Horizons Magazine
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June 1997
COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET
I'm not a big tv watcher but yes, I did watch Ellen on April 30, and also her interview with Oprah earlier in the day. No matter what the subject, I love to witness people taking courageous steps to speak their truth, and that was the theme of the show, speaking your truth and the risks, real or perceived, involved in doing so; whether your truth would be accepted and allowed by others who hold different beliefs. I'm straight and that's irrelevant ~ or is it? ~ this was not a show about sexuality, just as many lawsuits about “religious freedom” are merely zoning controversies.
As I watched the interview, my mind began to churn...I recently found myself in a mental struggle over using the term “new age” as I drafted some promotional material for an expo I'd be attending. Many of the attendees and participants would already know who we were and what we were about, but I still had a bit of a struggle with saying we were “a new age magazine.” Didn't want to scare anyone off, you see. (Just about that time, Patti Greenwood, publisher of the Holistic Directory of Planet Earth, emailed to tell me she'd changed the name of the directory back to it's original title, the New Age Directory of Planet Earth. I called her and we chatted for awhile about terminology and what's accepted and what's not, and I asked her to write on the subject, which she has, on page 24 of this issue.)
IF IT'S REALLY OKAY, WHY THE BIG SECRET?
As I watched Ellen, I substituted the words “new age” for the word “gay” and found it to be quite a revelatory exercise. Her profound answer to Oprah's question, “Why did you decide to come out and make this knowledge public?” was “Because it IS okay.” No matter what anyone's reaction or response, whether due to their upbringing or society's pressure to conform, it was okay to be who she was.
NEWFOUND FREEDOM
Sometimes we need a knock on the head to realize what's right in front of us. As I grew up working in the legal field, I avoided the words new age, although I had this secret life of reading, writing, gathering information and counseling friends. I wanted to avoid being labeled, thinking that would somehow diminish who I was or what I was doing. So, while I didn't really hide it, I was real cautious who I let in on The Big Secret. I did that for so long, it became almost second nature to continue it. Until I heard what Ellen had to say. We have to take our gurus where we find them, and hearing her words, “because it IS okay” resounded through me clear as a bell, vibrating every cell of my body into knowing I have nothing to hide. As that great Ascended Master, Popeye, once said, “I am what I AM.” And it IS okay to say Horizons is a new age magazine, and it IS okay to hold new age beliefs.
WHAT NEW AGE IS AND IS NOT
In Going Within by Shirley MacLaine, she says “Critics point out that the New Age is a movement based on the optimum development of one's own potential while the rest of the world and its problems lie unattended.” I'm always amused when mainstream media clearly misses a profound point. She goes on to say, “the New Age is all about self-responsibility...that each person takes responsibility for everything that happens in life because everything in life is connected. But the very first responsibility has to be personal...out of love for oneself can come love for others and ultimately for the world we live in.” I say Amen to that!
THE POWER OF PLACEMENT
How did you end up living where you do, with the job you have and the friends and associates you know? Many often feel out of place and wonder why they are where they are. Wherever you are right now, whatever challenges you have in your life on a daily basis, whether work, love, job, family, is where you've been assigned by the Universe. You're there because that is where you'll do the most good and learn the most lessons to ultimately have a happy life and make the most difference to others. Ma Yoga Shakti says, “Wherever God has placed you, make a heaven of it.” And in the process, make a heaven of it for those around you as well.
HOW DO I STOP THE STRUGGLE?
How do we stop struggling and go with the flow? It's easy. Stop talking about whatever you're struggling against. If you have money problems, stop discussing it with your friends and family. Hard to do, you say, when you're all in the same boat? Well maybe if everybody would stop talking about it all the time... Whatever we speak of, we reinforce and reaffirm in our lives, so let's make sure we reaffirm our gratitude for what we already have, and reinforce our hope for soon having more to be thankful for! Let's talk more often of what our dreams are and how we can make them come true for us and how we can help make them come true for others.