It is in times like these that people react not only politically but spiritually.

While contemplating the horror story that comprises modern news, I abruptly realized that there are parallels to the state of the country during the era in which I grew up, in particular the late sixties and early seventies. The Vietnam War had become a deadly quagmire; kids were getting drafted and sent off to die in a civil war halfway around the world. At home there were protests and face-offs with police and troops. College students on their campuses were getting beaten and even shot. It was a time of uncertainty and paranoia, which eventually culminated in the resignation of a president under threat of impeachment. Dark days indeed. But in the midst of the upheaval, there was also a spiritual awakening. Many people, young people in particular, abandoned dysfunctional society and went back to the land, often living in communes in fellowship and solidarity. Some became nomadic and set out to see the world. Others remained where they were and fought for change, with emphasis on racial equality, women’s rights, individual freedoms, and other key issues. This internal awakening, which swept across the country and around the world, was like a bright shining light in the midst of the deep darkness of government-imposed violence. And this light inspired artistic representations in music, literature, film, and other mediums. It made the era special not only because of its crass horrific ignorance and violence, but also because of the awakening of the best in humankind, the brotherhood and sisterhood of all of us, the willingness to esteem others, regardless of their idiosyncratic characteristics, as beloved equals, and to assist those in need. Beneath the ubiquitous barbarity in the daily news ran an undercurrent of countercultural tranquility and harmony. I remember it well. It made the sixties and seventies special. It united those of good will. It made hitchhiking from place to place possible, and it inspired the creation of communes of like-minded people. As I traveled from continent to continent, I found that this spirit had preceded me and that I could find congenial companions wherever I went.

Why do I bring this up now? After all, the sixties and seventies are long gone. It came to me abruptly, though, that the world is once again in confusion. The police and military are once again turning on their own fellow citizens. The country and the rest of the world are in turmoil. And this awareness caused me to consider the fecundity of this present time. In the midst of chaos, spiritual awareness will arise to combat it. I don’t think what happened in the sixties and seventies was an anomaly; it was a reaction to the vicious circumstances of the era. It was the human spirit arising like a gorgeous flowering plant out of the fetid fertilizer of political and social realities. In the past, great good rose like an inevitable healing balm out of great pain. And it occurred to me that what has happened before will happen again. How it will happen and what form it will take I don’t know. But bullies, by their very nature, are bound to fail; in their ignorance, by their nefarious deeds they ignite nobility in humankind. I can’t wait to see it. Since this insight I have had my inner eyes open for the first glimmers of a radiant dawn.

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