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Spiritual Climate Newsletter MAY 2006 CLOSING NOTES

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Want the facts intentionally hacked out of the mainstream media?

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© MAY, 2006 SPIRITUAL CLIMATE ®

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you know you want to do it:

Spiritual Climate Newsletter APRIL 2006 INTRODUCTION

The Institute of Spiritual Climate

Is proud to present

the newsletter

 

SPIRITUAL CLIMATE®

Sunday, April 30, 2006

 

Evil cannot be conquered in the world,

 it can only be resisted within one’s self.

… Master Po

 

Dear Readers, Students and Friends,

 

Welcome to the second edition of the SPIRITUAL CLIMATE NEWSLETTER in 2006, which is Resurrecting before the Month of May.  As stated elsewhere, our readers suggestions have been enacted so that these editions are wholly supported by donations in whatever amount.

 

MAKE A DONATION  BY CLICKING HERE

 

Just click the make a donation logo and it will take to right to PayPal and you can use your credit or check card to make a donation.  Any amounts are greatly appreciated.

 

(Special Congratulations to Christine Ford, Editor of Spiritual Climate Newsletter who is the FIRST recipient of the LORNA JEAN KING AWARD for Christine’s outstanding work in Autism and with Autistic children, this past April 8th, 2006.  There are pictures from the award’s banquet toward the end of ‘a trip around the block’ in the photo slideshow above. *mentors note editted into this blog from Dr. Rev. David Strickler*)

 

Special thanks to Pat Johnson for the photo used in this month’s Spiritual Climate Newsletter.  It can be seen in the version delivered by email to all those subscribing, due to limitations it can’t be included on the Blog site.

 

Great news!  You can now read SPRITUAL CLIMATE NEWSLETTER on the net on MSN SPACES.  Just click SPIRITUAL CLIMATE NEWSLETTER ABOVE and the link will take you there, or go from this link and bookmark it into your favorites; it will save there or just use this link http://spaces.msn.com/alcyonemagi/ .  Pay attention to ‘The Trip Around The Block” Photographs, enjoy the, more to come, complete with Dr. Strickler favorite musical artist JONN SERRIE with links on the site, you will want to have your volume up to hear the music on the site.  Yes “the Boss” is known as AlcyoneMagi ® in a few circles of chat rooms on MSN, especially the Political Chat room for Adults.

 

In this current edition:

 

Wendy finds herself in an observant pattern of watching an individual through bursts of EMERGENCE as she comes through the fortnight of the Holiness of Easter, sharing some cherished personal experiences.

 

Adam finds himself NAVIGATING A SEA OF INVISIBLE HANDS.  He isn’t talking about the irrational Adam Smith’s exposition of terrorism economics revealed in Smith’s premise called the Wealth of the Nations.  He is talking about the HEALTH of our Nation, or rather, lack of regard for Mental Health here in the U.S.A.

 

This month I share some rather ‘you said what?’ in my article, YOUTH-ANASIA: AMERICANS SUCKING UP OUT OF FEAR inspired by a morning television news report show.

 

Speaking of resurrecting, Dr. Strickler has once again penned some fine points of prophesy and distinction in his article entitled, ARROGANCE AND VANITY.  Hold on to your seats.

 

We would all like to take a moment to extend our love, light and wishes of safety for you, your friends and families this joyous time of resurrection from the phantasms of winter contemplation.

 

And so, without further adieu, we welcome you to the APRIL 2006 Edition of the Spiritual Climate Newsletter.  Pull up your favorite beverage and welcome to some fresh air!  Hmm, SPRING is finally in the air!   

 

Christine Ford

Editor, Spiritual Climate Newsletter

 

you know you want to do it:

Spiritual Climate Newsletter APRIL 2006 Part 1 NAVIGATING A SEA OF INVISIBLE HANDS, by Adam Crosthwaite

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NAVIGATING A SEA OF INVISIBLE HANDS

By Adam Crosthwaite

 

I started a new profession as a Case Manager with a large company that manages and provides services to the Severely Mental Ill (SMI) community here in January.  I told my friends from my last job were I was going they called me crazy.  Most of them snickered and remarked, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire hey?”  Others simply wished me well and said good luck.

 

In my first three days I witnessed and assisted in three crises involving clients as I trained under other Case Managers and Clinical Liaisons.  I had spent more time with the Mentally Ill in one week than most people would in a life time.  As I watch these people struggling to make sense of a world which I myself understand very little about, and at times wonder why I would even care to, one common denominator presents its self.  Never in my life have I ever seen a group of people more concerned about not harming any one than these people.  Mind you I only have one year of professional experience with the SMI community and I am referring to people who have received treatment and are in on going recovery, even though the most recent of my encounters have been crises interventions in the homes of these people and in public places.

 

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they interact with or, as in most cases, react to others.  You can learn some very interesting things about a person’s thought process when they are faced with someone experiencing mental illness. 26.4% of the U.S. population suffers from mental health issues and mental illness according to Harvard Medical Mental Health Studies held in 2004, as you may recall from previous writings from Dr. Strickler, and we see some interesting interactions between people.  (Resource: Study: Mental Illnesses Are Under-Treated By Lindsey Tanner AP Medical Writer )

 

Just the other day I was standing with one of my supervisors at a local pharmacy with one of our clients.  This client was experiencing one of the unfortunate set backs with the new Medicaid Part D.  As we attempted to work with the pharmacy manager to provide this individual with their insulin a line begun to form.  As the client signed for the prescription and stated his name repeatedly a man in line snickered and begun to giggle.  If you can imagine, me six feet two inches with a 325lb. frame, and my supervisor, six feet five inches with a 215lb. frame, slowly turning and glare back at him you wouldn’t need to guess what we were thinking simultaneously as that arrogant little twit melted in front of all those people in line behind him. 

 

As awareness grows in this country of oversights and mistakes here sits one glaringly obvious issue staring us all in the face and we have yet to hear new voices out side if the mental health community question the powers that be on the topic of this growing crises.  It is abundantly clear that as a general rule people tend to avoid that which makes them uncomfortable but this is ridiculous. 

 

America is considered a world power.  She is regarded as rich and powerful, unfortunately we lead the world in Mental illness and which dose not seem to be a major concern to people until they are forced to face this issue ether on the streets with a total stranger or lord forbid, a loved one has a crises and is in need of treatment.  It is disgusting to see the level of dissociation (Resource:  Wikipedia, Dissociation) in this country regarding mental health.  Most first hand accounts of those who are diagnosed with mental illness report isolation from family and friends.  In fact most of the support these people receive comes from people in the mental health field, case management and therapists.  What’s more appalling is the level of ignorance which is growing to ridiculous heights as time progresses in all areas of awareness, not just in the mental health field.  In the past ten years the rate of mental disorders has increased from 1 in 5 from 1999 to over 1 in 4 in 2005 in this country.  It would appear that the “NOT IN MY BACK YARD” mantra is failing the mass mind as the general public seeks further isolation to spend more time in fantasyland. 

 

When was the last time you heard about new programs to assist with Severe Mental Illness in your neck of the woods?  Aside from the drug companies cramming pills and injections into the hands of CONSUMERS, not too many people care to associate with mental disorders.  Unfortunately the coping mechanisms used by the general public to deal with reality are multiplying the difficulty level for those who have to fight through coping mechanisms just to find reality.  Once again the cliché “NOT IN MY BACK YARD” ripples through the thoughts of people every where. There is a fine line between coping and avoidance and it is time for people need to grow the hell up and learn to deal with issues.  In the case of SMI one of the hardest obstacles is to decipher what is reality.  Here we are in a world with potentially prosperous individuals with so much to offer who are struggling to make sense of an insane world.  AND THEY ARE THE ONES WITH DIAGNOSIS OF SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS!  Still they put more effort into one day of survival than most people would put into a week of living.

 

The fine art of living is gradually giving way to the con-game of avoidance.  As is in the case of the ignorance, with the occasional glare, these people live through every day.  Added to the mix is the feeding frenzy of marketing.  With the inundation of subliminal advertising feeding into this narcosis, which by the way any one with a shred of intelligence could see how you either need to be extremely greedy and harbor resentment for other humans or at the very least have ulterior motives for controlling the emotional responses of the general public in order to authorize such a blatant misuse of knowledge, it is no wonder that we are witnessing an increase in diagnosis.  Oh I forgot, most people are avoiding that subject.  Perhaps a more accurate statement would be: those who chose to investigate are witnessing this trend of domination through emotional manipulation.  It comes as no surprise that we are seeing more diagnosis of mental illness.  And the silent hum of avoidance echoing forth from the offices of our government may shed a silent light on the possible culprits!  You can almost feel the invisible hands pushing, pulling and manipulating the minds all around the world.  

 

We walk through a sea of invisible hands pushing and pulling at our minds and emotions every minute of every day.  Some of these hands reach us by sounds and visions by the various agencies of marketing manipulation.  Stress levels are higher than ever and the increasing rates of mental as well as emotional breakdowns are catching up to, and in some cases devouring, people everywhere.  Now keep that thought with you for a moment and take yourself to your worst day ever.  Pull in your worst fears, saddest moments and feeling of complete lack of control.  You are on the edge of reality scratching for a point to ground yourself back to the real world.  Welcome to the world of SMI.

 

Hold this in you mind a few minutes more.  Are you feeling a little nervous?  Imagine you are walking down a busy street.  Cars whizzing by and people staring at you as your body twitches uncontrollably because of side effects you experience from the medication the government was so happy to provide free of charge.  Perhaps you forgot where you are or where you are going.  You are alone and still a voice screams in your ears.  Someone passes by you and they speed up their steeps to distance themselves from you.  How dose it feel to be avoided due to something beyond your control.  Not because of your ethnicity, social class or any other affiliation.  You are avoided because people don’t want to cope with the thought of your existence. 

 

Sound harsh?  Welcome to the world of SMI.

 

All it takes is one brief encounter with a warm gesture, perhaps something as simple as a smile or a wave, to keep the invisible hands from pushing you completely over the edge into a full blown psychotic episode.  Still no one seems to care.  As hard as it is to interact with people in this life, not through profit driven interfacing technology but real face to face interaction, imagine the feeling of bring ignored save for moments of fearful reactions from other people.  Imagine being locked up so your family members can feel safe.  Even if it means you can’t go to the restroom with out an orderly watching to make sure you don’t do anything CRAZY!

 

There are people who live this way twenty four hours a day.  Yet they still brave the streets driven by the hope of spending even one brief moment in reality.  Brings a new meaning to the line: Home of the brave, doesn’t it?  Our society has fallen so far that mental imprisonment is now accepted as a way of life.  Now question, for yourself, is this truly the land of the free?

 

It takes very little to become one of these people.  A simple bump on the head, witnessing a horrific accident on the way home or any other traumatic experience which may or may not occur as early as tomorrow morning to you or a loved one is all it would take to put any one in those shoes.  Will you be the one sitting in a support group for Mental Illness this time next year?  Or will you still be hiding your eyes from the faces of the brave individuals who deal with this issue not just today but every day for the rest of their lives?

 

There are plenty of hands pushing people up to the edges of cliffs in this world.  Be the hand that pulls them back, not the one that pushes them over.  The eyes of justice may be blind according to some statue in front of the court house.  But keep in mind, perception is NOT reality.  Things have a way of catching up to people.  Reach for understanding as I have learned to by experiences in my journey through the wilderness of this screwball world.  Some of the greatest fears in this world hold the most precious jewels of knowledge and understanding.  There is to many people in this world that get over looked and so often they are the ones holding keys that can only be obtained by the way of experience.  This has been one of the most difficult lessons I have come to learn in my journey.  Perhaps someday someone will find a cure for the damaged psyches spawning from the manipulations of those who wish to abuse and misuse the knowledge uncovered by the greatest minds of our species.  Till than we should all be conscientious of our interactions with those around us and stop ignoring the lives of those who could be enriching our own. 

 

It has been four months now that I have had the privilege to serve these people.  You should see the tears in their eyes when I ask them what I can do to help them make it through the day.  I have found the blessings of serving those that are truly in need.

 

We will never find a cure for this world.  Yet the cure for ambiguity is obtainable for those who dare reach for the knowledge of the masters.

 

Blessings,

Adam Crosthwaite

 

 

you know you want to do it:

Spiritual Climate Newsletter APRIL 2006 Part 2 THE EMERGENCE, by Wendy Ford

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THE EMERGENCE

By Wendy Ford

 

Over thirty years ago I met a young mother who I now consider to be my best friend.  She was carrying her 8-month-old first daughter on her hip and in the middle of getting everything together for a family clambake.  She was fairly quiet but as she greeted me during our introduction her smile was one that lit her up from the inside.  She immediately made me feel at ease and welcome with the quick acceptance my offer of assistance with the preparations.

 

Prior to the birth of their first child she had been an elementary school teacher of the emotionally handicapped.  She and her husband had agreed it was most important to be a stay at home Mom and the sacrifices they made over the years to accomplish that were nothing short of amazing.  When the youngest of her three children went to all day kindergarten she returned to teaching the mentally and emotionally handicapped.

 

Over the years we became close, sharing the secret thoughts that good friends share.  My husband and I baby-sat while she was giving birth to her second daughter and as time went on we developed very close and special relationships with her three children.  My husband helped her oldest daughter take that first wobbly ride on her bike with the training wheels off.  Shortly before her third child, a son was born my husband and I moved out of town.  We remained close, most vacations were spent visiting and long distance phone calls were frequent.  When she and her family moved to Florida we spent two weeks every February with her and her family.  The Christmas tree was left up and lit with our wrapped gifts underneath.  The kids thought it was pretty neat to have two Christmases. 

 

Over time I came to realize she was painfully shy around any other than family.  Even with family and good friends she confessed she rarely spoke without first thinking through the entire conversation in her head.  She usually planned every sentence ahead of time.  But in the classroom she was an entirely different person.  With her students she came alive.  She came up with innovative techniques and methods so effective that the IQ tests of many actually improved significantly enough that the school psychologist wanted to know what kind of magic she used to achieve such impressive results.  Her basic answer was no magic.  Just knowing the children well enough to know what buttons to press and switches to throw to allow that child access to their deeper hidden potential.  It was her innate ability to access and tap each child’s latent potential that set her apart.  It was watching the lights come on in her student’s eyes that was her greatest and most cherished reward.  

 

As the years went on my friend, my husband and I knew we were searching for that “something” to add meaning with personal and spiritual growth in our lives.  We constantly encouraged and welcomed her husband to join in our discussions and sharing of thoughts and information but he was just never interested.  He was of the opinion we were all a little nuts.  I truly believe had my husband and I not been included in these explorations her husband would have had her committed for psychiatric evaluation.  It was probably helpful that my husband was her husband’s brother.  The three of us explored and read.  We did the Medicine Cards, went through the Wayne Dyer books and tapes, attended sweat lodges, went to lectures and “readings” and were constantly sending each other references and tapes and book titles.  Each exploration brought us closer to that “something” but none quite hit the mark.

 

Then Dr. David Strickler came first into her life and then into ours.  We had found our Spiritual Teacher and Mentor and now friend.  Over the next ten years the three of us remained under Dr Strickler’s tutelage, my husband and I through long distance correspondence, phone calls and attending of classes when we were in town and my friend through direct attendance of his classes twice weekly.  It was not easy for her to attend those classes for she had limited financial resources and precious few hours to spare away from her family responsibilities.  Her study time was stolen from her sleep time, often needing to read by flashlight in the bathroom or closet so as not to disturb her husband.  She even left her family after her youngest had graduated from high school and drove over three thousand miles in pursuit of her spiritual studies.  My husband and I followed shortly thereafter and for the past four years the three of us have had the privilege of being in direct contact with Dr. Strickler several times weekly as a group and individually.

 

As a Spiritual Teacher, Dr. Strickler knows his students well enough to know what buttons to press and switches to throw in teaching each of us how to have conscious access to the latent potentials within, to access the Power of Conscious choice and to estimate the consequences  (positive, negative, & neutral) of the choices we select to engage.  It is his innate ability to access and tap each of our latent potentials that sets him apart as a True Spiritual Teacher.  Just as my friend experiences with her students, it is watching the lights come on in his student’s eyes that are among his greatest and most cherished rewards, in my view of him.  

 

Over the years the three of us have grown personally and spiritually.  We have grown as a group and as individuals.  Under the patient, oh so patient and sometimes not so patient, guidance and instruction of Dr. Strickler we have each spent long hours finding, uncovering, exploring then learning to deal with our personal demons, negative sides, strengths and weaknesses.  We are learning to discover knowledge and come closer to truths that are enabling each of us to push past personal barriers of ignorance and denial.  We are growing.  We are learning.

 

Each of us is going through personal transformational processes that are enabling movement ever closer to what Dr. Strickler refers to as "resurrecting from the tomb of the senses".  Each of us is learning through daily application of the tools and skills gifted to us by Dr. Strickler that we are so much more than just a physical body that is chained and grounded to the physical material plane by the limitation of the five physical senses.  We are learning to peer through the veils of misperceptions and imperfect or partial reflections the five physical senses convey to us, for that is all they are capable of.  It is not possible for perfection to be accurately reflected in this physical plane.  We are learning to hone our skills of discernment to gain a more accurate “picture” of what might really be going on in a given situation or the meaning behind spoken words.  We are learning to interpret the feedback given by our physical senses in a more accurate fashion.  We are learning the power and application of the spoken word.

 

For the past fourteen years I have been witnessing and experiencing the effects of the changes taking place in my friend as she grows and throws off old encumbrances and erroneous beliefs about herself and the world about her.

 

Last Saturday night I was honored to be witness to the emergence of this person who has been quietly growing and maturing and undergoing immense transformative processes.  It was her public emergence from the cocoon of silence.  My friend walked up on a stage with all the apparent confidence of a seasoned pro.  The mistress of ceremonies even commented to the crowd, “I can’t believe she’s actually going to say something.”   My friend stood freely, without a podium to hide behind or grab onto for support. She stood straight and tall in front of a freestanding microphone and gave a speech to over two hundred people. 

 

She spoke from the very core of her being.  She was articulate without a hint of the prespeech jitters she had confessed to fighting.  She spoke with a passion about how her spiritual life through studies under Dr. David Strickler and her professional life under the mentoring of Lorna Jean King in the application of groundbreaking methods of teaching autistic children using a sensory integration approach have finally blended together.  I sat entranced by her speech.  It wasn’t just a speech.  It was a statement:  “I am here.  I am Me.  I am.”  In listening to her speech I realized just how far she has come, how much she has grown and how much she has sacrificed over the years in the pursuit of her spiritual life and path. 

 

My friend is many things to many people and goes by many names: as a daughter she is Chris or Christie Jo, as a sister she is Chris or Chrissie, to her nephews she is Aunt Chris, to her children she is Mom, to her grandchild she is Ga Ga AZ, to her co workers she is Christine, to her students she is Miss Christine, to me she has grown from being Chris to Christine, and to the many friends and readers of Spiritual Climate Newsletter she is known as its Editor.  As of April 8th, 2006 she has another title:  First Recipient of the Lorna Jean King Teacher of the Year Award, 2006 awarded by The Children’s Center for Neurodevelopmental Studies in Glendale, Arizona.  Christine, it is with deep admiration and through the unconditional Love gifted to us by The One that I am proud to call you my friend.

 

Wendy

 

you know you want to do it:

Spiritual Climate Newsletter APRIL 2006 Part 3 “YOUTH-ANASIA: AMERICANS SUCKING UP OUT OF FEAR, by Christine Ford

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"YOUTH-ANASIA": 

AMERICANS SUCKING UP

OUT OF FEAR

By Christine Ford

 

In the middle of March I took a long awaited trip North to the mountains to visit my sister, Dianne, in Payson AZ.  We had been trying to get together for some time, but TIME and schedules being what they are, the short trip took months to materialize, reminiscent of Jim Croce, Time in a Bottle. . . “There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.”  I won’t get started on that beautiful TIME rant right now.  Suffice it to say, we had a great day and a half together laughing, smiling and even shedding a few tears. 

 

We had the TV on for background noise while sipping our morning coffee, listening to the weather report to make sure a freak snowstorm wasn’t blowing in to trap me in Payson. I overheard a topic being discussed on the Morning Show, and sat bolt upright, “wide awake and fully alert”, to quote the end of one of my old subliminal tapes!  People were on the show extolling the virtues of having plastic surgery, facelifts, nips and tucks, even total body restructuring for the sole purpose of moving up to a higher rung on the corporate ladder in their careers.  These sincere individuals were convinced that the only way to break into the next level of the hierarchy within the companies they worked for was to appear more youthful, snappier, brighter.  Though not one of the “before” pictures showed a grossly ancient withered face or body, they truly believed that a new look would make them more desirable and was indeed a necessity for them to compete in the present business world.  To them it seemed that the illusion of the aura created by the dew drenched, healthy appearing vitality of the younger coworkers was snatching the opportunity for advancement right out from under their noses.

 

My immediate knee jerk reaction, once I stopped laughing, was that this had to be the ULTIMATE in scapegoating, that these people were totally narcissistic ninnies wrapped up in themselves and had a grossly warped sense of what was held in regard, or perhaps with Dr. Strickler’s permission I may appropriately use the word VALUED in this case, by their employers.  From my perspective, at the place I am right now in my Spiritual Journey, the very last consideration I give any person in judging their capability or capacity to perform a task is their appearance.  I leapt to the conclusion that those individuals on the show were whiners who were shifting their blame for not having the gumption and drive to get a better position    to the shallow arena of mere outward appearances and age prejudice of their employers. Oh yes, I thought smugly that the deeper reality was that they were losers looking for an excuse for not reaching the imagined pinnacle of success of their dreams! As I listened on I found that I was in error.

 

Upon returning to their jobs after having “youth-anasia” (euthanasia, Heheh!  Get it?  How ‘bout that for a made up word, Dr. Strickler?) performed, they were moved right up that corporate ladder.  Employers commented positively upon their health, their stamina, their vigor, when in reality nothing had changed at all but a few alterations to the seamless robe of Adonai they were sporting!  Their premise of the worship of youth held true, proving that the shallowness of physical appearance IS held in higher regard by our consumer oriented society than competence, experience, expertise, and knowledge.

 

I sat stunned for a moment in shock letting this sink in.  Then I had one of those truly DUH moments where the “Real Me” screamed at the “Pollyanna, Goody Two-Shoes, Justice and Right Always Prevails, Still Sometimes Blind Me”, “You dumb ass.  What kind of made up fairy tale projected on the one seat movie theater screen of your wimpy imagination are you living in anyway?    People are products, just like cars or computers.  Who wants to drive an old beat up car when there are so many bright shiny newer models that purr and run so smoothly just begging to be given a test drive?  Who wants to have an old Apple2GS to slow you down and cause you grief when there are models that fly faster than the speed of light?  Come on, Nitwit!  Like it or not, whether you feel it is “just” or not, the truth of the matter is that youth, or more appropriately, the APPEARANCE of youth is now a desirable and purchasable commodity, a business in and of itself. Yes, that is the way it is in this consumer, productivity driven society we live in, Woman!  Wake up and smell the coffee!”

 

At this point, much to Dianne’s surprise, I began to talk to myself.  Actually, it was an out loud verbal debate between ME and me!  In the end, thankfully, the Real ME won the debate and I now find myself face to face with a NEW Generation Gap, one which is a by-product and reflection, in my eyes, of the much discussed by Dr. Strickler schism between information and knowledge.  The worship of the youthful face, taut body and gleaming eyes is blatantly correspondent to the growth of the worship of information and information hoarding of this computer generated society, ease of finding just about anything one wants on the net, and immediate gratification.  THAT is information. 

 

Knowledge, on the other hand, comes with experience, seeking, practice, patience and yes, often times but not always, AGE!  Knowledge is applied, shared, used and sought out.  It takes time to acquire and to be receptive to it, which is becoming a lost art to many today.  THAT is knowledge!  For individuals to be passed over and cast aside because of the outward appearance of aging when they are a storehouse of knowledge is just plain horrific to me, but yet I do see most clearly that this is the direction of the future.

 

Perhaps this is so horrifying to me because at 57 I find myself on that “physically mature” side of the fence!  An interesting side note is that I work in a place that is almost entirely made up of people under the age of thirty, most not older than mid twenty.  This has some definite advantages!  When I find myself embroiled in a battle of will and fists with my precious special kids, which happens quite often, the strong back and firm grasp of my youthful assistants has saved me from months of physical therapy more than once.  I have had the chance to interact with these great young people, and have just recently found myself listening to them lament about their AGE!  One young woman was sincerely upset because she was having her 26th birthday. To her that meant she was more than half-way to the big 5-O!  At 26, she was feeling OLD. 

 

As I listen to my younger associates I have heard a similar sentiment expressed time and time again.  I don’t know about the general public, but when I was 26 I felt like I had the world by the balls and an incredible road ahead of me.  Hell, at my current age of 57 I am just beginning to feel like I have truly made some head way and am anxiously anticipating what the next 50 or so years holds.  I have never considered how much of my life was over; I just know there is one hell of a ride ahead!  I still to this day feel that way. 

 

Could it be that this preoccupation with youthfulness, superficiality, shallowness and INFORMATION and its correspondent lack of regard for age, wisdom, depth and KNOWLEDGE which is perpetrated by our consumer/productivity engineered society is a cancer we are allowing to devour the principle of agape and discovery as quickly as the rain evaporates before it even hits the ground in the heat of an Arizona summer?  If promotion, acknowledgement and advancement in the business world is determined primarily by a youthful appearance and outward healthy demeanor, where is our civilization headed?  The disrespect generated by such a shallow act as honoring appearance as an indicator of knowledge and ability rather than acknowledging experience and expertise is a dishonor and denigration of the elders of our society, and a red flag as to the ever slipping regard that we have been programmed to have for genuine knowledge, discovery and agape.

 

Is there a solution for this?  Is there an answer to these questions?  To be honest with you, I am becoming more and more compelled to think that we are just plain screwed, that this “worship of youth” is just a small cog in the giant wheel that is turning in the masses that will devolve into a state of deeper chaos and debauchery.  Just like there needed to be Katrina to wake up the USA about the sad state of FEMA, just like we needed the tsunami in December, 2005 to remind us that the Earth has power beyond our ability to manage and control, there needs to come an experiential moment that affects humanity on a large scale reminding us the ultimate challenge we are faced with within the plane of physical manifestation is the beautiful discovery of Truth and Light, and that that discovery of agape comes only with knowledge, receptivity, work and time. 

 

Though it may seem a sad note on which to end my Easter article this year, like the Easter story, there must be Death before Resurrection.  The recognition of an ongoing travesty does not resolve it, but by bringing it to light perhaps a subtle change may begin to take place, at least in the lives of those that these words reach.  Begin the change this Holy Season within your own life to seek the agape, discovery and knowledge, to delve the depths of understanding and the heights of communication with your Soul, to go beyond the mere superficiality of appearance and age to acknowledge the Light and Truth hidden deep within the hearts of those you touch.  That Beauty and Brilliance is hidden deep within you as well, and it is just waiting to be given a tiny aperture through which to burst into glory.

 

May the Lord of Life awaken within you the awareness of the agape and knowledge of the eternal essence of your True Being.  May you find your way through the wilderness of your senses and awaken from the nightmare being constructed in this century.

Blessings,

Christine Ford

Editor

Spiritual Climate Newsletter          

 

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