Solar Wind

Women’s History month is nearly over.  The media has been doing stories on many accomplished women in a variety of fields but religion and spirituality is not including.  In an effort to rectify that, I am going to mention a few women who have done much, directly or indirectly, to aid in spiritual development over the last few decades.  Forgive me if I leave out one of your favorites, but I am just including some I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there are many others.

Mother Teresa
An  obvious choice, Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun, is well known all over the world for her tireless efforts to help the people of the world, especially the poor and downtrodden.  While it can be argued that it was mostly social aid such as providing food and medicine, there was also spiritual aid included.  If for nothing else, we should remember that Mother Teresa helped all who needed help regardless of their religion, nationality or sexual orientation and that is a lesson for us all.  In her own words:

I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.

Elaine Pagels
I doubt that professor Pagels would consider herself a spiritual teacher but her books on Gnostic scripture and early Christianity are probably the most reliable and influential in the field.

Ruth Montgomery
psychic medium and author, her books introduced many thousands to Arthur Ford and Jeane Dixon.  She founded the Association for Past Life Research and Therapy.  Her books and newspaper articles were so influential in the 1970’s that she has been referred to as the Herald of the New Age.

Jeane Dixon
Probably the most famous psychic of the seventies, she was consulted by congressmen, presidents, and corporate leaders.  She is probably best known for warning JFK to cancel his trip to Dallas, which he didn’t do and was assassinated.

    My favorite example of judging a book by it’s cover from my own experience occurred several years ago.  It was on a Saturday and I had been working in my yard planting flowers while I waited until it was time to go to the store.  My TV had broke so I needed a new one.  So, after working in the yard,  I went to Circuit City dressed in dirty jeans and an old sweatshirt.  As I walked into the store, a young women entered behind me dresses like she was headed to an embassy cocktail party.  Several salespeople came running, passed me, and all wanted to help the young lady.  She bought a package of two blank tape cassettes for 99 cents.  I bought a $350  television.
    Another of my personal experiences with this phenomena was in the work environment.  Some ten or twelve years ago, I was on a computer services project in downtown Washington, DC.  We had one young guy, a recent college graduate, who always dressed like a CEO of a corporation.  When he showed up for a job interview, perfectly groomed, with expensive designer suits, and the ability to dazzle the interviewers with his speech, he always got hired.  It took about three months for our boss to realize he was totally incompetent.  He may have had the degree and the look, but he could not apply the knowledge.  I’m sure though that he had no problem getting hired when he went out for another interview.
    I’m sure if most of us had met Gandhi, St. Francis or Jesus when they were alive, most of us would have given them no more attention than a homeless guy sleeping on a park bench.  The classic mistake of judging by appearances rather than content.