by: Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin

We have all been there. We are safe and cozy in our parents home. No bills, no mortgage, no work, no responsibilities except naming a couple pets and feeding them. Your parents are your creators, your providers, and your law givers. They are responsible for your lives. They are the justice you must face when we step out of line. Fair but firm. Home is like a paradise. But then puberty hits, and paradise is shattered.

Mom does not exist anymore and Dad is on a rampage. Junior is dating this loose woman and growing his hair long. Junior is caught by his father's demands and the woman's desires. Dad says my way or the highway. Junior is left to fend for himself by the sweat of his own brow as he and his woman ride out on the back of a Harley as the last words of the father can be heard cursing the woman to bear children that will cause her as much harm as his son has.

But even though Junior is on the open road leaving for places unknown, he must still follow his father's way. But his way clashes with her way. His justice has to come from the law and his redemption from a religion, not himself. Does he become an individual, or his father's or wife's pawn. Never becoming Human but stuck between the angel and the devil never knowing which one is which.

We push our parents boundaries and see if they are ours. We take responsibility for our lives. We learn through trial and error to bring justice and redemption into our own lives. We leave the world of our mother's protection to go into the world where male hamsters eat their young. To find our way in the larger family of Man.

What is our purpose or role. We look back to our parents for answers but never orders. It is now our life, for us to live. If we are to become individuals.

But when this goes wrong, we get a story like the one in Genesis. In this lecture we will talk about the steps needed to pass adolescence101. So have you lived your life or some one else's? If the answer is the former this lecture drawing on varied world traditions, modern to old is for you.

It is a return to the bard, shaman, druid, or Sufi* of old and their teaching stories we unfortunately left behind. For when the 600 level class has us in a bind, it is most likely something we missed in the previous level.

* Camp fire not included, could not get the permit.

The lecture will be broken into:

I. The Garden

II. The Cast

III. Conflict and Family History

IV. One for All, All for One?

V. What Went Wrong?

VI. Child Development

VII. The Apple

VIII. Coming of Age Rituals

IX. What Happens when I miss the initiation?

X. Why Did I miss the initiation, or did not even know there was one?

XI. "Don't Ask What Your God Can Do For You, But Ask What You Can Do For Your God!"

XII. Subtly of Myths and Teaching Stories

XIII. Differences and similarities of Christ and Buddha

XIV. The Return

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