Lifestyle
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, November 16, 1989
9
From Astrology to Zen
The New Age Phenomenon
story by doug fishback photos by keith thorpe
Mary Dohrmann says some people have New Age all wrong.
She said that the New Age phenomenon had been tied to cults and Satanism by some critics.
"That's totally off the mark in terms of what we're seeing," she said. Dohrman and her husband, David, own Lamplighter Books, 10 E.Ninth St. The store specializes in New Age books, videotapes, crystals and other items.
Dohrmann said that New Age referred to an astrological change from the age of Pisces, which is the current epoch, to the age of Aquarius. The change will take place in the year 2000, she said.
Such astrological changes always are accompanied by changes in personal and spiritual awareness and by new attitudes about social institutions, and the current new age brings with it concerns about health, the environment, educational systems and other areas, she said.
David Dohrmann said that he was not surprised by misconceptions about New Age beliefs.
"Whenever a culture happens on a new phenomenon, there are always mistakes." he said.
New Age is not a religion, David Dohrmann said. Even to call it a "movement" would imply more structure than it actually has, he said.
"It doesn't have an ideal, which is its saving grace," he said. "It's an awareness."
The importance of feeling positive about oneself in New Age philosophy is evident in many of the suction-cup window signs sold at Lamplighter, a few of which read, "I am connected with the endless source of Godenergy," "Success & Prosperity come easily to me," and "I trust my Higher Self. I listen with love to my inner voice and release all that is unlike love."
David Dohrmann said that he became interested in New Age philosophy in the early 1970s, when he began to study transcendental meditation while he was a congregational minister in Johnson County. He said that he and his wife, whom he met in 1977, were the only people in the area he knew of at that time who were involved in New Age.
The two began what was to become their current business when they sold their piano and used the money to buy a shelf of New Age books, which they sold out of their home. In 1987, they opened a book store in space they rented from a yoga studio, David Dohrmann said.
In June, the Dohmanns sold their home and moved their store to its current location, where they also operate Pywacket's, an adjacent coffee and snack shop, he said.
Lamplighter's shelves contain all kinds of books about mysticism and self-improvement, ranging from astrology to Zen.
Along with books that come out of the Eastern traditions, there are books about tarot reading and Western pagan practices. Dohrmann said that Western European beliefs had a definite impact on New Age philosophy.
"There have been a lot of spiritual lineages that have gone underground in the West," he said. "Now they're starting to resurface."
Timothy Miller, assistant professor of religious studies, said that the variety of belief systems that influenced New Age thought reflected a tendency toward diversity in modern religion.
"I think that American religion is in a period of decentralization," he said. "We have a real cafeteria in American religion today. We have a lot of things to choose from."
Miller said that exactly when the term New Age came into being was a debatable question. He said that a professor who taught a class about New Age at the University of California at Santa Barbara — the only class of its kind, to his knowledge — said that the 17th-century philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg was the original New Age thinker.
David Dohrmann said that crystals, a New Age item that had recently received a good deal of attention, had been used by previous civilizations.
"We're not so much discovering something new with crystals as we are rediscovering something cultures have known and used before," he said.
People can use quartz and other crystals during meditation to focus their consciousness and emotional energies, Dohrmann said, adding that doing so would result in a peaceful state that also would lead to physical well-being.
Mary Dohrmann said that cellular structures within the body responded to the structures of crystals and that crystals could be used to strike a balance among various energy centers, or "chakras," throughout the body.
"In order for a person to have maximum well-being, there needs to be balance in the body," she said.
The use of crystals is something that must come with experience,
Mary Dohrmann said. She said that some of the most competent crystal healers had studied their craft for years.
"You can't just go grab a crystal and hold it up to somebody and say, 'There you're balanced,' " she said.
David Dohrram said that most of the New Age thinkers he knew were young to middle-aged adults who were rethinking their belief systems. He said that college students generally seemed too preoccupied with their work to look for a new philosophy.
There is enough interest in New Age on campus, however, for the Mount Ovead Book Shop to maintain a library of books on Lichward, assistant book buyer.
"The KU crowd doesn't come flocking to the store," he said.
There are about 230 New Age titles in the store's computer file, including books such as "You Can Heal Your Life." "The Aromatherapy Workbook" and "Elsis After Life."
For New Age thinkers who travel, the Oread book store has "The National New Age Yellow Pages," a nation-wide directory of New Age services, including massage therapists and a holistic dentist.
"There are a lot of titles out," Lichtwardt said. "Basically, we try to reflect what people at the University want.
"The content has sort of changed over the past couple of years from what I've seen," she said. Recent years have seen the section move away from works of sheer philosophy and toward more popular topics, such as self-help and the predictions of Nostradamus, Lightwardt said.
Some items at the Dohrmanns' store are more clearly self-heLP oriented than others. "Valley of the Sun Life-changing" videotapes are available for rental or purchase from Lamplighter. Among the tapes, shopper will find "Incredible Self-Confidence," "Do More in Less Time" and "Lose Weight Now."
Lichtward has her own theory to explain why New Age book sales are strongest at the beginning of the semester. She said she thought that coming to a university setting led students to feel a need to be in control of their lives, and so they looked to the books for answers.
Mary Dohrmann said that one of the chief goals of New Age was to get people to "access their inner teacher," which is the power within an individual to take control of his or her own life.
"We have some answers ourselves," she said.
Lamplighter Books offers New Age items ranging from crystals for meditating to books on holistic healing.
Macintosh Express
ENGINEERING and ENGLISH STUDENTS
The Macintosh Express is on track to you! Destination Learned Hall at 8:30am and Fraser Hall at 12:20pm today. Test drive a Macintosh SE and pick up your ticket to success that is also a valuable coupon at Kinkos. The first 1000 to hop on board get a poster of Kansas's great sports heroes from the Burge Union Bookstore!
The Mac Express will be making stops at stations all across campus this week only. Last stop Marvin Hall at 8:00am and the final destination Burge Union Bookstore at 1:30pm tomorrow. Don't miss your chance to hop on board the Mac Express!
On The Right Track...With Mac!