained a “hot” trend – would more of those who hold idealistic beliefs more readily identify themselves as New Agers?  The truth is, probably not.   

Idealists don’t believe labels are necessary. As author Steven Sutcliffe describes the “universalized lay spirituality” ushered in by the New Age, it is “open to all, yet with no stigmatizing label or fussy membership criteria.” 

Indeed, labels are anathema to idealists, for a number of very good reasons.

Labels are anti-individual

While other philosophies may be inflexible and absolute, idealism makes room for relative truth. It remains respectful of an individual's journey, and encourages us to blaze an original path of our own. 

Individualism is the name of the New Age game. As Krishnamurti writes, "Identification puts an end to discovery, it is another form of laziness.  Identification is vicarious experience, and hence utterly false. To experience, all identification must cease... You cannot travel far if you are anchored."

We do not see ourselves as part of a faithful flock, we do not see ourselves as followers at all. We much prefer the role of intrepid explorer, walking the cutting edge, testing everything with our own experience, weaving together bits and pieces of other traditions. 

From such a perspective, no homogenizing label can be “right,” no label can accurately describes my own unique blend of practices and hardwon beliefs.   Labels, in fact, are downright insulting to my individuality.

Even the mere mention of the phrase “New Age” usually elicits little but patronizing, above-it-all smile from those who most fit the profile. "No, not me," they say. "I’m a searcher, a wanderer, I can’t be pinned down."

Labels are superficial

Media images portray New Agers caught up in flighty nonsense, but a true New Ager is very concerned with depth and meaning.  Most of us are determined to get past surface distractions in order to connect with the source of reality. 

We know "the Tao that can be named is not the real Tao."  We know that “the finger that points to the moon is not the moon.”  We understand that reality is already here and now, there is nowhere else to go and no particular way to get there. 

And so we feel that if we name our path, or otherwise get hung up on labels, then we are headed away from reality, rather than into it.   

Labels are ego-driven

The desire to be seen as a particular type of person, or qualify for this or that label, is almost always the desire of the ego to be special.  A true New Ager works very hard to see through such ego games, and align herself with her soul.

The movement’s own leaders and teachers openly scold those who might wish to align with a label.  In a 2001 essay for “Re-Vision,” Mariana Caplan complained that spirituality had become a fad.  “It is a household term, a commodity that is bought and sold… an identity, a club to belong to.”  She makes it clear that a truly spiritual person will not care about identity, and certainly does not need to belong to a group.

And it is true that the soul cares nothing for categories and names. The soul is concerned only with the awareness of this moment. It is simple consciousness without adjective, emptiness without name.  Thus, if I pin a label on myself, I cannot help but feel as if I am caving in to the "dark side" of ego.

Labels are divisive

Religious dualists depend on labels to keep themselves separate from others, whether it’s Catholic or Christian or Muslim or Jewish. In the meantime, many use other types of labels to push others out of the mainstream, or mark them for attack – or as weapons to beat them into submission.

Meanwhile, materialists are positively label-obsessed, chopping all experience up into the smallest possible slices in order to better control it. 

In contrast, New Age idealism approaches different beliefs in a holistic and inclusive way, regarding all positions as valid in the greater spectrum of truth. We understand that how reality looks is always relative to perspective, and we diligently apply ourselves to avoiding the mistake of absolutism.  (In other words, we want very much to not be like them.)  

So if labels are incomplete at best, and downright harmful at worst – we figure it best to avoid them altogether.

Go to "Spiritual But Not Religious."