New Age, New Slant

A reader recently wrote to the editor of the Business section complaining that The Times frequently reports on New Age topics in a derisive or snide way.

This has bothered me too. So, as you may have guessed, I was pleased by the objective, non-sarcastic tenor of the May 16 story about the UFO conference, which reported factually on the event without snickers and editorial grimacing.

While it seems difficult today for many people to accept the concepts of, for example, channeling, reincarnation, healing with crystals and extraterrestrial life-forms, I predict that in a couple of decades we may just look back and laugh at our myopia. The environmental, peace, health food and human-potential movements of the ‘60s, originally dismissed as fads and fluff, have proved to be anything but far-fetched and irrelevant. To the contrary, the world might be a much better place today if we hadn’t taken so long to take these trends seriously.

Thanks for your willingness to try a new slant on the New Age.

JEFF MAYERS

Reseda