The question is:  What is triggering these acts of violence and rage?  Is it the gamma rays from the universe?  Is it the socio-political dynamics of present day society?  Is it the breakdown of our religious belief systems because its leaders have been exposed of acts of  sexual abuse towards children? Is it because evil is rampart in the world and exorcism, which most of us considered an ancient rite, is alive and functional having been used presently by the leader of the Catholic Church - the Pope?   Is it the injustice, poverty, and cruelty that so many innocent people are enduring?  The answer is yes - to all of the above.  Perhaps you can think of some other reasons, too.  

Having the opportunity to comment on issues that are so painful and confusing, I have explored other possible explanations that explain present day circumstances. While many people believe that these are the "end times" before the second coming of Christ, I will attempt to share with you concepts that were found in a very powerful little book - Beyond Prophecies and Predictions by Moira Timms.  

You may recall that in the Bible, the plagues of The Revelation are special packages of returning karma, rude awakenings, visited upon the obstinate to shock them into awareness.  (Is awareness this lesson for us now)?  Humans are the most versatile of all the animals, and yet they always resist change.   Animals that don't adapt become extinct.  Remember the dinosaurs?

The late philosopher, poet, and scientist Dr. Jacob Bronowski described it in 'The Ascent of Man':

"We live our past in the present from the ragbag of fixed and obsolete ideas." 

Is our collective subconscious trying to bring something to our attention?  Survival today means understanding and responding to change within the context of an 'internal revolution' and preparing ourselves accordingly.  To say 'No' to reconnecting with the Earth and each other, to spiritual growth and a new phase of human evolution is to resist the transformative spirit at work which will only invoke catastrophe.

The number 7 - Perfection & Completion

Seven is not often found within the physical world of nature; it is much more related to spiritual forces that regulate the cycles of time and human development. Seven is the number of perfection and completion, as expressed in the seven symbolic days of creation, seven days of the week, seven rays, seven chakras, seven biological systems of the human body, seven seals of Revelation which complete the action, and the seven of the Kabalistic Tree of Life, representing the 'Triumph of Endurance' or 'Victory'.  Thus, six, the image of Return, merges into seven, the Victory of the Light.

This model for physical and spiritual evolution also applies macrocosmically to the twenty-six thousand year cycle of the equinox precession - the great Cosmic Year with its twelve astrological 'ages' that also comprise the four seasons.  So, about thirteen thousand years ago at a time consistent with the cosmic fall equinox, after the great flood and the sinking of Atlantis, a new cycle of civilization began in the age of Atlantis, a new cycle of civilization began in the Age of Leo.  It took six astrological ages to arrive at Pisces, and we are now leaving that sign, traversing the threshold to Aquarius, the seventh age.

Are people just overwhelmed?

I don't know about you - but it seems to me that we are presently living within a very sick society.  I am aghast at the heinous acts and  situations people are involved in.   What is causing this phenomena?   Our medical and psychological societies are  quiet.  There aren't any breakthroughs as to the reasons why people are acting so strangely?  It would seem like humanity  is in dire need of something and someone to believe in . . . something to grasp and become healed - mind, body, and soul.  The picture to the left reminded me that our emotions may be compared to the ocean or sea.  At times the waters are calm - and at other times, quite unexpectedly - these same waters may become tumultuous and dangerous. We really are quite fragile trying to stay afloat on the Sea of Life.

Evolution & Involution

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a human one.
                     --Georges I. Gurdjieff

An accurate account of the descent of spirit into matter and its long journey through mass, energy, space, and time is not possible. We cannot state empirically the exact nature of evolution in its totality but we can refer to history and the origin of species as evolution.  It is life in the process of becoming - and it moves in a spiral, not the linear strip we think of as the conveyor belt of time. 

There are six kingdoms of creation: Energy, which forms the 1st and most subtle wave of life, becomes progressively more intricate as it transmutes into more complex forms - energy, gases, minerals, plants, animals - and finally in the form of human beings who represent a direct metamorphosis of the soil; we are not separate. As humans, we are sustained by the plants and animals.  At the 6th evolutionary level, humans exist at varying states of personal development.  Those whose consciousness is still in the early stages of awakening represent  the 'human-animal' nature inasmuch as the ego is still focused in upon itself and its own needs, largely to the exclusion of the welfare of others.  It knows nothing of the higher principles nor does it care to learn, being primarily fixated upon the lower centers of consciousness characterized by security, sex, and power.  As life experiences and hardships give us some social smarts and teach us to "do as we would be done by," sensitivity grows, awareness expands, and the ego diffuses itself vicariously as a conscious part of the all.  Once the intelligence of the heart (love & emotions) has been awakened, creativity expands and knowledge of the higher wisdom is sought.  As this process unfolds the human being can be described as 'human-divine.'  From this stage onward, the human organism returns to the source, taking with it the entire knowledge and wisdom accumulated and integrated into its psyche during all life's experiences.  Matter once again merges gently back into spirit.  This is the process of 'involution'.

Involution, the return of matter back to spirit, stirs when a significant number of the 6th kingdom of creation begins to realize its species 'potential'.  The involutionary force takes us on to the seventh level, where the soul learns spirituality, finally passing from the material plane to the subtle realm whence it came. 

This seventh stage will provide the tools of our transition from our present physical experience in a world of dense matter to a subtler, more spiritual vibration.  This means that civilization now rides the great wheel of time at a position equivalent to the spring equinox of the cosmic year - a time when the light ascends and the darkness must yield.  At such times, the ancient, mythic theme of the conflict between the forces of good and evil again plays itself out in the world.  We call it Armageddon.