Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 21
To illustrate the ethic, consider a song written by one of the leading exponents of the New
Age counterculture of the later 1960s, namely Bob Dylan. There is a clear shift away from
external authority:
Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best/Trust
yourself/Trust yourself to do what‟s right and not be second guessed/Don‟t trust me
to show you beauty when beauty may only turn to rust/If you need somebody you
can trust/Trust yourself
Or consider an illustration taken from a rather different setting, namely a volume designed to
help spread the message that the New Age is good for managers. Roger Evans and Peter
Russell wax lyrical about the expressive ethic, discussed in connection with what they call “the
voice within”:
[It is] that part of us that tries to tell us what is best. It is the inner knowing that
tries to speak to us in our dreams. It is the intuition that leads us to call a friend at
night at the right time ...it is this willingness to listen to our own inner worlds that is
the mark of the creative manager. (1989, p. 153)
Finally, by way of introducing the ethic, it is important to note that it is by no means limited to
the contemporary New Age. It is found in all those great religious traditions which have
monistic (Self as God) tendencies. For example, Arthur Waley, commenting on the second
chapter of the Tao te Ching, writes that “the Sage avoids all positive action, working only
through the “power” of the Tao...” (1977, p. 144) and Julian Baldick, discussing the works of
Tustari, one of the founders of Sufi doctrine, states:
The light of direct knowledge, which is in a man‟s heart, is clearly related to that of
faith. The light of faith enables men to read otherwise invisible lines written in their
hearts before their creation. (1989, p. 39)
A New Age Bank
If the contemporary New Age in the West is characterized by its monistic self-religiosity, then
monistically oriented great traditions (Taoist, Sufi, Hindu, etc.) are themselves akin to the
“New Age” in character. Indeed, in India today, for example, traditional Hindu spirituality is
being reworked in terms of Western New Age themes, themes which have themselves been
largely derived from the East. The result is New Age Hinduism. Much the same considerations
explain why it is possible to ascribe the term “New Age” to the Bank of Credit and Commerce
International (BCCI).
BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani financier, Agha Hasan Abedi, a man who has been
described as a “self-professed poet and mystic.” (There are some indications that leading
figures have been influenced by the Sufi tradition, as well as, more recently, Findhorn-related
ideas.) According to Abedi‟s grand design, the bank would “belong” to the countries of the
Third World, serving as “a rallying point of thoughts and aspirations of the under-privileged.”
In a more grandiose vein, a close associate says that the aim is “to bring the dimensions of
ethics and morality back into people‟s lives. We want to create the largest possible
organization performing a service to humanity” (quoted by Lessem, 1989, p. 639). And in the
fashion of much New Age thinking about capitalism, Abedi has affirmed his intention is to
“harmonize business life with spiritual life” (p. 675).
In fact, a great deal of the language, and, it would seem, the practice of BCCI, has been of a
kind that would be welcomed at places like Glastonbury or Findhorn. Ronnie Lessem uses a
number of in-house publications, and interviews, to claim that the bank has taught
“metaphysical management.” Much the same picture is found in a document” the UK Regional
Conference Report entitled The Vital Principle, The Source of Energy” which I obtained in the
mid-1980s.
To illustrate the ethic, consider a song written by one of the leading exponents of the New
Age counterculture of the later 1960s, namely Bob Dylan. There is a clear shift away from
external authority:
Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best/Trust
yourself/Trust yourself to do what‟s right and not be second guessed/Don‟t trust me
to show you beauty when beauty may only turn to rust/If you need somebody you
can trust/Trust yourself
Or consider an illustration taken from a rather different setting, namely a volume designed to
help spread the message that the New Age is good for managers. Roger Evans and Peter
Russell wax lyrical about the expressive ethic, discussed in connection with what they call “the
voice within”:
[It is] that part of us that tries to tell us what is best. It is the inner knowing that
tries to speak to us in our dreams. It is the intuition that leads us to call a friend at
night at the right time ...it is this willingness to listen to our own inner worlds that is
the mark of the creative manager. (1989, p. 153)
Finally, by way of introducing the ethic, it is important to note that it is by no means limited to
the contemporary New Age. It is found in all those great religious traditions which have
monistic (Self as God) tendencies. For example, Arthur Waley, commenting on the second
chapter of the Tao te Ching, writes that “the Sage avoids all positive action, working only
through the “power” of the Tao...” (1977, p. 144) and Julian Baldick, discussing the works of
Tustari, one of the founders of Sufi doctrine, states:
The light of direct knowledge, which is in a man‟s heart, is clearly related to that of
faith. The light of faith enables men to read otherwise invisible lines written in their
hearts before their creation. (1989, p. 39)
A New Age Bank
If the contemporary New Age in the West is characterized by its monistic self-religiosity, then
monistically oriented great traditions (Taoist, Sufi, Hindu, etc.) are themselves akin to the
“New Age” in character. Indeed, in India today, for example, traditional Hindu spirituality is
being reworked in terms of Western New Age themes, themes which have themselves been
largely derived from the East. The result is New Age Hinduism. Much the same considerations
explain why it is possible to ascribe the term “New Age” to the Bank of Credit and Commerce
International (BCCI).
BCCI was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani financier, Agha Hasan Abedi, a man who has been
described as a “self-professed poet and mystic.” (There are some indications that leading
figures have been influenced by the Sufi tradition, as well as, more recently, Findhorn-related
ideas.) According to Abedi‟s grand design, the bank would “belong” to the countries of the
Third World, serving as “a rallying point of thoughts and aspirations of the under-privileged.”
In a more grandiose vein, a close associate says that the aim is “to bring the dimensions of
ethics and morality back into people‟s lives. We want to create the largest possible
organization performing a service to humanity” (quoted by Lessem, 1989, p. 639). And in the
fashion of much New Age thinking about capitalism, Abedi has affirmed his intention is to
“harmonize business life with spiritual life” (p. 675).
In fact, a great deal of the language, and, it would seem, the practice of BCCI, has been of a
kind that would be welcomed at places like Glastonbury or Findhorn. Ronnie Lessem uses a
number of in-house publications, and interviews, to claim that the bank has taught
“metaphysical management.” Much the same picture is found in a document” the UK Regional
Conference Report entitled The Vital Principle, The Source of Energy” which I obtained in the
mid-1980s.
