The Free Radical

Parents are beside themselves, wondering if their twenty-something children will ever move out on their own. And the kids themselves…? They just shrug; they don’t have the answer.

Some can’t get a job; nothing interests them. Others get plenty of jobs but can’t keep them for more than a few days; they get easily bored or distracted. “What’s the matter with youth these days!” I hear exasperated parents moan.

It’s the apocalypse, stupid! (Sorry about the ‘stupid’ bit; I know not everybody’s on the same apocalyptic page… yet.)

I keep seeing it, but then my eyes are biased. It was the same for me thirty years ago when I was still a teenager. Youth is in a dilemma. The older generations, parents and grandparents, just can’t understand why it’s so hard for these kids to go out and do exactly as they did, to make their own way in the world. “Shut up; get a haircut, and get a job!”

The world is in transition– the most significant transition in the history of modern civilization. The old systems– you know, the ones with the jobs– are disintegrating… visibly. The old world was built upon unsustainable systems. The global economy among industrialized nations has always tacitly depended upon growth, expanding markets, in order to remain robust or even viable. We have reached the limit of growth necessary to sustain the former middle class. It’s all falling apart… but only to the eyes which see.

The older generations are in denial. Most are just waiting for world conditions to return to normal– waiting since about 2008. It’s seven years later, and despite the blatant propaganda of western governments, conditions are not improving; they are getting markedly worse. The Beast is dying, but it’s the only beast they’ve ever known, so to accept its demise is rather unconscionable.

Our twenty-something youth, and those coming after, may not consciously know it, but at a deeper level, what I would call the soul level, they absolutely know that the old ways are disintegrating; it’s visible to their inner eye. With this kind of knowing, even though they may never put it into conscious words, how can they be expected to embrace a dying system? “Why should I invest my time and energy– my future— into that which is collapsing?” It’s a fair question, once we force it into conscious view.

I already had the same view thirty years ago. (I am a Pleiadian starseed crystal child; and if that makes you uncomfortable, go ahead, roll your eyes and ignore it.) I always viewed our version of civilization as the World-Devouring Machine. I could never, in good conscience, merely acquiesce to aligning myself with that. Now we have a whole generation which finds itself occupying the very same view– if only unconsciously. They’re stuck in a kind of inertial limbo. They don’t know what to do.

Despite their ornery rebelliousness, youth does look for appropriate guidance– something beyond the common refrain “Shut up; get a haircut, and find a job already!” The New Renaissance, the New Civilization, hasn’t emerged yet. Nowhere in the mainstream is it visible. Assuredly there are glimpses in the margins, at the periphery, but the average kid, especially those from more traditional, conservative families, aren’t typically directed to look there. That’s where the flakes and kooks– like me– hang out!

The old world is not coming back. Evolution does not move backwards. The familiar conditions of generations are gone… for good. In these tricky times, it’s important to acknowledge and understand that.

I see this situation of ‘inertial limbo’ everywhere– even in my own family. It’s tough on everyone, and it’s going to get even tougher. We’ll have to be very patient with each other as we get through this difficult birth.

I hope that what I’ve written here today may serve in some small way to ease the tensions in families the world over.