Here is my bold prediction for what is going to happen in 2012; there will be earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, volcanic eruptions, political and social unrest and lots of changes in the world. In other words, nothing much different from what has gone on every single year since the beginning of human history.
On the other hand, there are people who claim that something will occur in 2012 that will be so unique and unprecedented that it can only be regarded as the end or beginning of an age, part of some pre-determined cosmic cycle that ancient civilizations have been aware of for eons. First, there are the doomsayers who predict various catastrophes that could end life as we know it on planet earth. Then there are those who claim that 2012 will usher in something more vague and ambiguous such as a “new world age” or some kind of transformation or shift.
These predictions are based on a variety of things such as the Mayan calendar, various prophecies and events contained in indigenous mythology and folklore, messages from channeled entities, astrology and even the writings of Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus. In the January/February 2010 issue of Unity Magazine, the cover story featured an interview with author Gregg Braden whose recent book is called “Fractal Time; The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age.”
After reading the interview, I was left with far more questions than answers. I find it difficult to understand why we would decide to take indigenous mythology and prophecy literally when the Unity movement generally opts for an allegorical approach when it comes to scripture.
Mr. Braden seems to be saying these myths are authoritative because modern research has confirmed the accuracy of ancient Hopi prophecy telling of a time when the planet froze over and stopped spinning. I would love to see the research that verifies that one. Sure, we have had several ice age cycles but there is absolutely no evidence that the earth ever stopped spinning.
Consider this; I’ve checked across several sources which state that the earth’s mass is around six septillion kilograms. That’s a 6 followed by 24 zeros. At the equator, the surface of the earth is moving at a speed of around 1,000 MPH. I would be interested to hear from a physicist about the amount of energy that it would take to counteract that combination of mass and velocity and the effect it would have on the very structure of the planet itself.
Then, according to the Hindu Vedas, we are supposed to be in a “Kali Yuga” characterized by unreasonable rulers, addictions, famine, death and victimization. When has the world not been in a “Kali Yuga”?
Other support for a 2012 special event comes from Aztec cosmology characterized by cycles ending with great winds, fire from the sky and global cooling. The world has been experiencing these events in the form of volcanoes, asteroids, lightning, floods and windstorms for millions of years. These stories sound a bit mundane in the grand scheme of things.
Then we have Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus telling us that the new millennium would bring great change. So did the last millennium. Why is this one so different and why should we accept the authority of Cayce and Nostradamus? It is so easy to take ambiguous prophecies and quatrains after the fact and through a process of observational selection, find circumstances that fit and then call it a hit. Let’s hear about the many misses as well and then decide.
Anyone remember the “harmonic convergence” in 1987? That was another “new world age” event predicted by astrology and the Mayan calendar that was to usher in an era of peace and cooperation. Although nothing specific happened, people look back and say that the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of Apartheid and the reunification of Germany followed 1987 which is proof that the convergence happened.
Another name for that kind of observational selection is cherry picking; choosing the positive events after the fact in order to support a theory and ignoring the negative stuff like the earthquake that hit Los Angeles in October 1987. In 1988 the U.S. shot down an Iranian airliner killing 209 and a Pan Am 747 was blown up by terrorists over Lockerbie Scotland. 1989 brought the Tiananmen Square massacre followed by the Persian Gulf War in 1990. In other words, the world went on as it always had with delight followed by disaster.
Finally, we have something called “The Time Code Calculator” which uses a mathematical formula based on fractals to allow us to calculate when an event from the past might repeat. For example, using the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor as a seed event, the calculator predicts future times when conditions are ripe for an attack on the U.S. Sure enough, go to the calculator at greggbraden.com, put it in mode one, input December 1941 and keep working forward from the dates you get and you will come to 2001 and everyone knows what happened in 2001. Except the calculator says June of 2001. Close enough I guess.
In the interest of science, I would like to hear some independent opinions from mathematicians and physicists. One of the keys to claiming any kind of reliable knowledge is the peer review process which is totally lacking here. In light of the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January of this year, I looked up the calculator and put in June 1770, the date of the last known quake in Port Au Prince. The closest date that came up was October 2009. Does that count as a hit? After all, it was only off by 3 months.
Every year brings with it at least one event of unprecedented significance. Attempting to rank one as more significant than another is folly. Would anyone care to argue that the holocaust was more or less significant than the abolition of slavery or that the American Revolution was a more pivotal event than the Protestant Reformation?
I’m more concerned about the fact that in the USA today, slightly more than 60% of our population does not accept the scientific validity of evolution. One of those people seems to be starting a run for President in 2012 and she also believes in demons and witchcraft. Maybe 2012 is something to be afraid of after all.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Book Review: Eternal Life by John Shelby Spong
I will be forever grateful to the Unity movement for introducing me to the writings of John Shelby Spong. He was the Episcopal Bishop of Newark New Jersey until his retirement in 2000 and has been a leading voice for progressive Christianity for over 30 years. Bishop Spong was a keynote speaker at the 2009 conference of our Association of Unity Churches International where he received the Light of God Expressing in Society Award for his work.
His books have provocative titles such as: Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism; Why Christianity Must Change or Die; Resurrection: Myth or Reality? and Jesus for the Non-Religious. Now we can add to that list his latest challenge to the status quo: Eternal Life: A New Vision; Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell. This book is not for the faint of heart.
We are used to John Spong leveling devastating critiques of traditional Christian dogma with most Unity folks cheering him on. In Eternal Life, he expands his territory. Do you believe that God has a plan for your life or that the “soul” chooses your destiny? Bishop Spong convincingly argues that he is an accidental human being, not the product of anyone’s design and without any obvious preconceived purpose.
Nor does he find it reasonable to believe in any concept of eternal life where our personality carries over. That would rule out traditional notions of heaven and reincarnation. After looking into near death experiences, he remains more skeptical than convinced.
Another challenging observation he makes is that this present moment appears to be little more than the non-real instant through which the future passes on its journey to the past and concludes that it is the present that actually doesn’t exist for human beings. How will that sit with fans of Eckhart Tolle and The Power of Now?
He believes than human beings should have the personal and legal right to choose when and how to die. This decision is called a moral and ethical decision to be celebrated and lauded. He makes it clear that these are his personal views while backing them up with evidence based on a lifetime of research and experience.
His passion for the subject matter arises from the fact that he is 79 years old and facing these issues in a very real way. Although he is vital and healthy, he candidly admits that this may be his final book. If so, it will be a fitting epitaph for a man who has never been afraid to ask the tough questions about matters of faith and then follow the evidence to wherever it may lead; even it meant taking an unpopular position or abandoning comfortable but outdated beliefs.
For those who are curious about Bishop Spong’s final conclusions, without giving anything away, this quote from the book provides a hint: “Our ultimate destiny was never to be religious human beings, as we once thought; it was simply to be fully and totally human. Religion, that human activity to which we once entrusted our destiny, is now revealed only as a stage of life that had to be transcended before we could discover our destiny… It has been the human destiny to walk through the fearful and the limiting in order to discover the transcendent and the infinitely real. We had to walk through self-consciousness to discover the universal consciousness.”
Bishop Spong is a first rate scholar and his book has plenty of substance for those of us who need footnotes and an extensive bibliography. He also recounts almost his entire life story which gives the book an autobiographical flavor. He is quite repetitive about his key points which might be an annoyance to some readers but is perhaps a reasonable accommodation in our attention span challenged culture.
This is a book meant to encourage dialogue about difficult issues. For those who are ready to let go of supernatural or superstitious explanations for what happens when we die, Bishop Spong provides a basis for finding a new and more reason based approach to living and dying with a transcendent sense of meaning and purpose.
His books have provocative titles such as: Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism; Why Christianity Must Change or Die; Resurrection: Myth or Reality? and Jesus for the Non-Religious. Now we can add to that list his latest challenge to the status quo: Eternal Life: A New Vision; Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell. This book is not for the faint of heart.
We are used to John Spong leveling devastating critiques of traditional Christian dogma with most Unity folks cheering him on. In Eternal Life, he expands his territory. Do you believe that God has a plan for your life or that the “soul” chooses your destiny? Bishop Spong convincingly argues that he is an accidental human being, not the product of anyone’s design and without any obvious preconceived purpose.
Nor does he find it reasonable to believe in any concept of eternal life where our personality carries over. That would rule out traditional notions of heaven and reincarnation. After looking into near death experiences, he remains more skeptical than convinced.
Another challenging observation he makes is that this present moment appears to be little more than the non-real instant through which the future passes on its journey to the past and concludes that it is the present that actually doesn’t exist for human beings. How will that sit with fans of Eckhart Tolle and The Power of Now?
He believes than human beings should have the personal and legal right to choose when and how to die. This decision is called a moral and ethical decision to be celebrated and lauded. He makes it clear that these are his personal views while backing them up with evidence based on a lifetime of research and experience.
His passion for the subject matter arises from the fact that he is 79 years old and facing these issues in a very real way. Although he is vital and healthy, he candidly admits that this may be his final book. If so, it will be a fitting epitaph for a man who has never been afraid to ask the tough questions about matters of faith and then follow the evidence to wherever it may lead; even it meant taking an unpopular position or abandoning comfortable but outdated beliefs.
For those who are curious about Bishop Spong’s final conclusions, without giving anything away, this quote from the book provides a hint: “Our ultimate destiny was never to be religious human beings, as we once thought; it was simply to be fully and totally human. Religion, that human activity to which we once entrusted our destiny, is now revealed only as a stage of life that had to be transcended before we could discover our destiny… It has been the human destiny to walk through the fearful and the limiting in order to discover the transcendent and the infinitely real. We had to walk through self-consciousness to discover the universal consciousness.”
Bishop Spong is a first rate scholar and his book has plenty of substance for those of us who need footnotes and an extensive bibliography. He also recounts almost his entire life story which gives the book an autobiographical flavor. He is quite repetitive about his key points which might be an annoyance to some readers but is perhaps a reasonable accommodation in our attention span challenged culture.
This is a book meant to encourage dialogue about difficult issues. For those who are ready to let go of supernatural or superstitious explanations for what happens when we die, Bishop Spong provides a basis for finding a new and more reason based approach to living and dying with a transcendent sense of meaning and purpose.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Haiti's Curse
2009 is history, a year that provided unlimited excuses for not updating this blog. In February my father died at age 91. In April we had to euthanize our 12 year old golden retriever dog. After that it was house hunting after the rental we have lived in since 2004 was put on the market. I figured we were buying at the right time and at the end of July found a home in Rocklin that was perfect for us. In September we welcomed our next golden retriever puppy, a female named Tara. Now it’s time to get back to other things, like this blog.
I am hoping to do more book and movie reviews as well as comment on other things. As I write this, it has been almost a week since the earthquake in Haiti. On the day after the quake I mentioned to my wife that I wondered how long it would take for Pat Robertson to say something stupid about the situation. Based on his past track record with 911(caused by god’s wrath against feminists and the ACLU) and hurricane Katrina, (caused by god’s wrath against gay pride parades) it should be less than a week. Try 24 hours.
According to Pat, the Haitians are suffering because they have been under a curse. Here’s the quote: "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal [...] ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."
Seems they made this pact with the devil at the start of their slave revolt in 1791. Some historians mention a voodoo ceremony presided over by one of the leaders of the revolt. So let me get this straight, Pat Robertson’s god says it would have been better for the Haitians to remain enslaved than to rely on an indigenous religious practice to rally the people to accomplish the only successful slave rebellion in modern history.
It is hard to believe that in 2010 educated people still believe in demons and curses or a theistic, supernatural all powerful god-person who controls the elements and tectonics to kill people he doesn’t like. And if a few righteous people get caught up in the divine carnage, I guess we just have to consider them expendable or martyrs. An all powerful god should be able to do better than that.
A new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that Americans are changing religious affiliations at a rising rate. The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. More than 16 percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country's fourth largest "religious group." ....While the unaffiliated have been growing, Protestantism has been declining, the survey found.
It is easy to understand why this is happening with people like Pat Robertson as the public face of protestant Christianity in America. The real curse for Haiti came in the form of the Europeans who practiced slavery and used the Bible to justify their atrocities.
I am hoping to do more book and movie reviews as well as comment on other things. As I write this, it has been almost a week since the earthquake in Haiti. On the day after the quake I mentioned to my wife that I wondered how long it would take for Pat Robertson to say something stupid about the situation. Based on his past track record with 911(caused by god’s wrath against feminists and the ACLU) and hurricane Katrina, (caused by god’s wrath against gay pride parades) it should be less than a week. Try 24 hours.
According to Pat, the Haitians are suffering because they have been under a curse. Here’s the quote: "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it's a deal [...] ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."
Seems they made this pact with the devil at the start of their slave revolt in 1791. Some historians mention a voodoo ceremony presided over by one of the leaders of the revolt. So let me get this straight, Pat Robertson’s god says it would have been better for the Haitians to remain enslaved than to rely on an indigenous religious practice to rally the people to accomplish the only successful slave rebellion in modern history.
It is hard to believe that in 2010 educated people still believe in demons and curses or a theistic, supernatural all powerful god-person who controls the elements and tectonics to kill people he doesn’t like. And if a few righteous people get caught up in the divine carnage, I guess we just have to consider them expendable or martyrs. An all powerful god should be able to do better than that.
A new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that Americans are changing religious affiliations at a rising rate. The survey also indicates that the group that had the greatest net gain was the unaffiliated. More than 16 percent of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country's fourth largest "religious group." ....While the unaffiliated have been growing, Protestantism has been declining, the survey found.
It is easy to understand why this is happening with people like Pat Robertson as the public face of protestant Christianity in America. The real curse for Haiti came in the form of the Europeans who practiced slavery and used the Bible to justify their atrocities.
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