Indigo Children: A view on the movie Indigo by Twyman/Walsh/Simon about Indigo Children

By P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.

Indigo Children: A view on the movie "Indigo" by Twyman/Walsh/Simon about Indigo Children

February 5, 2005

During the last week of January, the movie "Indigo" was the 17th highest grossing film in America. A "home-grown," low-budget flick, it is part of a new movement throughout our country for Spiritual Cinema, movies that extoll and uplift the human spirit in positive, transformative ways. There have been others, like "The Notebook," but this is the first from the collaborative effort of James Twyman, Neale Donald Walsch, and Stephen Simon -- all luminaries in the publishing field and entertainment industry. 

I enjoyed the film. Many did not, complaining about the poor acting and trite script, and the over-blown self-promotion of Twyman/Walsch/Simon in a lengthy clip that preceded the movie. True. But what the complainers miss is the message that underlays the film: that children today are different; their desire for peace and reconciliation worth listening to. This message, in a world gripped by terrorists and war, drug lords, and earth changes of biblical proportions, strikes at the heart of each person and each family.

Where I fault the film is the sensationalization of the label "Indigo." The new children have been variously described as Indigos (because of the supposed color of their auras), Star Kids (because of their purported origination from other worlds), Crystal Children (because some say they are highly developed), and so forth -- none of these claims hold up as stated with research, whether via scientific observation or by studying mystical/esoteric traditions or through summarizing visionary revelations. The label "Indigo," plus the others, are now subject to serious challenge.

Professionals in the field of child development and education, parents, even the kids themselves, are having problems with the idea that certain character traits are the province of so-called "Indigos," when, in fact, the majority of today's children match those traits -- without evidencing anything like a purple aura, or being a hybrid from another planet, or possessing "god-like" wisdom. 

Children born since around 1982 really are different, like no other generation of record. If the movie "Indigo" makes this point and no other, it has done the world a favor and hopefully will help to engender an overall transformation in how we regard and teach children. Surely it will inspire a forum whereby the children themselves can speak and be heard... for our youngest citizens truly have something important to say that is worth hearing.

Already, though, I'm seeing the opposite, the "bandwagon" approach to sales and marketing. Books extolling what a certain well-regarded psychic had to say about "Indigos," when that individual never said anything of the sort; music just for Indigos; Indigo camps, schools, literature, classes, toys, websites, business logos. The hype is deafening and it's just started. Far too many people, most of them well-meaning, are exploiting the very children we seek to celebrate. Claims that have been proven false are now accepted as gospel by an adoring public un-willing to question or verify. The affect this has on children is unfortunate.

We can learn something here from psychologists: there are so many learning disorders present today in the younger population that professionals no longer use labels to describe them -- the various disorders are simply called "quirks" and the youngsters who have them, "quirky kids." I suggest that we call those born since 1982, the "new" children. That's generic enough, and it covers the territory without going to extremes. 

In my research of near-death experiencers than spans over 26 years, I've discovered that the new children are a lot like any child who has had a near-death experience. We can take a clue from this -- refer to The New Children and Near-Death Experiences (Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT 2003). My study of the new children in relation to our changing world and the tradition of prophecy comes out this Fall, same publisher, entitled The New Children and The Fifth World, Prophecy and Evolution. Other excellent books about the new children are: The Biology of Transcendence, Joseph Chilton Pearce (Park Street Press, Rochester, VT 2002); The Secret Spiritual World of Children, Tobin Hart, Ph.D. (Inner Ocean Publishing, Maka-wao, HI 2003); and Upside-Down Brilliance, Linda Kreger Silverman (Deleon Publishing, Denver, CO 2002).

P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D.

www.pmhatwater.com

atwater@cinemind.com