"The Beat Goes On”: Then, Now, and the Rhythm of Humanity
- Paula Sadler
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
5-14-2027
This morning, after I fell into the pool while cleaning it and had to laugh at myself—as it’s the first time I slipped and fell in my pool that I can remember—I thought to myself, that’s what we all need: a good laugh. And then somehow this song came into my head: “The Beat Goes On.” And isn’t that true about what’s going on in the world right now?
The lyrics couldn’t be any more true now than they were in 1967 as we think about what was happening in the world at the time: the Civil Rights Movement, the LGBTQ movement, the Vietnam War, major cultural and social and global upheavals and changes—life moving forward with or without us.
When I think about the nearly 8.5 billion people in the world, certainly the beat goes on. One man, one political group, one person is not in control of nearly 8.5 billion people. Each individual person and soul is sovereign, first belonging to the Creator of the Universe—to God, if you will, whatever you call that source of power. And it is not owned or sanctified by one religion or one spiritual group. There is no one organization, group, religion, or church that has dominion or special access to the Creator of the Universe more than another.
No matter if the highest religious and spiritual person in the world—whether it is a pope, an imam, Buddha reincarnated, or just your everyday person—each has equal access and equal ability to receive divine inspiration and guidance. There is no one above another or more superior. We are all equal.
And I thought about the current state of affairs of the world and what we really need right now. Maybe all of us need a little slip in the pool and to laugh at ourselves.
Although there are many things which we are not able to laugh about because they are too tragic. They are not just an accident, not just a slip and fall. They are deliberate acts of oppression, prejudice, bigotry, war, anger, hatred, violence, terror, bewilderment, death, and killing. And many of these things are done in the name of religion and in the name of a country or government. Truly sad.
And we cannot laugh at that.
But we must still be able to find humor and also understand that the beat goes on. The world will keep turning, and we will get through this.
And as we look at the overwhelming arc of history, we know that authoritarian oppressive regimes come and go. Sometimes they may last a decade or half a century—maybe even a few hundred years of such injustice. Yet the world moves on.
And we will never forget those who have caused such great harm. And we will never forget those who brought justice, hope, peace, empathy, courage, compassion, understanding, love—a universal message of oneness, of a global community and a global family. We will always remember them. They are our heroes.
But what would heroes be without villains? What would our movies be without a main character and supporting cast? Where would the protagonist be without the antagonist? The light to the dark, the day to the night—these dueling opposites, one and the same in the world in which we live. Such dueling paradoxes: peace and war.
But we must still hope for a better and brighter future where we will grow as a global family and community toward unconditional love.
It is not just an ideal. It is not some unrealistic utopian future that will never exist. We will claim it. We will be it. We will live it. And it is already being lived by individuals now in the world.
Out of nearly 8.5 billion people, I truly believe that most inherently are good. We have a few bad players, a few bad actors, who are causing much of the trouble there is. And it may seem exciting—we want our news waves filled with this kind of information to excite us. It’s the things that movies are made of and books are written about and stories are told about: overcoming such great and insurmountable odds.
Let us continue to move toward complete and total global healing and unconditional love because the beat goes on.
Let us really look at this song and what they were saying as we are coming up on the 60th anniversary of this song soon. Almost 60 years have passed.
And where are we now?
The Song That Captured a Changing World
The Beat Goes On was released in late 1966 and became one of the defining songs of 1967—a year often remembered as the beginning of a massive social and cultural awakening in the United States and around the world.
Written by Sonny Bono and performed by Sonny & Cher, the song sounds playful and light on the surface, but underneath it is deeply philosophical. It is about time, change, generational conflict, progress, memory, and the unstoppable momentum of humanity itself.
The refrain is hypnotic:
“The beat goes on, the beat goes on Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain…”
That “beat” is civilization itself. Humanity evolving. Culture changing. History marching forward whether we are comfortable with it or not.
In 1967, America was in upheaval:
The Vietnam War was escalating.
The Civil Rights Movement was reshaping the country.
Women were challenging restrictive gender roles.
LGBTQ people, though still largely underground publicly, were beginning to organize and demand dignity and visibility.
Young people were rejecting rigid conformity and questioning authority.
Music, art, spirituality, fashion, and politics were all transforming simultaneously.
The song captures that feeling perfectly.
When the lyrics say:
“Charleston was once the rage…History has turned the page…”
they are acknowledging that every generation believes its worldview is permanent—until history moves on.
And history always moves on.
“Men Still Keep on Marching Off to War”
One of the most haunting lines in the song is:
“And men still keep on marching off to war…”
In 1967, this line carried enormous weight because thousands of young Americans were being drafted into Vietnam. Families were divided. Protest movements were growing. Television was bringing the horrors of war directly into living rooms for the first time.
And here we are in 2026.
Different wars. Different technologies. Different political figures.
Yet humanity is still struggling with many of the same issues:
nationalism,
authoritarianism,
propaganda,
religious extremism,
prejudice,
inequality,
fear,
greed,
and the abuse of power.
The beat goes on.
But so does resistance. So does compassion. So does courage. So does love.
There Was No “Perfect Golden Age”
There is often a romanticized vision of the 1950s and early 1960s as though America once existed in perfect morality and harmony and simply needs to “go back.”
But back for whom?
For many people:
segregation was legal,
women had limited rights and opportunities,
LGBTQ people were criminalized and forced into silence,
interracial marriage faced hostility and legal barriers,
disabled people were hidden away,
conformity was enforced through fear and shame.
The revolution that happened during the 1960s was not moral collapse.
It was moral expansion.
It was society beginning—however imperfectly—to recognize the humanity of more people.
That movement toward inclusion, equality, dignity, and freedom was necessary. It was part of a healing process. And that process must continue forward, not backward.
We can never truly go backward. History does not move in reverse. The beat goes on.
False Morality vs. True Values
One of the greatest dangers in history is when prejudice disguises itself as morality.
There were—and still are—people who sincerely believed they were defending “virtue” while promoting systems rooted in exclusion, fear, oppression, and superiority.
Anything rooted in prejudice, bigotry, hatred, and oppression is not a value at all.
It is a distortion of value.
A false virtue.
A counterfeit morality.
There was self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and bigotry masquerading as morality. That truth cannot be changed. But we can look at it honestly and grow from it.
That is what humanity is being called to do now.
Not erase history. Not deny it. Not glorify it.
But learn from it.
Why Humor Matters Even in Difficult Times
What struck me most this morning after falling into the pool was how quickly laughter broke fear and tension.
For a moment, I was reminded: we are human.
We slip. We fall. We embarrass ourselves. We survive. We laugh. We keep going.
That does not diminish the seriousness of suffering in the world. There are tragedies too painful for humor.
But laughter can remind us that authoritarianism is not all-powerful. Fear is not all-powerful. Hatred is not all-powerful.
Humanity survives partly because we continue finding joy, music, beauty, humor, art, friendship, spirituality, and love—even during the darkest times.
That too is part of the beat.
“The Beat Goes On” in 2026
Nearly 60 years later, the song feels prophetic.
Technology has changed. The world population has exploded. Information travels instantly. Artificial intelligence, global media, and social networks shape culture in real time.
And yet human beings are still wrestling with the same eternal questions:
Who belongs?
Who has dignity?
Who deserves freedom?
What is truth?
What is morality?
What does it mean to love one another?
The answer cannot be domination. It cannot be superiority. It cannot be fear.
The future belongs to those willing to expand compassion rather than shrink humanity.
And despite everything, I still believe most people are inherently good.
That belief matters.
Because cynicism alone cannot build a better world. Hope can.
Love can.
Community can.
Nearly 60 years later, the song feels less like nostalgia and more like a mirror reflecting humanity back to itself. Different faces, different wars, different technologies—but the same human longing for meaning, justice, love, and freedom.
And still… the beat goes on.
— Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler Founding Minister, Universal Rainbow Faith
Prayer & Meditation for “And Still the Beat Goes On”
Bridging 1967 to 2026 — A Portal of Healing, Humanity, and Hope
Take a deep breath.
Feel the rhythm of your heartbeat.
Feel the breath moving in and out of your body like waves upon the shore.
Now imagine yourself standing in a sacred space between time and eternity… between memory and possibility… between the old world and the new.
Behind you are nearly sixty years of human history since The Beat Goes On first entered the world.
You can hear the echoes: the protests, the songs, the cries for justice, the marches, the prayers, the wars, the revolutions, the heartbreak, the hope.
You can feel the heartbeat of humanity pulsing through every generation.
And now imagine before you a great doorway of light.
A portal.
A threshold between worlds.
One world rooted in fear, separation, hatred, prejudice, resentment, violence, greed, domination, and the wounds of the past.
And another world waiting to be born: a world of compassion,truth,justice,healing,understanding,balance,equality,and unconditional love.
We stand now between those worlds.
We are witnessing the shedding away of that which no longer serves humanity.
The old systems tremble. The old fears rise to the surface. The hidden wounds reveal themselves to be healed.
And though the moment may feel chaotic, overwhelming, frightening, or uncertain…
this transformation is not accidental.
Humanity is evolving.
The beat goes on.
The heartbeat of humanity. The heartbeat of the human soul. The heartbeat of compassion. The heartbeat of love. The heartbeat of God moving through every living thing.
Take another breath.
And now say quietly within yourself:
I do not belong to fear. I do not belong to hatred.I do not belong to division. I belong to love. I belong to truth.I belong to the sacred rhythm of life itself.
See humanity now standing together across generations.
The young and the old. The forgotten and the celebrated. The wounded and the healing. Every race. Every identity. Every nation. Every soul.
See millions of hearts beginning to awaken.
Not all at once. But steadily. Like dawn rising over the Earth.
And as this awakening unfolds, we name clearly the harms of the past:prejudice,bigotry,violence,oppression,abuse,cruelty,war,and hatred masquerading as virtue.
We name these things not to remain trapped within them, but so they may finally be healed.
For what is named truthfully may be transformed lovingly.
And now we step boldly forward.
Through the portal. Through the doorway. Through the threshold of consciousness.
Not devolving…but evolving.
Not retreating…but awakening.
Not returning to fear…but moving courageously toward greater love.
We enter this new age consciously.
The Age of Aquarius. The age of expanded awareness. The age of interconnected humanity. The age where wisdom, compassion, intuition, science, spirit, justice, and love begin learning to walk hand in hand.
And though the road ahead may still contain struggle, humanity will continue forward.
Because the beat goes on.
The soul goes on.
Love goes on.
And somewhere beneath all noise and chaos, the sacred rhythm of creation still pulses through the Universe, calling us forward into a brighter tomorrow.
Take one final deep breath.
And remember:
You are not separate from humanity.
You are part of the heartbeat.
And still…the beat goes on.
— Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler Founding Minister, Universal Rainbow Faith
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