Religion the New Human Potential Term Paper

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In fact the aims of theosophy when it was founded was to "form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, or color," and also "to promote the study of Aryan and other Eastern literature, religions, and sciences," and also "to investigate the hidden mysteries of nature." (Prothero 197). New Human Potential Movement members have written books but none have penned a book that is recognized as a sacred text or as a key piece of religious dogma.

As an eclectic faith, the New Human Potential Movement has a less rigid code of ethics than most other religions do. Like ceremonial magickal traditions, moral relativism and ambiguity is tolerated. However, there are a few beliefs that are cohesive enough for scholars to define the New Human Potential Movement as a religion rather than as a cult or a simple offshoot of New Ageism. One of those beliefs is that human beings are evolving psychically as well as physically. A belief in Darwinism is strong among New Human Potential Movement members, who categorically deny the efficacy of any mythological creation story including that of the Hebrew Bible. The central aim of the religion of the New Human Potential Movement is to foster psychic development, human telepathy, and other forms of what is sometimes called extrasensory perception. Rites and rituals, which are guarded with extreme secrecy, are ostensibly designed to foster human psychic development. There are no leaders, and no hierarchy of individuals in the New Human Potential Movement. Some group members serve in mentoring roles, coaching new members and guiding them towards reading material and spiritual practices that focus the mind and foster psychic growth.

Another core belief of the New Human Potential Movement is that religion serves a social and political function.

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If the New Human Potential Movement has any ethics, it is that religion has an obligation to fulfill social and political goals. Those goals center on social justice and equality. Of primary concern to members of the New Human Potential Movement is feminism, which is believed to be the final frontier of human political and social evolution. Members honor the past via a tribute to matriarchal societies such as those of the native Americas but the New Human Potential Movement fosters a sense of gender neutrality. Human sexuality is viewed as a means by which to cultivate spiritual growth and in the tradition of the Ordo Templi Orientis, sex magick is sometimes performed at New Human Potential Movement meetings.

"Throughout the history of humankind, societies have claimed to distinguish between true religion and magic, between knowledge correctly gained and properly tested and knowledge deriving from magical sources," (Neusner 3). The New Human Potential Movement challenges traditional notions of religion and its place in society. Moreover, the New Human Potential Movement highlights the intersection of religion and psychology. The movement has a few symbols: that of the cat and the owl. Like the ancient Egyptians and Native Americans, the New Human Potential Movement members meditate on animal forms and assume animal identities as a means of spiritual communion. Cats and owls, because of their big eyes and nocturnal characters, are believed to hold powerful secrets that can foster human transformation. The New Human Potential Movement represents a new religious movement that is not cultish because of its lack of a human leader, but which is also not overtly theistic because of its eclectic doctrine.

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