Saturday, September 20, 2014

What Is the World Coming to?

What Is the World Coming to?
By Karen Nelson, M.A.

Here is my big prediction for the future of our planet: sometime in the next 30 to 40 years (give or take a decade or two), there will be a tremendous change socially, world-wide. People will learn to live in peace and harmony with each other. Wars and other violence will slowly dissolve away as people forgive their own tendencies to see danger in differences. Humans will accept that they do not have dominion over the world or nature. It will not be a utopia, without issues or problems, but we will take notice that the solution to every problem lies in the question and how we ask the question. In fact, humans will come to realize that we ARE a part of nature and when we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. Humans will also recognize that dealing only with symptoms does not necessarily resolve the cause of those symptoms (such as throwing money at homelessness). Symptoms are messages that something is amiss, something or someone needs our attention.
If you are interested, here is why I believe this monumental evolution will occur sooner rather than later. I see evidence everywhere that this change is coming not the least of which is the struggle people are having with change. People all over the world seem to be reacting to what’s in the air (and I don’t mean pollution). People seem to be trying to hold onto their past ways of living while other parts of the world move forward with or without them. Its how I imagine it was for neanderthalers when homo sapiens arose out of the jungles. It didn’t take wars or a nuclear holocaust to extinguish a weaker-minded species. All it took was environmental press to which the neanderthalers could not adapt. In this day and age, it will take much more than environmental press because all peoples are the same species. It will also take social press. Humans are built for social interaction. They tend not to thrive or survive for long in social isolation. A group of humans in the pain of social isolation tend to lash out, trying to get attention in all the wrong ways. Look at what happened in Jonestown. Look at what’s happening right now with ISIL or North Korea, or Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
All, it seems, wanting to hold onto the past, to their usurped power, and all trying to get the attention of the world. I see all mayhem and destruction as a reaction to the enormous change that’s in the wind.
And, here are the winds of change. There are some very wise, wonderful young people all over the world who seem to have tapped into a larger purpose and meaning for life: The young girl, a teenager, in Pakistan who dared to get an education and to speak out against the misogyny that keeps girls from schooling. She took a bullet to the head from Al Queda terrorists and survived it and continues to speak out. “I am Malala Yousafsa” is the affirmation now heard around the world. Angelina Jordan, the 8 year old from Norway who seems to have tapped into the soulfulness of Billie Holiday singing her heart into existence. Ethan Bortnick, the young composer, pianist/singer who expresses his joy for all to hear and see. There are many, many others, some known to the world, some others quietly expressing their different perspectives on life and living. I have had the privilege of meeting some of these “youngsters.” I’ll bet you have, too. Look for them. Talk to them. Hear their voices especially when all the news talks about is the mayhem and destruction. Don’t build that bunker. Prepare for something new and exciting in the world. Its coming.

No comments:

Post a Comment