WE ARE THE WORLD
By Bev Aisbett - 2006
Ancient folklore has long suggested that the Earth will undergo major changes in the next few years.
In fact, both the ancient Egyptian and Mayan Calenders end at the year 2012.
Many in the realm of New Age philosophies see these next six years as ‘make or break’ time, in the sense that we either ‘get our act together’ in terms of our spiritual growth or find ourselves overwhelmed by what is to come.
Whether or not we subscribe to these predictions, it is evident that we have reached a time of crisis, not only in terms of the wellbeing of our planet but, because all is connected, our own wellbeing as well.
Recently I went to see the Al Gore film, ‘An inconvenient Truth’, which outlines stark and undeniable evidence that the environment is in serious trouble.
Giant glaciers reduced to ice cubes, polar bears drowning as they try to swim up to 60 miles to the nearest ice floe, seasons out of synch, record high temperatures, cyclones, floods and, currently closest to home, drought, to name but a few of the global changes we currently face.
Now, painting this picture of doom and gloom may seem an unusual choice to make when writing for a periodical aimed at people suffering with anxiety, but there is ‘method in my madness’.
Indeed, I see this period of crisis as a wake up call on, not only a global but also a personal scale. It is a call to once and for all DEAL with the things that hold us and our world back from a true and perfect state of balance.
The recent epidemic rise of anxiety and depression is, in my view, not so much a malaise, but instead, an instinctive, primal, inner call to finally make the changes necessary for our wellbeing which we have been putting off attending to in the hope of external ‘rescue’. These conditions are, indeed strong motivators and they need to be, because as humans, we are notorious for dodging the issue until it reaches crisis point.
And the issue at hand is a simple yet profound concept: Love. We do not see ourselves in a loving light. We feel guilt and shame. We punish ourselves. We hold onto old hurts. We live to others’ standards then blame them for our own choices. We do not trust ourselves and thus do not trust life. We repeat old patterns that never worked in the first place. We deny our own power.
There are only two forces that govern our emotions-Love and Fear. Each cancels out the other. As a consequence of our lack of love for ourselves we likewise neglect our planet. As a species, we have so little respect for this gift, that we virtually vandalise our own home.
And so it is also on an internal level, where we vandalise ourselves with negativity and fear. We forget our innate perfection. The urgent message of these times is that we can no longer assume that we can do nothing and hope that someone else will fix it.
All of this can seem overwhelming, unless one adopts a more philosophical view. It is time to think in ‘Big Picture’ terms.
The earth has undergone many changes over billions of years. It is naturally self-correcting and if pushed too far, will seek to balance itself. These shifts, both external and internal are not personal. They are part of a natural process and simply the consequences of choices we have made as human beings with free will.
And, because we are all one, the choices we make as individuals become a ripple, which becomes a wave, which becomes a tsunami.
It is time to get out of our ‘smallness’ and realise that we not only have the power to change ourselves but that each person who steps out of his or her own sense of limitation simultaneously opens the door to a world of endless possibilities.
You have the power. It begins with the next choice you make:
Love OR Fear.
by Bev Aisbett – 2006
