| We all know people of diverse religions. Some go to | | | | the timelessness of a child's, while the child is still |
| church, mosque, synagogue and various Eastern | | | | innocent. |
| temples to worship and receive spiritual guidance in the | | | | Among many child psychiatrists, Dr. Edward Hoffman, |
| practice of their faiths. In the company of others or | | | | author of Visions of Innocence has found that ... |
| alone, they "get something." A religious leader passes | | | | "Children have insights and experiences that leave |
| that "something" on to them. In a perfect world they | | | | them with a remarkable sense of certainty regarding |
| "get it," take it home with them and imbibe it. | | | | human nature, morality and spiritual reality. This |
| Others do not feel the need to go to a particular place | | | | knowledge ... can be unrelated to and often |
| of worship to practice their religious beliefs. Some | | | | inconsistent with what they were taught ... and left |
| people don't belong to any organized religion, but do | | | | lasting influences that shaped their lives." Many can |
| believe in a higher power. Still others do not believe in | | | | relate to having had these experiences during their first |
| anything-except the dollar! In our country people are | | | | innocent years. The Gospels refer to Jesus saying, |
| free to believe or not believe-to be or not to be. | | | | "unless they receive the kingdom of God like a child |
| Contemplate more of William Shakespeare's words | | | | they will never enter." |
| from Hamlet, Act II, Scene II: | | | | My point is it doesn't matter when, where and how we |
| "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes | | | | "get it." In a church, on a Himalayan mountain peak or in |
| it so." | | | | the garage repairing the car. "It" is there when we are |
| In other words instead of thinking he is different from | | | | born. But when we focus on our differences rather |
| me, they are different from us. Why not think-we are | | | | than our essential oneness, we are not allowing our |
| all one? Under the skin and in the heart, oneness is the | | | | spiritual self to be. |
| ultimate truth. The labels we invent for everything in | | | | Ten-time Grammy winner and guitarist Carlos Santana |
| society are like the crappy political slogans flung around | | | | is now appearing with Los Lonely Boys at the Sound |
| during elections. Often false, they serve only to highlight | | | | Advice Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. Check out |
| surface differences that create rage and discord | | | | below what he had to say in an interview with the |
| rather than unity and harmony. | | | | Palm Beach Post. |
| Many people question Shakespeare's existence, | | | | "When you come to see a Santana concert, it is a |
| positing that others wrote his plays and sonnets. An | | | | celebration of the highest things we are as humans. |
| interesting question for scholars, but who cares who | | | | After 9/11 and war, we need bands that are |
| wrote them? A literary and dramatist genius was at | | | | accentuating the divine side of human beings. Spirituality |
| work in Stratford, England in the sixteenth century, one | | | | doesn't belong just to the Dalai Lama, or to the Pope |
| that has brought unimaginable joy and wonder to tens | | | | or to Mother Teresa. We all have the ability to create |
| of millions down through the centuries, throughout the | | | | miracles. All of us are wired to heal ourselves and our |
| world and in every language. His words are of an | | | | planet. |
| individual in touch with his spiritual self, spirituality akin to | | | | |