Queen Nefertiti. 18th Dynasty of Egypt c. 1334–1332 BC.
Explorers, pirates, and all around scalawags have been searching for the fabled Fountain of Youth for centuries. Men have been fixated on finding their key to never ending longevity. There have been countless books, movies, and stage plays depicting this artifact seen as one of the most sought after relics in human history. Some believe it is a physical object while others attest it’s a golden elixir rendering the host immortal. It’s been depicted indirectly in the form of the Holy Grail’s wellspring of healing powers in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Later, in 2011, it appeared as the primary MacGuffin in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Nowadays tech bros are the latest humans obsessed with living forever through cryogenics. However, they’ve missed the point of the exercise entirely. The only true path to immortality has never been rooted in the physical world. Only through spiritual awakening by tapping and igniting our intertwined sacred feminine and masculine divine sparks can anyone ascend and overcome the world just as Jesus did so long ago. So rise up!
The latest imprint of the Fountain on modern film was realized in the 2025 film of the same name starring John Krasinski. I tried giving it a go, but within ten minutes it lost my audience. Florida’s Fountain claims to fame abound in a BBQ joint and even an official park. The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in Saint Augustine, Florida, is a tribute to Ponce de León, Spanish explorer and conquistador. He led the initial European expedition to the area he named La Florida in 1513. An imaginative history surrounds his exploits in the area that he was, in fact, looking for the Fountain of Youth. However there has been no physical evidence of his findings nor that he had anything to do with seeking the Fountain in the first place. Gold was the primary seek and find prospect as well as adamantly widening the Spanish Empire. Let’s put these bedtime stories to rest and focus on the facts. Enter Gilbert’s syndrome. When someone’s liver cannot process red blood cells properly, their bilirubin levels spike and remain in a state of abundance giving the host a boost of youth.
I come from a long family history of young ‘uns, as we call ourselves in the South. Generations of youthful souls never acting our age and always exhibiting a childlike curiosity as to the governing dynamics of our world. Two of our grandparents lived to nearly 93 years old. Mom’s mom, Ma, had porcelain skin. My parents are in their mid-80s and their skin looks like a newborn baby’s. Dad turns eighty-six soon and doesn’t have any wrinkles to speak of, and Mom receives continuous compliments from friends and strangers alike appreciating her natural beauty. When I was growing up, we had a History of the World coffee table book that had a bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti on its cover. I always told Mom that they looked like twins. She’s always possessed a magnetic spirit tied ever so closely to God. I truly believe she saved my life through prayer and petition on the day of my birth.
My life was the direct result of my parents’ spontaneity. More like my father’s friskiness. Sorry for that mental image, but I couldn’t help myself. I was conceived in Eden, North Carolina, one weekend in 1971 when my parents were visiting her brother, Uncle Bobby, and our Aunt Bitsy. Calling them eccentric was an understatement. There was no plan for my arrival. I was a direct result of spontaneous combustion, so to speak. Fast forward eight months when I was born four weeks early. The doctors were immediately alerted to my blood anomaly. An abnormally elevated bilirubin level, causing me jaundice, gave the doctor’s reason for a full blood transfusion. However, something happened that day the doctors were unable to recognize or even understand. For some unknown circumstance, the transfusion was called off. In my heart I know for a fact that I was spared by my mother’s prayers.
Both of my sisters, my parents, and I all share this youthful quality. As far as I know I’m the only one of us five that has Gilbert’s syndrome. My bilirubin amount trends on the high side with some spikes taking it nearly off the chart. Many times when I share my age with folks at places like my local bank branch, they do a double take. “You’re 53?!” I’ve been told I look like I’m in my early 40s. I have a handful of friends who also possess a truly youthful quality, and they’re both nearly 15–20 years older than me. One was even born on leap year, February 29th, so technically he’s decades younger than all of us! My other good friend was born on December 30. Both of them are highly skilled Renaissance men gifted from birth with the masterful eyes of polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci. They have been my friends and mentors for thirty years. All three of us exhibit Peter Pan’s policy of never growing up.
“Have you ever received a glowing compliment from someone you just met that you look years, even a decade or more younger than your actual age? You might have Gilbert’s syndrome. I was born four weeks early due to my high bilirubin levels.”
Who would have thought that the Fountain of Youth actually lives and breathes inside ten percent of the world’s population? These folks have a liver disorder called Gilbert’s syndrome that comes with an astounding benefit. Due to the slow nature of how these individuals’ livers process red blood cells, their bilirubin levels remain in an elevated state. The direct result of this condition is that their bodies enjoy an additional arsenal of antioxidants that folks without the syndrome do not. People notice them.
Have you ever received a glowing compliment from someone you just met that you look years, even a decade or more younger than your actual age? A year ago I was at the bank and the manager noted we were about the same age. When I told him I was fifty-three, he and the two tellers did a double take. They thought I was easily in my early forties, possibly even in my late thirties. There’s a second factor that grants us even more youthful qualities. It doesn’t require a login, password or subscription. It’s free.
Good, clean living is another factor in keeping a youthful glow. When I removed stimulants from my life, I noticed something that others did, too: I looked ten years younger. So if I don’t consume alcohol or other mind-altering substances and equip that with the high bilirubin, I not only look like a thirty-five year-old, but I feel like a teenager. Coupled with finally unearthing the correct antipsychotic medication for my bipolar one disorder, I feel like a new man every day I wake up. Thrilled to be alive!
I’ve seen former classmates that look twenty years older than me who were chronic smokers, drinkers, and tended to not face difficult situations directly. Instead they chose to drown their unfortunates with booze and weed. I can totally understand how this crutch consumed their lives because mine wasn’t all that far off. My life decisions were riddled with poor judgments. But that taught me something I could only learn through mistakes. Wisdom. It doesn’t come easily, if it comes at all. I was lucky.
According to the Roman philosopher Seneca, “luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” We make our own by playing an active role in our life development. I’ll let you in on a little secret: living a life worth living was a continuous stream of consciousness that began as a challenging task. However, after much discipline and effort, it became effortless due to the direct nature of how reality presents itself. I now bend and even break my reality, sculpting it into something resembling alchemical manifestations.
We have to be willing to give away everything we ever built, especially anything built that was tied to the seven deadly sins. On the surface, all of my friends and family thought I had a charmed life. Married, successful…wait! Yeah, I checked all of the “American Dream” boxes, but always felt empty and that I was never enough. I ignored and buried my demons in nights of mind-erasing habits. I fed these dark agents keeping them close, afraid to face them head on and let go. I gave them free rent for decades.
Then something changed when I turned fifty. I asked God to share with me “blatant signs” that I was on the correct path. Did I really phrase it that way?! Aren’t we taught to fear God and never tempt him? I guess that was all human-centric hearsay. The next morning I immediately noticed that my reality looked foreign, different. Everything felt magnetic. I could hear and understand multiple levels of consciousness all at once without ever being overwhelmed. This was just the beginning of my four-year sequel.
Synchronicities were everywhere. I was obsessed. I felt like Sherlock Holmes and Watson seeking clues to solve the latest puzzling riddle. After a month of chasing these enlightened shadows, God told me to stop looking. When I did that, I began to see everything everywhere. I not only felt connected to all living creatures, I knew that we’re also connected to every grain of sand or flash of streaking starlight across the sky. This inner knowing I now refer to as activated intuition even saved my life recently.
When we get that nudge, in this case more like a shove, it’s best to pay attention. My guardian angel has saved me dozens of times from myself. Driving drunk, falling asleep at the wheel. Name it. I did it. This time my inner voice told me, quite clearly, to wait ten seconds after the light turns green before I take the left toward home. I made my way to the light and waited for the green. Green lit up so I waited ten seconds. A car going sixty-five miles an hour blew through the red light at the ten second mark.
Why did I swerve these observations toward inner knowing? I was recently watching a Joe Rogan podcast with Dean Radin. Radin, a revered American parapsychologist, works at IONS, Institute of Noetic Sciences. As luck would have it, we have a few things in common. First off, we both have a liver disorder that prevents our bodies from correctly processing red blood cells that results in a much higher bilirubin count than others. It’s known as Gilbert’s syndrome. Also we both share predictive spontaneity.
While watching the show, my ears perked up when Dean went into detail about his liver disorder giving him a youthful quality with nearly no wrinkles on his face at age 74. There aren’t really any adverse negativities associated with the disorder. However, on the flip side, there are some truly special qualities it renders in that we appear to look younger than our actual age. He also described a parallel event to mine at that aforementioned intersection. A gut instinct that saved him from peril.
Like I’ve said before, my high bilirubin count has always been a factor of contention with doctors that started on the day of my birth. When I was born four weeks early, the doctors were concerned with my bilirubin count they ordered a full blood transfusion. However, it was called off at the last moment. I believe to this day that my mother prayed for me to be healed. She has a quality. A closeness with the divine that goes far beyond religion and belief. Her request for divine intervention was answered.
Owning our appearance doesn’t take a miracle. It’s all about being mindful. In order to evoke our youthful powers we must build a solid combination of rest, exercise, meditation, fasting, and soul work. Pair these with reducing stress and anxiety by journaling and having real one-on-one conversations in-person, and you’ll be amazed at the way you’ll feel. The days of hangovers and midnight black outs are replaced by clear cognition and awakenings. Life is far too precious to give in and give up.
Gilbert’s syndrome is just one factor of cheating the wrinkling effects of age. Environment plays a key role, too. Surround yourself with others who share your light. This liver dysfunction works to our benefit by gifting our bodies access to a plethora of additional antioxidants that the other ninety percent of the population doesn’t possess. That doesn’t make us special, just different. To explore the effects of Gilbert’s syndrome see: https://www.criver.com/eureka/the-protective-effect-of-gilbert-syndrome