The older one gets the shorter the years appear to be. This is an illusion, as is much of modern life, with its focus on goals, results and productivity. We have come to believe that this is life’s purpose. It is obvious that Life for most is out of balance.
There has been much said and written about the end of the Mayan Calendar and the supposition that the world would end on the day of this year’s winter solstice.
The solstice is the point in time when the sun, on reaching the extremity of its cycle, becomes still before the beginning of the next cycle of earth’s seasons.
This speculation was fed by the state of the world economy, the turmoil throughout the Arab world and the many other visible upheavals that exist as people everywhere struggle for a better life.
There are predictions of a European collapse, America falling off a fiscal cliff and the disintegration of the Middle East among other supposed catastrophes.
Dire predictions have always been a way to control people and deflect them from the real issues that are impacting societies at any given point.
The most critical issue facing the world today is how to bring balance back into life for all.
The real catastrophe affecting the world culminated in 2008 with the near collapse of world finance after a period that witnessed the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in history.
It was at that time, and not now, the world changed and entered into this long winter of discontent and depression.
The year 2012 might be considered the year of the solstice, as progress appears to have completely stalled in most of the world; economically, socially and spiritually.
It is, as if, a greater power has decided to ensure that life’s true and natural rhythms are to be restored and is laying the foundations for this to happen.
Such societal readjustments are natural and can be compared to nature’s winters. The environment is completely altered, much of life becomes dormant and the shades of the landscape take on a darker hue with the disappearance of natural greenery.
It was not long ago that most understood this simple fact, as people were mostly engaged in fishing, farming and a multitude of cyclical activities reliant on the seasons. It is still that way in most developing countries of the world.
People understood that winters were inevitably a time of rejuvenation and rest. This was a time for contemplation, reflection on what had value and to begin preparations for the spring that would eventually appear.
But then, unlike now, there was a certainty to life. As sure as the sun would rise every morning, even if hidden by the clouds, spring would eventually appear.
My travels and work in other countries have provided a perspective of how fortunate and blessed life has been for those of us fortunate enough to in a developed country. Our struggles and battles have been mild to what others are experiencing in their lifetime.
But we are sitting on a precipice of further economic depression and the repression of democracy unlike any period that has been experienced in the history of the country.
The seeds of rebellion have started to appear and are subtly growing through the complacency that has come with an aging population and a relative level of comfort for many.
During my assignment in Ukraine, in the autumn, the visible inspiration of youth provided the realization that democracy, equity and fairness will not be preserved nor expanded by laws or the largess of political elites. But, it will be through the genuine spirit of youth, who rightly demand their place in the world and a better life.
This long winter of discontent is one of human generational change. This is as necessary as the shedding of the foliage of nature, as the old must give way to the new, whether willingly or not.
This knowledge is implicit in the wisdom of the Mayans and was understood by most ancient societies. This had been learnt through life experiences.
Much of this wisdom is now hidden by the illusions which are the focus of modern life and cloaked in the shallow fallacies that pass for truth.
This spiritual vacuum is the cause of the uncertainty, the lack of belief in life itself and at the core of most of the strife in the world.
The ancients had faith in life as a continuum; for them it had no ending. There were only transitions and new beginnings, often not visibly evident.
Written by Bill Pardy
December 21th, 2012
