Trouble with bridging the chasm is that, on one side, there are solid banks and foundations built on rigorous scientifict practice, and on the other there's...
And that's the trouble; the term "New Age" has become a catch-all, embracing such diverse delights as Hopi ear candle therapy, crystal healing, reiki, shiatzu (off topic - what's a shiatzu? One with no penguins. Sorry...) and every other 'alternative' practice under the sun.
Some, perhaps, may in time be validated and adopted, others are and will always remain quite bonkers; lucrative for the practitioner and sometimes downright dangerous for the gullible.
From my tone, you can probably guess that I'm a sceptic. Not that I want to be, of course. I would love to be able to believe that a quartz crystal can cleanse my chakras or that remotely channelled reiki energy can heal the damaged ligaments in my knee, but I have yet to see proof.
I don't have any agenda other than to embrace what is sensible and rational and reject what is palpably wrong. My scepticism is simply a mater of observation and experience. For good or ill, I've spent a lot of time with people who passionately believe in many 'New Age' techniques and therapies. While there are many who do sincerely believe that they can extract sunbeams from cucumbers and turn base metal into gold, I have seen people being exploited and even damaged by 'New Age' practitioners - including one woman I know who went blind through diabetes because she believed her 'healer' and not her GP.
Ad therein lies the problem. We all want solutions. When we were religious we came to terms with mortality and disease by inventing gods to blame. Then science became the great saviour, with its magic bullets and seers in qhite coats.
Today, however, we seem to be on the run from both. We seem to have largely lost our organised faith and misplaced our trust in science and the enlightenment, and instead run hither and thither, seeking out quick fixes and instant wisdom from any old place.
For our spiritual - and increasingly physical - succour, we're lurching through the aisles of the 'New Age' store like children in a pick'n'mix frenzy, victims of our gullibility and a yearning for some sort of mystery in life.
Of course, the one-on-one attention an alternative therapist gives to a client is a good thing. Most of us want someone to talk to and a sympathetic ear for our troubles. A good massage is always welcome, too. But the rest of it...
This sceptic is glad to hear that Karla McLaren seems to have woken up to reality. If there are other good thinkers out there on the fringes of the New Age, could someone please point me in their direction?