Why Are We Here?
Johnny Carson

IN OVER 25 YEARS of reading for thousands of people from all corners of this wonderful planet, the single-most common question that has arisen during the readings is related to our purpose here on Earth. What are we doing here? Can we find and establish a true purpose for ourself?

It is a question that has caused me personally to travel by land, sea and air to all corners of the globe, to meet many people of differing backgrounds, cultures, religions, languages, dispositions, lifestyles and beliefs; to seek out wise men and women for their wisdom and insights; to study all manner of written text, spoken word and played music; to exert myself in martial and other physical disciplines; to stay as quiet as possible in meditation and to make as much noise as possible in exclamation......what is the point of it all, or is this questioning simply the rantings of a fool? Why is it not possible to sit back, let “society” dictate my life, immerse myself in televised television and vegetate? Why bother at all?

In the early years of my search, it was easy to find fault with the way the world was “organized.” It was easy to express anger towards those people and things that made me feel anger, usually because of some unresolved fear within me. It was less easy to express love towards those people and things that brought out feelings of love in myself. I remember the time when I finally realized that anger, fear and love are an inside job. It is me who feels the anger, me who gives in to fear, me who feels the love and me who either comes to terms with the feelings and engages with life accordingly or goes on being upset and apparently “apart” from the wholeness inherent in love. What a fantastic drama we can create around us when we refuse to take responsibility for our own reality! Love is our wholeness; fears, anger and other lesser ways of relating are our separation.

Some folks say that we come here to Earth to grow in our ways, through “learning our lessons,” until we find completion and move on to another realm. We are all expressions of the same unity just playing our own individual parts, sometimes over and over again until we have appreciated that repetition does not really enhance the quality of life but rather dulls it if we do not stay fresh and clear in our perceptions. Life is so rich but we can easily be tempted to take so much of it for granted until we find ourselves bored, give up and then settle for dormancy.

In looking into the night sky, we might consider if there are any other beings out there or whether the Earth really is the only show in this Universe. It occurs to me that since we can see all those other solar systems out there, it would be rather like looking at houses next door and just because we did not see anyone, we would make a decision that there were no other life forms at all except us!

When one considers the quality of life on Earth it is easy to appreciate that we have a vehicle, the human body, which, at any moment in time, is a perfected means for experiencing everything this particular planet has to offer us; all we have to do is learn how to use it according to our own nature. Through Design and Astrology we can appreciate how things work in our world according to the energies and influences of the neighboring planets in our particular solar system. We can relate to the particular personal influences from our Sun and Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars; as well as to the potential accomplishments and disciplines that are a part of the energies related with Saturn and Jupiter. Also, when we are really attuned to our environment, we can relate to the “wake up calls” from Uranus’ influence, the “shifting between realities” from Neptune’s influence and the sheer “dramas and potential transformation” that come into our lives through Pluto’s interventions.

In everything that comes to be our life experience, we always have the opportunity to be swept up in the apparent course of events and thereby give up our own responsibility, or we can accept that the reality we are experiencing is our own personal reality and that it merits our acceptance, indulgence and attention. When we see that what is playing on our “outside” is just an externalized expression of what is playing on our “inside,” we have the key to our life.

Once we have this key we can expand our presence into being at home in our world. Truly, all we come here for is to be ourself. Whatever we do for career, family, etc. is all an “extra!” We most certainly do not come here to “save” anyone else, at least not directly. The moment we accept ourself, appreciate ourself, honor ourself and love ourself, however we find ourself, is the moment we are completed with any learning we might need. It is not a matter of being meditative (though it contributes to our inner stillness and radiance), prayerful (unless we are prepared to drop the “poor me” quotient), humble (unless we are acknowledging ourselves as equals with all people), pious (unless we have a sincerity that matches our piety), generous (unless we know our own self-worth), good, bad, ugly or indifferent, (as compared with what?), it is all about being oneself in every situation that confronts us ..... True to one’s own nature through a deep resonant love of oneself.

How does one arrive at a place of self-love? Well, the first clue is to do some exploring and more importantly, some “in-sploring!”

In this article, we look at the Design of Johnny Carson, the legendary US talk-show host who “held court” over 4500 times, interviewing and promoting thousands of guests, entertaining his devoted tv audience night after night for 30 years continuously.....and never had a dull show!

Johnny Carson was born on October 23, 1925 in Corning, Iowa into the Incarnation of the “Laws,” being an Incarnation that allows constant reinvention of one’s reality, sometimes through drastic and dramatic circumstances, but with changes that are causally linked from recognizable old situations to recognizable new situations.

It is said by certain scholars that in the rendering of the Bible from Aramaic, through Greek and Latin to English and other languages, there were many mistranslations, one major one of which was switching the word “Lord” for the word “Law.” Within the parameters of life on Earth, there are certain eternal and indisputable laws governing our experiences. In the expansion of the Universe and consciousness within the Universe, these laws are constant. In Buddhist terminology, the laws are referred to as “Dhamma.” We are all beholden to these laws, whether we like it or not (whether we are buddhist or not,) and one of these laws is that change is the only thing that is constant! Those, like Johnny Carson, who are born into the Incarnation of the Laws are naturally a source of, and catalyst for change in the lives of not only themselves but also everyone else. Very often “change” through the “Laws” is better described as “transformation.”

The Projector
Johnny was born with a Design split into two activated parts. Firstly, there is a “projector” part that connects between the Throat Center and the Self Center through the channel 31- 7, the channel of logical, progressive leadership, that is unconscious in Johnny’s Design, implying that he is naturally good at guiding others through rational stages. Gate 7 is activated by his unconscious Mars in line 6, described as the “Administrator,” giving him a natural ability to provide guidance simply and easily. Since Gate 31 is activated by his unconscious North Node, which is seen to exert greater influence in one’s life after the age of 40, it would be apparent that his leadership skills grew markedly in the latter part of his life. Inevitably, it must be said that Johnny Carson could guide his guests and performers seemingly effortlessly to describe themselves and their lives.

Also at Johnny’s Throat Center, Gate 56, the Gate of stimulation through speech and storytelling, is activated by his unconscious Sun and conscious North Node destiny. The unconscious Sun activates line 6, the line of “principle,” and the inclination to expound and expand one’s inner beliefs as one’s reality and the conscious North Node destiny activates line 4, the line of “expediency,” the “silver tongue,” where he grew in the ability (particularly after age 40), to watch the effects that his speech had on his audience but also in his ability to talk his way out of trouble when need be!

The Generator
Secondly, Johnny Carson had the Design of a “generator,” and the inherent gift of persistence, doggedness and sustainment, through the defined channel 60 - 3. He would have the energy to continue when everyone else around him was flagging. The channel 60 - 3 is the channel that is recognized in Design to bring transformation. Anyone who interacted with Johnny Carson would sooner or later find that their life had transformed. Many were able and actually keen to try to keep up with him, many, including three wives, could not manage. Transformation requires a certain degree of flexibility in one’s personality makeup and it is said that various artists and performers’ lives literally took off after their appearances on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight” show. For Johnny in his own reality, the channel 60 - 3 has an inbuilt state of melancholy that, at times, could bring him into deep depression but in other measures could render him into spaces of pure delight!

In the Sacral Center, Gate 5 gave him a degree of restlessness in a part of his being that recognized his need for structure and ritual to restrain his impulses to rush blindly into commitments. Gate 29, the Gate of saying “Yes!” gave him the potential to be unreliable and to over-commit, but also the gift of devotion to, and from, his many fans when he attuned to what or whom really deserved his gifts.

In the Root Center, Gate 54, activated consciously and unconsciously by Jupiter, gave Johnny the ability to attract right support for his progression through life. Gate 38, activated in line 5 by his conscious Moon, gave Johnny the inherent tenacity to stand by his principles of quality, often facing down those who did not see the standards that he considered essential. Gate 39, activated consciously and unconsciously by Pluto in lines 5 and 6, gave him the amazing knack to attune with and fix almost anything. Inevitably, on a live talk show, performances and interviews would go awry from time to time, and always, Johnny would find some way or other, with a refined sense of apparent genius, to settle the upset and get on with the show.

The Undefined, “Wisdom” Centers
For anyone who has come to accept themselves for who they are, arrives a degree of autonomy from which one can easily interact with others without getting overly identified with them or their attitudes in life. This is not necessarily about being rigid in one’s thoughts or beliefs about oneself, but about having a confidence in one’s own clarity, and thus being able to allow everyone to interplay naturally in one’s life.

In Design, we see that the places in our makeup where we are most influenced by others are in the “undefined,” (white) centers with Gates activated in them, or “open” (white) centers, in which no Gates are activated. These white centers give us the opportunity to playfully and wisely reflect others back to themselves, or, alternatively, to unwisely take on others’ makeups as though they were our own, and thereby become conditioned to try to emulate and live out a reality other than our own. Copying and endeavoring to be other than ourself is quite encouraged in this world and we often see people playing roles that are in no way suited to their capabilities or personal truth.

In Johnny Carson’s makeup, he had the ability to quickly penetrate through disguises that people might try to wear to conceal their true natures and abilities. Out of the 9 Centers in the body graph, Johnny had 4 Centers defined from which to experience his own reality, and 5 undefined or open, to absorb and reflect the world back to itself.

He had an open Crown Center that drew to him inspiring people that he could lead on into more and more engrossing levels of exhilaration. He had an undefined mind, from which he could read into the thoughts of another person in his close proximity, often aligning them both in an engaging thought process and means to discussion. He had an open Heart Center, which was really not too bothered about how important someone else considered themself to be, but from which he could easily poke fun at them for their egoistic (separation = “special me”) tendencies.

Johnny had an undefined Spleen Center, containing within it Gate 50, activated by his conscious Sun in line 4, which constantly made him aware that very few things are as they appear to be, and often things are likely to be a lot less glamorous than how they are presented! Inevitably, in a show biz world, one is tempted to take things very seriously when in actuality they are not. One of Johnny’s greatest gifts was to be able to call a spade a spade, and make it clear to everyone that that was what it was. He also had Gate 57 activated by his conscious Mars, that in playful ways could intuit where discussions and agendas were likely to go and enhance them or deprecate them accordingly. He had Gate 44 activated consciously with his Mercury, the planet associated with communicating within our environment, in line 3 that allowed him an inbuilt hesitancy to manipulate his guests even though it was in his power to do so, and in line 1, with his unconscious Saturn that would give him the inherent ability to continuously weigh situations up as they progressed.

In the undefined Emotional Center, Johnny had Gate 36 activated by his unconscious Uranus in line 3, giving him the flexibility to take a difficult situation and transform it into a bright reality. He also had Gate 22, the Gate of Grace, activated consciously by Uranus in line 6, the line associated with a simple elegance in presenting the imaginative and unusual. One can ask how it might be possible to hold the attention of an expanding audience for 30 years while sitting behind a desk interviewing people. The key for Johnny would often lie in apparent brightness and elegance aligned with his sincerity and objectivity.

The Outer Planets
Every chart has particularities, and it is interesting to note in Johnny Carson’s chart, that the activations from his conscious “outer” planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) and the asteroid Chiron are all in 6th lines.

In any hexagram, the 6th line is “top” line and can be said to have cognizance of all the other lines within that hexagram as well as an objective “interest” rather than a firm “commitment” to continuously participate in expounding the nature of that hexagram. 6th lines can bring a certain sense of detachment, “aloofness” and also inherent wisdom to any environment.

When we consider the “outer,” transpersonal planets, we are looking at the energies coming into our lives that we can in no way control. The interactions of the transpersonal planets in our lives can bring dramatic changes that often go through three stages, as the planet transits forwards, retrogrades backwards and then transits forwards again relative to our view from Earth. The first (forward transit) stage can come as a shock or dramatic innovation in our life, the second stage gives us the opportunity to redress what has happened, and the final stage give us the chance to implement our creative adjustment to what has transpired.

In general terms, we can say that the influence of the outer planets is generational in nature, spanning whole segments of the population for certain spans in time. For instance, Uranus’ generational input has to do with innovations and things of an unusual nature that appear in our lives, Neptune’s influence pertains more to our spiritual quests and ideals, and Pluto has influence in the area of power issues, including war, pestilence and politics but also our acquaintance with death and regeneration. In considering Johnny’s Design activations in the outer planets, the fact that they are all in 6th lines, indicates that he was the perfect “objective” commentator for aspects of life covering many years and cycles of events on Earth.

Chiron, was known mythologically as a centaur (half horse-half human) who was a brilliant and immortal healer. He was said to have been wounded by one of his students in a way that he could not heal, and so suffered the dilemma of living in painful immortality, carrying blame for his student’s misdeed, or else, surrendering his immortality, forgiving his student and moving on and into other dimensions.

In life, we are often given probable cause to carry grudges, but the influence of Chiron gives us opportunity to lay aside any sense of blame against ourself or others, and to embrace everything that befalls us, so that we mature in our own perfection.

Johnny Carson’s 6th line Chiron gave a whole generation good cause to find attunement with, forgivennes for, and the humor to dissolve any and all of our apparent “woes.” Through his personally detached view of the world and world events, he was able to guide his guests and audience into appreciations and realizations that might have been startling had the commentary come from someone other than Johnny Carson.

In conclusion
For over 30 years, Johnny Carson was “the law” in terms of chronicling and commenting on the changing times and events through the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s in America. Early in his life, Johnny came to terms with his knack for relating with people in a charming yet humorous manner. His televised banter and commentary reassured many people to take their lives and the apparently dramatic people and events in them, less seriously.

It is clear that Johnny Carson had a quiet inner appreciation for himself which reflected brightly and outwardly into the lives of those he touched. He was able to encourage everyone to step up in their lives and to embrace their reality from a more objective and certainly more fun-loving aspect!

In his recent passing, a whole generation has lost a champion for self-appreciation.
Thank you, Johnny!

© 2005 Chetan Parkyn

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