Members of other streams of religious thought can have equally callous approaches. I was once told that the tsunami hit Southeast Asia because of their evil religious practices (I won’t give the details on the religious affiliation, because this can be found in any religion).

However, some New Age subscribers do approach their areas of study in uncritical and careless ways:

- There is a poorly understood and casual mixing of transcendent and immanent religious practices in a willy-nilly, grab-bag approach.
- There are spurious claims and outright lies mixed with actual experiences. (I’m looking at you, Carlos Castaneda, but not only at you.)
- There is a general lack of understanding (though there are exceptions) of the long traditions that the practitioners are actually following.

The reason for members of the occult community to single out possible dangers amid New Age practices is not smug superiority, but because of the historical relationship between the two.

These are not strangers passing on the street, but (intellectual) relatives. If they believe differently, that’s fine. But if they’re getting suckered, or even put in danger, then there is some obligation there. Were the positions reversed (and sometimes they are!) I am sure they would do the same.

When twenty people who don’t know each other all ride the subway together, and there is no violence, that is a victory for humanity, and proof that were are doing something right.

Any other primate? You’re right. “Bloody soup and money fur.”

We’re doing well.