Friday, July 23, 2010

Age of Confusion; the End of Yesterday, the Start of Tomorrow

by Robert Gebbie

It seems pretty obvious to me that this world, our world, is in serious trouble. What I remember of history, being of deep personal interest to me, I don’t believe there has ever been a time in our human existence when the entire planet has been in such a stage of fear, conflict and confusion. Religious hypocrisy, political unrest, economic disaster and geological change, a shifting and reordering in the foundations of everything I can think of, the “Perfect Storm”.

Mankind could be standing before the pinnacle of their greatest growth and advancement, or at the edge to the pit of their greatest despair. Will we overcome the threats and obstacles that lie before us? Or be the engine that drives society and possibly all of human existence into extinction? The choices we make in these times as individuals will be the largest determining factor in the results of the things to come. It will show in the way Humanity either embraces itself and the diversity of its beliefs and ideas, or continue down the road of our history like jungle primates hurling the feces of our jealousy, insecurities and judgment at our brethren.

Which ways will we grow to evolve forward into the age of what comes next? What avenues will we peruse to diminish those that hold a faith, or point of view, that differs from our own? I hate to say, in my opinion, that I don’t hold much hope for the Children of Man. This selfish and self-absorbed species of hairless apes, with blinders on, fail to reach together for a higher existence; and instead, choose a path to our own self-destruction.

It is the sum of all that life has become, created and imagined that leads a species to greater awareness and evolution. It is the coalition and interaction as one, while, at the same time, continuing to retain the individuality of separate entities. Similar to a single cell within a body, existing and cooperating together for the life of the whole, while continuing to perform their individual functions within their smaller, interacting community of organs.

If every individual begins working within themselves to change the perceptions that society and our cultures have written upon the human psyche, and re-write the way we think and interact with each other, we may survive. Sadly, it takes a personal effort, a deep and unwavering conviction, to improve upon what we are to become what we aspire to be. Often this commitment and pursuit makes us face things about ourselves and our inner being that most people would prefer not to uncover. Guilt for words and actions, for things we knowingly have said or done, that we knew within ourselves wrong the moment we did them. Fears and insecurities that arise from the possible ridicule we may receive from our peers because we want to fit in, rather than accepting and evolving from the diversity of each other’s experiences. It can be one of the most horrific and painful things any individual could ever conceive to do, to remove the masks of our own deceptions and peer face to face at the raw truth of our individual existence.

There is no absolute for the days ahead; perhaps a chance still exists to turn the course that we are on and redeem our honor and humanity. Perhaps we may yet save a place in the universe for the children that come after us, and the age that is to be. There will be great choices to make if mankind is to finally step forward and up to the things we were meant to be. It takes hope and faith for mankind to evolve and survive, or face the madness of our own creations and become victims to the devices of our own handy work. Only when we can stand at the gates of tomorrow and look back on the results, will this world know the success or failure of her greatest adored creation, the Human Race, the offspring of her seed.

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