You're Betting Your Life On It
A few nights ago my wife, Arianne, asked why I am taking so seriously
the myth about the winter solstice of 2012 marking the end of the world
as we know it. Although I gave the question my best shot at the time,
all I got in return was a quizzical look and a shrug. I then promised
to pull my thoughts together and make this the subject of my next
column.
December 21, 2012 is a date that has been literally set in stone - it
is the last date chiseled into the Mayan calendar. It is spoken of in
the legends of other traditions as well and, according to some recent
material I have been reading, has been part of the arcane knowledge of
civilizations stretching back to Atlantis and Lemuria. Apparently some
ancient people were privy to knowledge that remains largely unavailable
to the majority of us today - even though we are the ones destined to
live through this remarkable date. As one who has followed this subject
for a number of years, I can add that the level of "chatter" - to
borrow a term from the CIA - seems to be increasing at an impressive
rate. Some of the latest material to cross my desk stopped me dead in
my tracks (see:
http://www.llresearch.org/transcripts/issues/2005/2005_1219.htm).
Should we treat the predicted demise of our civilization with disdain
or with riveted attention? This question would not be so challenging if
the prophecies were backed by verifiable scientific process. Thanks to
modern-day advances in our understanding of the Earth's orbit, we can
predict a total eclipse of the sun on November 13, 2012. We can even
tell within seconds precisely when and where this event will occur. But
when it comes to an event like the end of the world, science can't help
us; the forces in play have yet to be discovered by classical academia.
Thus on this matter we are left to our own devices. All of us must work
out a response as best we can. However, if there is any truth to the
story, our stance - the most wager we ultimately make - regarding
this issue is arguably the most important of our life. As C. S. Lewis,
the celebrated author of The Chronicles of Narnia, once said about his
decision to embrace religion: "Christianity, if false, is of no
importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it
cannot be is moderately important."
There are several things to take into account before placing your bet.
The first is to understand what is meant by "the end of the world." It
clearly does not mean the planet will be destroyed, for that would take
away all options in a single stroke, and the entire issue would be
moot. That's not what the seers of the past were trying so hard to tell
us. They were warning us of something entirely different - more like
an abrupt shift in the direction of one's life.
Just as today's astronomers have a more expansive perspective on outer
space than Galileo and Kepler did, so those throughout history who have
been able to view earthly events from a cosmic point of view have had a
broader understanding than most of us of the narrative of our planet
through time. To illustrate, imagine that you are observing a steadily
accelerating car from a helicopter several thousand feet above a
three-lane highway. You can clearly see the road stretching to the
horizon. Looking ahead, you notice that the road goes over a small rise
and comes to a sudden fork where the lanes split sharply apart. Because
the fork is hidden from the driver's view until the last instant, there
will be no time for him or her to change lanes before the road divides.
If the car is in the left lane, it must take the left fork; if it's in
the right lane, it must go right. If it's in the center lane, it will
crash into the dividing barrier. Those are the only alternatives. Based
on the car's speed, you can calculate the precise instant it will
arrive at the point of no return. How would you alert the driver to the
imminent danger?
Such has been the dilemma of the cosmic seers. What is most compelling
about their warnings is that many different visionaries have delivered
the same message even though they apparently had absolutely no
connection with each other. In other words, different seers throughout
history have seen the same events coming to a head at exactly the same
moment in linear time.
To carry the analogy further: Each of us is the driver of our own car.
Since we have free will, we can opt to switch lanes at any time before
reaching the fork in the road. According to the received teachings, the
choice is simple: you can dedicate your life to the service of self, in
which case you attempt to dominate and control others to gain personal
power, or you can be in service to others, focusing each thought, word,
and deed for the benefit of another being. The first choice (service to
self) would put your car in the left lane; the second choice (service
to others) equates to the right lane. Opting for neither keeps you
locked in the center lane.
The teachings also tell us the consequences of each choice. The Earth,
itself a sentient, conscious entity, has already chosen the right lane.
Those of us who make the same choice will stay with her and move into
the next density, or vibrational level of experience, which many call
the golden age of love and peace. Those who choose the negative path
(service to self) will be moved to a new planetary home where they can
perfect the art of control. The beings that opt for neither fork will
simply recycle the entire present human experience, beginning as
prehumans who are subject to being preyed upon and controlled by those
beings who opt for the negative path.
Before dismissing this as pure metaphysical mishmash, I suggest you
consider the words of Blaise Pascal, the renowned French mathematician
and philosopher who applied decision theory to the question of the
existence of God. The result was the famous Pascal's Wager, which
likens the matter to a yes/no bet - only instead of money, you are
risking your eternal soul. According to Pascal, there are two
propositions: God exists, and God does not exist. (Notably, Pascal
understood God as the Christian God depicted in the Bible, which
provides some information about God, but attempts no proof of his
existence.) Pascal proposed that before placing your bet, you should
consider the four possibilities:
If you choose to believe in God, and if God exists, you go to heaven:
your gain is infinite.
If you choose to believe in God, and if God doesn't exist, your loss is
finite and therefore negligible.
If you choose not to believe in God, and if God doesn't exist, your
gain is finite and therefore negligible.
If you choose not to believe in God, and if God exists, you will go to
hell: your loss is infinite.
Pascal's notes, which appear in his unfinished treatise Pens=E9es, wrap
it all up neatly: "Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that
God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all;
if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He
is."
I suggest applying the same logic to the possibility of a major shift
in 2012. We can only assume that the information is either true or not
true. And all four of Pascal's options apply. For me, the only course
of action that resonates with my inner being is to act as if the
proposed events and are accurate.
This is similar to having a physician tell you that you have only six
months (or in this case six years) to live. Many people who have
received such dire news have managed to not only live the most present
and exquisite six months of their lives but, because of the palpable
shift in their lifestyles, some even reversed their medical condition.
The predictions for 2012 are, as it were, giving us just a few more
years to live. We can cower through them in fear and denial, or we can
accept this as an invitation to live more fully and purposefully than
we ever have before.
In my own case, the consequence is that an overriding thought now
drives my every waking moment: how can I further help to shift the
consciousness of humanity? These words barely capture what I truly
feel. There is so much more I want to convey, but like my six and a
half billion fellow travelers on this planet, I am still learning to
use the language of the heart.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----
=A9 2006. Jean-Claude Gerard Koven. All Rights Reserved. Jean-Claude
Gerard Koven is a writer and speaker based in Rancho Mirage, CA. He is
the author of Going Deeper: How to Make Sense of Your Life When Your
Life Makes No Sense acclaimed as the best metaphysical book of the year
by both Allbooks Reviews and USABookNews.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----
On occasion, these columns abstract some of the writings in the longer
articles written by the author. You have permission to reproduce them
through any medium as long as the complete copyright and credit line
found at the end of each article is included.
Copyright =A9 2006 Prism House Press - All Rights Reserved
Division of The Broadmoore Group Ltd
36101 Bob Hope Drive, Suite E-5, PMB 305, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 / USA
Tel. +1.760.324.3072 / Toll-Free 1.888.214.1155
Fax. +1.760.321.5314
.
|
|
| User: "JTEM" |
|
| Title: Re: You're Betting Your Life On It |
12 Sep 2006 03:27:27 PM |
|
|
Echo2002 wrote:
December 21, 2012 is a date that has been literally
set in stone - it is the last date chiseled into the
Mayan calendar. It is spoken of in the legends of
other traditions as well
Really? Name three.
and, according to some recent material I have been
reading, has been part of the arcane knowledge of
civilizations stretching back to Atlantis and Lemuria.
Oops...
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "Woodswun" |
|
| Title: Re: You're Betting Your Life On It |
12 Sep 2006 04:16:14 PM |
|
|
On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:11:57 -0700, Echo2002 wrote:
You're Betting Your Life On It
A few nights ago my wife, Arianne, asked why I am taking so seriously
the myth about the winter solstice of 2012 marking the end of the world
as we know it. Although I gave the question my best shot at the time,
all I got in return was a quizzical look and a shrug. I then promised
to pull my thoughts together and make this the subject of my next
column.
That would be a "prediction", rather than a "myth". Once the date passes,
then people may claim that the world ended, even if nobody else notices
it - at which point it would become "myth".
December 21, 2012 is a date that has been literally set in stone - it is
the last date chiseled into the Mayan calendar. It is spoken of in the
legends of other traditions as well and, according to some recent
material I have been reading, has been part of the arcane knowledge of
civilizations stretching back to Atlantis and Lemuria. Apparently some
Now, THAT would be a myth. There is no hard evidence that either Atlantis
or Lemuria even existed, so there cannot possibly be any evidence
regarding the knowledge they had.
ancient people were privy to knowledge that remains largely unavailable
to the majority of us today - even though we are the ones destined to
Um ... if we don't have access to it, there is no evidence that ancient
people had it, either - otherwise we'd have access to it!
<snipped the rest>
Now, I'm not saying that the above is completely impossible, I'm merely
pointing out that it cannot be stated as a fact, it is supposition.
Woods
.
|
|
|
|
| User: "" |
|
| Title: Re: You're Betting Your Life On It |
13 Sep 2006 08:26:10 PM |
|
|
Ya know, Echo, it isn't a bad post. And changing the consciousness of
your fellow humans isn't a bad motive at all either.
But ask yourself this: who wrote the Mayan calendar? ok ok, Mayans,
that's the obvious answer, but certainly not all Mayans wrote it. It
was probably a few people. And could it be that those people just
said....ok enough. Or maybe it was, originally, one person, who passed
away just after scratching out 21 Dec 2012. My point is there are
about a billion reasons why the calendar stops where it does. My
calendar stops at Jan 31st 2007. I don't expect the world to end on
that date.
And maybe it is some big cataclysmic comet smashing into the polar cap
flooding the world while causing volcanoes. But ya know what? If it
is, then it is. Nothing we can
do about it. People aren't going to read your post and say, HEY! I
NEED TO GET SOME REELIGEEON! While your concern is nice, it may be
just a bit on the
self-indulgent side. Look at me, I'm Noah. If it takes the end of the
world to get
someone to change their thinking, maybe that person is already pretty
f'd up. You really have no idea who I am or on what I "bet my life."
And you ask how you can change your fellow man...a worthy objective.
But, does that mean that you consider yourself a walking saint? Is
your own consciousness so highly evolved that you no longer need
improvement yourself? Just a thought--maybe the way to change the
world is to start with what you can control--yourself.
Fear is failure, so be without fear.
S~
Echo2002 wrote:
You're Betting Your Life On It
A few nights ago my wife, Arianne, asked why I am taking so seriously
the myth about the winter solstice of 2012 marking the end of the world
as we know it. Although I gave the question my best shot at the time,
all I got in return was a quizzical look and a shrug. I then promised
to pull my thoughts together and make this the subject of my next
column.
December 21, 2012 is a date that has been literally set in stone - it
is the last date chiseled into the Mayan calendar. It is spoken of in
the legends of other traditions as well and, according to some recent
material I have been reading, has been part of the arcane knowledge of
civilizations stretching back to Atlantis and Lemuria. Apparently some
ancient people were privy to knowledge that remains largely unavailable
to the majority of us today - even though we are the ones destined to
live through this remarkable date. As one who has followed this subject
for a number of years, I can add that the level of "chatter" - to
borrow a term from the CIA - seems to be increasing at an impressive
rate. Some of the latest material to cross my desk stopped me dead in
my tracks (see:
http://www.llresearch.org/transcripts/issues/2005/2005_1219.htm).
Should we treat the predicted demise of our civilization with disdain
or with riveted attention? This question would not be so challenging if
the prophecies were backed by verifiable scientific process. Thanks to
modern-day advances in our understanding of the Earth's orbit, we can
predict a total eclipse of the sun on November 13, 2012. We can even
tell within seconds precisely when and where this event will occur. But
when it comes to an event like the end of the world, science can't help
us; the forces in play have yet to be discovered by classical academia.
Thus on this matter we are left to our own devices. All of us must work
out a response as best we can. However, if there is any truth to the
story, our stance - the most wager we ultimately make - regarding
this issue is arguably the most important of our life. As C. S. Lewis,
the celebrated author of The Chronicles of Narnia, once said about his
decision to embrace religion: "Christianity, if false, is of no
importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it
cannot be is moderately important."
There are several things to take into account before placing your bet.
The first is to understand what is meant by "the end of the world." It
clearly does not mean the planet will be destroyed, for that would take
away all options in a single stroke, and the entire issue would be
moot. That's not what the seers of the past were trying so hard to tell
us. They were warning us of something entirely different - more like
an abrupt shift in the direction of one's life.
Just as today's astronomers have a more expansive perspective on outer
space than Galileo and Kepler did, so those throughout history who have
been able to view earthly events from a cosmic point of view have had a
broader understanding than most of us of the narrative of our planet
through time. To illustrate, imagine that you are observing a steadily
accelerating car from a helicopter several thousand feet above a
three-lane highway. You can clearly see the road stretching to the
horizon. Looking ahead, you notice that the road goes over a small rise
and comes to a sudden fork where the lanes split sharply apart. Because
the fork is hidden from the driver's view until the last instant, there
will be no time for him or her to change lanes before the road divides.
If the car is in the left lane, it must take the left fork; if it's in
the right lane, it must go right. If it's in the center lane, it will
crash into the dividing barrier. Those are the only alternatives. Based
on the car's speed, you can calculate the precise instant it will
arrive at the point of no return. How would you alert the driver to the
imminent danger?
Such has been the dilemma of the cosmic seers. What is most compelling
about their warnings is that many different visionaries have delivered
the same message even though they apparently had absolutely no
connection with each other. In other words, different seers throughout
history have seen the same events coming to a head at exactly the same
moment in linear time.
To carry the analogy further: Each of us is the driver of our own car.
Since we have free will, we can opt to switch lanes at any time before
reaching the fork in the road. According to the received teachings, the
choice is simple: you can dedicate your life to the service of self, in
which case you attempt to dominate and control others to gain personal
power, or you can be in service to others, focusing each thought, word,
and deed for the benefit of another being. The first choice (service to
self) would put your car in the left lane; the second choice (service
to others) equates to the right lane. Opting for neither keeps you
locked in the center lane.
The teachings also tell us the consequences of each choice. The Earth,
itself a sentient, conscious entity, has already chosen the right lane.
Those of us who make the same choice will stay with her and move into
the next density, or vibrational level of experience, which many call
the golden age of love and peace. Those who choose the negative path
(service to self) will be moved to a new planetary home where they can
perfect the art of control. The beings that opt for neither fork will
simply recycle the entire present human experience, beginning as
prehumans who are subject to being preyed upon and controlled by those
beings who opt for the negative path.
Before dismissing this as pure metaphysical mishmash, I suggest you
consider the words of Blaise Pascal, the renowned French mathematician
and philosopher who applied decision theory to the question of the
existence of God. The result was the famous Pascal's Wager, which
likens the matter to a yes/no bet - only instead of money, you are
risking your eternal soul. According to Pascal, there are two
propositions: God exists, and God does not exist. (Notably, Pascal
understood God as the Christian God depicted in the Bible, which
provides some information about God, but attempts no proof of his
existence.) Pascal proposed that before placing your bet, you should
consider the four possibilities:
If you choose to believe in God, and if God exists, you go to heaven:
your gain is infinite.
If you choose to believe in God, and if God doesn't exist, your loss is
finite and therefore negligible.
If you choose not to believe in God, and if God doesn't exist, your
gain is finite and therefore negligible.
If you choose not to believe in God, and if God exists, you will go to
hell: your loss is infinite.
Pascal's notes, which appear in his unfinished treatise Pens=E9es, wrap
it all up neatly: "Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that
God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all;
if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He
is."
I suggest applying the same logic to the possibility of a major shift
in 2012. We can only assume that the information is either true or not
true. And all four of Pascal's options apply. For me, the only course
of action that resonates with my inner being is to act as if the
proposed events and are accurate.
This is similar to having a physician tell you that you have only six
months (or in this case six years) to live. Many people who have
received such dire news have managed to not only live the most present
and exquisite six months of their lives but, because of the palpable
shift in their lifestyles, some even reversed their medical condition.
The predictions for 2012 are, as it were, giving us just a few more
years to live. We can cower through them in fear and denial, or we can
accept this as an invitation to live more fully and purposefully than
we ever have before.
In my own case, the consequence is that an overriding thought now
drives my every waking moment: how can I further help to shift the
consciousness of humanity? These words barely capture what I truly
feel. There is so much more I want to convey, but like my six and a
half billion fellow travelers on this planet, I am still learning to
use the language of the heart.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------
=A9 2006. Jean-Claude Gerard Koven. All Rights Reserved. Jean-Claude
Gerard Koven is a writer and speaker based in Rancho Mirage, CA. He is
the author of Going Deeper: How to Make Sense of Your Life When Your
Life Makes No Sense acclaimed as the best metaphysical book of the year
by both Allbooks Reviews and USABookNews.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------
On occasion, these columns abstract some of the writings in the longer
articles written by the author. You have permission to reproduce them
through any medium as long as the complete copyright and credit line
found at the end of each article is included.
Copyright =A9 2006 Prism House Press - All Rights Reserved
Division of The Broadmoore Group Ltd
36101 Bob Hope Drive, Suite E-5, PMB 305, Rancho Mirage, CA 92270 / USA
Tel. +1.760.324.3072 / Toll-Free 1.888.214.1155
Fax. +1.760.321.5314
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
