In my childhood, there was not as much opportunity for a child to be heard. In those days, parents were guardians of the children, but not in terms of bringing the children forth to their own perceptions. So a child was to be seen but not heard.

In 1945, Pasadena, California was a place where most of the research for the atom bomb was done. 1945 was the year that the war came to an end, and the year that the atom bomb was dropped on Japan. It was also the year in which the United Nations was founded, signifying humanity's emergence into global consciousness. I was about four in that year, and I remember these significant events. During that year, I escaped the adult world each day by being alone for a while in the sunshine. In these moments of silent communion, observing Nature, I learned that all circles of life are interconnected. That meant that all the realms - the plant, the animal, the human, the galactic - all are interrelated. It seemed that some great Law governed these amazing patterns of life.

At that time I also understood that if ever I were to be a parent, what would be needed was integrity, some integration between what it was that I truly knew, and what I do in the world. Thus, an ongoing process of my life has been to ascertain what is a greater truth, followed by the intention (not always the ability) to act in right relationship to all life.

As a child, I parented myself with an awareness that we all inherently have - call it cosmic or spiritual or whatever - and struggled to keep that flame of awareness alive. I also had others who parented me, as well as my biological parents. So I had multiple parents. I realized that I had specific parents who had much to teach me, and I also had general parents. I was asked around that time,"Who are your parents?" And I said, "Oh, my mother is the earth, and my father is the sun." It just seemed I had words for it because I had heard the word "sun" and the word "earth", and I had a very strong knowledge of what they meant. I remember saying this as a child, and hurting my parents very much with that reply. They didn't understand what I was really saying. Nor did I completely.
This process of integration, of gaining more and more understanding and acting more in concert with that understanding, is continuous. Accordingly, I am always parenting and being parented. I am always learning from others who are of all ages, and also from all circles of life. Translated from that time when I was four years old, all of creation is a parent or a teacher to me. And I am in turn reaching more degrees of understanding of what Reality is, with a capital R, and hopefully living and serving more with integrity.

Currently I am "parenting" as the executive director of Pathways To Peace, which is an international, intergenerational, multicultural associa-tion of citizens who are in service to their community, be it family, prison cell, town, village, state, nation, or planet. To me, parenting requires fostering the spiritual unfoldment or the soul's purpose in one's self and others. This requirement pertains also to "parenting" organizations which are committed to service.

There's a principle-in-action that has been part of the work of Pathways To Peace for about a quarter of a century, although Pathways To Peace has only been incorporated since 1983, and that is that "Individuals - individual citizens as well as individual nations-acting in concert with one another, do make a difference in our lives, our institutions, our environment and our planetary future. Through cooperation, one becomes aware of and manifests the essential spirit that unites us amid our diverse ways."

This principle is the focal point for myself and others who guide Pathways To Peace.

There's a parallel with what happens with biological parenting. A soul is connected to some receptive parents who will nuture and support it in its journey in the world.

As Pathways To Peace comes into service on this planet, its multiple parents have their own way of bringing different qualities and values and visions to this entity, or organization. In this way, each of us is literally working in concert with one another to fulfill the purpose of this organization in its service of ensuring peace for future generations.

I think we're evolving into a whole new cycle of how we decide to give birth, whether it is to organizations or to human beings. We are evolving to include highly conscious, aware preparations and receptions, and thereby we become transformed by that which we are receiving.

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