Its Blowin in the Wind...again!

Many of us oldies look back with nostalgia to those heady days back in the late 60s and early 70s. Something unique went on within many of us humans which changed the direction of the whole world - a rebellion against the establishment, a swing towards peace, towards love and togetherness. A spontaneous move away from the constrictive values that the world had imposed on us for centuries. Our pop music changed dramatically and played a major part in stimulating this trend. Feelings and emotions within us, which we barely knew existed and hadnt seen the light of day for years were being roused up. The western world was being rocked - both literally and figuratively! A joy and the freedom to be oneself emerged.

Give Peace a Chance! We screamed

It affected so many areas of our traditional life people were confused. Our 'set in concrete' systems were being challenged. The values behind our politics, our medicine, education, commerce and our morals, were all being questioned and re-evaluated. Staid old Christian denominations had a shake up too with the rise of the Charismatic renewal, much to the confusion of the leaders. Subcultures were springing up all over the place. Many issues were being viewed through new eyes. You could almost say that a global shift in our consciousness was underway. No one knew where it would strike next!

Initially this movement was not obviously man led. It welled up from within the masses themselves and no one knew quite where to go let alone what was behind it. In fact that was never solved. Because it didnt appear to have an obvious purpose it became subject to all sorts of criticism and abuse. The establishments who were more organized and backed by traditionalists barricaded themselves against the onslaught of their time honoured values and authority. Get back to work! They Their fundamentalism finally prevailed. The movement cried. Become responsible fragmented, became cultist, psychic in all its different flacitizens. We know what is vours and people who were more interested in building good for you. their own kingdoms gradually took over the various subcultures. The Spirit was lost and many dropped out and turned to all sorts of stuff, and beliefs, to try and recapture that initial excitement and euphoria. This change in disposition was revealed through the music of the time. Much of it lost its softness and tunefulness. It reflected the changing mood and came across as being more gritty, aggressive, frustrated and ...stoned! Over the years I have met numerous folk who got a tremendous lift back then and now wonder where it all went wrong. It was tragic. To them it showed the possibility that a whole new world could have opened up. How many have I heard say, Well here I am forty years later. I reluctantly worked my way back into the system and was actually very successful. I made a lot of money but I hated my work. I never did what I really wanted to do. It was such a false existence with shallow relationships. Now my kids are all over the place, I barely know them, Im on my second marriage, and that is struggling. I have nothing to look forward to. Those early days, when I was running around with hardly any clothes on, has turned out to be the most real time in my whole life! What went wrong?

Although it all turned sour its not over yet!

All around the world there is now an ever increasing uneasisness towards repressive authorities and the lack of the peoples voice being truly heard. True democracy in most countries is a bit of the joke as the rich and powerful are more and more able to manipulate the political and financial scene for their own greedy gains. The gap between the have and have nots is getting wider which frustrates so many millions who see no hope on the horizon to relieve their sad situation. Citizens are visciously rebelling against suppressive dictatorial regimes and protests are regularly popping up all around the globe promoting all sorts of causes. People are heartily sick of controls. Religious fundamentalism in all it forms is also in there laying down their strict codes of conduct and creating havoc but that is now being challenged. Long standing grievances between tribal groups that stretch back centuries are being continually revived and are no closer to being resolved than they ever were. Seething within many people is a state of unrest.

This dissension is creating immense difficulties around the world and will probably become far worse as there is no hope of humankind ever being able to resolve so many bitter entrenched feelings. However, there is an evolving ray of hope from another source! I want you to look at this. Now let the fig tree teach you its lesson: when its Outwardly things dont look good but underlying this branches begin to sprout and leaves appear, you unrest and dissatisfaction is something quite interesting. know that summer is approaching. Know that I am It is a developing universal feeling towards wanting to near. Right at the door! save our planet, to save humanity. It is welling up from A CLUE: Not at the door trying to get in. No, not at within us human beings. Click this YouTube link. This is a speech given, a couple of years ago, by author and writer Paul all! Instead, bashing on the door, inside us, trying to Hawken, an environmentalist, who identifies a social movement that so get out! Lets start getting truthful with those feelings!
far nobody is able to explain. Maybe we can do it for him!

Just what was the significance of this movement? In its heyday it rocked the Western world but in the end came to little and life settled down again under its traditional guardians. This unrest originally sprang from the universities where young enquiring minds began to question the values of old entrenched traditional thinking. Better communication was opening up their minds to realize that a lot of the values they had been taught in the past were not as sound and as eternally true as what they had been led to believe. Something was stirring within them - a yearning for truth ...and life!
To put this unrest down the university authorities raised the academic standards to force students back to their desks. It worked and things slowly died down. Fortunately I went through before this happened so had an easy ride. Back in those days, the mid 1950's, university education was beginning to open up to more than just the privileged few in society who tended to be heavily indoctrinated with the old traditional value systems and resisted change. That thinking began to be challenged and although it was not recognized the source of that stirring was coming from within. It was confronting the organization of our world and all that it represented, and that included religious beliefs too. Do not love the world (kosmos) or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever. An authority was welling up in us from deep within, but we didnt understand. Our minds deceived us and we eventually chickened out. We didnt realize that this new mind (Spirit) has been given sovereignty over this whole world, but he needed us to make it work. He needed our hearts and minds and allegiance.

Grace Movements

Various Grace movements have sprung up among exChristians rebelling against the religious laws that have been imposed on them. This is a definite step in the right direction but unfortunately they have then misinterpreted what the Spirit is saying and have tied themselves back into belief systems. Old habits die hard! This makes them friends with the world (kosmos) so they cant go very far as their old God of this world still rules over them. They are no threat to him! They are stuck in a hole trying to serve two masters! Until they break from this, and rebel, they are unable to take up their full inheritance and set the world free. They remain as religious as ever and the secular world doesnt want to know them. So who out there is going to take up the challenge and break from the heady links that bind them to each other and step out on what is within them?

Perhaps us oldies are going to have to do it?