Musings on what is to come

I have hinted in the past about musings I have about what is to come in the near future regarding Baba's Manifestation.

Before I can explain that, I need to repeat one point that has lead me to these conclusions. This point only pertain to the American Baba movement. However, since Baba on occasion said America would have a unique role in his Manifestation, it is of central importance.

"Why have you come especially to America?"
"Because there is greater energy in America than elsewhere, but most of this energy is misdirected. I will divert it into creative and spiritual channels." (Paramount Newsreel, 1932)

Baba: The spiritual revival that you ask about is not very far off, and I am going to bring it about in the near future, utilising the tremendous amount of misapplied energy possessed by America for the purpose. Such a spiritual outburst that I visualise takes place every seven or eight hundred years, at the end or beginning of a cycle. (1932, The Answer, Conversations With Meher Baba, pp. 37-38, ed. Naosherwan Anzar)

We have no evidence that Buddha, Jesus, or Mohammad first appealed to a narrow demographic of society. We certainly know that in the first 50 years of his crucifixion, Jesus appealed to the rich, the poor, slaves and soldiers, pagan Romans and Semitic Jews, tax collectors and prostitutes of all ages and colors.

And yet this is not so with Baba's appeal in America following his advent.

The overwhelming majority of Baba lovers in the United States today are liberal, coastal, elderly, educated, and from middle to upper middle class white families. In addition about 40% are Jewish.

Why this would be the case is open to conjecture, but that question is beyond the scope of this post. I do want to dramatize, however, just how strange this is. One only begins to see just how strange this is when we take each of these demographic markers at a time, and see what a demographic anomaly this really is.

90% of American Baba lovers are between 65 and 72 years old, in spite of this group comprising only 10% of the U.S. population.

Half of American Baba lovers are of at least half Jewish descent, in spite of Jews comprising only 2% of the U.S. population.

99% of American Baba lovers are non-hispanic whites of European descent, in spite of non-hispanic whites only comprising 63% of the U.S. population. There are virtually no hispanic, black, or Chinese Americans Baba lovers in the U.S.

At least 90% of American Baba lovers are Democrats, in spite of Democrats comprising 42% the population.

Old people apparently see young people and babies everywhere, but no American Baba lover under 60 years old will attest to knowing of more than twenty Baba lovers at the most nationwide within 5 years of their age. Do your own experiment by asking them, and insist on names, and you will see I am right. Myths abound about islands of 'crypto-Baba lovers,' but such magical thinking is not worth discussing seriously. It simply coats over the observable facts with appeals to theory, a classic denial strategy.

There are 400 Baba lovers in Myrtle Beach between 65 and 72, and one between 33 and 40 (the same age-spread). That's a 400:1 ratio.

This fact is something I've observed for a long time, and given much thought to.

At first sight, it would appear that Baba's Manifestation was a complete bust, and his name will simply die out with the last Baba lovers, much as with the Shakers.

So here is my thought on all this. I have used certain quotes by Baba to come to my conclusions. They are only clues, and this is only a theory.

Baba began in later life to refer to his 'lovers.' And these came to be called 'Baba lovers.' Baba also referred to those that would attend his last Darshan (that was conducted after his death in 1969) as his lovers. And hence it seems to include those who never met him. I think that 'Baba lover' is a kind of designation of not only a certain group of souls, one portion of which was brought together in a tight demographic right after WWII, but also a specific period of time.

Baba said, "I come for the many, but I am for the few." Notice the term 'I am for.' Baba would often say "I am come" as in "I am come to America" (1932 newsreel message). It is an odd reference to the present, and seems to be specific to the present.

Now look at these two quotes, and especially pay attention to the words "I am for."

Referring to Deshmukh's insistence a few days back on Baba's attending a philosophical conference to be held in Nagpur at the end of December, Baba ridiculed him in front of the group: "I am not for philosophers and celebrities! I understand your point that through your conference there would be other contacts, but I am for my lovers." (Lord Meher, 1986 print version, p. 4825)

“Seventy years after I drop my body [2039], this place [Baba's tomb] will turn into a place of pilgrimage, where lovers of God, philosophers and celebrities will come to pay homage.” (Lord Meher, 1986 print version, p. 5296.)

I see a message to the future. Notice he used the very same wording, "philosophers and celebrities" in both cases. And yet the statements were given three years apart. The first in 1955, the latter in 1958.

Note that those who he said "I am not for" he later said "will come to pay homage." The first refers to the present, hence his lovers, the latter to some trend more worldly.

Meher Baba in his tomb around the time he made his
remarks about the future, i.e. after 70 years (post 2039)

Hence I believe that Baba has yet to release something for the world. And that this period of 70 years we are now in (prior to 2039) is specifically for us Baba lovers.

And I further surmise that our passing will not some tragedy, but something Baba knew would come to pass. In short, this is the era of the Baba lover, one that too shall pass, to be supplanted by something new and more widespread, with a very different focus.

There are other quotes I use to make this case stronger, but this is sufficient for this post. The other quotes reveal more of what I think is going to come to pass, and is consistent with these quotes above.

See also my post, A theory to explain the tight demographic of the American Baba lovers.