SEPTEMBER
Given the alignment of the stars in our own galaxy and the cosmic wonders underway in hundreds of billions of galaxies beyond the range of our most powerful telescopes, this is a very good month to favor “science, morals, free thought, free discussions, liberalism, sexual equality, labor reform, progression, free education and whatever tends to elevate and emancipate the human race” over such influences as “priest craft, ecclesiasticism, dogmas, creeds, false theology, superstition, bigotry, ignorance, monopolies, aristocracies, privileged classes, tyranny, oppression, and everything that degrades or burdens mankind mentally or physically." The words within quotation marks in the above very long sentence (sorry) appeared on the masthead of the “Truth Seeker Journal” first published on September 1, 1873. The authors were the founders of that wonderful publication, D.M. Bennett and his wife Mary. At a time when the latter beliefs were as common in the general population as they are today in the Bush Administration, the Bennetts were among the few influentials promoting reason, a foundation of a wellness mindset, over superstition—a distinguished characteristic of worseness. The Bennetts wanted people to adopt the same critical thinking skills that wellness promoters should be encouraging today in the context of horoscopes, fortune cookies, good luck charms, bogus health remedies, bizarre abuses of prescription drugs and all manner of both standard and alternative treatment protocols, not to even start on the list of ridiculous diet books and programs. The Bennetts tried to help people to believe in themselves—and that’s exactly what we at SeekWellness want to encourage. The Bennetts wanted to liberate people of the 20th century from the Osama bin Laden/Pat Robertson fundamentalists of that era who stoked the fears of a vengeful god. They had little use for the idea that a loving god would punish "sinners" in a burning hell or that any god had anointed the moral rulers of mankind.
Gaze at the “heavens” tonight or anytime this month (or in your lifetime)--you will see the same constellations that the Bennetts and those who wrote for the “Truth Seeker Journal” (the list includes Thomas Edison, Clarence Darrow, Mark Twain, Robert G. Ingersoll, Marshall Gauvin, Joseph McCabe, H.L. Mencken, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Margaret Sanger) saw when they were a part of this earth, expressing THEIR support for and advocacy of self-reliance. Some things don’t change very much.
Your September horoscope, in my opinion and that of Voltaire, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson (but probably not George Bush) suggests you will have a richer life if you value common sense, reason and a rational approach to life. You are capable of thinking for yourself; don’t delegate that privilege to anyone else.
Don
Donald B. Ardell, Ph.D. Publisher
Send e-mail to Don Ardell
