Happy Days!
“Happy Days!” was a wildly popular TV show that ran from the mid-70’s to the mid-80’s that depicted the simpler and happier times of the 1950’s. It stared the “The Fonz”, played by Henry Winkler, along with his somewhat naïve and upbeat buddy, Richie played by the now famous award winning director, Ron Howard.
I think we all loved that show because all the characters were so predictable. That depiction of the 1950’s life seemed so much simpler and safer than the tension filled events of the 70’s. “Happy Days” gave people a temporary escape from the stresses of their current world scene that was flowing into their living rooms each night through the ever-present TV news.
The dominate news of the time was the daily horrors of the increasingly unpopular Viet Nam War that in the end cost over 58,000 American lives and 5 million lives in South East Asia. And then there was the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon, as well.
So those were not easy times for most people to assimilate, for an increasingly unsafe world seemed to be shrinking in on them at a rate that they had never before experienced. So as everything in the 1970’s world seemed to be getting closer and closer to home, the former sense of post WWII security was rapidly evaporating. Bottom line, people were stressed.
Well, how about today? What are people feeling today? Still stressed? You bet, and I think you can add the word numb, too. Now these statements are generalities. Fortunately there were then, and are now, wonderful exceptions everywhere.
And I also think that often times we overlook the value that is latent in the challenges that come into our lives. In fact I would say that it is against the backdrop of all the difficulties we face in life, both personally and collectively that spur us on toward problem solving and both personal and societal growth. I like to say that it’s not possible to build any psychological or spiritual muscles without lifting the weights of life’s challenges….
In retrospect, the Viet Nam War was one of my life’s most valuable and life altering experiences, for when I got home from my year in the 25th Infantry Division in October of 1968 I was a changed person. I returned on fire to understand more about the mysteries of life and to make sense of all the horrors that mankind gets itself into.
And to do that I needed to go on an esoteric journey. One where I studied and tried to integrate what I discovered and learned from some of the greatest teachers, saints and sages our world has produced. So for me my Viet Nam War experience was the necessary stimulus I needed to move my soul forward on its journey to a higher understanding and the increasing joy that has come from my discoveries.
And so here then is one of my key discoveries that will likely be beneficial for you to understand and integrate into your life and consciousness. And that is to understand that our senses are limited tools. Information flows from our senses into our minds, where our minds interpret it. But if the senses get it wrong, for example: “That sparkling area ahead must be water”, only to discover a bit later that it was only a mirage in the desert, quickly reminds us of the limits of sense-mind capabilities.
So from this we can understand that our soul nature is not discoverable through the senses. That’s why we must learn to develop something greater than the senses in order to uncover and access our true nature. And that something else is Intuition. Intuition is the direct and immediate perception of truth without the filtering agents of your senses and your mind. And the good news is that intuition is not something that is separate from you like some piece of software that’s not on your computer. No, You already have it! It’s a quality of your soul and can be increasingly accessed by learning to quiet your mind and by diving deep within yourself.
And so bottom line, you don’t have to be frightened by all the horrors on the screen of this Cosmic Show. Rather cultivate the attitude that your life’s experiences are a necessary prod for you to look more deeply within yourself to there discover the love, joy and wisdom that you have yet to find, and never will find, through your outer experiences here in the Cosmic Schoolhouse called Planet Earth.
I’m John Johnston. See you next time, here, On The Cosmic Porch!
