Talkin' 2012 Blues

[Phlash]

I have very mixed feelings about the 2012 end-date concept. I’m a highly educated professional and I know that it is not rational to be completely fixated on a date that an ancient civilization claims will bring with it the end of this phase of human existence. This kind of thinking is what makes it so easy to poke fun at Christian fundamentalists and their obsession with the apocalypse or the “Rapture.” And yet this is a concept to which I have been attracted since I first read McKenna in the early ‘90s.

In the past fourteen years almost everything I see happening around me seems to be another signal that the singularity is approaching – life itself seems to be speeding up through information technologies. Religious wars and wars over scarce resources are being fought. When I summon the courage to have the “end of the world” conversation with those that I do not consider mystics or particularly tuned in, I am stunned by how many people admit to feeling it as well.

Here in New York the possibility of death by terror seems to looms around every corner these days. On 9/11 I was 2 1/2 blocks from the WTC. I was in the thick of it. It was mythological in scope. And the feeling in New York in the days and weeks after 9/11 was unmistakable to me. It was the feeling one has after having ones head broken open on psychedelics. Actually, much like the lingering empathy from a massive dosage of E. That and abject paranoia. 9/11 was a psychedelic event if ever I have experienced one.

Everything seems to happening just as McKenna said it would and it looks like the whole human project is about to come unglued.

Indeed, this is a feeling that has been confirmed for me in no uncertain terms under the influence of Aya. Positive visions of a time when all humans recognize that the time is NOW. Negative scenes of a nuclear winter, or of watching oil, the blood of Gaia flowing underground and hearing a voice in my head that tell me that the oil must be purged; that the time of the humans is over. And the intense feeling that this all has something to do with our DNA.

We had a child this year. He’s turning one next month. One of my big goals right now is to get him out of the City before something really bad happens. Acting on such an impulse is foreign to me, but I cannot help it. I know something is coming. My intuition is that things are going to get very ugly before they get better. Assuming they get better. But does it really matter what physical space you occupy? I’m not sure.

At night I dream of Aliens. Avatars from the future? I have never given much credence to crop circles and the like, but Daniels recent postings have me wondering exactly what I’m looking at.

And through it all I try to remind myself that 2012 may bring a new, peaceful and more fulfilling dimension into being, but I have to admit its sometimes (often) scary living here at the end of history, knowing this is in fact the end of history.

Anyone else feeling any of this?

[Lowlight]

i have been thinking about this type of thing for a while now. I def agree that if we will get to some kind of better state then it will not be without a time of mass destruction first. we have gone too far to not suffer the consequences of our collective actions. But we may enter a time of healing after that period has ended. as for the actual 2012 date i think it may be only a kind of pointer in that the events may come to full unfolding around that time. I dont exactly expect to wake up on the first of January and be transfigured. Also if we are to grow during this time in terms of mind or community i think that growth itself will present its own challenges, struggles and conflicts. I simply do not believe that we will all love one another and walk of into the sunsets of our collective imagination. for that to occur would require the end of time itself, we would have to be released from the actual machinations of time as a process. It would have to be abolished. This is not something i think happens to humans, It maybe a state we can reach through many lives and trails as individuals but not collectively all at once on a mass scale. I mean do you think we have deserved that? I am dissapointed daily by what i see around me, it would be an act of divine grace boardering on lunacy to give us such a gift to all. Humanity is, i think, more of a battleground to make the self and as such it will always be. It may itself move in cycles of better to worse times (Kali Yuga etc) but essentially it will be the same arena for the bringing forth of the self.

[daniel]

hi phlash,

hard for me answer you here as i am in the midst of finishing a 700 page book that tries to answer your question!

i think we could see ancient mythic civilizations tapped into different forms of knowledge that are no less accurate and logical than western materialist science, and the maya had very evolved reasons for arriving at the 2012 date -- check out John Major Jenkins Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 for more info.

As for apocalypse versus "good times," my understanding is increasingly that any duality one can posit is going to be superseded by the actuality - "the squamous facts exceed the squeemous mind." (Wallace Stevens?)

My perspective is that reality is becoming more psychically responsive and less materially dense, hence the psychic vibes we put out are affecting the reality we experience at deeper levels as we go deeper into the transition. It is clear to me we are already in a different place than five or ten years ago. The Psyche is becoming real, as Jung predicted would happen (see his book on the flying saucers, etc.). Therefore running away can serve no purpose at all. The goal is to work on one's self - intensify consciousness - until you can begin to hold the new vibration of mind that is coming to us.

I am completely certain that 2012 is going to mean a utopian and harmonic situation on the Earth. The shadow we see now is merely obscuring the light. The governmental maniacs are projecting the shadow into the material realm rather than integrating it on an individual level - and that is the work that must be done.

I don't think it is productive to think in terms of "mass cataclysm" for several reasons: First, it causes you to freeze up in fear and anxiety. But second, the idea of a "mass" cataclysm is, to me, part of the previous consciousness structure - as defined by Gebser in The Ever-Present Origin - the mental-rational structure. The new structure of consciousness that is now forming is not concerned with abstract quantities, statistics, and masses. It is concerned with specific, subtle, qualities of reality. I can't have anything to do with abstract masses, but I can work to intensify my own consciousness and help the liberation and positive evolution of people with whom I come into contact.

The attempt by the media and the government to create a climate of fear is an attempt to hold the old vibration of consciousness, which no longer functions. The climate of fear is also a good training ground for cultivating fearlessness.

[Phlash]

Daniel,

Thanks for that thoughtful response. I am in the midst of reading Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 right now. I think my tone in my post reflected a lot of personal anxiety that I have going on right now - waiting to hear about a job offer, etc., more than any real anxiety that that another building near me is about to explode. The primary reason for leaving NYC is so that our son can know his family. This is a good reason to leave (as opposed to fear of violence). If there's one thing that Aya teaches its the importance of family values!

I know in my heart that you are correct about being able to hold the vibration of conciousness that is coming. I've felt the vibe and its overwhelming at firm. Sometimes its hard to hold the fear at bay. I love your thought that "the climate of fear is also a good training ground for cultivating fearlessness". As on a trip so in this state. In both places fear is the enemy. I really need to begin to do Yoga and/or meditate in a more serious way.

I'm looking forward to your book - you better hurry and publish before 2012!

[okster]

A new book may be of interest:

You Have the Power: Choosing Courage in a Culture of Fear by Frances Moore Lappe and Jeffrey Perkins

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1585423122/

All about dealing with fear....

[jalien]

Phlash!
(waaa-ahh)
yes yoga
what a miracle

i started yoga
two months ago
after a decade of
nightly back pain

and lo!
if i am not cured
with daily practice

in the comfort of my home
aided solely by this (http://www.harpercollins.com.au/title.cfm?ISBN=0007175310&Author=0019114)

my hopes for 2012
is the fulfulment of a simple promise
BEGONE! time is money
WELCOME! time is art

why looky here
an unsold artist!
visionaryart.biz (http://visionaryart.biz)

http://www.elftrance.com/Images/jalien.gif
freetopia (http://freetopia.blogspot.com)

[gone]

Originally posted by jalien:
an unsold artist!That sounds rather noble.

You could use it at the end of emails, 'Yours, unsold, Jalien.'

[Halfglass]

Gelfer: Or, as I do; consider one's self an umemployed philosopher working a day job.

[Gordon Campbell Morrice]

Gelfer: Or, as I do; consider one's self an umemployed philosopher working a day job.Ah, another Unemployed Philospher! Pleased to meet you, sir! smile.gif

I go to this building every day
Where I do my bit and get my pay
Then I go home and open up my mind
I sing and dance and read and write
And then when the stars come out at night
I smoke my pipe and let my wings take flight!

Here's to all Unemployed Philosophers out there!

[jezebelle]

What a beautiful first post.
short but sweet.
welcome!

[Halfglass]

Here! Here! and cheers to you as well sir!

[Space Beatnik]

I know it sounds trite, but sometimes I feel that everything is building towards a crescendo of some sort. From current events to the weather, it seems that its all getting more, shall we say, extreme?

I have this particularly nasty feeling that we will all see another world war within our lifetimes, possibly in the near future, and yet at the same time I also feel that maybe this has to happen, that its a neccessary juncture we have to reach in order to move forward as a species, and that in spite of all the horror, something good may yet come out of it.

I see it like this: either the human race confronts and intergrates its shadow, or the apocalypse becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy. That's what I get out of seeing what is unfolding at present in the Middle east.

[Rob P]

Not only the middle east, how about also middle america
where there are actual human beings that believe
that the current occupiers of the white house
are deserving of four more years...!!
if that isn't the start of a
consciousness split, i don't know what is!!
!!
will these people be willing to get off their
lo-fat asses, away from the remote contols
long enough to defend their way of life??
ouch that sounds harsh...
seeya
ROB

[Rob P]

and then i found this:

This is America, not Denmark. In this country, tens of millions of people choose to watch FoxNews not simply because Americans are credulous idiots or at the behest of some right-wing corporate cabal, but because average Americans respect viciousness. They are attracted to viciousness for a lot of reasons. In part, it reminds them of their bosses, whom they secretly adore. Americans hate themselves for the way they behave in public, always smiling and nodding their heads with accompanying really's and uh-huhs to show that they're listening to the other person, never having the guts to say what they really feel. So they vicariously scream and bully others into submission through right-wing surrogate-brutes. Spending time watching Sean Hannity is enough for your average American white male to feel less cowardly than he really is.

The left won't accept this awful truth about the American soul, a beast that they believe they can fix "if only the people knew the Truth."

But what if the Truth is that Americans don't want to know the Truth? What if Americans consciously choose lies over truth when given the chance—and not even very interesting lies, but rather the blandest, dumbest and meanest lies? What if Americans are not a likeable people? The left's wires short-circuit when confronted with this terrible possibility; the right, on the other hand, warmly embraces Middle America's rank soul and exploits it to their full advantage. The Republicans know Americans better than the left. They know that it's not so much Goering's famous "bigger lie" that works here, but the dumber the lie, the more they want to hear it repeated.

And this leads to another truth that the left still has trouble understanding: Millions of Americans, particularly white males, don't vote for what's in their so-called best interests. Thomas Frank recently attacked this riddle in his new book What's the Matter with Kansas? but he fails to answer his own question. He can't, in fact, because his is a flawed premise. Frank, who is at his best when he's just vicious, still clings to the comforting theory that Middle Americans are being duped by an evil corporate-political machine that subtly but masterfully manipulates the psychological levers of cultural backlash, implying that if average Americans were left to their own devices, they would somehow make entirely rational, enlightened choices and elect sensible New Deal Democrats every time. This puts Frank in a bind he never quite gets out of. Like all lefties, he is incapable of taking his ruthless analysis beyond a certain point.

The reason is simple. The underlying major premise of humanist-leftist ideology states that people are intrinsically sympathetic. If people are defiantly mean and craven, the humanist-left structure falters. "Why the fuck should I bother fighting for Middle Americans," they ask, "if they're just as loathsome, in their own petty way, as their exploiters, with whom they actively collaborate?"

Rather than grapple with that dilemma, the left pretends it doesn't exist. This is why they will forever struggle to understand the one overriding mystery of why so many working- and middle-class white males vote against their own best interests.

I CAN TELL YOU WHY. They do so out of spite.

here's the rest...
http://www.nypress.com/print.cfm?content_id=10369

~roB

[daniel]

Rob,

Thanks for that bracing bit of NY Press wisdom.

The whole system is a feedback loop that starts from the top. That is what The Tao tells us, as well. The Tao is, among other things, a text on rulership. The Tao also says: "Non-Tao is short-lived."

I would say "the mass" of people -- the middle Americans -- are not bad and not good. They are passive. They are reflections of the culture surrounding them. The culture surrounding them now is the worst in human history, hence they are also terrible.

[Rob P]

Hey Daniel-
Have you ever considered the idea
of a forum for talking and sharing
ideas here in Manhattan?
Not like a big advertised promotional thing,
but more of a roundtable chat with people,
maybe those of us here who are in the city,
just to bounce thoughts around in person-
meeting up at a coffee shop or something...
I feel like you have so much to offer
just through reading your words here online,
i'm sure the spirit would move deeper
when we can all speak in person..
whoever is able- however we are able...
just a thought!
seeya
Rob

[Space Beatnik]

Rob P: I agree with your assessment about the viciousness that's inherent in American society. Although I think its mainly applicable to how the middle class by and large sees the world and the society around it. Living in suburbia tends to reinforce an unrealistic world-view, ie. that "bunker mentality". I see it whenever I visit relatives who live in a stereotypical middle class suburb: everyone's home and car have burglar alarms, neighborhood watch billboards all over the place, but at the same time--no one really knows their neighbors, they all seem scared of anyone "different" than they are, they never want to do anything except watch tv or go the mall, etc.

But while that whole middle class suburban mentality was an outgrowth of post WWII affluence and cold war anxiety, I think that in many ways it was also deliberate social engineering: Destroying the old neighborhoods and the bonds of community that existed there, and replacing them with cookie cutter housing and a lifestyle to match, all geard towards not community but mindless consumption.

I remember hearing from my grandparents that it was the old neighborhood connections and comaraderie that got a lot of people through the Great Depression, when everyone knew everyone else on their block and people helped each other out. I guess the powers that be saw that kind of lifestyle as potentially subversive and threatening and something that had to be eliminated. People had to be turned into conspicuous consumers, all trying to one-up each other with the bigger tv, the better car, et.al. That way, they're kept distracted and filled with false needs, all hunkered down in their box o' stuff they call a home. And we can see the mentality that results when people care more about reality shows than reality itself, when they get all excited about a sale at the mall but don't care that their tax dollars are supporting death and destruction overseas.

[jalien]

well daniel if you are surrounded by the worst culture in human history
when and where would you prefer to be living?
shamanic practice 2004 in the west
has brought you wealth and fame
whereas most other ages you would face
torture and death

thanks Rob P for that article
so provocative and well written
i put it at my blog

http://www.elftrance.com/Images/jalien.gif
freetopia (http://freetopia.blogspot.com)