Can it be said that there is evidence that this new ideology was not new at all and some of it regurgitated rhetoric penned in the 1800s and early 1900s by well known names to new age researchers? Are these people the founders of some of the ideologies we take stock in today:
Emanuel Swedenborg (February 8, 1688–March 29, 1772) was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, Christian mystic, and theologian. Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. At the age of fifty-six he entered into a spiritual phase in which he experienced dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, where he claimed he was appointed by the Lord to write a heavenly doctrine to reform Christianity. He claimed that the Lord had opened his eyes, so that from then on he could freely visit heaven and hell, and talk with angels, demons, and other spirits. For the remaining 28 years of his life, he wrote and published 18 theological works, of which the best known was
Heaven and Hell(1758), and several unpublished theological works.
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is now considered seminal in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.
From a young age, William Blake claimed to have seen visions. The first of these visions may have occurred as early as the age of four when, according to one anecdote, the young artist "saw God" when God "put his head to the window", causing Blake to break into screaming.
Blake claimed to experience visions throughout his life. They were often associated with beautiful religious themes and imagery, and therefore may have inspired him further with spiritual works and pursuits. Certainly, religious concepts and imagery figure centrally in Blake's works. God and Christianity constituted the intellectual centre of his writings, from which he drew inspiration. In addition, Blake believed that he was personally instructed and encouraged by Archangels to create his artistic works, which he claimed were actively read and enjoyed by those same Archangels.
Having informed painter-astrologer John Varley of his visions of apparitions, Blake was subsequently persuaded to paint one of them.
(Langridge, Irene. William Blake: A Study of His Life and Art Work. 1904, page 48-9.)
Does this picture remind you of anything?
In a letter to John Flaxman, dated September 21, 1800, Blake writes:
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I am more famed in Heaven for my works than I could well conceive. In my Brain are studies & Chambers filled with books & pictures of old, which I wrote & painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life; & those works are the delight & Study of Archangels.
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In a letter to Thomas Butts, dated April 25, 1803, Blake writes:
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Now I may say to you, what perhaps I should not dare to say to anyone else: That I can alone carry on my visionary studies in London unannoy'd, & that I may converse with my friends in Eternity, See Visions, Dream Dreams & prophecy & speak Parables unobserv'd & at liberty from the Doubts of other Mortals; perhaps Doubts proceeding from Kindness, but Doubts are always pernicious, Especially when we Doubt our Friends.
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Some of William Blake's books include:
All Religions Are One(1788),
There Is No Natural Religion(1789),
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell(1790),
Visions of the Daughters of Albion(1793),
America: a Prophecy(1793),
Europe: a Prophecy(1794),
Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion(1804)
(Albion is the primeval man who fell into division)
Blake also had a problem with Newtonian physics and his famous painting
"Newton"(1795) demonstrates his opposition to the "single-vision" of scientific materialism. Scientific materialism or naturalism is the core of the scientific method. Any method of inquiry or investigation or any procedure for gaining knowledge that limits itself to natural, physical, and material approaches and explanations can be described as naturalistic. Are we not throwing off the shackles of empirical science today to explain phenomenon that cannot be answered by the scientific method? Do Blake's beliefs sound familiar to you? Do they resonate?