Global Transformation

Actually, these are not New Age ideas at all: they come straight from Buddhist and Hindu teachings on the Law of Karma. According to this view, all things are causally conditioned, so what happens today is due to previous causes, and present actions sow seeds for the future. If catastrophic Earth Changes devastate the planet, it will be no accident: there will be real, identifiable causes. Can we be so blind as to imagine that centuries of warfare, strife and conflict have no lasting effect on the life of Earth itself?

Current science is not equipped to calculate the subtle, cumulative effects of combative human consciousness on the environment. Our science, military, and industrial complexes will certainly deny responsibility for geological upheaval, and turn a blind eye to the long-term effects of dam building, oil drilling, strip mining, nuclear testing, deforestation, industrial emissions, chemical pollution, and so on and on. Unfortunately, not many people in positions of worldly power appreciate their responsibility for maintaining our world as a healthy, happy home.

However, the real point I’m making is not to assign blame, but rather to raise the issue of how we view such upheaval. In the stock markets, crash equals correction, not catastrophe, because it restores sanity to a grossly imbalanced, inflated market. A similar kind of imbalance and inflation describes our materialistic, image-obsessed, competitive human civilization very well, and our assessment of its worth is also unrealistically overvalued. This is not to deny the valuable technological advance in so many fields; without doubt, there have been many improvements over the centuries. But if we take a close look at the money-based culture which we all take for granted, which most people simply assume is ‘just the way it is’, we see that it has come to captivate our lives. The subtle, trickle-down effects of world consumer-culture are far more destructive than most of us imagine. They are directly related to high divorce and suicide rates, mass neurosis, terrorism and ethnic unrest everywhere. It’s not entirely wrong to say "money is the root of all evil".

One doesn’t have to be a fortune teller to know that the next 15 years will be full of upheaval. For our own peace of mind as well as Earth’s destiny, it is essential to ponder the meaning of these changes — both before and during their occurrence.

New Age or Apocalypse?

I often think about the future. In fact, I probably think about it every day. I have no doubt this is a special time in history, a turning point, a time when multiple forces are converging, clashing, and coming to fruition. It’s a time of great individual confusion and soul-searching, together with a growing sense of global community. Of course, sectarian divisions of all kinds are also raging, and many people feel their personal liberty under attack. As humanity senses our greater solidarity, we can also feel ourselves splitting apart at the seams. It is a time of sharpening polarity.

But this brief social review doesn’t tell the whole story: there is also a prophetic undertone to the present time. Perhaps the loudest of the prophets crying in the wilderness are the those of various New Age persuasions sharing their dreams of imminent Utopia, and the more pragmatic scientists and futurists who predict social implosion and environmental chaos. And Christian fundamentalists, warning of fast-approaching Apocalypse and the false Messiah, are right by their side. So you might ask, what will it be — a leap into Paradise or collapse into Chaos?

As I see it, the end of this century and the beginning of the next will treat us to both: an unprecedented, rapid decay of current civilization followed by a equally stupendous rebirth, with long-term implications beyond our wildest dreams. Ultimately, I also expect wondrous things for Earth and her people, but before that happens, a profound Dark Night of the Soul will shake humanity to its roots. In the language of Wall Street, I think we can look forward to some major ‘corrections’ on many levels: personal, collective, and metaphysical.

While alarming for some, this kind of shakedown may not be such a bad thing after all. Without going into an extended social critique, I can only say that such crisis is not accidental, and given human consciousness and our history of conflict, it’s unavoidable. Stated simply:

Humanity on Earth is fully responsible for the misery on Earth,
and the root-causes of disharmony and confusion
must be ‘worked out’ in the body and soul of the planet.