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apocalypse
June 2009 
The End of the World
Posted on Jun 5th, 2008
by 
Sandra
Sandra
I know many people feel there will be drastic change in the world in one way or the another - that it is happening now.
In my early twenties, one of my first 'spiritual teachers' told me that the world would divide into two groups of people, those who stayed in the dimension of war and suffering, and those who lived in a dimension of love and peace. He told me that those who lived in peace, would be aware of the 'other' dimension, but this would not be the case the other way around.
Well. I don't know.
Two pieces on this 'hot' topic came across my path in the last days. Both are long, but both are worth a look.
First, an article in the Saturday Guardian by the writer, Ian McEwan: The day of judgment
It's not particularly anything new, in terms of what I know and have experienced of cults, but the documentary is very well done and interesting and moving, particularly for the interviews of the young people in the cult. (Reminded me of the film, Jesus Camp, which is a 'must see' documentary.)
The blurb to this video on Pistolwimp reads: "Michael Travesser claims to be the Son of God. Some believe him. They (his loyal followers) all can't wait for the world to end, and have lots of sex. After all, you might as well have fun with the Son of God while waiting for Paradise, or not?"
And, just to change the subject completely, (or not), a lovely short video about a cat sanctuary.
In my early twenties, one of my first 'spiritual teachers' told me that the world would divide into two groups of people, those who stayed in the dimension of war and suffering, and those who lived in a dimension of love and peace. He told me that those who lived in peace, would be aware of the 'other' dimension, but this would not be the case the other way around.
Well. I don't know.
Two pieces on this 'hot' topic came across my path in the last days. Both are long, but both are worth a look.
First, an article in the Saturday Guardian by the writer, Ian McEwan: The day of judgment
"End-time thinking - the belief in a world purified by catastrophe - could once be dismissed as a harmless remnant of a more superstitious age. But with the rise of religious fundamentalism, prophets of apocalypse have become a new and very real danger, argues Ian McEwan..."I found this interesting:
"Apocalypse - and we should be clear about the meaning of this word, which is derived from the Greek word for revelation. Apocalypse, which has become synonymous with "catastrophe", actually refers to the literary form in which an individual describes what has been revealed to him by a supernatural being."And, I liked what Ian wrote at the end of the article:
"Have we really reached a stage in public affairs when it really is no longer too obvious to say that all the evidence of the past and all the promptings of our precious rationality suggest that our future is not fixed? We have no reason to believe that there are dates inscribed in heaven or hell. We may yet destroy ourselves; we might scrape through. Confronting that uncertainty is the obligation of our maturity and our only spur to wise action. The believers should know in their hearts by now that, even if they are right and there actually is a benign and watchful personal God, he is, as all the daily tragedies, all the dead children attest, a reluctant intervener. The rest of us, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, know that it is highly improbable that there is anyone up there at all. Either way, in this case it hardly matters who is wrong - there will be no one to save us but ourselves."And, then, the documentary about the Strong City Cult called End of the World - Michael Travesser's the Lord Our Righteousness Church.
It's not particularly anything new, in terms of what I know and have experienced of cults, but the documentary is very well done and interesting and moving, particularly for the interviews of the young people in the cult. (Reminded me of the film, Jesus Camp, which is a 'must see' documentary.)
The blurb to this video on Pistolwimp reads: "Michael Travesser claims to be the Son of God. Some believe him. They (his loyal followers) all can't wait for the world to end, and have lots of sex. After all, you might as well have fun with the Son of God while waiting for Paradise, or not?"
Strong City End of the World Cult Movie
And, just to change the subject completely, (or not), a lovely short video about a cat sanctuary.
Perhaps this is the peaceful dimension 'in action'...
Cat House on the Kings
(with thanks to my dear friend Andrew, for his ability to find the most interesting videos and information on the 'net)
Access: PublicTagged with: Apocalypse, end of the world, The day of judgment, cult, Michael Travesser, Wayne Bent, Ian McEwan, Jesus Camp
Hey the end of the world is definate,,, but not atleast for another 427,000 years…
We are in the stage of kaliyug and kaliyug lasts for 432,000 human years of which approx 5000 years have passed…. after that, a time of satyug sets in… so we have allot of suffering left to see :-)
“Kaliyug is the time when purity and righteousness completly wane.”
More on this kinda stuff:? then you must read this… all authentic figures based on the Hindu scriptures….
Time to face the music
2012 is the focus for many at the moment … it is not so much the date, or the fact that something (or nothing) will happen at that date … it is more the fact that it gets people to take a good look at themselves and their lives; how they are running it, and what they are living for.
As Johnson once said; knowing that you are going to be hanged in a week focuses the mind. If people live honestyly with their Own Mortality; maybe they wouldn't be so willing to squander their time; maybe focus on what they truly love and desire; make the changes now, rather than putting them off for another day; if one lives forever, why do anything now? Limited resources puts the emphasis back on us.
w7
ps apologies if I've diverged a little from your main theme :-)
Janak… I love that you are so sure of what is going to happen! I seem to be less and less definite about anything other than what is happening right in front ( or inside) me, and even this, I'm can't say I 'know'.
w7 - not a divergence at all…I decided not to mention 2012 ;-)
I like what you say. Yes, I think a lot of people are re-thinking their lives. And at the same time I wonder if a lot of people are also becoming so afraid they are focusing on the fear rather than what they love and are grateful for.
Love,
Sandra
Sandra
Well, that is an interesting thing, isn't it? “Catastrophe” or “revelation”? The Greek root of apocalypse is indisputable so we might suppose that some kind of Big Brother is at work here, messing with our newspeak. There's plenty of that going round, though we'd like to think we're passed that nonsense…but, hey, have you heard that peace equals genocide in Iraq? Oh yeah, we're all way too sophisticated to be fooled again. Let me ask you this: What is the word for “government by voluntary cooperation?” Got you, don't I? Answer: anarchy. In this example we do seem to witness the mediacracy having their way with us, but I suspect the first instance proceeds from most revelations being about disaster. The reason for this, I think, is that premontions of future events would tend to cluster around sudden drastic changes and those would almost always be bad news.
The other sort of revelation, the kind that might comfort and/or guide us may or not be in shorter supply but would be harder to discriminate, inasmuch as any nut can claim divine authority. Suppose, for example, I were to tell you that I live in that world of peace and I'm just visiting this one of war? My message for you is this: there are no virgins in the land of milk and honey. Okay, you suspect right away what I'm scheming. But perhaps I'm celibate, so now you scratch your head. After a bit of thought you determine that you'll need some definite sign to decide this for you. Fair enough. I give you a tip on a future event. As you said, it must be something definite, nothing open to interpretation, so needs be I supply info on a major catastrophe. Lo and behold it comes to pass, and unto the many there is proof…but not unto my Sandra. I mean you love me and everything (and I you), but after you've picked your jaw off the floor, kitty, you find yourself troubled by a very deep problem: if there is divine revelation, then what's to say the darker angels don't have their share of wonders to unveil, and if so then wouldn't catastrophe be right up their alley?
So what would suffice? How about future knowledge of solutions to the problems that plague us today? Now, there's a thought. I mean, after all, if divine revelation is handy, then what better? How bout this: How bout this saving future strategy is to feed the millions of hungry children, and more: the way for the entire world to live in a sustainable manner, with prosperity for all? Good beans, that's exactly what we're needing and the devil wouldn't let that slip, right? But still, who's to know if the plan works, being future and all…bugger. Wait, wait - let's couple this best of all possible future knowledge with some revelation that's absolutely quantifiable…hmmm. How's this: a solution to a major scientific problem, one that's stymied the best thinkers for generations and is utterly surprising, so that there can be no mistake about it. But not a solution too far out there in the future because it's starting to look like we'd need to confirm this without ANY more generations of delay, and that's no joke. Let's go with the NEXT generation of physics, the thing that replaces the current big bang creation myth, for example - or what's comes after the spacetime model - or the solution to the relativity/quantum schism. Or all three and all the same, a miracle of miracles, so there's no room for doubt! Why not, we're talking divine revelation, aren't we, so what's the problem with that, Virginia? Or doesn't God love us? And lets have this whole package - plan for the hungry, peer reviewed physics - from someone who doesn't even speak math, some perfectly ordinary and insignificant soul, though perhaps with a little wit for storytelling, let's hope, or a bit of help along the way. Yes, that's the ticket. That's the sort of thing we'd need, something like that, I'd think.
Any revelator worth his mantra ought to arrive at such a formula, it seems to me. And thus, if you're looking for some kind of certified sign then look for this sort of thing, not omens of ends times, but promises of light - brilliant light from an ordinary bulb. After all, the word genius originally meant “one with a genie”. I'm waiting, watching, wondering for that story and accepting no substitute. And I'm hoping you'll join me in wishing the storyteller a good time telling it, this world of war being especially rough on visitors.
I was in for a couple of ends of the world in my young years ;-) so I guess I'm kind of an expert in world endings… :-)
K, never mind the 'abuse' of the world apokalypse - St. John's Revelation has set the tone fpr understanding it as catastrophe. Maybe we dance the Apokalypso?
There is one thing to say about this on a deeper level - at least that I can think of: We can only predict the future (or get it revealed to us) if the future exists.
And I think it doesn't.
Actually even the past doesn't exist - there are traces of it in the present (lots, if we look at planet Earth's geology, for instance).
So at max the future exists as present tendencies (which in turn incorporates past traces).
Apart from these considerations: Looking at the documentary is really an interesting experience because the obvious mixture of delusions (about the end of the world, for instance), and the sereness that comes from 'Michael', the Son of God, is what we could turn into an interesting lesson for ourselves…
Kevin, dearest — could you translate that into two sentences for me? ;-)
Let's go with the NEXT generation of physics, the thing that replaces the current big bang creation myth, for example
Since Mushin's here with us, check out what he has to say about the the Big Bang in the comments to his blog Basics of a Truly 21st Century Spirituality)
Well. Several levels to all this it seems to me. There is the ecological level – who I think scientist/environmentalist/futurist James Lovelock is rather interesting on – have a look at this article called Enjoy life while you can' - Basically he says it's too late to do anything, but he's optimistic, because he feels the inevitable disaster will 'separate the wheat from the chaff', and that eventually 'we will have a human on the planet that really does understand it and can live with it properly.”
There's the prophesy / revelation level ( Hindu scriptures/Mayan calendars etc);
There is the war/financial/political/poverty/starvation angle;
and there is angle Mushin talks about which is, personally, more where I feel drawn. Does this mean I stop taking airplane flights in the present? Grow all my own food? Does this mean I stop writing fiction and focus my life on supporting those in greater need than myself?
I can only say what I am doing: focusing on my writing, moving to a place where growing my food will be possible (and using water from a well on the land), and writing blogs like these. The 'helping' others I do is on an emotional or creative level. Perhaps I'm too self orientated to get involved in a bigger way.
Perhaps I've been brain washed by Byron Katie.
Perhaps I feel if there is a world to take a look at, it is the world right here right now, in this moment. Perhaps this is simply a nice new-agey escape from 'reality'. I don't know. Years of illness has shown me one thing (well many, but this seems to be the most powerful): If I am against what is, my experience is suffering. I don't know if I can choose to be against or 'for', but it's quite palpable that the more 'with' I am with 'what is', my experience is of light and gratitude.
Mushin. Yes. I found the doc fascinating. Something about Michael, that sereness, that absolute clarity in himself. I 'saw' a real truth ( whatever that means) in him and some of what he said, and at the same time the delusion. Perhaps this is something for me to look at, given what I've just written about my experience of 'what is'.
If I experience peace and serenity, it doesn't necessarily mean I am 'clear'.
Perhaps if I had children I might be more engaged in a real way in this issue? I wonder.
Thanks for listening…
and much love
Sandra
Mushin, thanks for sharing your thoughts on apocalypse.
Sandra, thanks for listening and much love.
Sandra -
Interesting post and thought provoking. I also found your prior post on “Kill Everyone” thought provoking as well. Wouldn't it be great if mankind could be as “evolved” as the cats and dogs at the Cat Sanctuary on the Kings? If they can all get along and live so beautifully together, why can't humans with all our “intelligence” do the same? Sometimes I wonder about us….(Sometimes I think the problem is too much testosterone….but I digress.)
I think we 've missed the point and look to others, perhaps even God, to do for us what we need to do for ourselves. We need to qQuestion more, care more, and assume personal responsibilty for making this life the best we can in this moment without focusing on the next life or some obscure time in the future. Remember the imminent disaster Y2K was supposed to bring? Now it's 2012 that's going to do us in.
For those at war, or in the midst of a food shortage, water shortage, or victims of a natural disaster, their “apocalypse” has come. We need to live now and, like the cats and dogs in that precious video, evolve to the point of living together in peaceful harmony.
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Thanks for your time and interest in sharing such quality information.
Jackie in Colorado