You heard that correctly. The oldest recording we have is of the Danish baritone Peter Schram (born 1819), which would put his contemporaries among the transcendental generation.

As you're probably aware, a lot of people either dismiss or misapply S&H theory because they don't get how it works. Below is a brief list of some of the most common errors people tend to make.  

1) Cutting the generations too short. The length of a generation is supposed represent the approximate length of a phase of life, not the 15-ish years people typically use as boundary lines. 
2) Over-emphasis on the previous saeculum, especially the GIs. Millennials will never become as socially conservative as the GIs, boomers will never become as religiously fundamentalist as the missionaries, etc. 
3) Over-emphasis on the "hero" aspect of the civic archetype. Collective bravery is only one aspect of civic generations. We also need to take into consideration susceptibility to peer pressure, strong pro-science/rationalism orientation, propensity for social organization, relatively bland cultural contributions and strong sense of duty...most of which fit millennials like a glove. 
4) Seeing the 4th turning as a singular event (WW2, GFC, Covid, etc) rather than a period of history that tends to last considerably longer. 
5) Putting the boundaries of "coming of age" earlier than is realistic. A lot of people assume your teens are your "coming of age years", but this is really only true in terms of identity. Your real coming of age years are when you strike out in the real world, where you can make some kind of tangible difference in terms of productivity, combat, intellectual contributions or some other kind of mark on the world. This is why "rising adulthood" is defined as the years from around 20-22 to 40-44, rather than, say, teens to early 20s, when you really can't have a lot of impact.
6) Incorrectly correlating 4th turnings with wars. Wars can pop up in any era. For example, 3rd turnings gave us WWI and the French and Indian War, 2nd Turnings gave us Vietnam and the Mexican-American War, 1st Turnings gave us the Korean War, etc. What is important with regards to turnings is the response to said war, both militarily and socially. 
7) Over-simplifying generational theory as "kids rebelling against their parents"....no. Generational archetypes arise primarily from shared experience of going through significant political events at a similar age, suffering the consequences of a hole being left by a previous generation (ex: millennials feeling the effects of lack of functioning institutions and widespread social fragmentation). 
8) Assuming the hero generation is the fiery revolutionary archetype, when, in practice, this tends to be the idealists.

Everyone praises the music of the last awakening as the best music in history, but personally....I call bullshit. That was the period where we normalized screaming and whining above real singing, giving way eventually to what we have now where 2/3 of songs don't even have a coherent melody. Let's start with a few examples 


Frank Sinatra (born 1915)





Eula Beal (born 1919)





Edith Piaf (born 1915)

Is it too soon to imagine the coming Turnings that will shape the generations to come and vice-versa? We already know climate change will be an ongoing theme of the rest of the century, probably beyond. So in a world where trying to reverse the damage that has been done to our planet, I imagine each generation has their own roles and angles of input they are good at taking part in.

What is your generation and what generation(s) are your parents? What issues did you have with them growing up? Do you think they had anything to do with generational archetypes? Depending on how well you think your parents did, you are free to respond either in a more balanced manner or to criticize more severely (I'm opting more for the former).

Quality of life in the US for many has suffered if not declined for a few decades now for those not in at least the top quintile of the income ladder. This even though there is plenty of anger out there, which has been fueled in the past few days by the leak that SCOTUS is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, the abortion ruling enacted nearly a half century ago. This decision has, however, been quite controversial ever since its inception. And many feel that if this goes through, that they will come after gay marriage and interracial marriage next, possibly even imposing bans on contraceptives and even condoms. Before the sexual revolution of the 1960s in some areas it was illegal for even married couples to have condoms and other types of contraception in their homes. This was never publicized and I never knew this until I heard it just a few days ago.  I'm sure it wasn't a big enough issue to ever produce any search and seizure warrants.

And while this weekend there already were loads of demonstrations over this issue, along with the anger there is also confusion, especially about which direction to take. This certainly does not apply only to Roe, but to many othere issues facing the nation and society. The legendary soul-rock music group The Temptations had a big hit song titled "Ball of Confusion", which is no doubt just as relevant today and when it topped the charts a half century or so ago.

It's possible, more likely plainly evident, that we're feeling angry and/or confused about which direction to move. The majority of society has been pushing for such things as universal healthcare, a positive solution to the burgeoning housing affordability and its offshoot, the massive homeless problem. Which in turn is a classic example of the line that you reap what you sow. Following WWII there was a massive movement to become a society of home owners rather than just renters, aided by the lucrative GI Bill. Zoning laws became not only big but very restrictive to the point that in many areas single family homes, usually large, were the only type of housing that could be built. Well, you might fit in the occasional apartment complex, but this were usually restricted to very upscale projects commanding a huge price tag.

Quality of life issues usually only get lip service and are seldom acted upon except in situation which may lead us closer to being a police state, something we were very vocal against while I was growing up. Many used the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to bring us ever closer to that point. And just last night, while talking about the latest mass shooting in a Buffalo grocery store, the thought came up that when we shop for groceries we might have to pass through metal detectors before entering. And since news spreads faster now in the age of social media, and when employers were demanding and relying ever more on background checks, the name of the game became "Don't get drawn into a dispute; remove yourself from the situation or person. The idea being that if you get an arrest record you could very easily be disqualified for many jobs or even lose the one you already have. Therefore, many have shied away from attending even peaceful demonstrations for worthwhile issues for fear that they may be spotted on camera by their employers or others that could cause harm.  Even gig economy companies are notorious for rejecting applicants for things that come up on their background reports even if they are many years old. This despite the fact that they are technically not employees.

We also are being told more and more to be careful of a smooth talker who's making empty promises. Something young women may have been told concerning possibly unsavory suitors has graduated and now is applied in many online business dealings due to the increasing amount of scammers. Just yesterday I heard something online about how personal trust seems to be at an all-time low. I feel that it has been in steady decline for about a half century now. You certainly don't want to be rushed into a situation that you may regret later. Almost anyone that has been through a marital divorce or an unsavory business deal can vouch for that. The message here seems obvious; that if the alarm bells are going off, back away. Just like you would if a dangerous animal approaches.

In order to get what most of the society appears to want, we must first find a way to neuter the tremendous power of multinational corporations. But I get the feeling that the majority of the PTB is extremely reluctant to do anything that might ruffle the feathers of those at the top of the chain. We have certainly become more aloof as a society, and this was so even before the COVID crisis hit. Have we decided that we need to take some time to be alone, relax and think about what we want? Sooner or later we must take action or the festering problems are like to just continue getting worse. We might also do well to remember a saying I saw posted a few years back, that anger is just one letter away from danger.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, a very basic overview of each of the 9 types from Enneagram Institute is shown below. In a nutshell, the Enneagram is is a model of ego orientation and worldview. It begins with core fears and motivations that shape how we view ourselves, the world arounds us, and the defense mechanisms we feel compelled to develop to defend ourselves from said fears.  


1 THE REFORMER
The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic

2 THE HELPER
The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing, and Possessive

3 THE ACHIEVER
The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious

4 THE INDIVIDUALIST
The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental

5 THE INVESTIGATOR
The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated

6 THE LOYALIST
The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious

7 THE ENTHUSIAST
The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Distractible, and Scattered

8 THE CHALLENGER
The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational

9 THE PEACEMAKER
The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

I love to play future games. First of all, playing this song, "Future Games" by Fleetwood Mac. And playing the games mentioned in the song too. In other words, being a prophet, looking for signs of things we will create. Like all of us who come to a discussion board like this, playing future games, wondering what we will bring to the light. 

Are you familiar with this, one of my favorite 70s rock songs, by Fleetwood Mac, called Future Games? This is a wonderful, visionary, California-vibe piece, especially the instrumental organ and guitar part, and the closing words, at the end. 

So, what future games are we playing? Did we leave the future behind us, in the time of this song? It seems so. Or instead, are we really still in the vibrant, free new world we entered in 1966-1971, as so well evoked in this song? Is the future still here? What have we created since this futuristic time? Can we still redeem it? Can we reshape what unfolded from those times 50+ years ago, making them more real and workable for today, and for the future? Do we invent the future that we want to face? Can we, still? I know I am not the only one, playing those future games.






I wrote this comment on a lyric site for this song: https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/13237/

The comments above are great. I always found the most meaning in the final words, which I always heard as "we are not the only ones" but the text says "I know I am not the only one". This song came out the same year as John Lennon's "Imagine" which says, "you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope some day you will join us, and the world will be one". Future Games taps into the sense that I am not the only one dreaming these dreams; it is communal too, or least it was in those times, as well as reminding us of the games we play around our fears for the future. And in this song the sounds and melodies of these future games are incomparably more evocative and visionary even than in "Imagine".

full album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2GQm5TFnDs

Feel free to share as much or as little as you like.

Interview with a woman born in 1835, filmed in 1929. The woman recounts witnessing the Trail of Tears as a small child and being a delegate to the Chicago Exposition in 1893. Amazing footage: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RAVBz_nY7PU