TABLE OF CONTENTS
From Black Elk
Dedication
Looking into the Heart
How Do We Begin?
Where Fools Stop, You Start
The Spiral Chain
The Path of the Quest and the Sacred Ceremony
of the Natural World
Make a Friend of Everyone
The Coming of the New World
|
QUESTING: A
Teen's Quest for Life
By Patricia Jepsen
(2003, 8 1/2"x 5 1/2", 20 pages, stapled
booklet, US$6.00)
EXCERPT
Looking
into the Heart
Every
child and young person has a special gift to
give the planet. It is all theirs to give! And
unless they understand this and are allowed to
discover their unique gift to earth, they will
not be satisfied. They want to be special!
The
search for the special gift that is unique for
each young person begins in a serious manner
by the early teens. They will often sense, "I
have something inside of me that is about to
be born." They have deep feelings at this time
about personal identity and purpose. Often,
there is an excitement and inner expectancy of
something wonderful! This is the period, set
aside by nature, when the young person finds
his or her spiritual message within and begins
to harmonize with the indwelling Spirit and
Creator Intelligence or Heart Mother.
Unfortunately, this sacred and important
period is generally overlooked, disregarded,
even laughed at by our schools and the parents
themselves! And because of this, humanity
lives in a vacuum without the spiritual
feeding of a creative intelligence. The
"child" to be born of Spirit never happens. It
is dulled into complacency, perhaps even
depression.
What is
wrong with our educational values when we push
the young person into intellectual stimulus
disregarding the heart-intelligence? Why do we
do this to our children? Why haven't we
followed the path mapped by nature, a path
that would insure deepening awareness and
creative, compassionate contributions to our
earth community?
Between
the ages of twelve and fourteen a door is
waiting to be opened. Every parent and every
teacher should be ready to beckon the child
through the door. They should be building
toward that moment of the quest when the child
ventures forth into new directions, unknown
lands of creative intelligence. The young
seeker should be encouraged to open that
door--confident that they can open it!
Although
young men and young women have somewhat
different anticipations in the quest of life's
purpose, their paths are initially the same
because they both are seeking--their souls are
seeking--avenues for expression far beyond the
present mode of the world.
What
needs to occur in our educational system as
well as at home base is recognition of the
Quest and the importance of making a place for
it in our schools and places of worship.
Perhaps teachers and parents might take this
time set aside for the rite of passage in
order to experience their own deep yearning
for a renewed self-image and vision for
tomorrow. We are talking about making a
"space" in our crowded agendas and curriculum
so that there is ample opportunity,
encouragement and stimulus for the quest. Life
is too wonderful to lose it, too magical to
let it be smothered by endless books and
tracts of paper.
Where is
our sense of adventure? Questing can be fun if
we understand the truth of it!
|