“Our business is to wake up,” said Laura Huxley, quoting her late husband Aldous Huxley, science fiction novelist to a group of friends and admirers gathered to celebrate her 90th birthday in Malibu on Sunday.
Festively dressed in a coral jacket and hat, an exuberant Huxley danced onto a stage, smiling at friends and filmmakers in attendance to make a documentary of her life. The eclectic crowd was gathered at the home of Jacqueline Bridgman, founder of the Malibu Stage Co.
As the co-founder of Children Our Ultimate Investment, an organization for the nurturing of the “possible human,” Huxley (whose actual birthday is in November) appealed to the audience to take an active role in caring for the children in our world.
“While children are our ultimate investment, they are also the ultimate investment of the tobacco companies,” Huxley explained. “Over 3,000 young people start smoking every day,” she said, adding that children are also the ultimate investment of the liquor industry, with billions of dollars spent yearly for treating young people with alcohol problems.
“Children are also the ultimate investment of the gun merchants,” she continued. “More children are killed by guns than by all things put together.”
Apologizing for delivering such sobering statistics, Huxley went on to say that a murderer of a child receives only a quarter of the sentence that the murderer of an adult receives and that every four hours a child commits suicide.
“But we can’t be discouraged,” she said. “We can say, No.” Despite these negative influences, Huxley still has hope, citing the increased involvement of fathers in their children’s lives and the numerous volunteers in the United States who lend a hand or help financially as answers to the problems.
Looking to the future, she envisions the “possible human.”
“We know what we are, but we don’t know what we may be if we are all welcomed with love and caring,” Huxley explained.
She contends the answers to many of the problems of today’s young people need to be addressed even before birth by looking to the spiritual, emotional and physical state of the parents, even before conception of the child.
Offering solutions to today’s young people, Huxley talked about several programs run by her foundation.
“Make a House Before You Make a Baby” provides scholarships for teenagers, enabling them to work with architect Nader Khalili who builds environmentally sensitive homes.
This helps them learn a sense of responsibility, Huxley explained.
“Teens and Toddlers” is another foundation project in which teens learn about infant and child development in the classroom and then visit daycare centers to interact with children.
“The teens become a model for the children,” said Huxley, adding that some become so attached to the toddlers, they continue visiting them even after the program ends.
Addressing the other end of the spectrum of life was Ram Dass, a.k.a. Richard Alpert, Ph.D. Dass talked about his work with the dying and recognition of the soul.
“When life goes out of a dead body, the soul is going through a transformation,” Dass explained. “From that transformation, it becomes a baby.
“In order to recognize the soul,” he continued, “you need to be one [a soul].”
Showcasing his paintings of Chinese calligraphy, which symbolize nurturing, love and purity, Chungliang Al Huang, a Chinese scholar, philosopher and author of several books including “Embrace the Tiger,” led the group in stretching and laughing. He, Huxley and Dass performed a whimsical dance onstage while Pedro Eustache, the featured musician, played inspirational music.
Several guests also participated in a silent auction to raise money for charity.
More information about Children Our Ultimate Investment and its projects can be obtained by calling 323.461.8248.