FATHER
of the
AGE of REALITY

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Introduction

FATHER
 

A a

               The Father

                                            Of the

              Age of reality:

autobiography

                    J. Lamah Walker
                                San Damiano Publications
                                 Cedar Crest, New Mexico
                                                    2009

The Father of the Age of Reality:
Autobiography
            by J. Lamah Walker

Copyright © 2009 by:
                 Joseph Lamah Walker, Jr., Ph.D.

All rights reserved under International
& Pan American Copyright Conventions
No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form—except for brief quotations
(not to exceed 1000 words) in a review or
professional work—without permission
in writing from the author.

Library of Congress
Catalogue Card Number:  2009……..

Printed in the United States of American
on acid free paper

Cover image by: Family picture of the
infant Joseph Lamah Walker Jr. in the arms
of his loving father for whom he was named.

To:

The many

Faithful who

Too often worship

Without the knowledge

Of the truth that

Would aptly

Save them

“An admirable thing, but it is well to
remember from time to time
that nothing that is worth
knowing can be taught.”

 Oscar Wilde

Many Thanks to…

Ken, his timely arrival

John for his enduring love

Barbara for being my loving sister

Dennis, Loving Friendship

 &

 My mother and father

 Manuel Alvarez

 Gilbert Newton Holloway Jr.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

            J. Lamah Walker, a graduate of the University of Miami (B.A. in Psychology & Religion) and Georgia State University (B.A. in Sociology/Criminology), received his M.Ed. from West Texas State in Community Counseling and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in the Administration of Higher Education.  While at the University of Oklahoma, he was the last recipient of The Robert E. Ohm Dissertation Assistance Memorial Award for outstanding scholarship as an advanced graduate student in the field of higher education and general administration.  The coursework for his Ph.D. essentially consisted of the history of Western education, which of course traces the history of our intellectual development. He last served as a psychotherapist at the Student Health Center at the University of New Mexico.  Outside those protective confines of that academic ivory tower, Lamah has been a general contractor and real estate broker in New Mexico for some thirty-five years. Lamah was ordained at the age of nineteen in his family's inter-denominational Christian church, New Age Church of Truth.  A most dynamic and resourceful Renaissance man that dramatically illustrates that old Stoic aphorism that: "Life makes philosophers of us all" and more importantly, Lamah has arrived at an understanding of just how mankind’s checkered history of religions contributes to his stubborn résistance to those very changes that will eventually bring us into the Age of Reality.

                                  PREFACE

It is the week of Thanksgiving in the year 2009, that I finally sat down and decided to write my autobiography.  The primary purpose of this biography is my attempt to share with you all those various aspects of my life that I feel have contributed to my calling myself, The Father of the Age of Reality.  I understand that is a tall order for me to even begin to justify, this possibly arrogant proclamation.  And yet at this given moment I'm more concerned with my ability to actually remember some of the details that most affected me and gave me this rather affirming voice of authority with which I now speak and of course, that same stern and commanding voice appeared when I wrote the six treatises  As some evidence of this voice I'm going to repeat the preface of the fourth treatise entitled, Political Socio-Psychology of Religion, if for no other reason except that I feel this previous statement of mine best sums up what I feel this Age of Reality is truly all about:

                “There has certainly been countless academic studies that have seriously dealt with the sociology and psychology of religions and with too few exceptions, rarely with the political implications.  These admittedly sincere researchers in most all cases were most probably biased and/or blinded to what should have been the full and impartial truth and/or reality simply because he or she had a specific religious upbringing that would have understandably and certainly colored any of these fine researchers’ otherwise unbiased results.  I had once worked at the University of New Mexico as a psychotherapist, and every day I would pass a large billboard on Interstate 40 on my return to my home (San Damiano) in Cedar Crest that repeatedly presented a deadly chill to my psyche.  Its poignant message most paradoxically advertised the availability of "Christian Counseling," and for the majority of us who were possibly so blindly steeped in the most popular mythologies of Christianity, the 'counseling' might have been of some remote benefit.  But the hidden truth of the matter is that the counseling would have, without any reasonable doubt, been most specifically and naturally based on those most common tenets of 'Christian' beliefs and moralities, which for the most part, wouldn't have permitted those most desperate of all individuals to find any real relief, say in the matter of a failed relationship where the accepted Christian morality clearly dictates the inherent sinfulness of any form of divorce.  Another good example can be easily expressed in just one morally-laden word; abortion.  Sigmund Freud, in one of his treatises on society, expressed that, "the worst thing that ever happened to Western civilization was the advent of Christianity."  This statement was not intended as an indictment of the teachings of Jesus, but most specifically directed at the observed doctrines and too often morality-laden oppressive state of the Christian religions themselves. Let me be very expressively clear as to the reasons for my supporting what Freud had so authoritatively and knowingly expressed and exactly what I also find to be the underlying and most pathetic and paradoxical truth.  So dismally contradictory are the commonly held tenants of most Christian religions to the simple and yet profound wisdom expressed by Jesus himself.  So far as what was directly attributed to Jesus of Nazareth, his teachings in their entirety appear to be very sound and realistically plausible for any individual of any religion.  The problem clearly lies within those man-made mostly Western institutions that purport to be in Biblical concert with this truly spiritual man from Galilee, but have, with no respect for Jesus, added their own secular socio-political tenets that simply fail to fully recognize the individual as having any divine potential without the direct and exclusive intervention of the Christian churches’ own elected priest-hood, sacraments and empty promises of salvation; this too, can be expressed very succinctly in just two damning words, "original sin."

I have no idea whether the words of Pope Innocents III were actually ever expressed as a matter of historical fact as they were so dramatically depicted in Franco Zeffirelli's movie, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, but these profoundly and insightful words stood out as the most reflective and singular statement of religious reality: "In our obsession with original sin, we too often overlook original innocence."  Had the Catholic Church actually adopted that profound concept of original innocence over that of the supposedly innate and mortal sinfulness of all mankind, there would have been no need for the conception of a religious institution that solely promises, above all else, "salvation" to anyone that totally accepts its doctrine without any conceptual form of challenge or exception.  So, mankind appears to be decisively damned to a contrived belief system that often dominates the entirety of his or hers existence as well as authoritatively rules designed specifically to dictate both their physical actions and too often influences the totality of their often delicate psychological well being.  Any given individual is not at all at fault for this damning dilemma that they might suffer as a result of living in a socio-political environment that is too often dominated by the moral authority of some imposing and self-righteous religion.  America had attempted to solve this rather ubiquitous social and political dilemma by introducing in the new World the conceptual separation of church and state, but obviously failed by permitting the Christian agenda to unduly dominate the creation of what should be only civil laws that too sadly are wrongfully and intentionally imbued with the added burden of moral/church imperatives.  "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's,"  There should  exist absolutely NO moral authority in any truly equally just and fair government, particularly any said government that not only purports but so doggedly insist that their unique democratic form of government is most assuredly the leader in their constitutional efforts to protect individual freedoms.   We need to understand just why so many, often the majority of sincere and prudent individuals so blindly and devotedly adhere so often to these most damning, pejorative, imaginative and totally unsubstantiated theologies (mythologies!) that prevents any of these otherwise sane and moral individuals from ever fully enjoying their more than deserved, inalienable and rightful existence based on Jefferson’s most thoroughly descriptive words of, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."  The overwhelming statistics of civil and criminal crime, divorce, depression, suicide, drug abuse, alcoholism as well as other social, psychological and physical symptoms is just the tip of the ominous iceberg in detecting and identifying a seriously fatal lacking in one’s self-respect and loving one's self in a manner that would more likely reflect the simple tenets of a healthy and joyful life.  Of course, attacking this problem at its most damning core will by design necessarily require the serious and objective scrutiny of religions, most particularly the awful damning of Christianity in our Western culture.  Naturally, this objective scrutiny need be accomplished with a totally unbiased and objective view that is founded on the true reality of the contributing factors and not some self-serving and often repeated message of these contrived mythologies that almost universally demands unconditional obedience to statements of their contrived doctrines; all of which adds up to a contrived state of nothing more than spiritual slavery.

            It is not the purpose of this particular treatise or any of the others six treatises to present an alternative or absolute answer to what I perceive as a fatal destiny should mankind elect to remain on this treacherous road paved with such flawed and deceptive mythological stumbling stepping-stones.  I only had wished to purvey/summarize/synthesize those many observable and usually the most conflicting, political, sociological, and psychological circumstances that gave rise to and most probably explain our unrelenting state of such diversified spiritual insanity.  The answer and/or potential solution was barely presented in the last two volumes of the six written about this Age of Reality.  What I most sincerely wanted to have accomplish with the presentation of those six volumes was to simply and concisely review that body of knowledge that appears to have been based on a far more on observable reality than the tenacious results of recorded oral mythologies.  My literary style may be criticized as being unscholarly, which is intentional so that it may be more easily appreciated by and simply be more understandable to the academically as well as the unschooled minds of those many friends and neighbors who are most affected and/or infected by those overly-persistent despots who routinely profit both personally and materially from the relentless telling and/or repeating a multitude of untruths based solely on their own personal and most assuredly biased perceptions of reality.

            I would hope that you will understand that I embrace a Gandhi-like ‘passive résistance’ intellectual stance in sharing what I have synthesized from years of study and introspective discovery. Therefore, I do not look for nor entertain argument or scholarly retort; you are equally free to hold on to and publish any of those often comforting beliefs that purport to offer a safe harbor from the horrors of this world.  I would personally hope that you are happy where you are!  There will no doubt be a multitude of those who will feel it to be their duty, even at the direction of their personal gods, to brand me with a multitude of heretical names, each proclaiming that their own particular brand of theology is totally unique and reins supreme above all others. 

                                                Contents
   .
Preface                                                                            vi
   .
Prologue                                                                        xii
   .
01  The Gene Pool                                                           1
   .
02  Childhood Memories                                              20
   .
03  Elementary School Years                                        40
   .
04  Junior High School Memories                                50
   .
04  High School Memories                                            60
   .
05  Higher Education                                                      76
   .
06  ATΩ Fraternity                                                           98
   .
07  Westward Ho                                                            121
   .
08  Construction & Real Estate                                     128
   .
09  Gay & HIV                                                                142
   .
10  Orchids Hell Chronicles                                          162
   .
11  Damn                                                                         180
   .
12  Regal                                                                          192
   .
13  Righteous                                                                  202
   .
14  Death to Change                                                      212
   .
15  The Simple Truth                                                    224
   .
17  Not the End                                                              254

                                               PROLOGUE

 It is important that you understand that so much of which I have written and proposed both here as well as elsewhere comes from some deep conviction and self-evident understanding within my own individual psyche.  I have from my earliest teens often refused to read what others have written with the singular exception of what has been seemingly reported as factual history or commonly recognized as ancient to modern literature which was taken only as an author's response or reaction to his own social, cultural or political milieu of the time in which he lived.  I have from the very beginning always attempted to separate what appeared to be fact from the obvious fiction of sometimes the most creative of minds.  This is most difficult in a world full of various despots all claiming that their own personal and unique take on the world is the only true path to one’s actual salvation.  It is ashamed that so many probably well-intended writers including, those who had originally pined, as well as those who later transcribed from the original, both had most likely taken great liberties of changing the original text (the Bible included) and innocently adding their own biased interpretations rather than just the most simple translations of so much of historical reality thus leaving the subsequent readers hopelessly lost deep within the weird and wonderful quagmire of literary fantasy.  The chairman of my doctoral committee expressed to me that he had observed me as having the most incredible ability of synthesizing often unrelated material into a singular rational thesis that was greater and more realistic than the sum of its various parts.  At the age of seventeen when I wrote the following poem, I was thoroughly unaware of it’s deeper meaning.  It was my loving mother who had preserved my earlier writings and didn’t return them to me until my early forties.  I am eternally grateful for her thoughtful gift and for her prudent knowledge that these poems would have such a significant meaning as I rightly matured into adulthood with a diverse variety of personal, educational and spiritual experiences that would have most assuredly contributed to that envied existence where, “life makes philosophers of us all.”

WHY AM I HERE?

I'm not here
    To read what others write,
Nor to see
     Without some guiding light.

    I'm not here
        To reap what others sow,
    Nor to see
        The arts which others show

        I'm not here
            To learn what has been taught,
        Nor to see
            My life result in naught.

            I'm not here
                To waste my life away,
            Nor to see
                My each and every day.

                But, then why;
                    Why am I here at all?
                May' because
                    I heard my Neighbor call.

                                     March 8, 1960

          Reality never changes over time even though man's perceptions and interpretations of what he deems as reality has undergone sometimes the most bizarre, unexpected and certainly countless changes.  We are all so fortunate that in most every generation there appears to be those few unique and exceptional individuals that are not affected by the mass hysteria brought on by the confusion and often violent rivalry between the numerous and convincing offerings of so many diverse mythologies and religions, as well as by those charismatic and verbose mystics proposing and offering the latest alternative to traditional belief systems.  Everyone seemingly agrees to the notion that man has this insatiable need to believe in something that is somehow infinitely greater than his own perceived to being, an impoverished spirit; assuming of course, that man's spiritual nature is naturally devoid of any potentially significant substance that just might be worthy of that life so full of joy and love.  Nearly all religions universally impose the idea of man's innate lowliness and then miraculously propose its own set of unique and exclusive solution for any salvation.  As Karl Marx, had so profoundly stated, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”  In his book, Awareness, Anthony de Mello suggested, “Do you want your drug?  Get ready for the hangover.”

          My countless colleagues, all equally in search of the truth, have rightfully identified the flaws and uncovered the countless misgivings of overly righteous despots.  I don't wish to be redundant in my own writings and thus will not seek to reinvent the wheel.  What I had hoped to accomplish was the offering of a simple and concise overview of man's plight and his relentless struggle to understand that he or she alone, and not some external divine being, universal power or demigod, is the only and truly miraculous pentacle of creation and evolution.  How we arrived at this point is not as important as the recognition of our each and every one’s inalienable right to set claim on this extraordinary and most naturally imbued inheritance rightfully set in this Garden of Eden.

          Man should vehemently lay claim to this wonderful and truly available inheritance in much the same manner as he has endlessly sought his equality to all others as well as his various immutable civil freedoms.  Our claims and achievement of spiritual freedom are often attained by those same drastic and often ultimate costs of sacrifice and the potential loss of life.  Strip away our varying and diverse religions, and all of mankind is quite equal in all aspects of his life including that most wonderful of all capacities, to love, to actual love oneself and most importantly to love all of one’s neighbors.  It is this ultimate reality, to which those six books were all lovingly dedicated as an intentionally unscholarly, modest and most probably incomplete guide to understanding just how man has become so hopelessly and spiritually enslaved and the only true means to his ultimate salvation as simple as; “Ye shall know the truth, and that truth shall set you free.” I repeat, “Ye shall know the truth, and that truth shall set you free.”

          We live in this wonderful time of almost endless discoveries, the very least of which is man’s unraveling and understanding the wonders of his most intricate DNA and the realization that the effects of this discovery of our DNA is none other than what was once understood to being simply a manifestation of instinct and Déjàvu. And even of greater significance is that wonderful portion of our DNA that appears  to be little more than what we now have come to understand as genetic memory.  No sooner than my first hearing of and the continuing discovery of those seemingly endless genetic strings found as some integral part of man’s genes, I had already achieved my own modest understand and actually started using those words that described what is now generally accepted as “genetic memory.”  I take the time of relating this to you simply because I have had that great gift of discovering some of the most revealing information left to me by a almost multitude of intellectual and familial contributors to my own totally unique genetic pool of knowledge.  I am so fortunate to have had a family that through there own personal and intellectual experiences had provided for me that wonderful and empowering environment that had so fortunately permitted me to go and freely explore far beyond the course of that usual intellectual status quo.  This status quo encompasses what  might be more accurately described as simply as that more commonly stale acceptance of the establishment that most likely achieved its dubious status through the use of ‘faith’ and ‘belief as opposed to the proper use of empirical and historical reality.  The very individual that is most responsible for the understanding that I have for the unimaginable power of this genetic memory is my very beloved sister, who in her retirements years had invested countless hours discovering our own unique ancestry.  If nothing else, my ancestry explains to my own satisfaction, the actual source of so much of the historical material that I write about.  Add this genetic memory to what I consider to being a truly and extensive Liberal Arts education and then I imagine where I have come to understand the realities that give rise to my accepting the title of the Father of the Age of Reality.

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