We don't always recognize our teachers or their lessons. Understanding cosmic takeaway lessons can take a long time. This is how it is with the popular culture icons who engage our curiosity and/or our appreciation and then die unexpectedly.

When a large personality, like Michael Jackson, dies at a relatively young age, (and before him, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe and others you can think of), our world seems shaken initially. When we get over the initial shock and reflect on the lives of these figures, we discover lessons they were meant to pass on to us. Here are some that I intuit:

1. Teach your children well.All three people named above lacked nurturing, affection and consistency in their childhood and young adult lives. We can only speculate about what a caring, nurturing and stable family environment might have meant to their destinies. In the long run, and given their sad endings, they might have chosen family support and unconditional love over fame. Or maybe not. The enduring lesson is to love our children unconditionally so that they will never be forced to make that decision.

2. Pay attention to emotional pain demonstrated by those you love. All three of the personalities mentioned above demonstrated their emotional pain in a number of ways obvious to every one. Despite their public acting-out, there was no hue and cry for them to seek help. Had any or all of them entered therapy or rehabilitation, their lives may have gone differently. Hopefully, we have learned to act on the pain we see in the lives of our loved ones and help them as best we can. This leads directly to another lesson:

3. Do well by doing your personal best; fame and fortune will come if it's in the stars. The 20th and 21st Centuries elevated celebrities to a status that rewarded notoriety and drove a consumer market fueled by tabloid headlines and rumors. The three people mentioned above generated magazine covers, books, newspaper headlines and news about their every move. Unfortunately, the coverage was more about the salacious details of their lives than the good they did, privately and publicly. If you are truly gifted, there is no doubt your talents will lead you to the mountain top. But by concentrating on the riches that fame can bring you, you are opening yourself up to manipulation and misuse. The quest for fame and fortune leads to another lesson :

4.Support better early treatment of addictions and behavior disorders. In all three cases, mentioned here, there were warning signs and symptoms of addictive behavior - from misuse of prescription drugs, to eating disorders, to love addiction, and so on. Again, these behaviors were clearly visible to those who surrounded the personalities, and even by the public, yet no outcry resulted in public demands for help for any of them. There is a stigma attached to addiction treatment and therapies. This stigma works against recovery. The lessons to be learned from this is to recognize addictive behavior when you see it, and to confront your addicted loved one boldly.

Beneath the headlines and between the lines, popular culture icons have taught us much more than what appears on the surface. The greater the global impact of an icon's death, the greater the cosmic lessons they were meant to impart. This is not simply a cosmic view of history, but a cosmic advisory to pay attention to and act on any signs of deep discomfort we see reflected in the lives of those we love. This will keep us from ever having to say, "if only....."

07.02.09