Still, something seemed not quitenright.nThe grand dame of the New Agenwas the medium Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,nwho in 1875 founded the TheosophicalnSociety and taught that wencan benefit from listening to spiritn”Masters.” Leadership of the orderneventually passed to Alice Ann Bailey,nwho established Lucifer PublishingnCompany in 1922, changing the namento “Lucis” in 1923. When the psychedelicn1960’s effected the wholeheartednacceptance of drugs and astrology innthe civilized world, the stage was set fornthe popularization of all New Agentenets.nFor a quick glance at the New Age,nriffle through The New Age Catalogn(1988). Learn about Lucifer, channeling,ndeveloping your psychic skills,nreading an aura, and using crystals.nOrder tapes on palmistry, reflexology,ndowsing, firewalking, and dying (fromnpeople who have done it). Discovernthat less is more when it comes tonmoney (except for the prices on thisnstuff) and what Christ really said to hisndisciples.nThis is what’s at the heart of thenNew Age, and I’ll come back to it —nbut it isn’t the aspect that most NewnAge leaders choose to show us. Thenseduction of the New Age lies in itsnleaders’ gift of saying exactly what wenwant to hear.nWhen they founded CareerTrack inn1982, Jimmy Calano and Jeff Salzman,ntwo nice-looking, clean-cut youngnguys of 24 and 27, respectively, with anhealthy appetite for money (no “less isnmore” for them), cashed in on Americans’ndouble urge to, as we say, “feelngood about ourselves” and prospernwithout doing anything really hard.nCareerTrack, in Boulder, Colorado,nsells self-help tapes and seminars acrossnthe nation and internationally. Thentopics are hardly esoteric — time management,norganizational politics, dealingnwith difficult people, business writing,nreading dynamics — and for thenmost part they’re taught by hard-nosednPh.D.’s and psychologists and businesspeople.nCareerTrack revolutionizednthe business seminar industry bynoffering under-$50-per-day tuitionnwhen the industry average was $145nper day. Sales in 1982 were atn$220,000. In 1988 they hit $52nmillion — all without a cent of outsiden42/CHRONICLESnfinancing.nCalano and Salzman work verynhard. Last year Calano was named thenfifth-best entrepreneur under 30 in thennation by the Young Entrepreneurs’nOrganization, and Inc. named Career-nTrack the tenth fastest-growing privatelynheld company in the US. I ownnsome CareerTrack tapes and have attendednone of their seminars, and, farnfrom trying to rip anyone off, they’rendoing their best to give people theirnmoney’s worth. (For instance, theynguarantee that you can get a refund onna CareerTrack tape or even a seminarnup to one year after you buy the tapenor attend the seminar, no questionsnasked.) These guys would join thenPeace Corps before they’d attend anseance, and in their honest earnestnessnthey’re typical of many self-help companies.nThey’re also as New Age as you cannget. Because New Age philosophynteaches that Man is God, that thenanswer to every problem is within us.nAnd the kooks in The New Age Catalognuse precisely the same languagenand methods as the pinstriped Ph.D.’snselling assertiveness training. Very fewnself-help seminars instruct us in prayer.nThe New Age would have us believenthat we can control our lives —nwhich should make us skeptical rightnoff the bat since it’s flatly contrary tonWestern religious teaching. (But see:nwe want to hear that we’re the boss.)nFirst, it’s important to set goals innelaborate detail, in writing. (Would younlike to leave a lover or spouse? manynseminar-givers ask coyly. Well, then,nput it down. This is your “wish list.”nGo crazy.)nNext, engage in creative visualization,nwhich simply means imagining, inndetail, doing the things you said you’dnlike to do. Part of the trick is to usenaffirmations, (false) statements sayingnthat you already do or have whatever itnis you said you wanted to do or have.nYou must repeat these lies to yourselfnfirst thing in the morning and last thingnat night.nGet rid of that useless guilt. All ofnthese people — especially the psychologists—nwill tell you that guilt isnthe most useless emotion there is. Tossnit away! Shrug it off! (This will mostncertainly be a relief to those peoplenwho set a goal of ditching a spouse andnthen did it.) And keep up that motiva­nnntion! Tell yourself, “I can have what Inwant. I deserve it. Nothing has to standnin my way. I have power. I empowernmyself.”nIt’s important to say here that not allnpurveyors of motivational tapes andnbooks belong to the New.Age. Onenwho most emphatically does not is ZignZiglar. He gives three important cluesnthat he’s a nonmember. One is hisnconstant reminder that what we wantnto do is hard. The second is his beliefnthat if you work hard for somethingnand it just doesn’t happen, perhapsnyou’ve been working at the wrongnthing. And the third is his frequentnreferences to God, Scripture, andnprayer. You’ll never hear any of thisnfrom a New Ager.nJohn Joseph, a Carmelite brothernand student of the dangers of the NewnAge, warns, “Many people middleagednand older have fallen into thenNew Age Movement, a world-widennetwork consisting of tens of thousandsnof cooperating organizations.” Whatnare all these people after? Well, whethernthey know it or not (and most ofnthem do not), the goal of the New Agenis, ultimately, to bring the world to thenworship of Lucifer.nNow, maybe your church group isninto “possibility thinking” and you’rennot prepared to believe that Devilworshipnunderlies New Age helpyourselfnthought. Still, consider thenOld and New Testament lessons teachingnus to obey God’s will, and thennunderstand that New Age adherentsnbelieve that we create our own reality.nYou can’t eat your cake and have it,ntoo.nAnd there are other, even betternhooks to catch normal people thanngreed or selfishness. The New Age alsonappeals to mankind’s nobler motives.nJoseph writes, “This is where the HungernProject, Bread for the World, and anhost of other projects … fit into NewnAge plans. Too often, those initiallynattracted by such good works fall preynto the false philosophies of the NewnAge (which, even in its charitablenundertakings, is strong on impossiblenglobal solutions and weak on personalnreform).”nThe peril of these New Age practicesnis that they work somehow — for antime: long enough for the New Agersnto get a stranglehold on a mind. I reallynwas invigorated, cheerful, and more inn