Really Something

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

Cheetah died this week. Yes, that Cheetah. Who knew chimpanzees could live to 80? Then I read that Carol Channing’s husband died at 92, and marveled that Channing was still alive (she turns 91 today). I remember old black ‘n white Tarzan movies on our little TV when I was a kid, and later, brief vignettes of breathy Channing with too much Tammy Faye eyeliner and lipstick, too theatrical a persona for the movie of the Broadway musical she made famous.

I got to thinking that both stars had a pretty good run, outliving public adulation but not fame. In the end, they got mention well after they’d stopped charming the public, and that’s a kind of immortality, isn’t it? I wonder if our next generations will look back on this moment in time, and think something similar: “My mother (or grandfather, or great, or great-great) remembered that time and told me about it. I guess it was really something.”

I’d suppose if we asked around, we’d get a lot of head-nods to this period being “really something,” although at this point I feel it more as a psychic disruption than a physical one. An easy bet to predict? We ain’t seen nothin’ yet. This “really something” feels like the kind of dissolution we’ve not experienced in contemporary times. It’s a profound turn and it’s ours to create.

Since there’s nothing new under the sun, the closing out of old energy without a clear projection of the new has happened before in history, largely unrecorded. We have hints about lost civilizations from archeology, from ancient manuscripts and legends, but while romantic to contemplate, no “Do Not Try This At Home” warnings were left behind to help guide us through our own era change. In fact, we’re still trying to figure out why these important cultures disappeared — although if they botched things up as badly as we have, that would be a big old “Duh!”

We all know the story of Atlantis, a technological empire that disappeared due to division among public opinion much like that which we endure today, along with the misuse of technical prowess that inadvertently caused earth changes. It’s a mythology that our world — and particularly this nation — can relate to, full of old paradigm pitfalls and ethical challenges similar to those we face today. We should consider it a cautionary tale, we might even say it’s a déjà vu of sorts, with issues of greed and power bumping up against compassion, common sense and spiritual values. In this coming year, we will be getting hints on which of those camps will win the (human) race, settling that ancient argument and defining the sustainability of our species. Yes, our coming change of consciousness is that critical.

Depending on who you read, Atlanteans didn’t just wink away mysteriously, as did the Anasasi and Mayan cultures or the inhabitants of Easter Island. According to Edgar Cayce, who produced volumes of psychic information on the topic, the majority of Atlanteans migrated to places where we might still find their footprint today: Egypt and Peru, for instance. Cayce said that the Atlanteans’ ability to manipulate gravity was at play in the building of the pyramids, as was their knowledge of the cycles in the heavens. Certainly the possibility of an entire continent breaking apart from the misuse of energy crystals seems more reasonable to us today, given what we know of lasers, than to those who followed readings of the Sleeping Prophet in the 1920s and ’30s. And it should be a no-brainer to understand this to be a final battle between the darker forces that historically control humankind and our authentic heritage of democratic freedom and individual liberty. This is either the end of tyranny or the end of the species.

According to Time Magazine, this is the year of the protester. Interesting, isn’t it, that protests hither and yon — bloody conflicts in the Mid-east, rowdy gatherings in Europe and more peaceful demonstrations here at home — finally got the attention of the establishment? I think we scared ’em, don’t you? They should be scared. The more laws were bent by the power structure, leaving the average citizen struggling to maintain a flagging standard of living, the more the nation began to show its shabby and worn down infrastructure, revealing the cracks in our social contract and internal political corruption. Nothing like boarded up homes and empty malls to make the natives restless. Nothing like decaying neighborhoods and the smell of fear in the air to get people moving with picket signs.

The Powers That Be went a little too far, which is always how it goes with the arrogant. Romney calling Obama an out-of-touch “Marie Antoinette” is an example of the wealthy’s inability to embrace empathy, unaware of their own hypocrisy; that, and the Mormon candidate’s talk of “entitlement” while sitting on his pile of inherited money, is the kind of witlessness that ultimately topples greed. Wall Street is pissy because we don’t “understand” them. What would we do without them, they argue. How could we manage our affairs without their expertise? They expect us to show appreciation for their talent and forgive them that other little thing — the destruction of the world economy. Witless!

Cyclically, the ruling class always pushes just a little too far so that when the big Uranian energies roll in, the people are fed up and ready to rumble. That said, get ready for some serious rumbling, citizen: the class war has just begun. And those things that kept us in place before — economic opportunities, benefits, financial obligations, social structure — are dissolving before our very eyes. We’re launching ourselves into a new way of being in the world, a new way of looking at things. We are poised on a new perception of ourselves and our purpose on the planet.

Twenty years ago a psychic told me I’d just passed my last directional signal, there were no more sign-posts ahead. I was free to make it up as I went along. That threw me into a period of disorientation and a bit of dithering as I tried to decide what I really wanted. That’s where we all are now, with that last sign-post behind us. We’re making all this up as we move forward, which is why our attitude is so critical to this next period of our becoming. We’re dithering, but we have little time to waste. That’s why we must decide what we really want and get involved in its creation.

So indulge me as I offer a little pep talk at the closing of this amazing year:

If we’re going to be helpful to the birthing of a new era, we’re going to have to start taking ourselves lightly. Our problems are serious but we must not make them somber. We need to allow fear a physical response when necessary, but not a psychic one, dogging our dreams and daydreams. If that’s our experience, then we should get some help from informed friends or professionals.

We need to come to a sense of confidence in ourselves, in our path and purpose. What is old and worn out can be eagerly released when we know the new thing is just around the corner. Without a blueprint in our hands, we have to trust in the new thing showing up for us, the path toward it apparent, and peopled with those who are destined to journey with us. As with all decisions, this is simply a matter of taking a moment to feel our way through them. It won’t take long to learn to distinguish what to embrace from what to avoid, making our way forward clear and compelling. We must enlarge that instinctive skill, stop using our heads so much as the source of logic and begin to trust our heart, the seat of our soul. That is the internal direction that never fails us, the one that takes us to our highest and best decision and future.

We’ve spent a decade being outraged by the daily challenges, being worried and sleepless over the course of our lives, dealing with old baggage and battered self-esteem. If we’ve done our homework, we’ve exhausted that old script now, and are done with it. We have arrived at a better sense of ourselves and our worthiness, and have some practice at remaining in the reality of now. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is yet to be; our existing in either is delusional and dysfunctional. Our point of power is now and the thoughts, words, deeds we fill it with will define our tomorrow. Let’s not create it to look like yesterday. Looping in old patterns is no longer required, unless we choose it.

Let’s collaborate together to see how we can help one another, how we can not only do no harm to each other and the planet, but also assist in lifting ourselves back into our fullness and vigor. Within each of us is a well of creativity that we have yet to discover and tap, and each of us has some invaluable piece of the puzzle that we’ve brought with us to drop into this critical time-frame. You may not know what it is, but it will come to you. As Howard Thurman put it, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go out and do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” That’s where we’re going.

We’re coming alive. If that’s your choice, twenty-twelve will give you that opportunity. The world is waiting for your gift. It wants your smile and your laughter — most of all, let’s all remember how to laugh. We’ve cried enough, haven’t we? It’s up to us to make connections now, heart to heart. Talk to most people and you will find that they want to love and be loved, create a decent life for themselves and give their kids the same opportunity. It’s as simple as that, and it’s what connects us all. If we weren’t so adept at competition, we’d have an easier time of it; if we weren’t so insecure, we could allow others to be who they are without thinking it takes away from us. That is the root of our insanity. It’s time to teach one another peace. We’ve been taught to war, but our hearts yearn for peace. It’s time to remember how to make that happen, how to take hands and laugh together. It’s no mistake that laughter is the language of the Angels, or that love is the bridge to peace.

The old is passing away and we must fearlessly release it. There are amazing adventures ahead of us, opportunities to collaborate for a completely new and loving experience in our world. What we thought was the best we could do in the twentieth century turned out to be about stuff. Stuff gives us comfort, not peace. It insulates us against feeling the things we came here to feel, the things that help us grow into our human potential.

At the end of this chaotic year, the doorway into the twenty-twelve framework we’ve all anticipated, I’ll once again quote the wisdom of Joseph Campbell: “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

There is a life waiting for us and a year ahead that asks us to step into it. What will we decide? What will our heart tell us? What invaluable piece of Self will we discover to give away? What great purpose will fill us with creative fire? What loving contacts await us?

The adventure of a lifetime begins now, so let’s make it worth remembering. Let’s make sure it’s a period that the generations can assure one another was “really something,” a time when love and goodwill led the way into a healed and creative new era.