THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
The results of November's presidential election may well signal which way the citizens of the United States collectively wish to go for the next four years and beyond - towards more war, hate and terror, or towards renewed peace, love and healing.
The Left, the leading edge of humanity, has finally begun to fight back, no longer afraid of the lying, mean spiritedness of the Right. John Kerry may actually win the election. And he may turn out to be a good president too. But if and when he does take office next January, there will be only so much he can do about the tragic and chaotic situations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I think of Tolkien here, of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with the good folks all rallying together to take the fight to the dark foe, no longer willing to retreat from evil. Today, in our Middle Earth, it is our time to take a stand against the machinations of the dark ones - with their lies, their rampant injustice, and their increasing reliance upon violence to achieve their ends.
In the Illuminatus trilogy, the writers, Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, introduce and illustrate the concept of immanentizing the Eschaton, the bringing on of the End of Days. In their weird and wonderful story, the energy for the next major change for humanity has come to an explosive head and is about to take humanity on a new adventure - one that leads either towards more war and horror or one that leads finally towards peace and love.
In these books, the Dark is represented by Hitler and his aged cohorts who have all been holing up in Israel since the end of WW2, by the American Medical Association, the suggestive name for a rock band made up of evil illuminati, and by an army of German zombie soldiers who have been magically preserved since WW2 and who are about to come back to life and begin WW3.
The Light is represented by Hagbard Celine and his yellow submarine, by John Dillinger and his group, the JAMs, and by other equally powerful white magicians. They are all working to manifest the Goddess of Love herself and to turn the End of Days into a new beginning for humankind, one that is more alive, loving, and magical.
The concept of the Eschaton is an old one. Before Shea and Wilson, it had primarily been a Christian concept. And, for the Christians, immanentizing the Eschaton has always meant actualizing the literal end of the world. In particular, those who call themselves fundamentalists even now believe that when the End of Days approach, the faithful will be wafted up to heaven to safely and rapturously watch the carnage happening below to the rest of us still here on Mother Earth. This way of looking at the Eschaton seems very similar to that of the bad guys in the Illuminatus trilogy.
Many of us though are more like the good guys in the Illuminatus trilogy - spiritual beings just wanting to celebrate the coming change with renewed life and love. Many of us just want to live our lives peacefully and as consciously as we can. And we want the same for everyone else too.
We are definitely at a change point in the humanity's history, a time when we can either destroy or renew ourselves collectively. Those who favor the darkness wish to destroy the world and everything on it. They see no future for humanity. This is because they are afraid to look past themselves and their antiquated religions, afraid to see that they too could change and become even more whole and holy.
Those of us who favor the Light wish for change too. We wish for one that results in a world in which life and love are paramount. And, like the good guys in the Illuminatus trilogy, we too are working to manifest the Goddess of Love herself in our own lives and to turn the End of Days into a new Beginning of Days, one leading to an era more loving and peaceful.
Most important - whoever we are and whichever "side" we are on, our fears and our angers are a major part of the collective problem plaguing the world today. Spiritually we would be well advised to turn our fears and our angers into love - and become instead a part of the solution.
The way to conquer the dark foe is by first conquering our own fears and our own angers, by turning them all into love. The dark magicians in power today feed upon our inner darkness. If we let them, they will continue to use our negative energy for their own dark ends. The only way to stop them is to not have any negative energy for them to feed upon.
Although John Kerry may win the presidential election and would make a positive difference in the world, especially with respect to the environment, the world of today has become an incredibly dangerous place. No matter who wins the election, we will still be at war with Islam, and it will only get worse.
Because of all this destructive darkness that has been loosed upon the world, I suggest that all of us who wish to live in peace and harmony and enjoy spiritual lives retreat with others of like mind and focus instead upon raising our consciousness and maintaining the higher values of humankind.
Confucius had to do this in his day, when inferior people had illegally usurped power in China - just as they have recently done here in the United States. I am following Confucius' example now. I am retreating from the darkness so that I may focus upon the light. Feel free to join me in this endeavor.
"The wounded man gives no thought to himself; he thinks only of saving the others who are also in danger. Therefore he tries with all his strength to save all that can be saved. There is good fortune in thus acting according to duty." (The I Ching, Hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light, line 2.)
We have all been wounded by the dark events of these past four years. It has certainly been difficult to hold fast to love and inner peace. It has been much easier to fall into fear and anger. Together though we can regain our spiritual centers and begin again to spread the love and the light. Ultimately we will prevail.
By Eugene Marks