Lexi,

I beg to disagree that turning inward is specific to our times and I'm afraid that no "New Age" is underway. Through time immemorial, in both East and West, there were individuals who realized the futility of external orientation and worldly social institutions and turned inward, while the majority of society still turned outward.

One thing that is different today, is that we have all the information available about the option of turning in - while in earlier times, this information was kept closed in monasteries. However, just as there is more information about turning within, there is also more competing information about looking outside for solutions, so overall nothing fundamentally has changed.

The one disturbing phenomena that is unique to our times, which was never experienced before in known history, is the whizzing and chaotic pace of change. It drives people crazy, just as Spindoc exposed on this thread. However, let us not forget that while this is the biggest specific problem of our age, other ages also had different and as-serious problems that were specific to them.

To summarize, any time is a good time to turn inward and seek God. The doors to liberation are always open for those who wish to go through, but so are the doors to suffering. The choice between them is given and available for each one of us at each moment. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end...

Yuyutsu, you are right about the pace of change. With information so quickly transmitted in the electronic age it seems humans in their endeavour to be readily 'contactable' also have to live up to the demands of that technology. Or the perception that one has to live up to it.

Young people often feel the need to text back a friend as soon as it is received lest they offend the other person. A friend in sales is constantly busy because it is no longer a world where you leave a message and someone gets back to you, the message is immediate and immediate action is also required.

On kids:
A bit of a reality check does not go astray. Kids need to learn about rejection and learn to take on board positive criticism from early on. Pampering people and protecting them from criticism, while stemming from a desire to boost self-esteem probably does more damage than having to face a bit of reality including taking personal responsibility. Some of these self-esteem social experiments such as the "you can do anything" and the "everyone is special" can be overdone without putting it in proper context.

By contrast other modern phenomenons have improved communication between people in terms of being more open about subjects once considered taboo. Kids and adults not being afraid to talk about difficult issues like depression and so forth. I met Jeff Kennet once and he talked about the positive benefits of the Beyond Blue campaign to raise awareness about Depression and the number of people that he meets in the street who thank him for changing their lives, making it easier to open up with family, friends or work colleagues.

Human beings are probably still in the process of adapting to the information age with all the peculiarities of the Net and other advances in communications technology.

Yuyutsu:

I did not mean to suggest that a turning inward of the Western mind has only happened now. Of course there were individuals in the past
that turned inward - the history of the world is the history of control - by institutions, individuals and ideas - over masses of people who finally rise up against the control and then avoid, or not, the temptation to try to control others as they were once controlled. All I tried to say is that many of us feel that something is wrong. There are critical choices that face us. Our environment now threatens us. There is global hatred which is a cancer that is growing and threatens the survival of the species. The only antidote is spiritual.

Pelican,

"Human beings are probably still in the process of adapting to the information age"

If monkies were subjected to the same experimentation, surely all animal-rights groups would come kicking and screaming. If rats were to be driven mad like that by chasing similar moving targets, the government would have fined and closed down that research institute long ago.

So why is it OK to subject humans to this cruelty? more so while no-one can even tell for how long this torture will last?

Instead of driving us all crazy, forcing us to invest and re-invest, financially and intellectually, in items that would become obsolete in 2-5 years, why can't scientists sit calmly in their ivory towers, with initial goals clearly defined, as they develop, optimise, standardise, test, integrate and document the technology, while simultaneously conferencing with social, medical, ethical and religious experts about the full range of implications of their technology on all aspects of human life, including its effect on both the young and the elderly, ensuring that no significant harmful side-effects would occur, then reconsider and reiterate until they all converge and white smoke comes up the chimney? only then should they expose the final outcome to the public!

Lexi,

The fact is, whether we like it or not, that the majority of people are not interested in spirit. Playing with crystals and chanting American-Indian songs is not a problem, but just watch it when spirituality calls for austerities, which it inevitably does... that will separate the sheep from the goats!

But do not worry about the antidote: Mother Nature will take care of the situation, Ecology itself will interfere and there will be a phase of purification, where world-population will dramatically decline, just as it occured in the past, for example during the black-plague or crusader wars.

Those who embrace the spirit, those who are not interested in wordly control, have none to be worried about. Even if the human species is extinct, there will always be other species to accommodate the needs of our spiritual evolution. Be not afraid!

Yuyutsu:

I'm more optimistic. I don't believe that our world will become so obsessed with the problems of hatred and aggression that it will allow peace and love to be regarded as soft and weak because our survival depends on their dominance. Hopefully as a generation, people are growing into their wisdom. I choose to believe that they are.

Yuyutsu:

I'm currently re-reading the Australian actress Diane Cilento's
book, "My Nine Lives." In it she tells her readers what her greatest desire is, I thought it might be appropriate to quote her here:

"My heart has become capable of any form.
It is a pasture for gazelles, a convent for Catholic nuns,
The tables of the Torah, and the Book of the Koran.
It is a theatre in the jungle, a red rock,
A kitchen where the dragon and the dove
Sit down and sup together.
I follow the religion of love,
Wherever the wings of love take me
That is my flare path and my way."
(Diane Cilento).