Maddening Transition to 2012

[Guest guest]

As we know Yogi Bhajan discussed frequently the Age change from Pisces

to Aquarius that started in 1992 and which finishes in 2012 - he gave

Sadhana to prosper in this change. As a Sikh and master of the

" householder " yoga - kundalini - Yogi Bhajan also wanted yogis to

thrive in the material world, which includes its political aspect:

how we organize ourselves for a peaceful and prosperous Life. This

article by the wonderful thinker Pinchbek explores some of the chaotic

worry accompanying our Time as we approach 2012.

 

--------------

 

http://www.realitysandwich.com/almighty_amero

 

 

The Almighty Amero

Daniel Pinchbeck

 

This article originally appeared in Conscious Choice magazine.

 

These days I feel lost in the immense suffering and madness of our

world. Something has snapped in the spirit of the time; events have

gone beyond human capacity to control, predict or even conceptualize.

Those who insist they know what is happening are merely pretending, or

dissembling. When novelty arises, when old structures disintegrate

before new patterns reveal themselves, there are no experts.

 

Perhaps the best oracles we can consult are systems analysts like

Erwin Laszlo. Laszlo studies chaos theory and believes global

civilization is a few years away from what he calls " the chaos point. "

According to Laszlo, we are at a " crucial decision-window " of

instability. " When we reach the point of chaos, " Laszlo tells us, " the

stable 'point' and 'periodic' attractors of our systems will be joined

by 'chaotic' or 'strange' attractors. " These " strange attractors " will

propel us, like booster rockets, to evolutionary development or

entropic debauch. In other words, we should prepare ourselves for the

unknown and inexplicable.

 

The current economic crisis provides an intriguing case in point. For

those of us with an interest in spirituality and a background in the

arts, the conceptual concoctions of modern finance – derivatives,

futures, quants, margin calls and whatnot – can seem as occult as

sorcerers' spells. All of these entities are inextricably intertwined

in the subprime mortgage market fiasco, which continues to unfold.

 

Apparently, after stocks dropped in the wake of 9/11, the government

stimulated the sluggish U.S. economy by pumping up the housing market.

In earlier and more reticent eras, banks and mortgage brokers required

collateral before making loans. After 2001, these restrictions were

relaxed, bringing the " American Dream " of home ownership – or mortgage

debt refinancing – to a wider populace. Loans that began at low

interest (only to balloon to high interest later), got handed out to

all and sundry. Based on Pollyanna-ish projections that these

high-interest loans disconnected from any tangible assets would be

paid back, the sub-prime mortgages were packaged into " securities " and

traded up the financial markets. Several million holders of sub-prime

mortgages are now defaulting on their payments, with more to follow.

 

Stepping back for a moment, we might see larger historical dynamics at

work. Over the last decades, much of U.S. industry was relocated and

outsourced to the developing world, leaving a large populace that had

little to produce but was still committed to a credit-based, cushy and

consumptive lifestyle. Our financial sector – following the old adage,

" if you got lemons, make lemonade " – cunningly repackaged the

increasing burden of U.S. personal debt, turning it into a shiny

product for the financial markets. Over the last years, these

questionable loans, bundled into securities, became one of our major

exports to the world. With nothing tangible left to sell, the U.S.

turned individual debt into its chief export.

 

It seems inconceivable that the financial institutions and speculators

didn't anticipate large-scale defaults. Perhaps they were counting on

the Federal Reserve to bail them out. During the last months, in fact,

the Fed, along with its European counterpart, has poured hundreds of

billions of newly invented dollars into the financial markets,

temporarily stabilizing the system and rewarding the speculators while

doing nothing for the masses of people facing eviction from their

homes and creating the prospect of hyperinflation.

 

The Fed, a private institution, " injects liquidity, " quips the New

York Times, without needle or syringe. As a Lehman Brothers economist

notes, " All they do is write down a number and credit that amount of

cash to the bank. It's a bookkeeping entry. " The Fed's miraculous

capacity to create instant cash brings up deeper questions about the

nature of money today – what is it? De-linked from the gold standard,

money is based on little more than our collective belief in it.

 

In Third World countries, currency crises – often brought about by

predatory speculation - frequently lead to frozen bank accounts and

long breadlines, followed by a change of currency that creates immense

profit for the banks and the government. Of course, many believe that

such a thing could never happen here. Recently, there have been rumors

of a plan to form an American version of the European Federation,

uniting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada under a new currency, the " Amero, "

and a new constitution, devised by the bankers.

 

In his essay in the new anthology, The Mystery of 2012 (Sounds True

Press), Peter Russell notes that transformations of human culture are

built upon each other, with each new revolution requiring

exponentially less time to manifest. The Agricultural Age developed

over thousands of years, the Industrial Age required a few hundred

years, and the Information Age – built upon the manufacturing

technologies developed by industrialization - only took twenty years.

Russell suggests that the next revolution would be from the

Information Age to what he calls " the Wisdom Age. " In just a few

years, we could shift from a system based on data analysis rewarding

corporate and individual greed to one that utilized human knowledge

and foresight to institute a compassionate and equitable planetary

culture. The overt irrationality revealed by the current financial

crisis might act as a necessary awakening, leading to a large-scale

shift in values.

 

 

 

The coin pictured above is of a fantasy amero. Image courtesy of

Daniel Carr, the coin's designer. Please visit his site for more

images of the amero and his work.

 

10-23-07

 

* Daniel Pinchbeck's blog

* Login or register to post comments

 

http://www.realitysandwich.com/food_wars

 

" Will the transformation. " -Rilke