Standing at a Fork in Your Road

Standing at a Fork in Your Road Facing Your Demons

First of all, in case you had not figured this out already, we are in chaos today. I liken it to standing at a fork in your road facing your demons. Like it or not the situation demands that we face our most powerful Demon, the Lord of Chaos, Satan, himself.
In addition, the famed major league baseball player, Yogi Berra, tells us, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Therefore, where do the two branches of your fork take you? In our present state of affairs, I see one branch leading down a barren road to a dusty death that could be nuclear. I could also see the other branch leading to a greening of the Earth Mother. If you have trouble understanding this, please be patient; you’ll see. In addition, let me share what crosses my mind now… two important images: our limitless nature – our immortality – and the limited life span of all revolutions, three of which are in their death throes as we speak: the 17th c. world-wide Industrial Revolution on the one hand, and the American and French revolutions against monarchy.

Our Immortality

In addition, I share with you my fascination with the Universe that goes way back in my life. I grew up a few miles from the great Bell Telephone radio telescope that picked up the background radiation from the Big Bang. I visited it when I was a teenager. In my late teen years, I developed a fascination with the quantum reality aspects of this Universe; delighted to find out that it was finite, beginning as a point of light nearly 14 billion years ago. I was also fascinated to learn about the quantum experiments that proved that consciousness was infinite and timeless… a fundamental property of matter, and that matter is a fundamental finite quality of consciousness! On the one hand, it was apparent that matter can be measured in terms of space and time. On the other, it was apparent that consciousness cannot be measured in terms of space and time… It is both infinite and eternal… everywhere… now!
With this background, I have long held the sense that you and I have been promised these lives since the beginning of time. I was delighted to read in Peter Kingsley’s marvelous work, Reality, “We are immortal,” appearing for the first time on page 520 of that 600 page book! I saw that he was leading up to it by the time I had reached page 40, and wondering where he would say it!
About 25 years ago, a friend told me how he had a heart attack and, knowing that he had died, he went into an beautiful place of color, light, and love, knowing that he was dead. Especially relevant, he was aware that a very important piece of creative work had been interrupted by his death and immediately he heard a voice saying that he was to go back and finish it. On returning to this life, he finished his work and then had a second heart attack and left for good. He was the first of six people I have gotten to know who have had similar experiences with their own dying and going beyond their death. They all returned to complete an important service to others.
All of this makes perfect sense to me… not in terms of logical thinking, but knowing, as Antoine de St. Exupéry writes in his book, The Little Prince, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. The essential is invisible to the eye.”

The Dying Revolutions and Chaos

I recently finished reading Chris Hedges’ 2015 book, Wages of Rebellion in which he examines the nature of unsuccessful and successful revolutions. He finds that successful revolutions create their own “vocabulary” that the oligarchs, against whom they rebel, cannot understand. The unsuccessful rebellions fail to create such a vocabulary. As I went through this, I realized that every revolution has a lifespan, the end of which comprised a disintegration of the thought forms that had created the revolution. That disintegration was inevitably chaotic.
The chaos that we see around us today marks the ending of prior revolutions. Consider that the three revolutions of the 18th century are in their death throes. One of the revolutions is industrial and social: the Industrial Revolution of 1750. The other two are political and social: the American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789. Fundamental to the vocabulary of the approaching revolution are words that reflect attitudes and belief systems. Examples of the former are kindness and compassion. Examples of the latter are all associated with globalization, which, to me implies the growing recognition of our universal equality in the context of an immense diversity.

The Dark Side of It All

In respect to that image of universal equality as a reflection of the new vocabulary, there is a defensive, terribly fearful, retreat into the dark side of the dying revolutions. In this way, I can begin to appreciate the behavior of a class of powerful individuals who call themselves “The Elite”. This is not what you think it is; rather, it is the product of a denial that there are limited resources to keep us going in our consumption of those resources. There is a class of individuals who have accumulated great wealth from the consumption of our limited resources. They do not see that when we run out of these resources, all of us will suffer the same fate as any homeless human on the streets of every hometown. Yes, denial can take incredible forms… one only needs to be reminded of the Holocaust. It makes you keep on standing at the fork in your road.
It occurs to me that the trillions of dollars accumulated by these ravenous, insatiable appetites represent the energy that can keep the earth and its human population very much alive and well! It occurs to me as well that it does not pay to try to isolate these highly creative and intelligent, but misled, human beings… they will only retreat into their bomb shelters and hire mercenaries to protect them from what is really going on. Most of all, it is better to look peacefully at them in their fear and acknowledge it by saying, “I see what you want me to do, and I will not do it because I will not let you control my life. So, come out of your bomb shelters. We are not going to hurt you.” Rather, I believe that we shall follow the example of Bishop Desmond Tutu confronting the police lining the walls of his Grace Cathedral to prevent a march against apartheid. He extended his open hand, saying, “You cannot mock my G*d; for He will not be mocked. Come join the winning side. You have lost already.”

H.O.P.E. Groups Facing the Dark Side

It seems like we need H.O.P.E. Groups to help each other get through this time and stop standing at the fork in our road. H.O.P.E. groups, big or small, are supportive of each other using a loving, gentle, non-judgmental approach to achieve unity instead of division. As a result, I believe we can direct our future to follow the green road and thrive.

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Jeanne White Eagle January 7, 2017, 7:07 pm

    As always, Ken, your thoughts are inspiring and packed full of wisdom. Clearly, we are into the times that our Mayan Elders have spoken of for centuries. Birth rarely is easy. To experience the pains and pangs of our present day, no matter where one is in the world, is to participate in perhaps the greatest shift in consciousness yet to occur on our beloved planet. For those of us who came here to serve as midwives during this time, it is imperative to the point of urgent to stay on point, to make choices from a place of kindness and compassion particularly during harsh circumstances, and to choose always to “see through the eyes of Love,” even when this act itself is challenged by opposing forces of overwhelming fear and anger! Ken, you speak to all of this with elegance and quiet power, A profuse thank you!

  • Elaine G McGillicuddy January 8, 2017, 4:11 am

    Dear Ken,
    Thank you for your great work (as Thomas Berry called it) reading, reflecting and probing into the great issues of our time to share with us your insights and wisdom. You are in tune with another visionary whom I heard today at a day long retreat with Sherri Mitchell, a Penobscot attorney and inspiring shaman. It was held at ChIME (Chaplaincy Institute of Maine). With Loving Gratitude, Elaine

  • Jeanne Lachance January 8, 2017, 7:43 pm

    Only see the light of love!

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