 Some of the most influential minds in Mentalism (in my opinion) from the past twenty years or so, have recommended that anybody who is serious about their mentalism (not mental magic) should invest some time in studying 'Passages' written by Gail Sheehy.
For those who don't know, 'Passages' was written by Gail Sheehy and published in 1976. At the time is was a revolutionary book that changed the way millions of men and women around the world looked at the stages of their lives. For the working mentalist who includes readings in their shows, it offered groundbreaking and brilliant insights into the predictable crises of adult life. Sheehy was able to put into print the universal and inevitable passages we experience in our twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond and by shining a light on these normal trials of adult life, she made sense of what many readers had spent a life time trying to understand. But is it relevant today? The problem is the original was based on how people (mainly women\) lived their lives in the 1960s (in the USA) and much has changed medically, and in society since then. She did however publish an updated version called 'New Passages' in 1995 and it was at that time through the writings of Jon Riggs that I picked on the revised version. At the time she published the revision she admitted that because so much had changed since the original, she had to rewrite the book. But even the 1995 revision seems to have been updated with observations from the 1970s and 1980s. The problem is with the fairly recent advances in technology which enables us to connect almost instantly to the rest of the world, the way we live our lives seems to be changing more rapidly than at any other time in recent history. For example, as I write this my son is seventeen and a half years old and has a completely different outlook on life than I did at that age. He's connected to the world via a wireless link in his room whereas I left school at 16 and was serving in the military by his age, but my father left school at 15 and was halfway through his apprenticeship by then and my grandfather left school and started his apprenticeship at 13 and was married at 18 with one on the way. Here's an example from the original 1976 publication referring to those in their 20's. "The Trying 20s -- The safety of home left behind, we begin trying on life's uniforms and possible partners in search of the perfect fit". Of course that image has changed in the past 40 years, these days most 20 year old's are struggling to get on the property ladder (in the UK at least) and are often forced to remain in the family home until their 30's. That said I think New Passages is still worth a read if you are into readings, it really does give you an insight into the various milestones that most of us reach during our life time. However, although I think many of the classic milestones are still in place they do seem to have shifted and continue to shift along the timeline somewhat. How will the next 50 years change the passages of our lives, who knows? Comments are closed.
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