Living In Interesting Times

I had the realization recently that everything I've been doing fitness, research, learning and philosophy-wise has been preparing me for what's to come.

Keep doing what you're doing.... 

The Chinese curse I've been referring to since my first encounter with it goes, "May you live in interesting times." I was told it was a curse, but it could also be a blessing. Many elements of life can be switched 180 degrees depending on our perspective. I like to think of it as a curse because it provides a challenge for me to over come.

Times have been interesting for me since the age of reason. I was born in the middle of the week, under the first of two full moons of that month, in the "upside down year." President Kennedy - the last US President to be assassinated - started the Peace Corps earlier that day. I arrived about dusk. First step on the stairs.

I've learned from history and observation that this civilization has always been in turmoil. A constant conflict exists on all levels of society. One can discern and compare the politics of the 'hood to the politics of the globe and realize that they are not very different at all. It comes down to competition over cooperation. We are conditioned, probably in the womb, to compete with our fellow organisms; to be better - and when better stopped being defined by skills, wisdom, or intellect, it began being defined by the amount of stuff one owned. (Of course the concept of ownership had to be invented, but that would take me off on another tangent.)

True to the Chinese curse we are living in "interesting" times. In case this becomes a time capsule, let me just enumerate what I believe are the top five existential threats to humanity. (I think these are all related.)

1. The global economy is in danger of collapsing. This is a threat because humanity has become so dependent on money... buying stuff... that most of us don't know how to actually do things for ourselves. Also because of money, private property and ownership, we've become isolated from our neighbors and tend to have a hard time cooperating with one another even if it would save our lives. 
2. Apparently World War III in imminent. Prognosticators connect this to the economy. They speculate that it's because of the Central Bankers need an excuse for the system to fail so that they can reset it. Historically, the point to war as being the answer to this conundrum. 
3. The combination of ignorance, stupidity, shortsightedness and somnambulism has made it easy for the "They" (aka Powers-That-Be) to control the masses. This control has made us dependent on stuff like status, entertainment, gadgets and the like. It's also fashioned us into haters of those who have more (of the above) than "we" have. While simultaneously inspiring us to hate those who have less than we have by telling us that they hate us for what we have. which leads us into wars and killing and destabilizing regions.
4. Global Climate change. Since I'm not a scientist and I'm not actually going out and taking measurements of ice tables and glaciers, I have to decide which hypothesis I want to believe; that which blames the phenomenon on humans and which can be alleviated by the digging into the public's pockets - or - that something extraterrestrial if affecting the Earth (as well as other planets in our solar system, including the sun.)
5. Which brings me to the Nemesis Gang; a brown dwarf star that travels with its own posse; three planets and two moons and is said to be making its 3600 year unwelcome visit into our solar system. The alternative media fear this visit could cause an extinction-level event either by knocking asteroids into the Earth, electro-magnetic interaction between planets Earth and (most likely) Nibiru, by heating the Earth to a point that's intolerable to human life, or causing a catastrophic pole shift. Observers/historians suggest that it was on one of Nemesis' (aka Planet X) visits to our solar system that was responsible for the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. And, according to Sitchin, Nibiru, the outer most planet is where the Annunaki came from - so we may be looking at an alien invasion as well. 

The Nemesis Gang - A mini constellation.

Interesting times indeed.

I've started to feel that my way of life, the decisions I've made, the disciplines I've practiced, the books I've been given to read - or those I've discovered, the lectures I've "attended" and even the friends I made (or tried to make) are not just random. It might be lucky, or what I like to call magic, but there now seems to be a reason to it/for it. Although, (as mentioned in a previous post) I haven't been (to my consciousness) contacted by a spiritual being yet, it feels like what I'm doing and where I'm going has significance - as if it's part of a plan. It could be all (or mostly) in my mind, only time and perception will tell. 

A long time ago, I worked with a guy (a pandit) who read my palm. The take-home message, that I never forgot and that reassures me was Keep doing what you're doing. Certainly anyone can tell you that, but it let me know I was on the right track. To stay on that track I have to have the confidence in myself and the track. Every so often I meet someone along the way that reassures me.