E-Letter #1

"Perhaps modern civilization is a passing accident, but the eternal law 
may make accidents a stairway whose steps

reach to the absolute substance."- THE STORM, 

a short story written about 100 years ago by Kahlil Gibran

In his article, "The Significance of 2012", John Van Auken, Director of A.R.E., clearly defines the significant transition of 12/21/2012. Cross-correlating other timing systems, he tells us that the Maya define the 5000+ year cycle that officially ends that day as "The Age of Change", or, "The Age of Movement". The new Age that begins that date is "The Age of The Spirit of All Living Things." The Maya mark the beginning of the "Age of Change" as 3372 B.C. (700 or more years before the time when archeologists believe that the Mayan civilization established itself.) Historians and archeologists mark approximately 3500 B.C. as the beginning of (Sumerian) written alphabet, written language, written numerals, and written RECORDED history.

It seems interesting to me that the end of an era that began coinciding with writing down records, ends with the last recorded date of an extremely long Mayan calendar. Click here for an excellent timeline and for information on the late doctor Leonard Shlain's impressive book, THE ALPHABET VERSUS THE GODDESS (The Conflict Between Word and Image). As probably most people know by now, modern day Mayan elders do not expect either the world, or humanity to end on that date. However, clearly SOMETHING ENDS that date, an era ends. During that era, it seems that keeping written track of time and history, that is, tracking change itself with precision, was uniquely important to that era. Prior to this era, the Egyptians had a 12 month 360 day calendar --- close to accurate, but not precise. Hieroglyphic and pictographic records existed before this time, but those lack any arbitrary representative abstract language.

      The human mind, not heart nor soul-based intuition, uniquely dominated this terminal era. Linear thinking goes along with reading and writing such a mental language, whether written and read right to left, left to right, or top to bottom. Using such language, particularly to record history, constantly reminds one of past, present and future, and of beginning, middle and end. Such a perspective takes us away from the eternal reality of NOW, and also, away from cyclic thinking. An age of change does not value contentment with what is; an age of movement does not value remaining in the here and now. In such an age, "old" almost always means not as good, just as new almost always means "improved", better. And so it goes, in a linear world, until we come to the end of "the line" --- we then "go over a cliff" with a mindset that thinks "fiscal" = "physical", or else we come to a "dead end." However, cyclic awareness tells us that instead of that simplistic linear perspective, humans do not need to end; only an era needs to end. With the end of one era, Time, of a sort, runs out --- the sort of time that is equated with money, the sort of time that is never enough. Greek Chronos (Roman Saturn), the god of time known for eating his children alive, is due to lose his negative power, his awful appetite, or both.

NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY, NOT JUST ANOTHER YEAR 

5,384 years, the length of the ending Age, is a very long time. How long? As the song goes, "It's been a long time, been a long time, lonely, lonely time." Basically, this time frame encompasses the RECORDED human history of "the Western World." For instance, the Jewish calendar marks the beginning of time from 3760 B.C.E. (or thereabouts), and yet it would be about halfway through this era before the Hebrew Kingdom began in about 1100 B.C.E. to 1020 B.C.E. Elsewhere, King Menes the Fighter united Northern and Southern Egypt sometime between 3500 BC and 3000 BC.
      Speaking of Fighter Kings, the recorded history of change during this era overwhelmingly has been about war and conquest. Not only is "older" seen as not as good, but also abusive male dominance over the non-violent, or the not as successfully violent, defined the era. "History is written by the victors," (to quote Winston Churchill) has generally been a history glorifying the violence of the victorious. The imposition of power, dominance, acquisition, intimidation, deprivation, pain, suffering and death marked what has been deemed what is "great" in this era. Whether in the name of any abstract "ism" of the era; whether the "ism" be "religious" or economic and/or political, dominance by the new has always ruled this era.
      Such hostile imposition occurred not just between humans, but similarly, involved imposition on all living beings and Earth Herself. A case can be made that the passing era is the worst time, or one of the worst times, in the experience of humans' time on earth. How so? This has been an era of appalling abuse and murder of so many truly innocent beings in massive numbers; including, for just a few examples: entire forests of trees and ecosystems, nearly all buffalo, innumerable sea turtles, and of worldwide genocides, even of untold millions of human babies and the elderly. All these atrocities have been rationalized in the name of mental abstractions like "progress," "manifest destiny" and other such sterile lies to Soul. 

      When Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization, he said, "It would be a good idea."   (Humor and truth at once, in just a few words)

What have they done to the Earth?
What have they done to our fair Sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped Her and bit
Her Stuck Her with knives in the side of the Dawn
And tied Her with fences and dragged Her down
(--- an excerpt from THE END, a lyrical poem,
shared by the late Jim Morrison of "The DOORS")

      The ancient Mayans divided this very long Age into thirteen subcycles, called "baktuns." The last  of these baktuns began part way into 1618 A.D. Note that the Plymouth colonization dates from 1620, with other British colonization of America already underway in Virginia , etc. baktun has been the heyday of (North) American capitalist exploitation of all living things. It is cyclically logical to see that 12/21/2012 is the beginning of the end of American dominance of all living things. (Note that neither Marxism nor communism will likely be our "solution," as the age of ALL ideological "isms," the stuff of abstract thought, seems to be ending simultaneously.)

      Our modern day U.S. political-military-Wall Street American Elite has brought this regrettable ugly Age of movement to its most extreme precedent, outdoing even earlier genocides and atrocities by other nations. The better the technology is, the greater the devastation. Meanwhile, as Bruce Spector reveals in his important book, MADNESS at the Gates of the City (The Myth of American Innocence), the American elite perpetrators see themselves as innocent, and their victims (even the unarmed children and elderly) as worthy of the "justice" doled out, at the expense and in the name of, ordinary American people. No other social elite, since Atlantis, has tortured and destroyed so much and so many, and in such hideously cruel ways. "Better living through technology?" Obviously, the honest answer is, "No, not really," as the ever-increasing enormity of atrocities have been directly related to the level of soulless mind-originating technology. Meanwhile, George Monbiot of the Guardian magazine (11/19/2012) reminds us that "If Children Lose Contact With Nature They Won't Fight For It". Technology has insidiously addicted us, especially children, to indoor devices that take us away from nature, like no other humans who have ever lived (except, I would add, since Atlantis). And yet, it seems that to the Maya, even all grim things and times must come to an end, without the end of either planet or humanity. And not a moment too soon, I would say.
      What's new in the Mayan sense of the New Age? Van Auken sees this new age as a time when our souls regain awareness of the essence of life, rather than the form. To put this another way, I see this time as the de-valuing of materialism, greed, conquest and acquisition. Van Auken also sees this as a time of regaining a sense of energy and spirit, rather than only physicality and matter. With such a perspective, he writes, people awaken to the spirit of all living things. I see this spirit, this attitude, as inclusive of full environmental awareness wherein we humans see ourselves in mutual coexistence with all of creation. Van Auken, personally, also believes that in this age, as is written in the biblical Book of Revelation, Light overcomes darkness; God overcomes Evil; Satan is bound for 1,000 years, and a Golden Age coincides with those 1,000 years.

AND BEYOND

The Mayan Age that will follow The Age of the Spirit of All Living Things will be An Age of Melting Into Oneness Again --- to be at one with Spirit and creation. (As the song goes, "Let me get back, Let me get back, to Baby, where I come from....")  Earlier Ages lasted even longer than the Age of Change, but from now on, as the saying goes, "Who's counting?!" Extrapolating into the future from now on is apparently no longer important, as no longer is the future (literally) "set in stone" (Mayan stone calendar). At some unknown time, perhaps soon, perhaps much later, the Age of the Spirit of All Living Things will segue into the "last" Age, the Age (Melting Into Oneness). The Nature of the seemingly "final" Age is the same consciousness as pre-Creation. Instead of being "final," the so-called "last" Age, whenever it might come, is really a return to the Beginning. This fits with the Mayan concept of Cyclic, not linear time. That "last" age is, in essence, not at all last in a linear sense. Remember, linear thinking monopolizing "truth" officially ends 12/21/2012. The straight line curves, and becomes a circle. It's now time to live in the circle of oneness --- don't be "square" (to paraphrase the beatniks of the 1950's). 

WILL THINGS REALLY BE THAT DIFFERENT 12/22/2012? 

Well, all this Mayan and Van Auken stuff sounds good to me, and probably to you, as well, I guess. Yet, the transition of Ages is a process that has been underway long before 12/21/2012, and we can expect the transition to continue after 12/21/2012, as well. No matter what might be your belief system, in order to try and understand the transition process, consider the "Christian era" arbitrarily marked from "Zero" between B.C. (or B.C.E., if you will) and A.D. (or C.E., if you will). Purportedly "Zero" corresponded to Christ's birth. Did the world consciousness energetically "change" at that birth? Maybe, instead, things changed when Jesus was said to be 12, in the temple with the elders, or was it thirty years later when Jesus supposedly began his ministry? Perhaps it was three years later at time of crucifixion and resurrection? What if the real energetic change began even some time later, or much earlier at the Annunciation? We can forget such trivial concerns for precise time now, and just "be" with the "transition time". Those who celebrate the arbitrary birth of the latest version of the birth of the "Sun King", at the time of year of the beginning of longer days and shorter nights, believe the special-ness began at the moment of that birth, in humble circumstances.
      Of course, "Lost Soul" skeptics frown, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly style, and derisively jeer, "December 21st 2012 is just another day." But truly, most of us have come a long, sad way from the full awareness consciousness of indigenous people, who saw every day as a wondrous miracle, beginning with the return of the light with sunrise.  

"There are only two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though EVERYTHING is a miracle!"
--- Albert Einstein

      As we enter this Age of the Spirit of All Living Things, those truly alive live as if everything is a miracle, with a sense of the wonder of Nature all around us, and within us. Meanwhile, the Zombie-like rationalizers, Soul-dead inside, co-exist with the lively Souls in our time of transition. Look into the eyes of another; look into a mirror. What do you see? Do you like what you see? "How's that working out for you?" It's your life of ultimate nothingness, or your life of ongoing miraculousness. As comedian Eddie Izzard reminds us, we have choice in life, "Cake, or Death?" And, as Bob Dylan sang, "He not busy bein' born is busy dyin".
      As an astrologer, I see our change beginning energetically, at the "birth" of the Age, the moment of Winter Solstice 2012, appropriately enough, in the early morning hours for North America. (6:11:36 a.m. EST). Winter Solstice is the beginning of longer days and shorter nights, symbolically the beginning of Light overpowering Darkness, even as winter begins in the northern hemisphere. The ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia for five days, 12/17-23, overlapping Winter Solstice. This was seen as a time of loosening of restricting bonds and limitations. In ordinary years, this time corresponded to a celebration of letting go of the previous year. However, with this new Age starting 12/21/2012, we are also released from obligation to be restricted by over five thousand years of the limiting of our planet's collective potential, and invited to the awakening to the Spirit of All Living Beings. This time is indeed a "big deal," no matter what well-meaning spokespersons for the U.S. Federal Government say. How big a "deal"? Each of us holds a "full house" and everybody is meant to win! Superiority, dominance, violence, etc. are now becoming passé, as their power wanes in the light of the new day, the new Age of mutuality and inter-relatedness comes in.

IS THERE A "DOWN SIDE" (OR TWO) TO THIS CHANGE?

Transition between Ages, however, tends to be marked by Earth changes and severe weather events, such as a Great Flood. Many will likely die, either in the final death throes of the desperate abusers, and/or amidst environmental degradation and tragedy. Late October 2012's devastating Hurricane Sandy seemed to be a warning of what will, or might be, yet to come. Although "Sandy" can be either a male or female nickname, if female, it can be short for "Sandra", or even "Cassandra". Mythologically, it was Cassandra who rejected the typically insensitive sexual overtures of Apollo (god of "civilization") who then placed a cursed on her that her prophecies would not be believed. We might say that the environmentalists who have been trying to warn America's V.I.P.s about our environmental crisis are the "Cassandras" of our Age of transition. Despite Sandy's devastation, no one in significant power is really listening. Obviously, this business-as-usual stance is likely to have unprecedented consequences. And yet, the Mayans assure us that this current change of Age will not be the end of us all.

      "...Beyond all beings there is an eternal wisdom, fashioning from such disasters and misfortunes a good result we do not see. The fire, earthquakes, and storms are, in earth's body, like the hatred, malice, and evil in the human heart. They rage and clamor - and abate. From their rage and clamor and from their abating the gods create the profound knowledge that man acquires at the price of his tears and blood and treasure." from "THE UNSEEING FORCE", a short story from about 100 years ago by Kahlil Gibran.