Event horizon: a boundary in space time used to describe the apparent edge around a black hole, beyond which nothing can be seen.
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I was on the phone recently with my friend Doug in San Francisco discussing the calamitous weather in the Midwest and the current wildfires in California. “What’s next,” he quipped, “plagues of locusts?” “Well, we’re certainly overrun by bugs in Iowa,” I replied.
Joking aside, aggravated climatic conditions, environmental disasters, rising energy prices, food shortages, a slumping economy and the ongoing middle-eastern conflict, do seem to be approaching biblical proportions, causing many (including myself) to wonder whether the quantum shift in global conditions predicted in several traditions may be coming to fruition. As Doug commented, the event horizon seems to be moving closer every day.
There are those purveyors of doom who claim, for example, that the Mayan calendar, which, depending on the interpretation, ends sometime between 2010 and 2012, means the world is about to end or that Nostradamus predicted global destruction; while other groups await Armageddon with almost gleeful anticipation (assuming, of course, that they end up on the right side on the Day of Judgment). I don’t buy into this.
The Hopi people have their own version of events. Thomas Banyacya, now deceased and one of the Hopi elders charged with revealing his people’s ancient predictions to current generations (and who, as an interesting aside, was once the houseguest of my wife-to-be in Spokane) described it like this:
We are currently living in the fourth world. The Hopis believe they are the original inhabitants of this world. The creator made the first world to be in perfect balance, where humans lived in harmony and spoke one language. But the humans turned away from good moral and spiritual practices, misused their spiritual powers for selfish purposes, and failed to follow nature’s rules. Eventually the world was destroyed by earthquakes which fractured and sunk the land. Only a few people survived and made it into the second world, where the mistakes were repeated and the world was eventually destroyed by freezing (ie. the Ice Age).
A few survivors entered the third world. This world lasted a long time and again people spoke with one language. Many fantastic machines were invented, many of which we have yet to see; high technologies were used to make life comfortable and spiritual powers were used for good. However, they eventually turned away from natural laws, rejected spiritual principles and pursued only material wealth and gambling (commodity speculators take note). This world was destroyed by a great flood (ie. Noah’s ark).
Only a handful survived into the fourth world where we now live. Despite the people being given different languages by the Great Spirit and being sent to the four corners of the world to take care of the Earth, once again the planet has fallen into great distress; people are living in violation of natural law, humans poison their own food and pollute the water and air. Weapons of mass destruction threaten to bring fire down on the whole world.
In 1992, Banyacya took his message to the United Nations, presciently described in Hopi ancient prophecies as a House of Mica. He urged them to not just talk about peace, but to “beat their swords into plowshares and study war no more,” as is inscribed on the walls of their building. “Let’s, together, do that now,” he urged.
Obviously, his appeals fell on deaf ears. But he had a good reason to go approach the United Nations. As I mentioned in a previous posting, the Hopi Elders prophesied that mankind can return to living in harmony with natural law if we choose to be of “one heart”. They also predicted that to achieve this, the Hopi people would be helped by people with white skin who would come to their land. That is why they were so welcoming to the first Spanish settlers. As we know, that didn’t work out so well, but it doesn’t invalidate the truth of the prophecy.
As humans we always have the power of decision about which direction we take. An event horizon may appear to block our vision of the future, but that is because the future is open to all possibilities: it has yet to be created.
So, division and destruction or harmony and peace?—it’s our choice.
If you want to find out more about how quickly climate changes are affecting our world, visit: http://www.marklynas.org/