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New Age communities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

New Age communities are places where, intentionally or accidentally, communities have grown up to include significant numbers of people with New Age beliefs. An intentional community may have specific aims but are varied and have a variety of structures, purposes and means of subsistence. These include authoritarian, democratic and consensual systems of internal government.[1] New Age communities also exist on the Internet.[2]

Notable communities

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Australia

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Europe

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  • Glastonbury – is particularly notable for the myths and legends surrounding a nearby hill, Glastonbury Tor, which rises up from the otherwise flat landscape of the Somerset Levels. These myths concern Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail, and also King Arthur. Glastonbury is also said to be the centre of several ley lines.[citation needed]
  • Totnes – known as "Britain's alternative capital. A New Age nirvana of Sufis, surfers and Buddhist builders ..."[3]

United States

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Charismatic leadership

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Such communities may be founded by charismatic leaders who may be credited with quasi-religious status, being considered gurus or messiahs. Such leaders inhibit the survival of these communities.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Oliver Popenoe, Cris Popenoe (1984). Seeds of Tomorrow: New Age Communities that Work. Harper&Row. ISBN 0-06-250680-3.
  2. ^ Kemp, Daren and James R. Lewis, ed. (2007). "The Diffuse Communities of the New Age". Handbook of New Age. Brill Academic Publishers. pp. 175–79. ISBN 978-90-04-15355-4. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  3. ^ Lucy Siegle (2005-05-08). Shiny hippy people. London. Retrieved 2010-05-20. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Brumann, Christoph (2000). "The Dominance of One and Its Perils: Charismatic Leadership and Branch Structures in Utopian Communes". Journal of Anthropological Research. 56 (4): 425–451. doi:10.1086/jar.56.4.3630926. JSTOR 3630926. S2CID 142032962.