introducing Character #4: Sheryl
Sheryl is finding out about the Academy for the first time
Royalty. Kings and Queens. Where does the idea of royalty come from, really? What is the origin of the concept of an unassailable human who by mere right of her or his existence deserves infinite wealth, unlimited power, boundless freedom, and universal admiration and respect?
The basis of the concept of royalty lies in the achievement of the pinnacle of human evolution.
There exists a level of human achievement that is barely known, because so few people have attained it, and because the average person cannot conceive of it. This level of human evolution is modeled by certain people who appear on occasion in history, people who then become the inspiration for a new religion or a new philosophy that evokes devotion and adoration. Sometimes those individuals are rumored to be able to do amazing things. They are reputed to be miracle workers. Perhaps they have a “virgin” birth, meaning they do not have a flesh-and-blood mother and are not born in the conventional way. Perhaps they are known for specific puzzling acts and events. The story of those magical moments becomes part of the lore surrounding that figure.
An obscure, little-known fact of life is that the basis of the idea of royalty lies in the existence of those people. There are 9,000+ people who have graduated from the School of Life.
“Jesus, who are these people?” Sheryl is thinking to herself. “Get a life!” Why would anyone introduce a college this way? A college is a supposed to be a solid, dependable, logical, rational, real-world institution that keeps people in the here and now and tells them about society and reality. This place is supposedly accredited, but you wouldn’t know it from this introduction email.
The entire history of human civilization spans tens of thousands of years, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, far longer than modern historians believe. In that time, between only 9,000 and 10,000 have attained the ultimate achievement: Graduation. Making the quantum leap from conventional human to divine human, regular human to master-class human, homo sapiens (sentiens) to homo radiens, is why we are here and where we will end up.
At this point, Sheryl is seriously considering just deleting the email and moving on to something else, but something keeps her engaged. Even though her mind is impatient and she is feeling irritated, and despite the impulse to put an abrupt end to what she perceives as this silliness, she keeps reading. For several years now, something has been gnawing at her. She hasn’t felt comfortable in the world or even in her own skin. Things don’t feel right. Something is missing and she doesn’t know what it was, or where to look to find it.
Her close friend Marla gave her the suggestion to take a look at this school, because Marla understands Sheryl better than anyone else. Marla heard about the school, and something about this place says Sheryl Running Horse. This school might be the right thing for her friend. Sheryl trusts Marla, so she reads on.
Royalty developed sometime in ancient Egypt into a false tradition where certain completely average people were handed unusual rights and privileges. Members of royalty are the same as anyone else, the same as you and me. Hardly any member of the generally accepted several thousand year history of royalty is actually a divine human, a master-class human. The people who are the true royals in history are those committed few, those lucky few, who have earned their freedom from the bonds of normal reality.
Has it ever occurred to you that your task in life, your purpose in being here, is to bring yourself into that select fraternity, that select sisterhood, of people who have mastered the human condition?
Before you reject these words outright, know that membership in the divine order of the master-class human is not limited in any way by gender or any other human distinction. Men, women, people from every nation and heritage, are all members. There are as many different types of master-class humans as there are types of people in the world.
Like the concept of true royalty has been lost, so has the original source and meaning of many words. The word “fraternity” does not, strictly speaking, refer to a brotherhood, a group only of males. Fraternal is rather Fe-ra-terra-nal = Fe + Ra, the Feminine Radiance of Terra, Mother Earth. The name of Santa Fe, and the common name Faye, pronounced identically, both derive from the same root Fe, which is linguistic shorthand for the Feminine principle. So a fraternity is at its root a feminine designation. Go figure.
The word sisterhood is similarly feminine in concept, deriving from Isis-terra-hood = Isis + Terra. Isis on Earth. So, dear students, the words fraternity and sisterhood are both rooted in the feminine.
Welcome to the Emerald Academy.
“Well,” Sheryl says to herself out loud, “so far at least it’s not some sexist or misogynist horseshit.” How many times had she faced men, and even women, telling her straight to her face that she couldn’t succeed in a sport that was completely male-dominated. When she was recruited from college into the minor leagues, the national headlines and op-ed pages of newspapers everywhere were filled with commentary about whether a women had the strength and ability to compete with men. Or the dedication and drive. The team that drafted her traded her in a multi-player deal to the Giants. She continued to rise through the ranks and landed in AAA with the Fresno Grizzlies. She had a wickedly impressive record in the Pacific Coast league. Even though her play was ferocious enough and skilled enough to get her a place on the September call-ups roster with the Giants, the questions got even louder.
These days, hardly anyone questions anymore her drive, her tenacity, or her ability. Rookie of the Year honors will do that. But even with this excellent record, even after proving herself, the over-a-century-old male-dominated tradition in baseball still lives. The detractors and skeptics are still out there. The emails keep showing up. Sometimes bozos even manage to get her private phone number and leave a VM or a text. She has seen a lifetime’s worth of vitriol and nastiness. Sheryl is damned if she is going to sign up for anything that reminds her of all the prejudice and cultural favoritism towards men still out there. She has had it with that nonsense.
The Emerald Academy of the Empress Tara (aka Terra or Tierra), the Green Goddess of Earth, is our school. Her core course is called Evolution of Human Consciousness.
The Evolution of Human Consciousness: from homo sapiens (sentiens) to homo radiens is the study of the evolution of the human being from a conventional state to a divine, supremely masterful and magical state.
Don’t believe what you have been told about royalty. The rules of royalty have been misrepresented. Membership in royalty, membership in the Divine Right of Excellence, is meant for everyone. Everyone in the world is destined for membership in royalty.
Let’s call that club The Order of the Golden Age. We might also call it The Order of the 9000.
The entrance to The Order of the Golden Age is like the entrance to Men In Black (MIB) headquarters, or the entrance to Hogwarts. Hiding in plain sight. Hiding out in full view. Hiding in the middle of normal reality, in the middle of any typical day, any average day. It is the entrance to a secret garden, a secret world, a garden of Eden, a paradise, that is meant for all of us, where all of us are invited with open arms, and where all of us are welcome to have residence.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find that entrance.
“What the hell are these people talking about?”
Just then her smartphone rings. It is Dirty Water by the Standells, her ringtone for Oscar Villarreal, her friend and mentor and also onetime baseball coach in college. Dirty Water is a fan favorite played at Fenway Park. Oscar played for the Red Sox for a bit, what they call “a cup of coffee.” He had a brief journeyman career and eventually got invited back to coach at his alma mater. “Hey Oscar, what’s up?”
“I just wanted you to know I feel for you, you got robbed in that last start.” Sheryl went 6 and 2/3 innings in a pitching duel against Wayne Morrison. Morrison had been in the running last year for Cy Young. He is behind in this year’s voting to two other pitchers who are both having career seasons, but Morrison’s performance for the past several years makes him one of the premier pitchers in the game. Facing him always brings out the best in the opposing team, because if they don’t bring their best, Morrison will pickle them in vinegar. Sheryl herself knocked in the go-ahead run in the 5th with a bloop hit to the opposite field, scoring a super fast Giants pinch-runner from second, but it wasn’t enough. After Sheryl was relieved, the Dodgers took the lead in the 8th inning and froze the Giants out after that.
“Yeah, thanks, if I’d wanted your sympathy I would have beat it out of you. Is that why you’re calling?”
Oscar chuckled. He was fond of his cantankerous former player. “Charming as always. No, I’m calling to tell you about Cindy.”
“What’s with Cindy?”
“Didn’t you hear? Cindy got placed on the DL. Gillespie.” Trey Gillespie, Cindy’s manager, obviously wants Cindy’s injury to heal, instead of potentially losing her by risking making the injury worse. The Nationals can’t afford to lose Cindy. The Nationals are brawling it out in the East: the Mets and Phillies and Nationals are in a three-way fight for the division. Sheryl played with Cindy in college under Oscar, and Cindy made it to the majors shortly after Sheryl. Cindy Maybeck was from Washington D.C., the projects: she was tough as nails and would never volunteer to put herself out of action. For several weeks she has been hampered by a nagging groin injury, incurred during an all-out effort to track down a deep line drive scorched into the outfield that ended up getting by her.
“Well, maybe it’ll be for the best. If she gets a little time now to heal, maybe she can come back strong and healthy and be a factor down the stretch.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. She is a team player, after all, she puts the team ahead of herself, but she isn’t going to like being benched. But you’re right: she’ll be like a caged animal being set free when Gillespie releases her to play again.”
Sheryl smiles to herself. “Yup, that’s our Cindy. Thanks for the news, Oscar.”
“Later.”
Occasionally in your studies, when reading books and material from outside our curriculum, you will come across tired, overused words like enlightenment and ascension. If you are a member of a faith, perhaps you have repeatedly heard certain words and phrases which have faded and lost some of their meaning over time.
There is nothing tired or worn-out about membership in this order or about entrance into this world. The world of the Golden Age is a dimension beyond words adequate to describe it, although words like magic, miraculous, awe, wonder, delight, joy, ecstasy, euphoria, Shambala, Shangri La, heaven, nirvana, paradise, and utopia have been used. Let your imagination run free, use every and any words that make you happy, for this world is the world of creating your dreams and having your dreams come true.
The core curriculum of the Academy is tailored to help you find that entrance. The core curriculum is a map to MIB headquarters. It is a map to Platform 9¾ in King’s Cross Station, a map to Mos Eisley spaceport, a departure point and a transport vehicle for a journey which takes you to the inner realms of magic, happiness, and joy.
Welcome again to the Academy. Your Guidebook, the Academy course catalog, will be mailed to you under separate cover.
Upon receipt of the Academy Guidebook, your selection of courses awaits.
Unbelievable. What are these people thinking.
Sheryl closes her email program, signs off the internet, and turns off her laptop. If these people are going to get her respect, it will take a whole lot more than the far-out woo-woo baloney they have shown her so far.
She sighs. And still, there is that ache, that hole. Overall she considers herself a happy person, at least that’s what she tells herself and what she shows the world. But something inside is eating her. Even with all her success, even with the personal satisfaction of knowing that she is one of the women revolutionizing the sport of baseball, there is a hole. It is a feeling more than anything else, but if the feeling were put into words, it would say, “Is this all there is?”
Recommended Reading:
Geoffrey and Linda Hoppe, Act of Consciousness, the first 3 paragraphs of Chapter 4
Stephen Mehler, The Land of Osiris