I have just finished reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda (1893 - 1952). The book is a classic and required reading for any serious Truth Seeker. For those unfamiliar with the masterpiece, it was published in 1946, and it is considered one of the top 100 spiritual books of the 20th Century. Why? Because in it, Yogananda accomplished a sacred task assigned to him before birth: To bring esoteric Hinduism to the West. This great mission was disclosed to him via a lineage of gurus that traces its roots back to Babaji – a Mahavatar (“great incarnation”) – who merged with the Divine while still alive as have other Master Souls, including Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad.

So why did I delay so long in reading this amazing book of Truth, Love, and Light?

I also feel compelled to mention the 4-year Vatican investigation into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which represents 80% of Catholic sisters in the U.S. (over 57,000 nuns). Seems the nuns ran afoul of the all-boys’ club in Italy when they drove around the U.S. in a bus drawing attention to the plight of the homeless, hungry, and health-care outcasts. The nuns also have drawn attention to the abject hypocrisy of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s policies, which would further disenfranchise poor and marginalized Americans. In short, the LCWR nuns are true heralds of Christ, who consistently emphasized good works as the path to salvation, not the Pauline letters on blind faith, patriarchy, misogyny, and homophobia.

So why have the nuns delayed so long in confronting ignorance, hatred, and darkness?

I am in Arizona right now at a gathering of entrepreneurs and corporate leaders (my fiancé is accepting a business award). We are being wined and dined and pampered – a welcome respite after the stress of starting construction on the Peace Pentagon … I am in the presence of some gifted visionaries, but I also am in the presence of some who seek POWER – the type of power that too often is abused, that misdirects the trajectory of civilizations, that views the masses as disposable consumers, and that prevents more than a handful of women from joining its ranks. Thus, it is a strange yet eerily appropriate setting for questioning the many delays associated with my personal quest for enlightenment and our collective spiritual stagnation.

I have concluded that the barons of industry, politics, and religion are purposely delaying our collective spiritual growth.

There is a pressurized pool at this resort that meanders like a creek throughout the property. Indeed, the serpentine pool is quite the illusion, with its river-rock rim and cascading waterfalls. And after I finished Autobiography of a Yogi and hour or so ago, the alluring pool beckoned me. I almost was able to engage in a floating meditation, as my body succumbed to a jet-propelled, pre-determined course … almost.

However, all I had to do was lift my eyes to see beyond the resort’s fanciful, manmade borders. What surrounds me, in reality, are red mesas atop a desert expanse that represents death to most forms of life. Thus, a meaningful juxtaposition – barons amid barrenness – has prompted me to ask this critical question, for the umpteenth time in my life:

When will this planet manifest the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm – the prophesied age of brotherhood and sisterhood?

For those who wish to better understand Oracle’s “Trickle-Down Deity Theory” and what the next stage of our collective spiritual journey will look and feel like after we update the Godhead, I encourage you to read The Love: Of the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm, the second book in our award-winning trilogy.