Generation Xers Could Shake Things Up, in a Surprising Way!

Have you noticed the interest being generated in the ranks of our young people by the political races? It reminds me of the sixties when young people took a hard turn left. Many of the kids raised after this, however, took a decidedly turn right, ala Reaganites. It seem that these shifts occur in 40 – 60 year cycles, and that we are about to witness the next liberal cycle. But this isn't the main area that the new generation will shake up.

Computers have changed our lives, especially the lives of our younger generation. The world has opened up in ways never thought possible, and when the world opens up, we realize that all peoples are pretty much the same, and this fosters a tendency toward open-mindedness and away from traditionalism.

Generation Xers, born in the sixties, seventies and eighties are not typically liberals or conservatives. Even though they may termed Reaganites, they pretty much distrust about everything that they have been taught, including spiritual values, and unlike their Boomer parents, have a disdain for any blind faith in anything, including the economic system. Globalization and access to world economies and their realities have educated this Reagan generation and the effect is quite different from the effect WW II had on the Boomers, which was one of vitality and hope. Generation Xers, with exceptions, typically wrap themselves around the flag with a tenacious nationalism, perhaps due to the United States taking sole possession of the world super power title.

But even with this perception of being the greatest country in the world, many see themselves falling behind the previous generation, and reflect this attitude by their Grunge clothing and music. But this isn't the main area that the new generation will shake up.

Reaganites, not unlike their parents of the sixties, take a dim view of traditional religion. New ideas in congregations and churches, and a healthy disdain of church rites and rituals in the form of systems of belief are driving this generation toward a new search for whom they really are - and this is the main area that the new generation will shake up.

Shifts in consciousness happen spontaneously throughout the population at critical moments in history and almost without exception begin with the young. During the sixties ( Dr. Lyall Watson in his book Lifetide (1979), a study was conducted of a species of monkey living on separate islands. One day, an adolescent monkey washed his sweet potato in a stream before eating it, a behavior never observed before, and before long, adult monkeys began washing their fruit as well.

More amazing, is that when researchers from the various isolated islands met at the end of the study and compared notes, they noticed that each island's monkey population began washing fruit when the Hundreth Monkey began washing fruit on the main island! This was an inexplicable change in behavior; a shift in consciousness that occurred simultaneously within the entire species even though they were isolated from each other on separate islands. (There is some controversy regarding Watson's accuracy of this story).

Shifts in consciousness have occurred in human history, though. We can look back and see the peaks and valleys as reason prevailed over barbarism after the middle ages, as religions blossomed between 1000 BC and 1,000 AD. There seems to be a progression as our species accumulates experience but the evolution is slow, and the question remains; can this evolution be enhanced by accelerating our learning curve in some way?

Deeper religions, particularly Eastern Religions and Christian mysticism, address this point by spelling out in detail how to create shifts in consciousness. The problem is, unenlightened individuals got hold of the teachings in many of the religions and crafted them to correspond to their own unenlightened thought and ambition for building religious organizations. As a result, things have gone off track. Careful study and sifting is required to dig into true doctrines and interpret true intent, originally designed to set people free and not imprison them in the straightjacket of mere belief and mindless worship. This is what the Generation Xers, I believe, are about to discover for themselves.

A major shift in consciousness, over and above the cyclical liberal shift that is presently occurring, is indicated by the unprecedented global interest in spirituality and religion. Human creativity is about to surpass human productivity for the first time as the primary focus of life, and this means exciting possibilities on the horizon.

Here are seven typical questions that generatio
Xers are asking about spirituality:nn nn· Where can we find the real truth, not just money making schemes? nn· What happens after we die?nn· Where were we before we were born?nn· What is my soul? nn· Where is my soul? nn· How did the universe begin? nn· Is the universe infinite?

And I have a feeling that our generatio
Xers will become something that we have never seen before - genuine, authentic spiritual people, in the mold of the Buddha and Christ.