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truly loved. Religion, consequently, must attend to sexuality and place it in its proper
context.
Through its interpretation of death, religion defends the culture's values against the ultimate
threat. Without a satisfying religious explanation, death thrusts the abyss of absurd
emptiness in our faces. The fundamental question becomes not how to live but rather, as
Camus stated in his essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus," whether to live: "There is but one truly
serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide" (Camus, 1955, p. 3). A culture cannot
survive long if its primary concern is whether or not survival is worthwhile. By finding
meaning in death, religion endows life with significance.
The meanings put forth by different religions --their models for addressing death, boredom,
and love --vary greatly and may come into opposition. Thus, within a given cultural system
the once regnant model may lose its power and a new model gain in power as people
reevaluate their ways of dealing with death, boredom, and love.
The New Age Movement
The World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 can well be taken as the beginning of
the world wide expansion of Neo-Hinduism (Vivekananda), Neo-Buddhism (Anagarika), and
Theosophy (Annie Besant). From 1893 these three movements have grown as part of the
same New Age Tree, The Tree of Knowledge, or Gnosis. This New Age Tree of Knowledge
(or New Age Movement) has become, with the decline of the secular pseudoreligions, the
primary challenge to traditional religion in western culture.
Of the three, Theosophy in various forms --including Anthroposophy, The Wisdom of
Martinus, Alice Bailey, Elizabeth Claire Prophet, Ananda Tara Shan (The Rosegarden),
Benjamin Creme, etc. --seems to be the common denominator of most the New Age
groupings. The theosophical paradigm seems to constitute in some way a synthesis of what
one could superficially call East-West spirituality or Neo-Gnosticism.
What is a Paradigm Shift?
In connection with the New Age a lot is said about the new paradigm shift. But very little is
explained about its content.
Paradigm is another term for pattern. It is used in grammar, indicating, for example, the
pattern of verbs. Language, of course, is built up around various paradigms, and therefore
all communication in words are paradigmatically determined.
When we apply the notion of paradigm to that of cosmology, we must conclude that new
patterns can make a substantial difference in the content and form of a culture's basic ways
of communicating.
Paradigm shifts are not necessarily for the good. They can represent a degeneration or an
improvement, although most shifts involve both.
A Historical Approach
One can approach the paradigm shift historically. Cultural and religious paradigms come
into existence as a result of intercommunication, of mutual influencing of cultures and
religions. Thus, early in history rivers were very important, for they were the major "roads"
when boats were the major means of transport. Not only the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris, but
also the Indus, Ganges, and Donau, and the Rhine, Tiber, and Thames were such major
"roads" of communication and mutual influence. Important cultures and religions centered
on such rivers, each with its own paradigm.

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When the Mediterranean sea became a means of transport, a very important culture and
religion developed around this sea. The Roman civilization and the Roman Catholic Church
was the paradigmatic result, the Mediterranean paradigm.
Later --after the Reformation --the Atlantic Ocean became the means for the development
of mainly Anglosaxon culture and Protestantism. This Atlantic paradigm became --and still
is --the major source for the international society that is the paradigmatic base for nearly
all people today, at any rate in principle. Civil rights, human rights, the claim for justice and
a new world order: these are all expressions of the Atlantic paradigm.
Another paradigm, however, is coming into being. We can call it the Pacific paradigm, for it
combines East Asian cities, with their millions of inhabitants, and the western part of the
American civilization, most notably California, a state crowded with Christian names but now
a melting pot of syncretism, a new metropolitan.
The Pacific Paradigm
The Pacific Ocean --with Hawaii in the middle --is the new center of power in the world. A
new republic of grand cities (a metropolistan) is coming into being, beyond all national
boundaries and beyond all political control.
From its Pacific base, this new culture is spreading all over the world. It can be
characterized as a mixture of the light from the East and the enlightenment from the West.
It comes into being as a fusion of the light of mysticism with the enlightenment of
rationalism. The result of this fusion is not yet clear, but it seems to be a sort of "trans-
syncretism," in which a strong holistic trend brushes aside classical eastern religions as well
as classical Christian faith. In fact, however, this holism is monism, and it is much closer to
its Hindu-Buddhist-Occult roots than to its Christian origins, in which personal engagement
is at the heart of life.
A red thread in this new trans-religion is its emphasis on divinization. Man has become his
own divinity, or is able to become so. Human beings are all gods and goddesses in process.
"There is no other god than man" echoes through most of the thousands of new religious
movements all over the world. This hubris has also come to mean that anything which is
possible is also necessary. If euphoria is possible, then it must be tried out. There are no
limitations to human capacity.
This mental attitude, of course, has external consequences. In many ways it fits in well with
capitalism, which had its birth during the Atlantic paradigm but has come of age during the
first period of the Pacific paradigm. Both models of capitalism are characterized by belief in
the limitless nature of man. In the Atlantic version of Capitalism, a lonely hero works his
way through all sorts of trials on a road to the stars. In the Pacific version of capitalism,
success is more communal, epitomized by the multinational corporation with its anonymous
top.
The various religious models of the Pacific paradigm --often related to forms of Neo-
Hinduism and Neo-Buddhism and mediated by various forms of theosophy and occultism --
have arrived in the West, where they have adopted a communal, multinational approach.
Although in their first generation, during which a charismatic guru is usually at the top,
these groups are not anonymous, after the guru's death a camarilla takes over, and the
conversion to anonymous multinationals is complete.
It is interesting to examine what happened to the Godmen from Asia. They came barefoot
and simple-minded, accustomed never to touch money and women. In a short time,
however, they were swallowed up by the market mechanism and consumerism of the West.
They certainly looked for and developed disciples, but the disciples, who had imbibed the
principles of capitalism, also made their gurus.