My Roots

These gentlemen are my father (on the right) Thomas A. Patrick, and his longtime friend Peter Jacobs.  I estimate this photo was taken about 1940-42.   My father was a great killer of deer and preferred first a .300 Savage Model 99, and, later, an FN .270.  He was very effective with either.  I still have and use both rifles. Unlike most modern academics I have had an excellent and honorable upbringing in a revered tradition.

Linda Turley-Hansen Commentary

Predictions for 2010 include spiritual shift

| Recommend 

January 01, 2010 1:00 PM

Commentary by Linda Turley-Hansen

Special to AFN

Is it really over – the life to which we’re accustomed? Seems that’s the case. No matter who I talk with, there’s a consensus that things have shifted across the land. And, most are convinced our reality will continue to wobble in 2010.

There’s strong sentiment that the collapse of a sick America will make the way for spiritual enlightenment. Before you anti-religious thinkers shudder, remember enlightenment is not confined to organized religion.

Recently, a daughter put in our hands a magazine titled Pure Inspiration, www.pureinspirationmag.com. Honestly, after reading and watching decades of news productions and the usual tripe-politics found within, I devoured its approach to what ails the world. It scrutinizes root causes, reminding us of our interconnection with every earthly thing and how our thoughts and actions have produced what we are today.

The idea that answers begin with the “one,” is not a new concept, but don’t count on it to reach critical mass soon. It’s hard to motivate self when all around are proceeding as normal. However, what I like about the truth is, none of us need to be victims. “Master of self” applies in every circumstance.

Back to those news magazines, and media shows and I mean shows: few of us can comprehend what the abdication of a balanced news media actually means to our democratic, citizen representation system. Our watch dogs are simply gone, leaving us at high risk.

Via the Web, watch the “rise of the anti-media” in a revolution that has forever changed how we share information. One example is found within America’s First Freedom magazine (January 2010), which reviews a book by Brian Anse Patrick. Patrick discusses a “horizontal, anti-media interpretive community,” created by “co-equals, who create, share and interpret their own world.” Commonality has found a new delivery vehicle.

But, even that’s at risk. The sanctity of the free Web is being eyed by powers, which want to control minds and pocketbooks. They never quit.

In the meantime, Web wedges of interests, disenchanted with our culture, will continue to develop, pull together, even into isolation, provoked by a growing, cannibalistic government.

The spiritually enlightened will blossom among those pockets: more will understand the intricate links among every living thing. The tie that binds us all has been ignored for ages, thus we’re troubled by the most simple of life’s issues such as the foods we eat, cosmetic addictions, how we treat the earth and its species and our human brothers and sisters. We must include the collapse of moral values, the explosion of self indulgence, the worship of riches and corruption in the highest and lowest places.

And, clearly, there’s the growing attitude that those who have worked hard to sustain themselves and families are required to take care of those who won’t. Government’s insistence on taxing its citizens to promote this practice for no other reason than political power will enslave all Americans in ways which will force every one of us to our knees.

And, perhaps, it’s there that spiritual enlightenment will have its day. But, this is the truth of such a massive transition: governments cannot force mankind to embrace the link between all living things. It must come from free will and the love of deity, self and life. It requires inner change – not political lies.

History shows that, generally, such enlightenment comes through suffering. Shall we embrace it or flee from the current shift? I say, bring it on.

 

Linda Turley-Hansen is a syndicated columnist, a former Phoenix television anchor and an East Valley resident. Her columns appear monthly. She can be contacted at turleyhansen@gmail.com.