Failed prophecy
There's much ado about prophecy these days, with commentators divided between believers and skeptics.
In one corner, there are the end-times advocates who contend we're in the final days, that the return of Jesus to straighten out the mess is imminent, and that only certain Christians will survive. Of course, people have been saying this for the past 2,000 years. How bad does it have to get before The Savior makes an appearance?
Jews are still waiting for their Messiah, after some 3,000 years, while Muslims await the arrival of their Mahdi to make things right.
And there are those who pay attention to the Mayan and ancient East Indian calendars, both of which end in 2012 and predict the end of "this world" and the birth of a new world. It's a bit vague, though, as to whether there will be a leader involved in this transformation.
Do you put any stock in prophecy?
One school of thought maintains that a fulfilled prophecy is a failed prophecy, that the purpose of prophecy is to wake people up and inspire them to change course.
In that respect, I'm continually reminded of George Orwell's prophetic novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four". The British writer uncannily saw a future world of endless wars with nebulous enemies. Published in 1949, the work accurately foresaw the current deployment of U.S. troops around the world, fighting wars this nation had no business getting into, hypnotized by the dulcet tones of Big Brother assuring the people that all is well, and a totalitarian government that sought to control the lives of its citizens. The current policies of misinformation, "doublespeak," torture, and government eavesdroping on private citizens was eerily predicted. Fortunately, Big Brother Bush is no longer able to fool the populace as he did in 2003, when he launched an invasion of Iraq to "instill democracy" in that chaotic, factionalized land. Unfortunately, American youth are still dying because of this madman's folly. And he still won't admit that he was wrong.
Was it prophecy? Was Orwell's vision simply that of a person who could see where things were headed and who tried to warn people, to wake them up? Isn't that what prophecy is all about? The predicted outcome is only inevitable if the words are ignored -- as they usually are.
While some people seem to be content being led around by the nose by "leaders," or waiting for "saviors" to emerge to make it all go away, I'm encouraged to see a grassroots movement in this country, outside government, to do what needs to be done -- without relying upon charismatic leaders.
It's long past time to wake up and become active.
posted by Michael C. Sullivan @ 4:17 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Dear Friends,
Several large spiritual movements are today preparing for their
participation in the Global Peace Meditations during the period May 19-26, centered on the midpoint of the Fifth day of the Galactic Underworld.
See www.Commonpassion.org.
That movements like the Club of Budapest, TM and the diksha movement are collaborating to manifest peace on these days based on a common intention and passion means that the Breakthrough Celebration has reached a new level.
Different movements are participating on their own terms and with their own unique contributions to these manifestations. This means that unlike most peace meditations that has been held so far this one is not based on a single movement, practice or idea, but on a common multifaceted passion for peace.
Obviously for those that do not belong to any of these movements there are also opportunities to create a participation locally with likeminded people.
This, for instance, will happen around the old town of Jerusalem where songs will be sung in the languages of the world.
You sometimes get the impression that participating in a global meditation of peace is something that you "should" do. In this case, with the particular set-up of these upcoming peace meditations, I would rather look upon it as a privilege to be able to participate.
The fact that possible effects will be measured by the Global Consciousness Project adds to the excitement, although I feel personally that participation is an end in itself.
I encourage people everywhere who want to manifest peace to create events and the opportunities for others to participate in this. I would also like to encourage people who belong to a movement
that seeks to manifest peace on this planet to encourage them to participate on their own terms but in concert with the intentions of the other movements. I also encourage everyone to make these events and their multifaceted nature known as broadly as possible.
All that feel called please communicate your plans to the www.Commonpassion.org web site created, notably, by the teams of Joseph Giove and Birgitte Rasine.
There will be no shift of the ages outside of ourselves!
In Lak'ech
Carl Johan
The upcoming Breakthrough Celebration on May 2 (11 Ahau) has a special significance. It is then exactly a katun (20 tun periods of 360 days = 7200 days) since the celebration of the Harmonic Convergence, August 16-17, 1987. In the prophetic Mayan calendar system the katun was a very important time period and we know for instance that the ancient shaman kings of the Maya would celebrate when another katun had passed in their lives. Even if this may seem very alien to modern people there is no astronomical basis for the katun whatsoever and its importance derives from the fact that this is a rhythm inherent in divine creation in the great cosmic scheme. Also individual events, like births of individuals, create a katun-based rhythm and this is true also for the Harmonic Convergence.
For those who remember the Harmonic Convergence it was an event that relatively rapidly caught on in the US in the summer of 1987. José Argüelles had been the chief campaigner, partly through his book The Mayan Factor. While few really knew what to expect, this event was the beginning of a more large-scale resonance among people to the idea that we were living in a time plan for evolution driven by spiritual energies. It also meant the first emergence of the Mayan calendar in modern times as a matrix for this evolution. The days August 16-17, 1987, were celebrated in a wide variety of ways and it had the great appeal of a unity in intention, combined with a variety in expression. Certainly, most were not aware of the background in the Mayan calendar but were drawn to it anyway. Many at this time reached states of contact with a higher reality and some experienced the event as an opening to a spiritual revival of the planet. Even people who did not actively participate have shared that synchronistic with the Harmonic Convergence. They experienced callings for their life to take a new direction. To me personally, who was at the Bahamas at the time following a Loving Relationship Training, it meant an experience of the beginning of a period of rebirth as a Mayan and a path to a message about the Mayan calendar system.
It should be pointed out that the Harmonic Convergence was recognized as a significant event by some other indigenous groups. Initially, the date for this event was brought to the attention of a few seekers, including Argüelles, by the late Tony Shearer, a Native American; and it deserves to be pointed out that these dates were based on the true Sacred Aztec-Mayan calendar.
It turned out that the new energy that was entering at Harmonic Convergence was not only enthusiastically experienced by spiritual seekers, but also became the beginning of the dissolution of the East-West bloc polarity that at that time had been dominating the world for about 40 years. Thus, a wave of democracy swept not only the Eastern bloc, but also large other areas of the world; and as the last katun of the Planetary Underworld began on February 11, 1992, the Soviet Union had collapsed (December 1991); the EU and the Maastricht Treaty had been instituted (February 1992); and the first web page had been posted (August of 1991). The final katun of the Planetary Underworld began based on a network of communications hitherto unknown, and great enthusiasm emerged in a world of relative peace (after the first Gulf War), which upheld few barriers to contacts between people. I was disappointed at the time by the way the Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union lost their previous freedom from commercialism. The new world born from the new katun in 1992 did not incorporate the best of both worlds, and the downfall of the barriers happened entirely on Western terms.
Nonetheless, the Harmonic Convergence certainly marked the beginning of an opening to the new world that would manifest at this katun shift. It also meant the emergence of a new broader spirituality that was more cosmic in nature. I feel it should be noted that the dates May 2 and 3 of the current year are perfectly in phase with the Harmonic Convergence (the actual katuniversary of August 16, 1987 is May 3, 2007) and that the Breakthrough Celebration continues the calendrical tradition that the Harmonic Convergence was conceived in. Hence, I feel we should celebrate also this katuniversary in the spirit of an opening, a preparation leading into the large-scale peace meditations that will occur around the midpoint of the Fifth day of the Galactic Underworld, May 22, 2007. Major spiritual movements and organizations working with the transformation of consciousness will then partake in celebrations (see www.commonpassion.org) with the common theme of peace - being peace and radiating peace - in order to create a harmonic coherence in the world.
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