THE GREAT REVIVAL ONLY PARTLY REPORTED

Something big is going on all around us in the Western world. It's not exactly new, because in many ways it's actually very old. One way to reconcile these apparent opposites is with the term: Revival.

While institutions like governments, schools and religions function in defined and formal ways, revivals like this are often so unofficial yet so widespread they have no name. So they sometimes get under-reported. And yet hundreds of millions -- usually young, but not always -- are exhaustively invested. It's a revival of a grass-roots phenomenon that once flourished throughout old Europe. Masses of believers flocking -- heart to heart and soul to soul -- on holy pilgrimages to holy places where everyone became one spirit, one totality.

Back then the throngs gathered both physically and spiritually. Today it's physically and digitally. This hurricane of collective, inter-acting human energy can most often be found at mega-concerts and on the social-media. Countless millions almost daily gathering, feeling and connecting without a single institution running the affair.

What's big about what's going on here is that both these tactile and digital connections are unofficially bonding countless millions who better understand and experience these activities than almost anything else in their everyday citizen's life. A staggering, egalitarian force-field which can ignite everything from making international stars (think Bono, Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan).... to international causes (think missions to Sudan, Haiti, and now Japan)...to international uprisings (think Tunisia, Egypt, Libya).

There isn't a politician or prophet who wouldn't lend their soul just to get a piece of this action. However, it's not for sale. It just is. It just emerges from somewhere within the psyche of the zeitgeist. It just rolls and rumbles through everyone on board. Watch the kinetic way audiences joyously sway, sweat and sing to the lyrics of their concert gods! Watch the digital way a post or a video on the Net can go instantly viral across the entire globe!

Yes, something big is happening here. As usual, though, it's happening so big and so bold that it's far beyond the learning curve for anyone outside its reach. Some stare in puzzled wonder. Others try to write a column or a book about it. Still others try to teach courses about it. The rest simply do it.

Amid all the energy and excitement of this 21st C revival, one caveat. In the past, the gathered masses on pilgrimage were looking to get in touch with something bigger and outside themselves. Today, the gathered masses in concerts and on the social media are usually trying to get in touch with what is inside themselves. Two different journeys of discovery. One is in many ways over; another is just now unfolding....