Yesterday was the oh-so-meaningful solar eclipse. All of the doom-scryers were out on social media in the weeks and months before, predicting all sorts of Biblical calamity. So — did World War III start? Did the Yellowstone caldera explode? Was anyone raptured away? No. Of course not. And I’ll tell you why.
Humanity – people from all walks of life and faiths – has always made doomsday predictions about every little trivial event in human history. Going back to the first recorded histories of people predicting the future, they have a very high rate of failure to successfully prognosticate anything. And when it comes to Biblical end-of-the-world predictions and talk of “raptures,” they have been wrong, let me see, let’s crunch the numbers here — One-Hundred Percent of the time. And there is a very simple explanation for this:
Nothing is going to happen. Nothing is ever going to happen. The world we live in appears to be in constant flux, but this is an illusion. Nothing ever really changes. You know all those problems the world is dealing with today, the things the news media love to ramp everyone up about? They have always been the same. Nothing has ever really, on a fundamental level, changed.
Our world is one of constant action – wars beginning, earthquakes trembling, volcanoes erupting, people starving, floods flooding, you name it – but if you look closely, you’ll see it’s nothing but smoke and mirrors. It’s like that poem “The Conqueror Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe, specifically this bit:
Although the scenery is constantly shifting at the bidding of those “vast formless things,” everything “returneth in to the self-same spot.” I loves me some Poe. The only thing that ever happens, as illustrated by the emergence of the worm of the title, is that one day, we each, as individuals, die. In the meantime, we are merely subjected to this shadow play in which the story never really changes on any fundamental level.
As I’ve mentioned repeatedly in this blog in many previous posts, there are entities shifting the scenery, giving our world the illusion of activity that we are somehow meant to control, but in the end, it’s really a staging ground where nothing real ever happens. We are children playing at a grand Fisher-Price Busy-Box.
We are learning some basic skills that may be helpful in whatever world we are preparing for, but here, we are just going through the motions. And it is, I am sure, adorable to some higher consciousness somewhere.
But nothing here really changes. Life evolves and technology develops, giving us the illusion of change and preparing us for confronting the concept of real change in a larger reality, but the fundamentals remain the same: Good versus evil, power, greed, corruption, the wealthy ruling over the poor and the struggles of inequality – it’s all here for a reason. And it always will be. The program is designed this way, like it’s on a loop. Remember when people called World War I “the Great War” because it was gonna end all wars? Wasn’t that cute?
So what do you do? You can play along, get involved, try to be the best kid in the playpen and get the most accolades from whatever ‘parent’ entity is watching over us by screaming and crying, throwing little fits over every change you deem to be an afront to your existence. Or you can make it easy on yourself and everyone else and just enjoy the show. Sit back, watch the other snot-headed kids fumble around, pissing themselves as they fight over toys or what have you. If you were the ‘parent’ entity, which behavior would impress you the most?
When I was a child, I promised myself that I’d either be very wealthy or very poor, but either way, I’d be free. I won’t play the rat-race game of waking up early to go to school every morning, just so I can get a job that requires me to keep waking up early every morning. Bills to pay, a mortgage to feed, children to raise into the exact same system. And all the while chasing that golden-age ‘freedom’ at the end of the rainbow that may never come, until I die. And so far, I have managed to keep that promise to myself as best as I could. Oh sure, I have a job, but it’s an easy one that provides me the comfort I require, the free time, and the ability to travel. I get two months of paid vacation in the winter and in the summer, and during the working months, I work an average of eighteen hours a week, and it’s not a bad gig. I’m pretty much left to my own devices to conduct my courses as I see fit. I took the path of least-resistance, heeding the words of one Bruce Lee: “Be like water.” I like water. Water, I feel, is my element.
In the meantime, I have plenty of opportunities to watch the world and enjoy the show, and from many different perspectives. I’ve been around the world twice now, and have visited over thirty countries, from North America to Asia, to Europe and Oceania. This summer I plan to check out South America. Or maybe I’ll return to Europe again. I liked it there, and there’s still so much to see.
I have adopted a simple policy in my life, and it reflects the “as above, so below” teachings of Thoth. When we go walking in nature, we are told to “Take only pictures, leave only footprints, kill nothing but time.” I take that to the larger scale: This whole world is a nature preserve. While I am here, I will abide by those rules as much as I can. I keep a very low profile. I’m not interested in building monuments to testify to my existence. I don’t want any tall buildings with my name hung in giant gold lettering. I have no need to amass wealth, possessions, or power, because I’d rather just be happy now. I just want to live peacefully and watch the world play. The play of the other children, the play with the vast formless things shifting the scenery. I’ll take a hard pass on the “horror” as “the soul of the plot” as I simply will not take part in it. I’m here as an observer, nothing more. Oh sure, I’ll boo and hiss at the horror from my comfortable seat in the audience, but that’s the extend of my involvement. I hate plays with audience involvement.
I know this is a show, a sham, a program that isn’t real. And I refuse to be one of the snot-heads screaming because someone peed on my Busy-Box. The path I chose is not ideal for everyone. I have no family of my own, I’ve never married or sired any children. I didn’t see the point. I’ve been in long-term relationships when I was younger (two years is my record!), and despite loving the women I was with, I simply couldn’t see myself living my life for someone else. I know it sounds selfish, but it’s been a hang-up of mine. I eventually chose to stop pursuing relationships. I spend the majority of my time alone, and call me weird, but that’s the way I like it. It is much less a hassle, and it allows me to focus on my one true goal: Getting the fuck out of this play nursery and onto the real shit.
And working alone as I do, on the schedule and lifestyle I have managed to acquire for myself, if I get the urge to pick up and head to Peru to try ayahuasca to communicate with those “parental” entities, then dagnabbit, that’s just what I’ll do. Quite frankly, I’m tired of watching all these snot-headed children pissing themselves, fighting and screaming over useless toys. Perhaps that is a strong sign that it is a good thing I never became a parent. I love children, don’t get me wrong. They’re adorable, and I’d be lying if I don’t think I would have enjoyed taking my own kids to a movie theater or on a camping trip, things I enjoyed as a child.
But in the end, I see what humans are in this world, I see what they do in this world, and I see what they’ve done to this world. And I think the “parental” entities are pissed. We’ve trashed the nursery. No wonder so many of you are crying out for some cataclysm to end it all, and greet each new mundane event with a clear hope that you won’t have to do it much longer. Some believe this nursery-world is a prison. Why would I want to entrap another soul here by having a child? Just to fulfill a social obligation, to try to give meaning to a life I have come to feel is empty, or to appease a senseless fear of my own mortality?
So here’s to that giant asteroid that never comes, or the CERN-made black hole that’s supposed to suck you into Hell, or that “rapture” you of the more weirdly religious bent keep insisting is on its way – even though you certainly don’t behave like the type that would be “taken up” in such an event. Why are you so excited for your “Jesus” to come back swinging a bloodied sword from atop a white horse? To do what, chop you up for being such assholes to your fellow humans? And I’m the weirdo?
Here’s to whatever doomsday you’re waiting for, to all the doomsdays that never, ever come and never, ever will. You know what will come? The Conqueror Worm. And that’s all. And from there, you’ll probably just get recycled right back into this endless Busy-Box bullshit.
Have fun!
thecontemplativeape 