New Age is a phenomenon that requires study for understanding both spirituality and the nature of contemporary society (Hanegraaff 2005; Heelas 1996; Kubiak 2005). Efforts to study New Age phenomenon are accompanied by some lack of clarity about its limits; some theorists even regard attempts to define New Age as essentially futile (Lewis 1992). Most influential authors focus on subjective self-awareness and the individual experiential dimensions of New Age (Bochinger 1994; Hanegraaff 2005; Knoblauch 1989; Melton 1992a; Moerth 1989; Siqueira 1999; Tucker 2002). They also stress that "New Age strongly favours a holistic-interconnected, essentially the same, basically unified-outlook" (Heelas 1996:33; Hanegraaff 2005; see also Siqueira 1999). In addition, emphasis is given to the coming of a new era, which brings about the positive values man has been seeking for millennia (Brown 1997; Burridge 1971; Radoani 2005), as well as to the social criticism and counterculture aspects of New Age (Heelas 1996:87-88; Hoellinger 2004; Stolz and Sanchez 2005).
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