Bob Schwartz

Category: Uncategorized

April 27, 2026

A new New Age now

Sometime in the 1970s, a spiritual/cultural/social movement emerged. It wasn’t really new, since currents like it had flowed many times before in many places among many people. Immediately before that, the counterculture of the 1960s had included many idealistic and transformational elements that were out of the mainstream, and that the establishment branded silly or dangerous or both.

One of the first books to identify the movement was Marilyn Ferguson’s Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s (1980). She writes:

In January, 1976, I published an editorial, “The Movement That Has No Name.” It said, in part:

“Something remarkable is underway. It is moving with almost dizzying speed, but it has no name and eludes description.”…

The spirit of our age is fraught with paradox. It is at the same time pragmatic and transcendental. It values both enlightenment and mystery… power and humility… interdependence and individuality. It is simultaneously political and apolitical. Its movers and shakers include individuals who are impeccably Establishment allied with one-time sign-carrying radicals.

Within recent history “it” has infected medicine, education, social science, hard science, even government with its implications. It is characterized by fluid organizations reluctant to create hierarchical structures, averse to dogma. It operates on the principle that change can only be facilitated, not decreed. It is short on manifestos. It seems to speak to something very old. And perhaps, by integrating magic and science, art and technology, it will succeed where all the king’s horses and all the king’s men failed….

I thought again about the peculiar form of this movement: its atypical leadership, the patient intensity of its adherents, their unlikely successes. It suddenly struck me that in their sharing of strategies, their linkage, and their recognition of each other by subtle signals, the participants were not merely cooperating with one another. They were in collusion. “It”—this movement—was a conspiracy!…

Conspire, in its literal sense, means “to breathe together.” It is an intimate joining. To make clear the benevolent nature of this joining, I chose the word Aquarian. Although I am unacquainted with astrological lore, I was drawn to the symbolic power of the pervasive dream in our popular culture: that after a dark, violent age, the Piscean, we are entering a millennium of love and light—in the words of the popular song, “The Age of Aquarius,” the time of “the mind’s true liberation.”

Whether or not it was written in the stars, a different age seems to be upon us; and Aquarius, the waterbearer in the ancient zodiac, symbolizing flow and the quenching of an ancient thirst, is an appropriate symbol….

As its networks grew, the conspiracy became truer with every passing week. Groups seemed to be organizing spontaneously all over the country and abroad. In their announcements and internal communications, they expressed the same conviction: “We are in the midst of a great transformation….”

Ferguson had written about “The Movement That Has No Name.” It did quickly get a name: New Age.

The New Age Catalogue: Access to Information and Sources (1988) is an introduction to the range of the movement. Its editor writes:

Why Publish a New Age Catalogue?

“A leaderless, but powerful network is working to bring out radical change in the United States.”
— Marilyn Ferguson
From The Aquarian Conspiracy

America is currently being flooded with New Age ideas, concepts, awareness, spirituality and organizations. You’ve awakened to trance mediums on “Good Morning America.” Shirley MacLaine gave us a close look at her metaphysical adventures in her best selling books and TV movie, Out on a Limb. Subliminal and hypnosis tape programs are being sold in shopping mall bookstores. Business executives admit that their intuition was an important vehicle on their road to success and physicians are finally acknowledging that the true healer lies within each of us.

You are participating in a revolution of consciousness. The goal is an understanding of who you are, learning why you’re here and exercising your unlimited potential in this lifetime. The problem is the often confusing glut of information sources, tools, experts and organizations ready to help you travel down your unique pathway to awareness.

We’re here to help you make informed choices.

That’s why Body, Mind & Spirit magazine was created. Since 1982, we’ve helped our readers sort out and understand New Age ideas and resources. Today over one half million readers look to us to help them explore the latest New Age trends and ideas. The New Age Catalogue is a natural extension of our work. This book lays out the broad spectrum of things New Age from channeling to Zen. It gives you the basic concepts behind each topic and the finest quality resources including books, tape programs, organizations, magazines and manufacturers….

Basic metaphysics says that the Earth plane is a wonderfully instructive school. What we perceive in this reality is just illusion created by each one of us for the grand and important purpose of learning.

Spirit entities, the Bible, Nostradamus, Ruth Montgomery’s spirit Guides and virtually any other New Age-conscious person you talk to says this Earth plane is currently undergoing profound changes. These ideas range from a destructive shifting of the Earth’s poles that will take place in the year 2000 to simply an upward shift in this plane’s vibrational rate (assuming, of course, that we are basically composed of energy).

According to Jose Arguelles, the Harmonic Convergence that took place in August 1987 marked the final 25-year-cycle of this planet as indicated by the ancient Mayan calendar. What follows is what has been called throughout history as “The Golden Age,” “The Millenium” or “The Promised Land.”

Assuming that we do create this plane of reality, then it follows that we are also creating these changes. We need to be aware of our role in creation, since the seeds of change are our individual efforts. Consciousness is being raised. Awareness is being heightened. When you picked this book up, you acknowledged the curiosity — the fire within you — that yearns to know the very nature of your being.

Body, Mind & Spirit and now The New Age Catalogue exist to help fuel that fire within and help you discover the answers and pathways that are right for you. As you travel through these pages, trust your intuitiveness and allow it to be your guide.

We selected what we felt were the best quality sources of insight in the major New Age topic areas, intended to serve as a take off point for your own explorations.

The final choices are up to you, as they should be.

Paul Zuromski
Editor & Publisher
Body, Mind & Spirit Magazine

As with so many movements, big and small, ancient and modern, there are those who hear about them and think them nonsense—harmless or dangerous—and there are those who get it.

In some ways, elements of the New Age movement, and the countercultural movements that preceded it, have not entirely disappeared. About 16% of Americans—34 to 38 million—practice yoga. If you retrojected that news to the 1950s or 1960s, the puzzlement and laughter would not end.

On the whole, though, much of the openness, seeking and adventure of the New Age have diminished and been left behind. In Star Wars terms, the Empire has struck back. We need the Force to be with us. That Force can be a renewed New Age. The conspiracy can live. The choices are up to us.

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April 25, 2026

Happy World Penguin Day: Captain Marvel Jr. and the Crystal City of the Peculiar Penguins (1943)

Today is World Penguin Day.

I could talk about how special penguins are to the world and to me, or talk about the existential threats they face, or show pictures of impossibly cute penguin chicks. You can find that everywhere.

Instead, this is something you may not find anywhere.

An issue of Master Comics from 1943 features the story “Captain Marvel Jr. and the Crystal City of the Peculiar Penguins”.

I have included a few pages, which may be hard to read. Instead of my description, I will let the penguins explain.

CAPTAIN MARVEL JR.:
But how do you keep your city so warm?

PENGUIN:
Through our sun-crystal! It captures and magnifies the sun’s light and heat — a strange gas keeps the crystal aloft! Those thieves you fought had come down to steal our crystals from us! They had heard rumors of our invention from a lost explorer whom we saved years ago!

For centuries we have kept our civilization secret because we felt the world wasn’t ready to receive us! We feared your war-like ways and your unscrupulous merchant-bandits! We pretended to be ignorant and permitted your explorers to capture us for your zoos just to keep our secret!

The efforts of the bandits to steal the crystals is thwarted and they are defeated. Once they are captured, the penguins build an enclosure for them.

CAPTAIN MARVEL JR.:
Frankly, I don’t know what to do with these crooks! If I take them back to jail, your secret will be out! Yet I can’t** let them go free!

PENGUIN:
Leave that to us, Captain Marvel Jr. … we know what to do!”

You see? We’ve always wanted to start a zoo…and these animals will be our first specimens!

Happy World Penguin Day!

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April 23, 2026

Every American woman should view this photo before they ever vote again. Men should view it too.

University of Georgia NCAA championship women’s tennis team in the background

Worth a thousand words’: Trump photo obscuring women’s tennis team sparks backlash

Guardian
Thu 23 Apr 2026

A White House photo celebrating a champion women’s sports team has drawn backlash due to the positioning of Donald Trump and a group of men, who overshadowed the female athletes by lining up in front of them.

The University of Georgia women’s tennis team was one of several collegiate teams to visit the White House on Tuesday to mark a recent championship win. In a photo shared by press aide Margo Martin, Donald Trump and five Georgia staffers and coaches took up the front row of a stage setup, with 11 women standing in the background on a riser.

The men standing alongside Trump were, from left to right: Georgia deputy athletic director Ford Williams, athletic director Josh Brooks, head coach Drake Bernstein, associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin and assistant coach Will Reynolds.

Georgia won the NCAA women’s tennis championship last May.

“A photo is worth a thousand words …” former tennis star Martina Navratilova wrote on X.

Martina Navratilova is right. This official minimizing of all women, including women of proven excellence, says so much about the view of the president, those around him, those who support him, many Republicans (some of whom see a biblical basis for this second-tier status), and some number of Americans.

Apparently, nobody, whether on the president’s staff or among the University of Georgia important men, was willing to suggest that maybe the actual winners deserved to be featured out front and to be individually greeted, just as the important men were.

A country like the U.S. that can’t officially establish legal equal rights for women, including something as simple and fair as equal pay for equal work, obviously has powerful people who don’t believe in that equality.

Next time you vote, ask every candidate what they think of this picture. It isn’t everything, but it is a good test. Take their response as one of many guides to the way they see the world, and if you are a woman, the way they see you.

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April 22, 2026

Happy Earth Day 2026

Today is Earth Day.

Looking for comic book illustration for today, I found two options.

Everyone knows, or used to know, Smokey Bear.

Smokey Bear was created in 1944, in the face of wildfire threats during World War II. He was depicted pouring water on a campfire. The slogan “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires” was introduced in 1947. Popular ever since as a conservation influencer, kids could at one time become Smokey Bear Junior Forest Rangers, receiving a membership kit that typically included a membership card, a Smokey Bear badge and a certificate. For city kids who lived far from any forest, this was exciting.

If you want to take a selfie with Smokey Bear, National Park Service bookstores sometimes display full size models.

If you are wondering why the theme song (below) is “Smokey THE Bear”, which is what he is often called now, it was to add an extra syllable for a musical beat. But “Smokey Bear” is his legal name.

Speaking of city kids learning about conservation, there is Mark Trail.

Mark Trail is a comic strip created in 1946 by Ed Dodd, an outdoorsman with a passion for nature and wildlife conservation. Mark Trail is a writer and photographer working for Woods and Wildlife magazine. The strip focused on environmental and wildlife conservation, with stories about poaching, habitat destruction, endangered species, and other ecological concerns woven into the plots. Mark Trail was known for punching out villains who were harming the environment. Reading the Sunday color comics, long before Earth Day, gave those same city kids their first introduction to conservation, just like Smokey did. The strip continues to run to this day.

Happy Earth Day from Smokey Bear, Mark Trail and me!

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April 21, 2026

AI and The Library of Babel

The certitude that everything has been written negates us or turns us into phantoms.
–Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel

The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges is an illuminating insight into AI. That may not be immediately obvious. The story is not didactic or directly germane to the topic, unlike the proliferating texts about the specific applications, opportunities and implications of AI. Consider the story obliquely but brightly enlightening about the meaning of AI.

Below is a brief excerpt from the story. Any excerpt does disservice to the genius of Borges. This is meant to offer a taste; please read the whole story in one of his collections, such as Labyrinths.

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors. The distribution of the galleries is invariable. Twenty shelves, five long shelves per side, cover all the sides except two; their height, which is the distance from floor to ceiling, scarcely exceeds that of a normal bookcase….

There are five shelves for each of the hexagon’s walls; each shelf contains thirty-five books of uniform format; each book is of four hundred and ten pages; each page, of forty lines, each line, of some eighty letters which are black in color. There are also letters on the spine of each book; these letters do not indicate or prefigure what the pages will say….

This much is already known: for every sensible line of straightforward statement, there are leagues of senseless cacophonies, verbal jumbles and incoherences. (I know of an uncouth region whose librarians repudiate the vain and superstitious custom of finding a meaning in books and equate it with that of finding a meaning in dreams or in the chaotic lines of one’s palm. . . They admit that the inventors of this writing imitated the twenty-five natural symbols, but maintain that this application is accidental and that the books signify nothing in themselves….

Five hundred years ago, the chief of an upper hexagon came upon a book as confusing as the others, but which had nearly two pages of homogeneous lines. He showed his find to a wandering decoder who told him the lines were written in Portuguese; others said they were Yiddish. Within a century, the language was established: a Samoyedic Lithuanian dialect of Guarani, with classical Arabian inflections. The content was also deciphered: some notions of combinative analysis, illustrated with examples of variation with unlimited repetition. These examples made it possible for a librarian of genius to discover the fundamental law of the Library. This thinker observed that all the books, no matter how diverse they might be, are made up of the same elements: the space, the period, the comma, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet. He also alleged a fact which travelers have confirmed: In the vast Library there are no two identical books. From these two incontrovertible premises he deduced that the Library is total and that its shelves register all the possible combinations of the twenty-odd orthographical symbols (a number which, though extremely vast, is not infinite): in other words, all that it is given to express, in all languages. Everything: the minutely detailed history of the future, the archangels’ autobiographies, the faithful catalogue of the Library, thousands and thousands of false catalogues, the demonstration of the fallacy of those catalogues, the demonstration of the fallacy of the true catalogue, the Gnostic gospel of Basilides, the commentary on that gospel, the commentary on the commentary on that gospel, the true story of your death, the translation of every book in all languages, the interpolations of every book in all books.

When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books, the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure. There was no personal or world problem whose eloquent solution did not exist in some hexagon. The universe was justified, the universe suddenly usurped the unlimited dimensions of hope. At that time a great deal was said about the Vindications: books of apology and prophecy which vindicated for all time the acts of every man in the universe and retained prodigious arcana for his future. Thousands of the greedy abandoned their sweet native hexagons and rushed up the stairways, urged on by the vain intention of finding their Vindication. These pilgrims disputed in the narrow corridors, proffered dark curses, strangled each other on the divine stairways, flung the deceptive books into the air shafts, met their death cast down in a similar fashion by the inhabitants of remote regions. Others went mad. . . The Vindications exist (I have seen two which refer to persons of the future, to persons who perhaps are not imaginary) but the searchers did not remember that the possibility of a man’s finding his Vindication, or some treacherous variation thereof, can be computed as zero….

The methodical task of writing distracts me from the present state of men. The certitude that everything has been written negates us or turns us into phantoms. I know of districts in which the young men prostrate themselves before books and kiss their pages in a barbarous manner, but they do not know how to decipher a single letter. Epidemics, heretical conflicts, peregrinations which inevitably degenerate into banditry, have decimated the population. I believe I have mentioned the suicides, more and more frequent with the years. Perhaps my old age and fearfulness deceive me, but I suspect that the human species — the unique species — is about to be extinguished, but the Library will endure: illuminated, solitary, infinite, perfectly motionless, equipped with precious volumes, useless, incorruptible, secret. I have just written the word “infinite.” I have not interpolated this adjective out of rhetorical habit; I say that it is not illogical to think that the world is infinite. Those who judge it to be limited postulate that in remote places the corridors and stairways and hexagons can conceivably come to an end — which is absurd. Those who imagine it to be without limit forget that the possible number of books does have such a limit. I venture to suggest this solution to the ancient problem: The Library is unlimited and cyclical. If an eternal traveler were to cross it in any direction, after centuries he would see that the same volumes were repeated in the same disorder (which, thus repeated, would be an order: the Order). My solitude is gladdened by this elegant hope.

From The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges

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April 20, 2026

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month.

I found that I have published 66 posts about poetry or poets. I even declared 2023 the Year of Poetry.

There I quoted Wallace Stevens:

The poet’s role, in short, is to help people to live their lives.

If there was a National Food Month, what would we say, what would we do? We could talk about food, hear about food, make food, share food and, of course, eat food.

This month, read poetry, recite poetry, write poetry, share poetry. You have a lot of options.

The proper close for this post might be to include one of my favorite poems. That is too easy and too hard. Instead, follow up with one of your favorite poems. If you don’t have any, this month is a good time to explore and discover them. They are out there, waiting just for you.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

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April 19, 2026

Is America’s Past Better Than Anybody Else’s Future?

Millions of Americans believe that America’s past is better than anybody else’s future—including America’s own. That is inherent in an obsessive turning away from progress, from failing to adapt to twenty-first century (or even twentieth century) realities, and a strong longing for the comfortable but mythical past.

The irony is that civilizations with much more history than the U.S.—the youngest of all global powers—have had a much better time moving boldly and successfully into the future. This doesn’t mean that countries East and West have met all or most of the Herculean challenges they may face. And it doesn’t mean that there aren’t people there looking back to the “good old days.” But for the most part, these countries have avoided being distracted by the substantial complexities of who and what they were, and focused on balancing that with who and what they can and must become.

The substantial past of some of those countries may actually be the antidote to nostalgia that has allowed those nations to move forward. After so many centuries of arguments between the backward-lookers and the forward-lookers, the very practical argument wins: seeing where you are going is the best way to avoid crashes, falling off cliffs, or just standing still while everyone else advances around you.

Maybe what America needs is a few more centuries of arguments, where the reactionaries and regressives hold sway and drive the nation into a crash or off a cliff. Maybe then America will know what the older heads in the world already know—that evolution moves forward and not back (if you believe in any kind of evolution), that you have to keep your eyes open, that you have to adapt or die. Unfortunately, those of us alive today, standing by helpless, won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of that learning. We may only be here for the hard lessons.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

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April 18, 2026

Record Store Day 2026

Today is Record Store Day.

Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently-owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally. The first Record Store Day took place on April 19, 2008. Today, Record Store Day is celebrated at independently-owned brick-and-mortar record stores around the world.

For many years I posted about Record Store Day, but not recently.

I should feature it every year.

I would not be who I am without the hours spent in record stores, chain stores and independents. If you go to a concert, you are surrounded by people who love particular artists or particular types of music. In all those record stores, big or small, you are surrounded by people who love music.

The record stores of my youngest years included two different record buying experiences.

One was in the next town. The stores on the avenue began with a Woolworth’s on the north side and a tiny record store on the south side. The Woolworth’s was where I bought albums, the other was where I bought singles.

The other experience was the cavernous Sam Goody’s store at our local mall. Sam Goody’s still has mall stores, though these are mere storefronts. I am talking about huge. It wasn’t a store. It was a world of records. It wasn’t about what I had heard on the radio. It was about whatever was playing and whatever I could hear, what these dozens of other people knew about and were listening to. That was the formative lesson internalized. Music was legion and, in the words of the much later George Michael album title, I learned to listen without prejudice.

Back to Record Store Day 2026. Visit a record store today, talk to other music freaks, buy something. I hear that following the resurgence of vinyl, CDs are coming back too.

Music is good for us. Different kinds of music are good for us. Another back in the day music reference is to David Crosby. The first track on his If I Could Only Remember My Name album says “Everybody’s saying that music is love.” It is.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

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April 17, 2026

Which is a better obsession, Trump or AI?

We are experiencing mass obsession. Both Trump and AI have found their way/forced their way into seemingly every moment of lives in America and the world.

One major distinction is that while Trump is the same old Trump, devolving as he becomes omnipresent, AI is evolving exponentially.

Another distinction is that while Trump will not be with us forever, despite his attempts at legacy, AI will be with us forever in some form at some level of capability.

Which obsession is better for us?

For those of us able to resist, as much as our real lives make it possible, the less Trump the better.

On the other hand, our interest in AI, regularly approaching obsession, can be good for us if we approach it knowingly, intelligently and conscientiously. Knowledge and intelligence about developing matters always seems to lag and for some sometimes never catches up.

Think of learning about evolving AI and applying it beneficially as an alternative to learning about Trump, about whom there is nothing more to learn, no matter how obsessed we are.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

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April 16, 2026

Solution for the craziest in the administration: The Trump commune

Raccoon penis

Crazy runs rampant in the Trump administration.

Gregg Phillips, a senior FEMA official, among other wacky incidents, claims to have been teleported sixty miles to a Waffle House in Georgia. Today, a new book reveals that DHS Secretary Kennedy once cut off the penis of a roadkilled racoon to “study it”. These are just two of many examples. Not to mention the one at the top of the pyramid.

What might be done? Here is a creative solution.

There are plenty of ultrarich people in the administration. They could afford to buy any land they wanted anywhere. Or they could use land they already own.

Establish a commune on that land for the craziest members of the administration. Not a bare bones commune. More like a luxury resort. It could include whatever facilities are appropriate. A teleportation area. A museum with a collection of animal skeletons and genitals. A place to practice spiritual “doctoring”. Whatever.

The crazies will have a unique opportunity to exchange interesting ideas, where they are no danger to themselves or others. America will have a chance to live without them. Making America Sane Again.

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