As the missionaries "helped" the so-called "primatives", we moderns have taken upon ourselves to condition small children who come into this world with no concern about their unclothed state to feel embarrassment or shame. From the start they are not at all self-conscious about being naked -- in fact they would usually prefer being nude if given the chance. But often they aren't allowed that freedom. They must be taught to fit in with the rest of us.

Innocence and it's loss are themes which reverberate through cultures around the world. The banishment from Eden is more than a myth. It is a reality that plays itself out every day. And the scars this process leaves are incalculable. Nevertheless there are ways to heal the wounds of guilt and shame which fester beneath the facade of propriety and self-deception. There is a way to return to the sacred grounds from which our spirits sprang in the bright yesterday which we often chose to forget since the sense of loss is too great to bear. We have to learn to honor the child within -- to become, in fact, children in spirit. Only by returning to the fertile lands of imagination and open-hearted trust can we find ways for our souls to grow beyond the calcified confines within which time and cynicism have encased them.