The beginning of the end?

Many people are in despair about what is happening in the world today – war, civil conflicts, rebelliousness of the youth, disease, drug abuse, slavery, poverty! Some see an acceleration and intensifying of these afflictions, predicting that the end is nigh. “What’s happening in the world today” people sigh, unsure as to whether we are truly witnessing the beginning of the end.

If we peer into the history of man, we realise that these afflictions have been present for eons. Anthropologists piece together and bring meaning to our past, revealing horrifying and devastating consequences of “man’s inhumanity to man’ and of nature’s seeming fury. Wars that lasted years, even decades, when millions of lives were lost seemed to have been commonplace on all continents. We recall the opium wars in China and recognise that drug use and abuse is not a modern phenomena. Not to mention the tales of pirates and marauders on murderous, drunken rampages which reminds us that alcohol addiction and abuse are not new! The plague, smallpox, even influenza – the list of diseases and their devastating impact is lengthy. Whole societies were wiped out either by disease or deliberately by violence. Slavery and near-slavery were accepted as normal. And sexual abuse and exploitation have been with us for as long as the “oldest profession” has existed. Seems like the good old days that we hark back to, if we really face the truth, were not so good after all!

As I reflected on the meaning of Easter – the idea of resurrection and rebirth – it occurred to me that perhaps we ARE seeing the beginning of the end! And I am happy for I like to think that at last these terrible things are coming to an end. Why do I think so? For surely the evidence is there for all to see – Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur, urban gang warfare, crack and cocaine addiction, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, etc. Yes, these things exist – that I do not deny. What I wonder about is whether they are on the rise, or whether there is a higher level of awareness. Thanks to technology, violent clashes between Chinese military and Tibetan citizens can be filmed by a tourist using a cell phone and within hours, is seen by millions on global television and the Internet. I still remember seeing the second plane flying into the World Trade Center as it happened, as did millions of people on 9/11. We all felt the pain seeing it actually unfolding before our eyes – we were there. There is no denying that it happened, as some were able to do for awhile with the Holocaust. This brings hope – for by being aware we make the first step to coming out of our race denial.

We are at the beginning of something exciting – recognising our connection to each other and to all beings on earth, and to the earth itself. We are recognising that “everything is everything” – a popular saying in Jamaica. Witness the concern over the plight of the polar bears. We see them wasting away as their habitat melts. This could not have happened previously. We would have just received reports years later that the polar bear is now extinct. Seeing them in their changing habit has brought home to us the reality of global warming – it is happening, and faster than we think contrary to the stated beliefs of as high an office as the President of the United States.

What initially got me thinking about this is the 10-week webinar hosted by Oprah and Eckhart Tolle on the latter’s book “A New Earth”. I am still plodding through it and am behind on the classes. But I am just amazed that over 700,000 people all over the world could be engaged in a discussion of a different way of being human at the same moment in time.

It really is the beginning of an exciting new world! I am hopeful that it is the rebirth of humans who recognise our oneness. It is the rebirth of humans who can think, feel and act for themselves, of their own volition. It is the rebirth of humans who need no intermediaries – who recognise their direct connection with Spirit. It is an amazing time to be on this planet – the beginning of the end. For the end is always a beginning!