Printed in the Conscious Creation Journal
October-November 1999, Issue 8
New Age Tyranny
by John J. McNally
What if I told you that in order to solve all the world’s problems, all you need to do is accept Jesus as your savior? I can see most of you smirking as you read this. However much of the material that is focused around the so-called “shift” is really the same in essence. There is a great number of new age writers who see the shift as a projection of their own agendas, forcing people in the name of either love or compassion to adopt their way of living. If the shift can be defined at all, it would only be as a shift in consciousness, in individual awareness. It will manifest differently for everyone and there are no rules or boundaries that can be placed on the experience.
Most of the material I have read about the shift is usually centered around the idea of peace on earth. At first glance, most of us say “sure everyone wants peace,” but what sort of peace are we talking about? When does the desire for peace, or more accurately the fear of aggression and pain, begin to infringe upon your right to experience and enjoy life? Since the shift is supposed to be an internal change, many people assume that you will suddenly want to stop behaving in the way that THEY find ‘unnatural’.
One of the big questions here is where do you draw the line between aggression and violence? If “the shift” were to sweep us all up tomorrow, would there be no more wrestling or boxing matches? What about bar fights? Would all the guns be melted down? What about those people who just enjoy going to the rifle range? What about hunting? This last one touches on a particularly sticky point in the new age realm, as many people would insist that vegetarianism is a necessary part of humanity’s spiritual evolution.
Another major area in which writers have focused is the equal sharing of resources. Once again this sounds great on the surface. Who wouldn’t want to see the starving masses of the world well fed and clothed with decent housing and medical care? The problem here is that most writers are arguing from a belief in finite resources. In order to feed everyone this wealth must then be divided equally and unilaterally. Economies will be re-directed into a non-competitive focus. Businesses will no longer compete with each other, no longer wasting billions of dollars each year on senseless advertising. Instead they will cooperate, working together to provide the best, most efficient products. Forget any dreams you may have had for living in a mansion, driving a Cadillac, or other symbols of affluence, or for that matter forget owning a Corvette, or a Porsche, or even a Ford Expedition. Sanity and sensibility will be the new driving force here. Cars would be allotted by the needs of the owner. But look at the bright side, you still get to pick the color.
What the heck is the shift then? How will things be any different? Those who have felt this internal changing of focus and awareness going on inside them know that something is happening, but what?
My own interpretation of the shift is that it is allowing a wider range of possibilities to become real for me in this life. I am realizing my own unlimitedness, and seeing it reflected in the world around me. I look at the world around me as a reflection of myself and know that those areas which are at war, or starving, or suffering in some other way, are not only a part of me, but are equally as aware as me as well.
I can trust that as my own life shifts to experiencing greater amounts of joy, the world will come to reflect that as well. Starvation may stop because of one man, experimenting in his basement creates a device which transforms energy into matter, such as the Replicators on Star Trek. Or some other solution will present itself, but only (and this is my only shift rule folks) if we trust others to find their own way in the same manner that we trust ourselves. When I think of everyone as a reflection of my own being, it becomes easier to let go of the appearance of their behavior and instead trust the motivations of their inner being.
One small nugget of information on the shift that I read recently said that the experience would be like being with close friends, except that would include all of humanity. I see this as being one of the better descriptions, since it implies the sense of love and closeness without trying to eliminate or control those areas usually thought of as negative. I can’t define the shift, I don’t think I would want to. Personally I’m enjoying the sense of wonder and surprise as I see it begin to unfold all around me.
(c)1999, John McNally. Published in the October-November 1999 issue of the online Conscious Creation Journal. http://www.consciouscreation.com Feel free to copy this article for personal use – please include this copyright notice.