7Not so long ago dire forecasts of doom were the domain of splinter groups of Revelation-besotted Christians, back-country tub-thumpers, and leather-lunged street-corner prophets. Today, visions of the end of the world are presented afresh daily to anyone who reads the morning news or follows on-line media. Even the venerable New York Times has been salting its sophisticated offerings with doses of apocalypticism. Once a tiny dark corner of the obscure realm of theology, eschatology, the study of the end times, has been mainstreamed to the masses and the question of whether the world will end in fire or ice is parsed over coffee and at the dinner table, often with heated debates over the details. Suddenly those street-corner prophets aren't looking so crazy anymore.

Tragically, the deep chords of hope for a coming new age, which resounded throughout ancient accounts of the end-times, are too often unheard on today's stage. Little attention is given to Nature's powers of healing. Little thought is given to how to weather the storms and sail on to the new land, or to what that new land will be like. As a result, many people are overcome and paralyzed by fear, rage and hopelessness. Depression, suicide, anxiety and addiction, including wealth addiction, are rampant and threaten to crumble industrialized societies from within, playing into the hands of demagogues and the greedy.

Some Glad Morning is aimed straight at this malaise. Arranged in the circle of the seasons, this small volume will feed the soul and strengthen the heart for these times.