"The End of Days"
by Ross BishopDownload PDF
We are all concerned about the future, but dealing with it presents difficulties. Predictions are generally fuzzy and non-specific and it can be difficult to know exactly what to do with them. There is also a larger issue - we avoid making changes until we have to. Since the future is on the horizon and doesn't present us with an immediate confrontation, we tend to ignore making changes for as long as we can. People don't like having to give up their old ways. Even if the old ways don't work very well, they are at least familiar. It has been said, "Change only occurs when the pain of change is less than the pain of remaining the same."
Change is difficult, but waiting until we are forced to change only makes the process more difficult. And, in a time of accelerating change, the horizon comes at us faster and faster every day. Playing the old waiting game puts us behind the curve.
The future is not going to ask anything of you that has not been asked in the past. For years you have been asked to move to a place of greater compassion - compassion for others to be sure, but also greater compassion for yourself. Those urgings are not going to change. But they are going to come with a greater insistence that you do your part. Today you have choice about when you make changes. You are about to lose some of that freedom. The circumstances of your life are going to push you to change with an ever-increasing intensity.
The changes you are being asked to make are part of the larger transition being asked of all humankind. For many years human society, driven by economic hunger, has been on a growth and development binge. Whatever it was, we could always find ways to make it bigger, better and faster. Although rarely spoken, the prevalent attitude was, "The consequences be damned, I want mine." Greed has ruled, and each of us, in our own way, has taken part in that feast. We can blame the bankers and Wall Street manipulators for the recent economic collapse, but we all rode on that horse. The sad thing is that for people, money is almost as damaging as heroin, and we have yet to learn that lesson.
There are limits to growth and it appears that the economic string has about run its course. It is time for all of us to take a serious look at what we have been doing. The Western attitude of conquest and domination that has driven society for the last 250 years has painted itself into a serious corner and without significant change the end of the road can be seen on the horizon. The oceans are dying, the polar cap is melting, the planet is overheating, our agricultural soil and fisheries have been depleted, bird species are dropping like flies, our food is loaded with preservatives and chemicals, the rain forests are being cut down at an alarming rate, the air in many cities is dangerous, our fruits and vegetables have been genetically manipulated, our milk is filled with growth hormones, the economic system is on the edge of disaster and few people, it seems, are at peace. We are witnessing the results of untrammeled growth on many fronts. News analysts have repeatedly noted the unprecedented number of problems facing President Obama's administration. This is not a fluke. It is the drumbeat of what the Maya called "The End of Days."
Give serious consideration to the thought that The Universe may have in place a protective mechanism for the Earth. If man's unsustainable growth and attitudes of domination do not change, then the world may become inhabitable for people. We desperately need to develop different relationships with each other, the other creatures and the planet. But because of our inherent reluctance to change, it is likely that things are going to get a good deal worse before we wake up. I can sit here and write about it, but the challenge before each of us is to DO IT, and to do it now.
For meaningful change to occur, it will need to be a grass roots change. Politicians will never take the risk to get out in front of this one. Fortunately there are glimmers of hope as important parts of society are frustrated by the old ways of doing things. The "Good ol' boy" politics of lobbyist dominated Washington are losing favor, but unfortunately, they still hold considerable power in the society for groups with money to manipulate the process. "Get mine" greed still rules much of America.
The core problem is that the essential doctrines of Western society stand in stark contravention to the fundamental laws of The Universe. The Universe operates on the movement toward harmony, where economics creates and amplifies differences. Economics is a "one up, one down," "I have and you don't" game. Where God urges harmony, compassion and universal love, Western society is built upon a foundation of power and manipulation.
The essential premise of economics is to create permanent disharmony.
While the Universe urges us to live in accord with nature, Western science, medicine and engineering seek to subvert and dominate the natural world. In economic society the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In God's Universe, the air, water, sunlight, the land, the oceans and food are shared openly and freely to all. Man charges for them.
The American Indian did not understand how someone could "own" the land, and that is why he no longer has access to it. The Aboriginals of Australia have a saying: "There are two roads, the White man's road and the Aboriginal road. And the White man's road leads to destruction."
We are witnessing today the limits of several centuries of untrammeled and often thoughtless growth. As I write this, governments all around the world are making unprecedented efforts to repair their damaged economies. But their efforts illustrate the limitation of the economic system. What are these governments doing? As one writer said, they are taking money from citizens to give to the bankers so that the bankers can then lend that same money back to the citizens! How much sense does that make, unless, of course, you are a banker?
All over America, drug addicts, the homeless, the mentally ill, alcoholics, the aged, PTSD veterans, the poor and the jobless walk the streets and live in abandoned houses and shelters because in economic society they are "losers." People who need medical care have difficulty getting good care unless they have money. Artists, poets, musicians, actors, writers and dancers struggle in poverty because they are not "productive." People like social workers, counselors, day care providers, teachers, medical techs and nursing home employees work for pittances because their contributions are insignificant compared to the "movers and shakers" who run Wall Street.
Although it only erupts in limited locales today, a great global conflict is taking place between capitalism and socialism. It is not discussed in these terms, it is being positioned as a religious conflict between Christianity and Islam (and Judaism), but that is just political spin doctoring. The real conflict is about greed versus community and whether spirituality is more important than money, technology and economic power. If you have read the articles on my web site about Islam, you know that the Islamic world has a great many things it needs to change, but commitment to spiritual values is not one of them.
What I find particularly fascinating about this is that the Mayans predicted it, all of it, thousands of years ago. You have probably read about the Mayan predictions for 2012, but there has been a good deal of confusion and misunderstanding about that.
First, don't be overly concerned with specific dates. These are great sweeping transitions that build momentum over time and eventually grab our attention. These are not specific events like 9/11 or the earthquakes in China. Someone doesn't flip a switch and we suddenly swing from one age to another. It only feels that way if you haven't been paying attention. We note the high water mark of a flood, but the water will have been rising for some time. In regard to 2012, look around. The water is rising all around you.
Thousands of years before the invention of the telescope, the Mayans new that the earth "wobbled" like a top, swinging its axis through the stars once every 25,625 years. At one point in that "precession" the center of the Mayan world aligned with the center of the galaxy (The Milky Way). This to the Mayan, symbolized the essential connection with Hunab-Kú, the 'god of the gods' and humankind's cosmic alignment with the great Tree of Life. Hunab-K'u, the great bulge in the center of the Milky Way, was the place the Maya called the mother womb. To the Maya, resonance with Hunab-Ku designates quantum jumps at critical shift points in the Long Count Calendar. To the Maya, this was the dawn of the "Great Galactic Day" and the beginning of the calendar.
After 25,625 years we are nearing the completion of the Great Galactic Day. At that time the Sun, the earth and important power centers in the Milky Way will all once again, be moving into a special alignment. From a strictly astronomical perspective, the precise alignment is about three days in duration. The midpoint of the alignment is the winter solstice, December 21, 2012. There is some dispute regarding whether this is the date the Mayan actually predicted, but after almost 27,000 years, the exact day is not of great consequence. What is important are the shifts each of us will be asked to make to facilitate the transition to the next age.
The Mayans were great believers in "The Underworld," which they called Xibalba (pronounced she-bal-ba). Xibalba was the world of magic, the place of obstacles and also of learning. The dark rift at the center of the Milky Way, which we will realign with at the end of the Great Galactic Day, was known to the Maya as Xibalba-Be, or the Road to the Underworld. Xibalba-Be - was the birth canal of the fist mother, the birthplace of life.
According to Mayan mythology, at the end of the Galactic Day, humankind will arrive at the gate of the Galactic Underworld. It is important to understand that to the Maya, their calendars - and they used several, did not prophesy cosmic happenings. The calendars merely noted, as did the astrological alignments, the natural outcome of things. Although the Mayans see what is before us as a time of great realization and change, this will not occur because of some external supernatural force. Human nature and the limits of the natural world will determine our future. Our potential destruction and contamination of the planet is going to force a shift in our consciousnesses toward greater concern for all of creation and the planet. The equation is simple, humankind will either change or perish.
Forecasting is possible when you have a trend. As an example, if you had lived in the 1800's it would not have been terribly difficult to predict the end of slavery and the subjugation of people based on gender, race or ethnicity. But to predict the end of technological domination and pollution of the planet at the time of the Bronze Age in Europe when Hammurabi ruled Babylon and the Twelfth Dynasty was in power in Egypt, is quite something else altogether. That is what the ancient Maya did. It is surreal. They foresaw the time of return to the natural order with remarkable, uncanny accuracy.
According to the Maya, these changes will occur so that humankind will better comprehend how the universe works and leave behind its egocentric fears. This shift in consciousness will allow us to advance, leaving materialism behind and liberating ourselves from fear and suffering. This will be a transition that will end the need for confrontation. It will bring balance. There will be no need for the hierarchy of superior and inferior. The Maya also predicted our present masculine dominated age by the way, and see the future as a time of fusion of both feminine and masculine energies. They foresaw a period of wisdom, harmony, peace and greatly expanded consciousness. They foresaw a time of return to the "natural" order.
Any transformation means letting go, and the Maya told us that we will have choices to make. Those choices mean that we - you and I - have to make changes. That "we" doesn't mean everyone except you, it means everyone including you. You have a role to play in the transition. It is why you are here. Things are going to be difficult, but we can do it if we work together. The question each of us must ask is, "How will I chose to respond to what is being asked of me?"
The end of this great age is a time of transition to new values and new ways of being. To transcend one level of existence and move to another you must let go of the values and beliefs that built the old order, but do not support the new way.
The people in power will seek to keep what they have gained. They will cling to the ways of the old, declining world. They have committed their lives to the accumulation of power and materialism, and they will not want to change. They will lose what they have. Look at history. The new always has to dislodge the old by force. Consider the Revolutions in England, America, France and Russia. Look at the American Civil War, and how steadfastly the South clung to racism, long after losing a terrible and bloody war. It gives you an idea of how powerful people's attachment to the old ways can be. It does not have to be that way, but the odds are overwhelmingly in that direction.
Change can be a painful struggle. Think about childbirth! Did you have an easy time growing up? Few people do. The Maya saw that great and difficult changes lie ahead for us. They saw destruction, the loss of all things. But they were speaking of the loss of this culture - the one created and sustained by greed, power and manipulation.
From the human perspective, that can present chaos. But if you look at it, the loss is of things that are not really important. The Maya do not foresee the end of THE world, they foresaw the end of THAT world. And I want to be clear, the transition from one age to another, from the human perspective, can be a time of considerable destruction and conflict. I refer you again to the many difficult events that brought the end to slavery. It was a gut wrenching, brutal process that went on for over a century and cost many lives and brought a great deal of pain to those who resisted the process, which they then often visited upon Blacks. Was it worth it all to give freedom and rights to minorities? Absolutely. The legacy of that struggle led to equal rights for women and greater rights for workers and it has lead to equal rights for gay people today. And someday, it will lead to animal rights as well. Was it worth it? I think so.
In this context, the most powerful analogy for Christians to consider is Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus had to make the ultimate human sacrifice in order to transcend this world and be reborn into the next. He had to be willing, if necessary, to sacrifice "everything." It is a powerful message about change. But, and this is what we need to keep in mind, what did he really sacrifice? In the process toward enlightenment we are asked to "give up" the things we are attached to that are of this world. We are never asked to give up anything eternal. We cannot give that up anyway.
Yes, Christ sacrificed his life. He could easily have left Jerusalem and avoided crucifixion, but he knew that the conflict with the rigid Jewish hierarchy was inevitable. He also knew that from the perspective of the eternal realm, His sacrifice was insignificant. All he was giving up was his body. The pain and suffering He experienced died when it did. I do not mean to seem insensitive, but from an eternal perspective, it was a small price to pay for what was accomplished. If it had been important for Jesus to come back in physical form, he would have. What was the real loss? The difference, what allowed Him to do what was necessary, was that he knew the larger truth of the situation. He knew what was really happening.
Had He clung to life and fought the inevitable, he would have made his situation intolerable. That unfortunately is what many people do. So, we come to what are you hanging on to? Is it the idea that this is all there is? Do you fear that if you let go of what little you have that there will be nothing more? Do you deserve to be treated like dirt? My friend, if you could only see the truth. . . .
Do not lose sight of the coming dawn that brings the birth of a new era of incredible light. That dawn will come for you when you release the negative and limiting beliefs you hold and quite beating up on yourself. I know how easy that is to say, and how difficult it can be to do. But it can be done. Using the shamanic journey process, we help people make that transition every day.
The dark side works to block our making changes by using fear and attachment to things like power and materialism. The dark power that is within you or in the world for that matter, cannot be overcome by force. It is too strong for that. The darkness can only be transcended through compassion. That is why Christ urged Christians to avoid the sword and "turn the other cheek." (I'm going to be writing more in the future about how this works for both groups and for individuals.)
Consider what might have happened in Afghanistan if we had built schools, hospitals and roads instead of going after the Taliban with the military. Each Taliban fighter we have killed has probably cost us at least a million dollars apiece. You cannot defeat zealots dedicated to terrorism. You can however, make their cause and their methods irrelevant.
I would like to close with a few interesting bits from the Mayan prophecies that may help you to see how truly incredible these people were. The Maya used several interrelated calendars. The calendar I have spoken about so far is the Long Count calendar. Another calendar used "bakun," 400-year periods which had their own (related) prophecies. We are currently in bakun13 (1618 to 2012 A.D). Thirteen was a very important number to the Maya. More than 2000 years ago, the Maya shaman described our present bakun13 as the "Triumph of Materialism," a time when mankind would turn away from nature and harm the earth.
There are even smaller subdivisions of the Mayan calendar, 20-year periods called "Katún." With the previous Mayan calendar coming to a close, we are also completing the last of the katúns. Katún13 began in 1992. Katun13 is associated with total collapse, the judgment of the gods, terrible epidemics and governments lost. Two earlier occurrences of katun13 were in 1519, when Cortez's arrived in the New World, and 1776.
During katún13, the Mayans believe humankind will enter a time of darkness that will force us to confront our own conduct. They call it 'The Sacred Hall of Mirrors,' where we will look at what we are doing - in relation to ourselves, to others, with nature and the planet. According to the Maya, it is a time when each of us will eliminate fear and lack of respect from our various relationships.
Consider the accuracy of some of the other Mayan katún prophesies: During katún5, the Maya predict that rulers and subjects will separate, and leaders will be killed. One katún5 cycle saw the American Civil War and the assassination of President Lincoln. This katún is also associated with famine, and its most recent occurrence marked the famine that decimated Ethiopia in the 1970s and 1980s.
Katún8, brings cultural breakdown and social problems, demolition and destruction of governments. It marked the fall of the last Maya Empire in 1690, the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy.
According to the Mayan calendar, a very important event took place at the beginning of the Fifth Night in the Galactic Underworld - the present economic collapse. Throughout cosmic history, the Fifth Night has been the time when old orders have been destroyed. The great depression of 1932 also occurred on the Fifth Night.
Prophesying was an important part of many tribal traditions. If you are interested, there is a large article about the Hopi prophesies on my web site.
There is a great deal of information available about the Mayan calendar. Unfortunately much of it is of questionable authenticity. If you want to learn more, a good place to start is a series of videos put together by the National Geographic:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/sights_n_sounds/media2.html
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I have written extensively about the shamanic journey process and how to use it in both Healing The Shadow and in my most recent book Journey to Enlightenment. I have also recorded a guided version of the shamanic journey process on CD. These are all available from this website.
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