Preparing for a lecture I must give next year on THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT, I recently read the autobiography of Willie Nelson. {Went to the library to check out the book in disguise; you know - beard, bandana...}. Mr. Nelson is no great theologian, but he has become an outspoken celebrity ambassador for New Age concepts. He believes in reincarnation, for example; a fundamental of New Age thinking.
Willie discusses "intuition" in chapter nineteen. He states that "intuition is just an attunement of your inner self with the universal mind. The average person ignores these higher vibes if they seem to oppose the distinct and familiar impressions transmitted by the physical sense organs - such as your eyes or ears. To develop intuition, the moment you ask yourself a question you must give credit to the answer. You must not permit reasoning or argument to take place and change the answer your intuition gives. As soon as you can abandon your willpower and anxiousness and tune your mind to the inner self, you will gain a wonderful lie detector. Batteries included." {"lie" replaced for the expletive Willie used.}
Observations:
1. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO HEAR. Folks want to give their own answers to the questions of life, and many are too lazy to go through any process of argumentation and reasoning; that might delay gratification. For example, "Do I have this affair?" Answer: "Yes, I want to!" Case closed. Willeology has popular appeal. No doubt that about.
2. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE APOSTLE PAUL TAUGHT AGAINST. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit ... the carnal mind is enmity against God," (Rom. 8:5,7). Nelson's "intuition" is nothing but the carnal mind.
Folks, this fundamental truth remains: "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps," (Jer. 10:23).
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