Amarjah's Musing -Myth, Mysticism & Meaning
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. - Robert Browning
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In most countries, a person becomes a legal adult on a particular birthday (often 14th through 21st), and at different ages aquires different rights and responsibilities – voting, certain drug use (for example, alcohol, purchasing tobacco), eligibility for military conscription or voluntary enlistment, purchasing lottery tickets, obtaining vehicle driving licenses, etc.
Yet, birthdays are a honoring of the cosmic patterns that existed when you entered the world. Those alignments of planets, Sun, Moon, and relationships magnify the stardust you gathered to create your life. Is star dust the pattern of the DNA/RNA? Is it choosing the parentage of your physical birth? Or is it a connection to much much more? Birthdays are to celebrate LIFE... for it is only a blink of an eye in cosmological time.
Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative.
- Maurice Chevalier
Many cultures have one or more coming of age birthdays:
- Jewish boys become bar mitzvah on their 13th birthday. Jewish girls become bat mitzvah on their 12th birthday, or sometimes on their 13th birthday in Reform and Conservative Judaism.
- In Hispanic-American countries the quinceañera celebration traditionally marks a girl's 15th birthday.
- In India, the 12th or 13th birthday is replaced with a grand "thread ceremony." The child takes a blessed thread and wears it, symbolizing his coming of age. This ceremony is more common amongst boys in the Hindu Brahmin culture.
- In the Philippines, girls on their 18th birthday or boys on their 21st birthday celebrate a debut.
- In China, the 15th birthday is considered the day a child becomes an adult.
The birthdays of historically significant people, like national heroes or founders, are often commemorated by an official holiday. Some saints are remembered by a liturgical feast (sometimes on a presumed birthday). By analogy, the Latin term Dies natalis is applied to the anniversary of an institution (such as a university).
Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example. --- Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Your birthday is your zero-time reference.
Every journey begins with a single step. Contact us today at amarjah@gmail.com.
Many circle the mountain examining the various paths without ever making the climb. We offer seminars, consultations, and support networks in the spiritual quest for awakening. We are not affiliated with organized religions as the truth is the same when viewed from the mountain summit regardless of the path to reach it.
Theevolution of consciousness has brought us here - to remind of us of who we are and our purpose here. We are seekers who embrace skepticism, acceptance and the strength in unity. We are greater than the sum of the parts in a greater spiritual work.
Namasté = the light of the divine within me honors the light of the divine within you.