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.