Sunday, November 7, 2010

Spiritual Confusion

We live in a time of great spiritual confusion.  

The current milenium opened with a massive terrorist attack committed in the name of one of the world's great religious traditions.  This was followed by an even more massive and terrifying retaliation, led by a president who is deeply committed to another of the world's great religions, spawning two wars which continue almost ten years later.  Of course, we could define human history as the history of conflict where one concept of the divine is pitted against another, leading to atrocities on an unimaginable scale.  The confusion comes because, while many of us believe that such wars should be part of history only, they persist all over the world today.

Nothing is more spiritually confusing than the current talk about the year 2012.  On one side, we hear predictions of global-scale calamity.  These apocalyptic predictions seem to be supported by reference to ancient spiritual traditions, most notably the Mayan astrological calendar, which ends in the year 2012.  The ancient Vedic tradition of India also supports this idea (so it appears to many) with the current 10,000 year epoch, or durga, expected to end around the same time.  Of course, nearly every spiritual tradition predicts an end time, though most are not so specific about the date.

The other side of the 2012 spiritual prediction is gathering momentum as more and more people become enamored with it.  The argument, here, is that 2012 is to be a time of spiritual transformation for humanity.  As an growing number of individuals become spiritually awakened, we - meaning all of humanity - will pass through a tipping point, and human awareness will expand on a global scale.  All of our problems will be dissolved as we evolve from homo sapiens to homo spiritus.  This utopic vision is certainly more attractive than the opposing apocalyptic ideas, but is it more realistic?

Not really.  Both of these sets of ideas are highly speculative, and proponents of both forget one key truth: human beings have an almost unbroken track record of failure when it comes to predicting the future!

Having said that, I will share my future vision with you in the following points.
  • I do believe we are in the midst of an evolutionary shift in human awareness.  Does this relate in any way to 2012?  I neither know nor care.  What seems significant to me is that a expanding number of people are experiencing spiritual growth, and that the flowering of human awareness is under way on a global scale.  There are hundreds of organizations - some reputable, some not - that are working on the awakening of humanity as their primary mission.  (One of these is Oneness University in India which offers the oneness blessing.  You can learn more about the oneness blessing here.) The "awakening movement" is a positive development that is gaining momentum.
  • I also believe that the evolution of human awareness is not optional, it is imperative.  We, humanity, have reached a point where our current state of awareness, which is thought-centered, is no longer serving us very well.  Our thinking is creating as many problems as it is solving.  Many of the intractable problems we face are unsolvable at our current, thought-centered level of awareness.  We are perfectly capable of thinking our way into self-destruction.  We can only evolve our way beyond it.
  • The divine, conscious universe is a driving force for evolution.  The universe is growing towards ever greater awareness, and the evolution of human awareness is one manifestation of this growth.  We come from, and are one with the divine source, which is pure consciousness, and which seeks to know itself through our awareness.  It is inevitable that we continue to evolve, and that human awareness continues to flower.
Confusion is often the dominant experience at a time of break-through.  The spiritual confusion we are experiencing now, while uncomfortable, is a good sign.  Clarity comes with expanded awareness, with spiritual growth.  My intent, through my writings and teaching, is to be a catalyst for awakening.  My hope is that the ideas I share with you are useful to you, and that we can help each other bear the discomfort of confusion, and experience the joy of evolving in spirit.

Namaste
Joe