Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

ReReadable Books

May 2010

"Group Mind & Media Part V: Children"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Nobody disputes the vital importance of our children. But by and large, children (pre-pubescents) are considered cherished but powerless and of little account.

We only accord them a vote in some simple matters like what color shoes to buy for summer fun so they’ll learn to make decisions and stick by them, and learn the value of money. Their votes are considered a teaching exercise, not a matter of vital concern on the World Stage.

But what if we’re wrong? What if we’re focused on what scientists call a "special case."

For example, in particle physics, Newton’s Laws of Motion seem not to apply. But actually, Newton’s Laws and Kepler’s Laws that describe the movement of planets are simply special cases of a much broader, more general formula for understanding the movement of matter.

Suppose our general attitude toward children is like Newton’s Laws? Suppose there’s something small inside the natural incompetence of children that does in fact matter, and from which we can learn something totally obscured by the obvious fact that all children have to learn everything.

Reincarnation gives us a clue to talents and abilities children are born with, but even a prodigy like, say Tiger Wood, has to learn. They just learn faster and get better quicker. They’re not exempt from tedious learning and practice.

What if there’s a lot more to the effect children have on World Politics than we’ve ever dreamed? What if children are more important than we have ever imagined? What if children are as important as they think they are? What if they’re even more powerful than we are simply because they’re children?

We know that children grow and we don’t (except sideways). We know that children learn at a percentage rate that dwindles with the years until we as elders must struggle to acquire even one new concept a day. And we know that children have powerful nightmares that most adults don’t have, or if they do, they take themselves to a doctor.

Mr. Rogers, the child psychologist and entertainer on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, knew how piercing and ultimately disabling a child’s Guilt could be. If a parent were killed in a car crash, a child could go on to live an entire life carrying subconscious and conscious guilt because they’d had a tiff before the crash and the child wished his parents dead.

So Mr. Rogers sang his viewers a wonderful song to inculcate a view of the world that could defend a child from that boomerang Guilt. "Scary Mad Wishes Don’t Make Things Come True."

Millions and millions of current 40-somethings grew up on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. They may have learned that lesson about the connection between a child’s wishes and reality all too well, so that today it’s literally impossible for them to think of any kind of connection between indulging in a deeply personal, inner fantasy and the unfolding of events in the outside world.

And the spooky thing is, many such adults simply have no idea where their absolute conviction about the shape and behavior of reality came from.

Practical white magicians know that for some people, under certain circumstances, power can flow into manifestation via imagination, visualization, wishing. And in fact, psychologists and metaphysicists know that there is a relationship (not always obvious) between one’s inner emotional life and how the world arranges itself around one.

Adults apply this theory to adults, but rarely consider the possibility that ill-wishing (or good-wishing) might actually manifest more powerfully when it originates inside a child rather than inside an adult.

We acknowledge the Maiden-Mother-Crone Life Cycle process, and often ascribe a special wisdom to the Crone, but rarely connect the pre-pubescent hormonal state with the post-menopausal hormonal state. Perhaps the 2/3rds of a life spent without raging hormones might actually be the time of more efficient command of the world around us? Efficient meaning it takes less power to manifest a result.

Since the January issue, we’ve been looking at the connection between the Group Mind and the behavior of Large Institutions, such as Armed Forces, 12^th House symbolism. Has any research funding gone into documenting the contribution to the Group Mind by our Children?

We know from Transactional Analysis about the power of child in us all to mold our behavior. http://changingminds.org/explanations/behaviors/ta.htm

Suppose our world Group Mind is influenced as much by our children as an individual is influence by his Inner Child? Perhaps abuse of children or just our steadfast ignoring of their power causes war, and not because they grow up to become terrorists or Ambassadors? Only a student of magic could grasp that idea. What playschool or kindergarten does not have hitting, absconding with toys, cliques? Do all children have to behave this way?

Are all students of magick ignoring the influence of our Children’s inner fantasy life on international politics?

What can we do about the problem? Feed our children carefully selected fiction? Ignite imagination in service of international problem solving? Here are some Read Aloud books for 6-9 year olds that could help?

Joan Marie Verba has written new novels in the world of a favorite classic TV series, THUNDERBIRDS, a Gerry Anderson production. She has two available, Countdown to Action and Action Alert, both perfect for read-aloud. It’s about an organization that has a technological edge, and uses it to save people and situations, the way Superman does. It ignites imagination to use real power for the good of others. www.ftlpublications.com

Merlin’s Dragon: Doomraga’s Revenge by T. A. Baron is 2^nd in a new trilogy in the Lost Years of Merlin Epic (5 novels). Doomraga’s Revenge is for age 10 and up and is about an adult dragon who remembers being tiny and saving Merlin against all odds. Now he’s formidable but absolutely loyal to Merlin. Deep, wrenching change comes to his world, scary loss and tragedy, and someone has to fill Merlin’s shoes. This is for children who need to learn the Cycle of Life. Read aloud and explain as you go.

Now for teens a Vampire novel set up as a diary, all told in first person, titled Sucks To Be Me. The teen girl’s journal starts by pointing out that her parents are Vampires and she must now make the decision of whether to become a Vampire or not. "Not" sparks a great deal of political resistance, and she gradually discovers her parents violated protocol keeping her alive. Discuss parental love issues.

The arduous trick here is to read the YA books not to but with your child, keeping a chapter or two ahead and weaving conversation around the themes. Techniques learned in Guided Visualization can help.

Another YA for older teens, the 6^th in The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine who is also author of the Weatherwarden Series. Carpe Corpus is an action thriller romance suspense novel with a bit more sexuality than some parents would approve. Read it before recommending it to your child.

Carpe Corpus is an easy, breezy read about a town where two factions of vampires, one led by the father, the other by the daughter, are fighting for control of the town, the country and the world. One faction is for, the other against, co-existence with humans. Its all about Power, use and abuse. So don’t turn your teen loose on this series without supervision, because it is fraught with treacherous assumptions. As with Mr. Rogers’ scary mad wishes song, the adult who grows out of the teen reader may not be aware of why they believe what they firmly believe, or why they vote accordingly. Illustrate how to ask the right questions.

And there’s the Group Mind Media point for this month. Without that "fighting for control" or some other visual violence or ghoulish nightmare threat element as illustrated in the Merlin’s Dragon series, no writer can get anything published these days. The Group Mind taste is for violent solutions to Good vs. Evil and that’s the only fight worth considering. However it got that way, it’s a problem to analyze and perhaps offset if not solve.

The generation that will be born with Neptune in Pisces (~2012 – 2025) might be willing to learn to work problems differently (Uranus in Aries then Taurus), though history doesn’t support that theory. Consider the Neptune in Pisces generation will have Pluto in Capricorn, and many will have Uranus in Aries. Power and Independence will be their keynotes, subsumed by Neptune in Pisces as discussed last month. If you’re planning to raise such a child, find stories and imagery to raise them on.