“The Outpouring of the Spirit” (1958–2007)

Rev 1–6–25

As with many cultural phenomena, The Outpouring is more understandable to our minds in hindsight than it was when we were living thru it. This phrase is mentioned in the Christian Bible. It’s from Acts, Joel 2:28:

[In the latter days] The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28 [a] “And it shall come to pass afterward,

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

your old men shall dream dreams,

and your young men shall see visions.

More translations and context: https://www.bibleref.com/Acts/2/Acts-2-17.html

To avoid confusion, while The Outpouring of the Spirit is about the “latter days” of Revelation, it is NOT mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Churches and the Outpouring

I don’t believe the exact phrase, “Outpouring of the Spirit” is used anywhere outside of Christian churches. Only more open-minded, more progressive churches were open to new Outpourings of Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. Among Christian denominations, The Outpouring was led by Evangelical and “Jesus Freak” movements. Additionally the character of churches generally became more open, more secular and ecumenical. In the US, the Methodists, Unitarian-Universalists and reformed Jewish synagogues were most affected. They contributed the most members to newly founded spiritual groups. However like the Great Depression and WWII, The Outpouring had strong worldwide effects.

Not surprisingly the most traditional churches, Christian, Jewish, Moslem, were the most fearful of the Outpouring of the Spirit, the least touched by it. Tellingly conservative churches of all religions retained fixed seating (pews). This made experimenting with any kind of enlivening Best Practices in group process like dyads, triads and milling exercises, virtually impossible.

Folk music scene, Little Richard, Elvis, Bob Dylan

In the early 2000s, Big Tech corporations realized it was Cultural Creatives who were driving adoption of social media by posting so much new, interesting and quirky material. However to view the whole of the Outpouring of the Spirit, we have to go back to 1958; to the folk music scene, “The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s” — Wikipedia. Little Richard, Elvis, Bob Dylan and rock n’roll — all emerged out of the folk music scene.

Given the highly rigid, corporatized Western culture, the most visible outer expression was new music and dance. New music and dance were real to millions beyond the small fraction of actual Cultural Creatives and Baby Boomers.

Cultural Creatives and the Outpouring

The term “Cultural Creatives” was coined in 2001 by Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson. “Cultural Creatives” is our most useful phrase to discuss and understand the Outpouring of the Spirit, even back to 1958, before the term was invented. In the 2020s, it’s become more obvious not everyone born in the Baby Boom (1946–1964) was a hippie, an eco-green recycler, a community and homestead builder, musician-songwriter, visual artist, garage computer tinkerer, personal growth leader, Jesus Freak, or a “spiritual creative.” However it is exactly these folks the term Cultural Creatives describes. CCs were the “mouthpieces” of the Outpouring of the Spirit, the ones most open to higher frequency Imagination, Inspiration and Intuition. All always, Spirit finds those most open and available to it.

Forest Gump (1994) and the Outpouring

The movie, Forest Gump (1994), also uses 1958 to mark the beginning of the outpouring of the Spirit. In the movie, in 1958, upon hearing Elvis Presley or Little Richard for the first time coming from a car radio in a convertible with the top down, a developmentally disabled boy, in rigid metal leg braces, chases the car, to keep up with the music. He literally runs off the metal braces on his legs, which were holding him back. He didn’t need the rigid braces anymore. He was ready to move with the new music.

More inwardly attuned people were more aware of the Outpouring and participated more often and more widely. I put it this way. If you were a Baby Boomer and a Cultural Creative, and you were:

- tired of empty ritual,

- tired of one-sided male and one-side-only left-brain hemisphere thinking,

- open to new ideas,

- curious about other cultures; and,

trying to make the world better for the 99% of people by any and all means possible; then,

The Out-pouring of the Spirit was real for you.

If you were not a Baby Boomer, and not interested in methods of personal growth; then, The Out-pouring of the Spirit had less meaning and less impact on you.

When did The Outpouring end?

The end of the outpouring of the Spirit is harder to mark. It was a gradual trailing off. 1995? 9/11/2001? 2007? 2014? (year of John-Roger’s passing). I’ll let you decide.

John-Roger’s role in the Outpouring of the Spirit

I consider John-Roger a chief cheerleader of the Outpouring of the Spirit. Like many other New Age spiritual teachers he traveled widely around the world. My recall is J-R was active for 1–3 decades later after most New Age teaches had stopped active traveling and teaching.

In the paperback of J-R and JM interviews, J-R says he entered the sphere of the Earth in 1958. If I recall correctly, the John the Beloved being did not take on a physical body until 1963. Yet already in 1958, Cultural Creative types were being influenced. The Beach Boys is a prime example. Why musicians? Musicians are people already attuning to frequencies, each according to their own individual perceiving.

I do NOT subscribe to the idea J-R was 100% responsible for the outpouring of the Spirit. Prior to John-Roger, the Alice Bailey groups; and more besides, before and after WWII, were sincerely praying for relief and lifting of old-world psychic oppression. FYI:

The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the Mind of God

Let light stream forth into the minds of men.

Let Light descend on Earth.

http://www.sapphyr.net/peace/greatinvocation.htm

Re-embodiment of many evolved souls happens after every great war

The Edgar Cayce people in the 1970s had another world-historical perspective on the Outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days. After big wars, like WWII, often 20–30 years of relative external peace and prosperity occurs. When the karma of war and famine is no longer active, such peaceful periods can last for several decades; this is what happened after WWII.

In spirit, higher frequency re-embodying souls perceive this as a good opportunity to re-embody. Why? Because conditions are more conducive to the lessons more highly evolved souls typically are learning: addressing and resolving mental and mythological negativity — not so much learning how to navigate day-to-day physical survival. Readers will know, after WWII, the “Baby Boom” generation flooded in. This influx of relatively higher frequency souls contributed to the latter day Outpouring of the Spirit.

Across progressive Cultural Creatives the goals became:

- Moving away from drama and towards peace,

- Moving away from one-sided, toxic patriarchy, towards gender equality,

- Moving away from selfishness, towards, service to others,

- Moving away from harsh one-sided, Stern Father parenting and Patriarchy; towards, the Law of Empathy, conciliation, diplomacy,

- Moving away from “humans are physical-material bodies who have a soul;” to, “we are immortal-eternal souls having a temporary human experience.”

In my assessment, no other single teacher embodied and facilitated the latter days out-pouring of the Spirit more than J-R. Comments invited.

Looking back from 2023, outside of MSIA, how do average people, perceive the outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days? I believe an answer to this question is found any time one walks into any large chain store playing background music. What is played? Primarily pop music from 1958 thru 1995. In some stores, Country and Western music from the same period. Rarely anything else.

Significant as old music and old movies are for the average person, beyond these, outside of superficial pop-culture, in the field of progressive psychology, between 1965–1995 the most effective Best Practices in life-changing counseling, therapy; and, large group learning seminars occurred. While for decades, Esalen played a big role here, I believe many more people were touched worldwide by Insight Seminars and University of Santa Monica (USM). We can also mention LifeSpring and some other large trainings, who learned from Insight, how to package and deliver seminars, with an authentic heartfelt look and feel. This is what attracts the most talented Cultural Creatives.

By the end of 1995, the range of Best Practices in Interpersonal Competency; and, in Healthy Group Process, at least in 1.0 form, were all documented in books.

If you like the above, what can we do with this information?

For some readers the answer will be “Not much.” I use it as a point of gratitude.

To Learn More

Insight Seminars ~ Most lively website now is the Bulgarian one, https://insightseminars-bg.org/

USM ~ https://www.universityofsantamonica.edu

IFS ~ https://internalfamilysystems.pt/ifs-talks

MBTI ~ https://www.16personalities.com

HEXACO ~ https://hexaco.org Excerpt: https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/T/The-H-Factor-of-Personality