Indigo children
New Age beliefs |
---|
Concepts |
Spiritual practices |
Doctrines |
Indigo children, according to a
No scientific studies give credibility to the existence of indigo children or their traits. Some parents choose to label their children who have been diagnosed with
Origins
The term "indigo children" originated with parapsychologist and self-described synesthete and psychic Nancy Ann Tappe, who developed the concept in the 1970s.[8] In 1982 Tappe published a comb-bound[9][10][11] which she expanded and republished in paperback in 1986 as Understanding Your Life Thru Color.[9][12][13] In these works Tappe introduced the concept of "life colors",[9][14][15] defined in Understanding Your Life Thru Color as "the single color of the aura that remains constant in most people from the cradle to the grave".[16][17] The concept of "life colors" was popularized nationally by Tappe's student Barbara Bowers,[18][19] who published What Color Is Your Aura?: Personality Spectrums for Understanding and Growth in 1989,[20][21][22] and by Bowers' student Pamala Oslie,[23][19] who published Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal in 1991.[24][25]
Tappe stated that during the late 1960s and early 1970s she began noticing that many children were being born with indigo auras (or, in her terminology, with indigo as their "life color").[10][8][26] The idea was later popularized by the 1998 book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by husband and wife self-help lecturers Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.[27][28]
In 2002, the first international conference on indigo children was held in Hawaii, drawing 600 attendees, and there have been subsequent conferences in Florida, Oregon, and elsewhere.[29] Several films have been produced on the subject, including two films by New Age writer James Twyman: a 2003 feature film Indigo and a 2006 documentary The Indigo Evolution.[29]
Sarah W. Whedon suggests in a 2009 article in
Attributed characteristics
Descriptions of indigo children include that they:[citation needed]
- Are strong-willed
- Are often perceived by friends and family as being strange
- Possess a clear sense of self-definition and purpose
- Show a strong innate subconscious spirituality from early childhood (which, however, does not necessarily imply a direct interest in spiritual or religious areas)
- Have a strong feeling of entitlement, or deserving to be here
Other attributed traits include:[8][27]
- High intelligence quotient
- Inherent intuitiveability
- Resistance to rigid, control-based paradigms of authority
According to Tober and Carroll, indigo children may function poorly in conventional schools due to their rejection of rigid authority, their being smarter or more spiritually mature than their teachers, and their lack of response to guilt-, fear- or manipulation-based discipline.[29]
According to research psychologist
Indigo as an alternative to diagnosis
Retired professor of philosophy and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll notes that many of the commentators on the indigo phenomenon are of varying qualifications and expertise, and parents may prefer labeling their child an indigo as an alternative to a diagnosis that implies poor parenting, narcissistic parenting, damage,[31] or mental illness.[1] This is a belief echoed by academic psychologists.[30] Some mental health experts are concerned that labeling a disruptive child an "indigo" may delay proper diagnosis and treatment that could help the child or look into the parenting style that may be causing the behavior.[8][29][31] Others have stated that many of the traits of indigo children could be more prosaically interpreted as simple unruliness and alertness.[30]
Relationship to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Many children labeled indigo by their parents are diagnosed with
A 2011 study suggested parents of children with ADHD who label their children as "indigos" may perceive problematic behaviors emblematic of ADHD to be more positive and experience less frustration and disappointment, though they still experience more
Commercialization
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2015) |
The concept of indigo children has been criticized for being less about children and their needs, and more about the profits to be made by self-styled experts in book and video sales as well as lucrative counseling sessions, summer camps, conferences and speaking engagements.[29][33]
Discussion as a new religious movement
Nancy Ann Tappe originally noted that one type of Indigo child (the "interdimensional child"), despite being seen as a bully, was expected to lead new religious movements.[3]
One
S. Zohreh Kermani states that "Despite their problems with authority, uncontrollable tempers, and overbearing egos, Indigo Children are many pagan parents' ideal offspring: sensitive, psychic, and strong willed", but also notes the concept is less about the child's psychic abilities than the parent's own hopes and desire for "distinction from the less-evolved masses."[34]
Daniel Kline, in an essay titled "The New Kids: Indigo Children and New Age Discourse", notes that the magical belief that the innocence of children equates to spiritual powers has existed for centuries, and that the indigo child movement is rooted in a religious rejection of science-based medicine. In particular, he wrote that Nancy Ann Tappe derived some of her ideas from Charles Webster Leadbeater (her main innovation being emphasizing the connection between children and the color indigo), and that the New Age adoption of the concept is a reaction against diagnoses of ADHD and autism. Kline also discusses how Carroll and Tober have tried to distance themselves from religious beliefs about indigo children in order to maintain control of the concept (even recanting their previous affirmations about auras), and how skeptics and New Agers alike both make rhetorical appeals to science (despite the latter's rejection of it) to legitimize their ideological beliefs regarding the existence of indigo children.[35]
At the 2014 University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas, anthropologist
References
- ^ a b c Carroll, RT (2009-02-23). "Indigo child". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ISBN 978-1-84901-811-1.
- ^ a b Witts, Benjamin (July 2009). "Seeing the Indigo Children". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-4020-8463-8.
- ^ Stenger, Victor J. (June 1998). "Reality Check: the energy fields of life". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
- ^ "Who was Nancy Tappe?" NancyAnnTappe.com. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ "All About Indigos". NancyAnnTappe.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-23.
- ^ a b c d e f Leland, J (2006-01-12). "Are They Here to Save the World?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
- ^ a b c Thomas Arrigo, Savannah. "Indigo glow". Today's Local News. July 2, 2006.
- ^ doi:10.1525/nr.2009.12.3.60. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
- ^
- Mayer, Gerhard; Brutler, Anita. "Indigo-Kinder: Wunscherfüllung oder Wahn? Unerwartete Folgen eines Pathologisierungsprozesses". Zeitschrif für Anomalistik. Volume 16 (2016), p. 139. (Link at Academia.edu: [1].)
- Metaphysical Concepts in Color: Enhancing Your Life Thru Color. N Tappe - 1982 - San Diego: Kairos Institute. Google Scholar. Retrieved November 2017.
- ^ Vojtíšek, Zdeněk. "Děti Nového věku". Dingir. No. 4 (2010). p. 146. (Online: [2].)
- ISBN 0-940399-00-8.
- ^ Mayer, Gerhard; Brutler, Anita."Indigo-Kinder: Wunscherfüllung oder Wahn? Unerwartete Folgen eines Pathologisierungsprozesses". Zeitschrif für Anomalistik. Volume 16 (2016), p. 118. (Link at Academia.edu: [3].)
- ^ Kline, Daniel. "The New Kids: Indigo Children and New Age Discourse". In: Asprem, Egil; Granholm, Kennet (eds). Contemporary Esotericism. Routledge, 2014. pp. 351–371.
- ^ Elinwood, Ellae. "Understanding Your Life Through Color By Nancy Ann Tappe". Sentient Times. February/March 2004.
- ^ Carroll, Lee; Tober, Jan. The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived. Hay House, 1999. p. 6.
- ^ Carroll, Lee; Tober, Jan. An Indigo Celebration. Hay House, 2001. p. 117.
- ^ a b "Excerpts from 'The Indigo’s Reality' by Barbara Bowers". Indigo Life Center. January 12, 2008.
- ^ "Aura Colors". MetaphysicalZone.com. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
- ^ "What Color is Your Aura?: Personality Spectrums for Understanding and Growth". Publishers Weekly. January 1, 1989.
- ISBN 978-0-671-66084-0
- ^ "Pam’s Story". AuraColors.com. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
- ISBN 0931432812
- .
- ^ Tappe, NA. "All About Indigos - A Nancy Tappe Website". Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
- ^ ISBN 1-56170-608-6.
- ISBN 9781317543572. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Hyde, J (2006-03-09). "Little Boy Blue". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
- ^ a b c d e f Jayson, S (2005-05-31). "Indigo kids: Does the science fly?". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
- ^ a b c Namka, Lynne (2005). "Selfishness And Narcissism in Family Relationships". AngriesOut.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2002. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- S2CID 945004.
- ^ Anderson, L (2003-12-01). "Indigo: the color of money". Selectsmart.com. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
- ^ ISBN 978-0814769744.
- ISBN 978-1317543565.
- ^ Have Jedi created a new 'religion'?, By Tom de Castella, BBC News Magazine, 24 October 2014
- ^ "Jedi and witches and indigo children! Oh my!". www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
- ^ "Cambridge Faculty of Divinity: Beth Singler". Archived from the original on December 5, 2014.
- .
- ^ "The Indigo Children New Age Experimentation with Self and Science".
Further reading
- OCLC 36566890.