How to Work with Divine Energy.
Freeing the Planet from the Curse of Control Freakery.
How to Jettison that Illusion Called Groupthink.
The Blessings of the Unitive Vision.
Dao, Daoism = Tao, Taoism
Laozi = Lao Tzu
Liezi = Lieh Tzu
Taijiquan = T'ai chi chu'an
Yi Jing = I Ching
Zhuangzi = Chuang Tzu
Copyright 2016
Creative Commons 3.0 License
Website: http://www.themista.com
Blog: http://www.blogspot.themista.com
A strange thing has been happening to me most of my adult life. It occurs whenever I make what I consider to be a perfectly rational statement, but then I discover that my words have produced some kind of shock. The person to whom I am talking suddenly blinks at me as if I have just turned into an alien from outer space and then looks away. I have learned to identify this response as the Ruth-is-being-crazy-again expression. My listener invariably dismisses what I have just said as insane lunacy, but he or she is too polite to say so. Then comes the inevitable changing of the subject.
That's right, the effect I usually have upon my fellow human beings is . . . Ruth-is-crazy. Ruth really is crazy. Ruth drinks too much purple Kool-Aid. Ruth keeps dreaming up the most crackpot ideas in the history of the world. Ruth's opinions about life, the universe, and everything are so far off the wall that the wall starts to collapse. And as for her insanity about the future . . . Ah, yes--this is the big one: Ruth's completely nutso ideas about what's coming to Planet Earth. How she thinks anyone will ever listen to her is beyond comprehension.
Well, let me remind you that as far as thinking outside the box goes, every once in a while an outside-box person actually does manage to make the world a better place. So it never hurts to pay attention. Especially since in my case I am not a prophet of doom. On the contrary, I am convinced that all of us seven billion humans are on the verge of experiencing the most stupendous change for the better in human history. It's not going to happen all at once, nor is it going to happen everywhere at the same time, but happen it will. Moreover, there are already signs indicating that the initial steps of this change have already started manifest. What's even more welcome is that this change is going to put an end to all the interminable personal and social problems which have plagued humanity for millennia. We are entering into a wholly new kind of human reality where the beliefs and the patterns of the past will have no more meaning. And no, this change is not something that any of our prestigious scientists or futurists have predicted, but crazy Ruth is certain that it is coming. So you may as well hear me out.
I am sure that most readers are regarding these words with skepticism. That is only natural. One thing I have noticed about human history is that people in all human epochs have a very peculiar tendency. On the one hand they realize that the only constant in this world is that of change. Philosophers such as Heraclitus in the West and Laozi in the East have always emphasized that we live in an ever-transforming universe. Here today, gone tomorrow. Nothing ever last forever. And as Heraclitus tells us, "You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are flowing in upon you."
On the other hand, there is a second human tendency which has also been noticed and remarked upon throughout most of human history. This is the tendency for us idiot humans to persuade ourselves that the way things are now are the way they are always going to be. If you know anything about cultural history, you see this phenomenon manifesting time and again: political leaders, religious leaders, and countless numbers of ordinary people make their decisions based upon the fantasy that the current social, governmental, or religious arrangements are going to last . . . uh . . . forever. This particularly holds true if any kind of cultural manifestation has already been around for several centuries.
And if ever there were an era when people suffer under the forever delusion, we happen to be living in it. I doubt that there has ever been a human generation so ferociously certain that what's we've got at the moment will go on until the last syllable of recorded time. People who possess this delusion are rock-solid certain that the post-WWII democratic welfare state is somehow the culmination of human aspiration. So there simply cannot be a better to do society or government. These people will perhaps also admit that things aren't quite perfect in our socially-engineered nation states, but still, what we've got at the moment is going to last until the sun burns itself out. The Republican and Democrat parties are going to last forever, as will suburbia, video games, office work, the Denver Broncos, the Roman Catholic Church, hamburgers, Hollywood, and the United States of America. Well, of course they'll go on forever! What kind of lunatic would think that these manifestations might disappear from our earth? Or that we would even want them to?
The only catch in this nonsense is the obvious fact that nothing about our culture is working any longer the way it is supposed to. In case you haven't noticed, all systems here in our dismal 21st century reality are currently imploding. Government doesn't work the way it should, nor does organized religion, medicine, economics, education, the legal system, insurance, scientific research, you name it. They are all collapsing under the weight of incompetence, corruption, and inefficiency. So why do people want our current mess to last forever? Why not figure out new and better ways to do things? But we can't do that! What we've got at the moment is the only way to do it! So it has to be permanent! Permanence is real! Permanence can actually happen! Let's keep stepping into the same river twice for the rest of all eternity or something!
Well, here comes crazy Ruth to tell you that there are actually better ways of doing both government and society. Furthermore, these new ways are going to be based upon the kind of ideals which most of us still cherish, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So a completely new kind of world is not something that should be feared. It would be a tremendous improvement for everyone on our planet, and instead of scoffing at its possibility, we should all start doing our best to bring it into being.
But why do I think that this new world is starting to manifest? And what makes it possible for me personally to see the future more clearly than anyone else? That's easy. I practice divination. And unlike most other diviners, I frequently ask my oracular tool questions about political arrangements, human destiny, how people can make good choices in their lives, and what kind of social institutions would be most effective. There is nothing spooky or occult about divination--it has been practiced in all human cultures since the beginning of time. And the information anyone can receive from an oracle will invariably give them very practical advice about living the best possible life.
So what does divination tell me about the future of planet earth? I believe that the upcoming change in our planetary reality will come into being because of a side effect of the digital revolution, which no one except myself seems to have noticed. I am convinced that our daily interaction with digital data is creating an evolutionary shift in our human bodies. More specifically, the bytes with which we interact every day are increasing the velocity of our atomic vibrations. In ages past people spent their time working with "solid" materials like wood, steel, rocks, and earth, and they made our human cultures out of these raw materials. But in today's world, most people spend their time either gazing at or working with those electrical impulses called bytes, and their atomic energies are shifting because of it.
Mind you, I don't have a shred of evidence for any of these statements. So all I can say is that my ideas are only premises, which you can take or leave as you please. But you ought to remember that evolution is not something which happened way back in prehistory and then stopped. All life forms on our planet continue to evolve in many different ways, up to and including us humans. Is it so preposterous to think that our daily interactions with electrical impulses are somehow altering our physical beings?
You also need to remember what makes up our human bodies, namely atoms. Even though our physical forms seem to be solid objects in space, our bodies are instead energy fields composed of swirling atomic particles moving through vacant space. And mostly empty space at that: Frank Close in Nothing: A Very Short Introduction tells us that atoms are 99.9999999999999% empty, which makes for a lot of emptiness. It is only the inadequacy of our senses which makes us think that our consciousness is inhabiting a solidity called a human body. I have heard of some psychics who see human beings as transparent entities, which means that they are probably seeing the vacant spaces at the atomic level. We humans are energy fields, and when we spend hours each day working at a computer, our energies are going to shift as a result, even if we do not notice any kind of visible change in our body mass.
But why would a more rapid atomic rate make for an evolutionary change? Well, when your vibes start spinning faster and faster, two things happen. First, your physical body starts to become ever more empty, or to use a better word, transparent. Not that this transparency is as yet perceptible by our senses, but I am convinced it is happening. Secondly, this increasing non-solidity is generating what I believe to be a much more important transformation in our human reality: an ever-increasing psychic sensitivity. That's right--that desktop or laptop you've been working with all these years has been creating within you something you never thought you had: psychic ability.
It is important to remember that every last one of us already possesses a certain amount of psychic sensitivity--we are all born with it. It's just that most people never realize that they've got it, nor do they ever try to develop it. As a result, psychic ability is seen to be a talent which only the tiniest of minorities possess. Well, this is about to change big time. In the years to come billions of people all over the world are going to realize that their speeded-up atomic vibrations are enabling them to pick up on what used to be mostly non-perceptible energies.
I should know. I was not born with any kind of special psychic ability, nor did I ever try to work with extrasensory energies until I was in my late thirties. But now, after more than two decades of working both with an oracular tool and with computers, I am probably as sensitive as a psychic can get. If I can develop my skills like this, anyone can.
Here you need to understand what being psychic means. On the one hand, it is a way to exercise what are known as shamanistic skills: you can, for example, learn how to predict the future, perceive the presence of spiritual beings, read minds, communicate with animals, control matter with your mind, and practice natural healing. All this is well and good and can be of great benefit in anyone's life. Still, these talents are nothing compared to the other great blessing that psychic ability can give us, which is a way to receive guidance directly from the Divine. Throughout most of human history, only those very rare and special people known as prophets or sybils have been able to hear the voice of the Almighty. Not any longer. In a world where everyone's energies are speeding up, everyone will also have the opportunity to receive guidance directly from the Divine. Wouldn't you like to be your own prophet? We are moving into a world where it can happen.
And no, you shouldn't think that the Divine is not interested in communicating with a nobody like yourself. If a State of Illinois Secretary IV (yours truly) can receive messages from the Divine, anyone can. This, by the way, is what the word divination means: communication with the Divine. People never talk about "futurization" or "humanization" when they work with an oracular tool: what happens is the "div" sound, indicating an encounter with the Divine. If there's something in your life which needs to be fixed, there is no universal cure-all like honest-to-God Divine energy.
Think about how your life would be improved if you could receive direct Divine guidance about the various issues you have to deal with, such as managing your finances, raising your children, making the best dietary/health choices, or whether a major change, such as marriage or a new job, would actually be beneficial to you. And think what your society would be like if you and everyone else could start to solve social problems based on Divine information instead of hubristic human guesswork. National security could be more easily managed since any kind of potential attack could be predicted in advance. Chronic social problems like racism or corruption would vanish. Only those businesses putting out benevolent energies would prosper. People would know in advance if the San Andreas or any other planetary fault line was about to go belly up. Best of all, for the first time in human history people would be able to perceive genuine Reality, instead of those legacy illusions which continue to perpetuate resentment and violence all over the planet.
Legacy illusions? What legacy illusions? I am talking about all those disastrous human beliefs which have been almost universally accepted over the centuries but which were never anything but the most insubstantial of mirages. For example, most people have always managed to convince themselves that each individual human being is somehow separate and apart from all the other human beings on the planet. Well, both quantum physics and ancient Buddhist and Vedic traditions tell us that all energy manifestations in our universe are somehow "entangled". The Vedic seers called this interconnection Indra's Net. This means that the idea of separateness which most of us experience as we go through our days is nothing but a false impression of our environment. Universal interconnection is the reality of our spacetime universe, not that empty space which you think exists between you and another sentient being.
Then there is that illusion called hierarchy. In a universally interconnected world, all energy manifestations, including us humans, exist in terms of absolute equality. Visionaries such as John Burroughs have always understood this: he correctly tells us in The Last Harvest (1922) that "the universe is a democracy." Now I am aware that the human race has been riddled with various kinds of hierarchical silliness since the beginning of history, as in titles, caste, rankings, status symbols, glitterati, winners and losers, and homecoming queens. But the reality of our spacetime universe is that all energy manifestations which exist are equal. Those ideas of specialness or celebrity to be found in our current planetary reality are nothing but legacy human constructs which have no basis in Reality.
Then there is the legacy idea that our universe is some kind of mechanism, or as Sir Isaac Newton would have it, a giant clock. Newton also wanted us to believe that matter had solidity and there was a cause for every effect. Behold three more illusions which have also been blown out of the water thanks to the revelations of quantum physics. Nevertheless, the ignorant continue to take personal or political action based upon these illusions time and again. If you ask me, this is why we no longer get any kind betterment in our societies, only those disasters called unintended consequences.
All of the above means that the greatest problem with the human race is perception. Not money, politics, religion, race, nationality, or class. What has created our planetary mess is erroneous perception. Not that most people ever quite realize that they are not perceiving Reality correctly. We live in a world where billions of our fellow human beings are furiously determined to create structures built upon illusion, pass laws based upon illusion, interact with their fellow human beings based on illusion, and spend their leisure time watching illusion. So it is no wonder why everything is falling apart these days.
But things would get better in a world where everyone started to use their innate psychic skills to perceive true Reality. And in my opinion such skills are soon going to be within the reach of us all. The catch is that you have to do more than stare at an electronic screen if you want to increase your psychic sensitivity. You also need to know how to work with an oracle. It's true that our digital reality is speeding up your vibes, but my own experience tells me that working with an oracular tool is the other thing you need to do if you want your burgeoning psychic ability to go into overdrive.
But what is an oracular tool? Over the centuries people have used various ordinary implements to help stimulate their psychic sense, including runes, yarrow stalks (for the Yi Jing), sea shells, dice, tea leaves, and cards. Therefore you should not think that it will be difficult for you to learn how to work with an oracle--the basics are easily mastered regardless of which tool you use. My preferred oracle of choice is tarot, and my guidelines for working with it are here on this website: my book The Compleat Psychic or my shorter Ten-Minute Guide to Reading Tarot Cards.
Think about how the world would change if psychic ability became the norm instead of the exception. Each one of us would be able to use our own personal divinatory revelations to improve our lives, instead of relying upon guesswork or unworkable legacy theories. We would then have the means to fulfill our potential, instead of dragging ourselves through useless jobs, toxic affiliations, or ever more harmful paradigms. In such a world no one would get shoved around any longer by the big shots since everyone would be their own big shot--as well as their own monarch or prophet or genius. This, quite simply, is the solution for Planet Earth. Not another grandiose governmental scheme, or a new religion, or yet another self-help expert telling the suckers how to get rich quick. Each one of us should do our best to develop our psychic skills.
Believe it or not, I am convinced that this new reality is already starting to manifest, and not only because of the digital revolution. Consider the other following changes which are now taking place on this earth:
Astrological energies are shifting. I am aware that many of my fellow Americans think that astrology is nothing but a bunch of hooey, and a ridiculous one at that. Well, my own intuition, plus what I have learned from my oracular tool, tells me that at least in its broad outlines, astrology has something valuable to tell us about the Reality of our universe. The most important astrological message we are getting at the moment is that our earth is moving from the Piscean era into that of Aquarius. This means that instead of focusing on emotional experiences as was common in the Piscean era, people are going to start paying more attention to mental energies such as communication, intellect, learning, thought, and expansion of consciousness. Our computerized world is itself a manifestation of these kinds of energies. And since the symbol for Aquarius, the water-bearer, stands for humanitarianism, I am convinced that we are going to start seeing a movement away from people's ego-based desires into a greater emphasis on the well-being of all sentient beings in Indra's Net.
The internet and globalization are giving us a sense of universal interconnection. For the first time since the days before tribalism, we humans are able to get a sense of that Reality called universal interconnection thanks to the internet. Here in the Age of Connectivity, you can go online and communicate with anyone you like. While it is true that certain dictatorial regimes are doing their best to block this kind of free communication, they are wasting their time. The sense of the oneness of all phenomena is going to keep increasing as the internet becomes ever more free.
Stuff is becoming meaningless. Another impact of Aquarian energies is that people are becoming more and more indifferent to that nuisance phenomenon known as stuff. A prestige house filled with thousands of items is rapidly becoming a very dead legacy duck. People these days continue to want their electronics, but as for all that worthless trash our analog parents just had to have, who needs it? Nobody in the new world to come, and especially not when people realize that living among piles of stuff weakens both their psychic and their creative abilities.
It's not just people who are growing more transparent. I cannot ever remember the word transparency being used as a positive social value when I was younger, but it is a universal ideal these days, which is all for the best. In a transparent world, what was once hidden behind closed doors, such as corporate decisions or governmental oppression, can no longer be kept secret. This is a major step forward for the human race, and it will eventually result in the destruction of all our legacy oppressive systems.
Mobility is increasing all over the world. Like transparency, another word which is very popular these days is mobile. The Piscean tendency was to stay put in one locale, religion, profession, or mental tendency, and then cling to it for the rest of your life. Nothing could be more foreign to an air sign like Aquarius, which is a sign of movement, experimentation, learning, and advancing into new space and freedom.
Music is everywhere. We are heading into a world where all seven billion of us will be able to listen to the kind of music we prefer any time we like. Since this is yet another interaction with electronic bytes, the more digital music you listen to, the more transparent--and psychic--you become.
Newness is everywhere. Young people these days have no comprehension of what life was like in those bad old analog days when things pretty much stayed the same, day after day, year after year. Fortunately, that kind of existence is pretty much over and done with by now, when the internet can give us continual newness every day of our lives. It's true that we can be overwhelmed by the stupendous amount of information to be found online, but if we use the internet wisely, there are always new music or videos to be found online which are frequently free for the asking, as well as fresh ideas or concepts to study, new and better ways to do things, and best of all, creative ways to expand our consciousness.
Well, doesn't this kind of world sound better than what we've got at the moment? And wouldn't you like to help create it? Believe it or not, there are lots of ways you can personally help an oracular world to come into being. What now follows are my initial recommendations about getting started. I am currently working on several more chapters, so the following list will be expanded in the months to come.
This guide is based upon three of my most important beliefs: (1) each one of us can personally receive guidance directly from the Divine, (2) Divine guidance is not only a universal cure-all which can help you solve your problems, it will prevent you from getting into them in the first place, and (3) this kind of energy can also enrich your life in ways you never thought possible. So how can you bring this blessing into your life? Here are the steps:
In your daily prayers, you need to ask the Divine to help you. This is the first thing you must do: set aside a certain time every day to pray for Divine assistance. Mind you, you should not try to make any kind of gimme prayer, such as asking the Almighty to help you acquire a new Ferrari. But if you need help with relationships, health, addictions, or messes in general, go ahead and ask for help. I keep an ever-evolving list of the problems I am currently dealing with and ask for assistance about each one of them in my daily communion with the eternal. The nice thing about prayer is that once you get into the habit of it, your time with the Divine will turn into the most precious part of your day.
Next, you must give permission for the Divine or the angels to help you. This second step is the most important of them all. As I discuss in Chapter 5 of The Compleat Psychic, you can ask for help as much as you can, but the Divine will seldom assist you unless you also specifically give permission for the assistance to happen. Permission is necessary since the most important Divine law in our universe seems to be that of free will. The notion about giving permission has never been recorded in any scripture I have ever come across, but my own experience tells me that it is crucial if you wish to receive Divine assistance. I've noticed that asking and giving permission works most noticeably when the petitioner is dealing with what seems to be an insoluble problem such as chemical addiction or a life-threatening illness. However, it can also work with any other kind of difficulty.
Focus on your most important issues. When you formulate your prayers, you will probably realize that there are hundreds of ways your life can be improved. However, it is best to focus on the most important areas of your life where you need assistance, such as the following:
It never hurts to ask/give permission for planetary problems as well. In an interconnected universe, you have as much right to ask/give permission for the well-being of your fellow sentient beings as anyone else. This means that along with your personal prayers, it is a good idea to ask/give permission for the Divine to help create earthly betterment, as follows:
Make sure you include the idea of the summum bonum (which is Latin for "the supreme good") in your prayers for assistance. Whenever you ask the Divine for help, it matters very much that you ask not only for yourself, but also for the well-being of all sentient beings. If you focus only on your own personal needs, the less likely you will receive Divine assistance. And if there is anything unethical about your request for help, you may as well forget it. A man who asks/gives permission for the recovery of his health, in order that he can return to his customary habits of robbing widows and orphans, is going to stay very much sick.
You then need to do everything in your power to improve your situation. Asking/giving permission is never enough. You should then start doing your best to practice the idea that God helps those who help themselves, which is a notion that has been around since classical antiquity. So don't ever think about sitting back and waiting for miracles to start happening in your life. You must also do everything in your power to improve your situation. This does not necessarily mean running off to some kind of expert to be handed a palliative, which in today's addled culture usually does more harm than good. You must begin to practice the kind of self-reliance necessary bring about positive changes in your life, including (for example) changing your diet, trying a new type of exercise, releasing your various ego-gratification scenarios, acquiring new skills, or discarding whatever negative energies which have been poisoning your psyche. Recommendations about how you can exercise yourself out of your bad habits are given in Chapters 14-19 of The Compleat Psychic.
Learn the noble art of divination. It will be noted that the preceding step, trying to help yourself, is the most difficult. How can you know what needs to be changed in your life? Or how can you tell that some kind of dietary or exercise change will actually improve your health? Questions like these can be answered very easily when you learn how to work with an oracular tool. So not only do you need to set aside time for prayer each day, you also need to make time for divination. And if you don't know which oracular tool to use, I recommend the Pamela Colman Smith tarot deck, which is more commonly known as the Rider-Waite deck. If you need help in learning how to work with tarot, you can either read The Compleat Psychic or my shorter Ten-Minute Guide to Reading Tarot Cards.
Bring rta into your life. Rta is a Proto-Indo-European word which refers both to the Godhead as well as to the manifestation of Divine energy. It is the ancestor of contemporary words such as create, harmony, art, ritual, karma, and dharma. Once upon a time all these very different terms meant the same thing: Divine energy. Whenever ancient people created art or music, ritualized their existence, or tried to live in harmony with cosmic law (also known as practicing the dharma), they filled themselves with the energies of the Divine. This is something which can still be done today by anyone at any time. All you need to do is start living the kind of existence where what matters is creation, spiritual energies, and the pursuit of wisdom. Then you should try to ritualize your everyday habits so that your life is constantly filled with harmonious patterns. Most importantly, you should start to practice that rta word known as create. Let us not forget that the world's most sacred scriptures are mostly in agreement about one thing, namely that the primal energy of the Divine is creation. It happened in the beginning, and it continues to happen all the time. Have you ever wished you could live like a god? Well, forget about building yourself a magnificent marble palace on top of Mt. Olympus. You simply need to start doing what the Divine does: create. See Chapter 18 of The Compleat Psychic for more suggestions about creation.
Finally, you need to thank the Divine and the angels for the help that you receive. Once you get the hang of all of the above, I guarantee that you will start to see improvements in your life. I've noticed that as time goes on, not only do most of my problems seem to resolve themselves, but the number of troublesome issues in my life is constantly diminishing. Along with my list of my current problems, I also keep a list of issues which have been resolved over the years, so I will never forget how the Divine has helped me. All of which means that every day of your life you also need to express your gratitude to the Divine for the assistance you receive, even when the assistance is not immediately evident. It just so happens that the word gratitude is descended from the same Proto-Indo-European word for grace (gwere), and this means, as far as I'm concerned, that when you thank the Divine for the assistance you have received, you are filling yourself with Divine grace.
What is the single greatest benefit any human being on this earth can experience? There are a variety of ways to answer this question, including ideas of security, prosperity, free expression, and mobility. But in my opinion there is one supreme blessing to which we humans can aspire, especially since it is the only way a human being can reach the Divine. I am talking about agency, the basic human right to take action or make decisions without constraint. With agency you can grow and develop as you please, create the kind of existence which is best suited for your talents, generate new form without any impediments, and reinvent yourself whenever you like. Mind you, agency doesn't mean that you have a right to turn into a serial killer or any other kind of sociopath--if your agency interferes with the free movement of another sentient being, you are setting yourself up for some very nasty payback. But as long as you are careful to make the right ethical choices, you should be allowed your freedom to do whatever you please.
So if agency is the greatest blessing we can experience, its opposite, the inability to make free choices, has got to be our greatest misfortune. Unfortunately here in our 21st century world, vast numbers of human beings are constantly being blocked from this most basic right. It doesn't matter whether you're living in a dictatorial regime or what is known as a liberal democracy, your freedom to make your own choices about your life is diminishing with each passing day. The ever-increasing number of governmental rules, regulations, controls, legislation, decrees, prohibitions, and sanctions make sure of that. Besides, there is nothing that our fearless leaders enjoy more than putting their collective feet down on the necks of those fellow citizens whom they regard as lesser. Which adds up to most of us.
The land of the free is not exempt from any of this. It never has been: if you know anything about American history you realize that control freakery of one kind or another has been the rule and not the exception since the earliest colonial days. Our American saga is filled with stories of endless conflict between those do-gooders who are out to reform their wicked brethren, and the latter group, who just want to breathe free. At the moment the do-gooders reign supreme, especially since lighting out for the territory is no longer a career option. So we are all stuck in a world where millions model their behavior upon that nightmare of darkness known as Nurse Ratched, the main baddie in Ken Keysey's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yes, I am talking about that Nurse Rached, she who stomps on all and sundry with the ice water in her veins, her determination to win at all costs, and her eternal self-righteousness. Fifty years ago when Kesey's novel was published, Ratched wasn't exactly a role model to be emulated, but here in the 21st century, countless eager wannabes are doing their best to copy her every thought and move--even though they would deny that this is what they are up to. We are now living on a planet where the Ratched vision has triumphed everywhere.
Unfortunately we have the digital revolution to thank for much of this. For all the blessings that computers have given us, there has been one horror: the exponential rise of rules and regulations which now smother us all. If you go to the business procedures site of any kind of large organization, whether corporate or governmental, you will find millions upon millions of pages filled with rules, regulations, directives, warnings, legal remedies, etc. And if you are an underpaid peon working for the large organization, you will be expected to remember them all. So the heck with doing your job: you must spend most of your working life looking up or trying to remember what the damn procedures are. Somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright, but in those torture chambers called offices everybody is striking out.
Oh, but that simply cannot be true! The bureaucratic problems we've got at the moment are only temporary--right? Yes, everybody knows that the quaint little notion called reform will someday make our government or our corporation functional again. And how will these reforms manifest? Why, with countless better rules, regulations, laws, and directives, of course! Never mind that all the zillions of rules and regulations which have been enacted in recent years have only made everything worse. The new ones will fix everything! Especially in the government! One of these days we are finally going to get the federal government to actually do what it supposed to do: provide security and prosperity to the populace. Since it just has to. We all learned that in school.
Well, here's a dose of reality: you cannot reform something which has been constructed upon fallacious premises. That is the only way to describe a government or any other large organization which is based on top-down manipulation. Once upon a time such a system was erected in Soviet Russia, but it didn't exactly work, to put it mildly. Are you old enough to remember all those Soviet Five Year Plans? And how they kept failing, year after year? Well, that was only because of bad weather--or so Moscow kept announcing. But since we don't have that kind of bad weather here in the US, our very own American Soviet is going to start working perfectly one of these days. Since there is just no other way to do society. We must constantly have systems, organization, economies, societies, and individual human beings under constant control, or else everything will go splat.
Well, one of the major lessons I've learned from divination is that success only manifests when energies are flowing naturally. This is, after all, what all effective systems do: time flows, music flows, rivers flow, life itself does nothing but flow. Any human being or societal manifestation which is not aligned to the natural flow of energy will inevitably generate nothing but that disaster known as unintended consequences. Smart people the world over have always understood this. You swim with the stream instead of fighting the current. You saw wood along the grain instead of the bias. You don't try to force a square block into a round hole. If you go through your life like this, you will meet with success in everything you do.
But oh, no--that cannot be right! Natural energies don't count! Not now in our post-modern world! Without our wonderful governmental control, we'll head straight back to the bad old days of robber barons and Jim Crow, right? Well, let us remember that the only reason why the robber barons of yore got away with it was because they were living in a world of secrets, where actions, thoughts, and beliefs could be hidden. That is no longer going to be possible in the transparent and oracular world which is now coming into being.
So here I am again, back to the one single thing which I am convinced will bring in a new and better world: universal psychic ability and the Divine guidance it can give us. Divine energy, remember, is the only energy with a 100% success rate in the history of the world. The more people who start to utilize their psychic skills and receive guidance from the Divine, the quicker we will be able to bring in a much more efficient, prosperous, and harmonious human culture. In this kind of world the problems currently plaguing the human race will start evaporating faster than snow in July. This is going to be nothing less than a new birth of freedom, not just for Americans but the human race as a whole. As a side benefit, I guarantee that we will also start experiencing the greatest burst of human creativity since the Renaissance.
I expect that all I'm saying here is still falling on deaf ears. One of the most basic of human instincts is that of control freakery. If you have a problem, what you're supposed to do is manipulate yourself out of it. And then, when at first you don't succeed, try and try the manipulation again--ad infinitum. Yeah, right, so let's just continue on the Ratched road to nowhere and do our best to mechanically adjust everyone and everything to . . . well, what? Never mind the fact that an occasional lobotomy is necessary. There is no other way to do it.
Oh, there isn't, is there? Here are my suggestions about how you can help create a going-with-the-flow world:
The necessary first step. If you want to change the world, you need to change yourself first. And if you want to change yourself, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to work with Divine energy. This is simple enough: just follow my guide on How to Work with Divine Energy.
Recognize that all manipulation urges are ego-based. The most enthusiastic Ratcheds among us have one thing in common: an ingrained sense of superiority which makes them feel far superior to every other sentient being whom they encounter. Well, since the two most basic energies in our cosmos are universal interconnection and universal equality, nothing wreaks more havoc in our universe than this kind of narcissism. Any attempt to elevate yourself above the lowly herd and then coerce them into obedience is nothing but toxic ego-gratification. If you have been going through your life with this tendency, you now need to switch your focus from your own little self to what is good for the whole interconnected universe.
Don't try to manipulate yourself. It is not only externals which the control freaks of this world want to manipulate--most of them also attempt to coerce their very own little selves into obedience. To do this, they apply that charming fantasy called will power to make themselves better. Where people got the idea that will power can improve their lives is beyond my comprehension--the spectacular failure rates of diets, New Year's resolutions, and rehab should be evidence of that. There are better ways to break free of bad habits or addictions than attempting to apply a Five Year Plan to your very own self: see Chapter 14-19 of The Compleat Psychic.
If you can help it, don't collude with any kind of manipulation paradigm. Just because we are living at a time when coercive governments befoul the planet every which way but loose doesn't meant that you have to collude with them or take advantage of their so-called benefits. Do you really want to support a system which turns your fellow human beings into Bartleby scriveners? Yes, I know--you've never thought of government workers like that. And why should you? The demagogic politicians who keep dreaming up ever more grandiose schemes also don't give a shit about the lives of the lowly bureaucrats who must implement their visions. After all, the cubicle slaves of this world get paid! They get benefits! They get vacations! They've got their flat screens in the evening to show them how other people are living more interesting lives than they are! Of course the only way their lives are tolerable is by a constant intake of addictive substances, but that's okay. What else are substances for? Well, if you ask me, taking advantage of a bureaucrat's services is just as bad as purchasing sugar or cotton harvested by antebellum blacks. You just don't do it.
Stop listening to those insipid nuisances who are called experts. As in educators, lawyers, therapists, economists, sociologists, politicians, religious honchos, scientists, physicians, celebrities, or anybody with a sheepskin. If you ask me, all these legacy ignoramuses are so lost in illusion that they couldn't fight their way out of it for all the customized Apple watches on the planet. Your own self-reliance, plus the guidance you receive from the Divine, are all that you need to lead a successful and happy life.
Just let things happen. In other words, forget the manipulation and let problems solve themselves. Yes, I know that this suggestion is probably one of the most incomprehensible I'm making, but my own experience tells me that it resolves issues time and again. Once you start working with an oracle, you are bound to discover that the idea of doing nothing, also known as letting a problem solve itself, is often your wisest choice. Naturally flowing energies always return to equilibrium, and when you let this happen, even the most vexing of issues can evaporate.
Study Daoism. My oracle tells me that of all spiritual systems invented by humanity over the centuries, two are of prime value. The first is Daoism, the great Chinese philosophy which developed over two millennia ago and which to this day can provide humanity with its most useful insights about the natural flow of energies. Daoism includes ideas about moderation, not forcing, the constant interaction of opposites, spontaneity, and following the path of least resistance. All these notions are beautiful guidelines about living a life filled with harmony and balance. My favorite translation of the Daodejing is online here, and a list of other wonderful online sites about Daoism is here.
Study Stoicism. The second spiritual system which my oracle recommends is Stoicism. The ancient Stoics were similar to the Daoists in that they also aimed at living according to the natural flow of energy, which they identified as the logos or the underlying principle of order and reason in the universe. They believed that a life of moderation, virtue, simplicity, and a practical focus on things which were within our control constituted the good life. The Stoics were also one of the first schools of Western philosophy to proclaim the idea of universal brotherhood, which as far as I'm concerned, puts them squarely in harmony with the quantum field. A good site for Stoic beginners is here.
Follow your bliss. The idea of following your bliss is something of a New Age cliché, but in the Aquarian world to come I am convinced that it will become the norm instead of the exception. Following your bliss means that you can earn your living by doing what you enjoy instead of slaving away for the man. This would be the kind of world where each one of us can have the opportunity to develop our talents as fully as Ludwig von Beethoven, Leonardo da Vinci, or Emily Dickinson. Granted not everyone will be able to reach their remarkable heights, but each one of us should have the right to try. Fortunately within the next few decades there are going to be plenty of new opportunities for people to earn a worthwhile living in astounding new ways. But--oh, dear! What's going to happen to business if there's nobody left to process the invoices? What will happen to the federal government if there's nobody around to fill out everything in triple triple triplicate? Paradise on earth, that's what.
Participate in voluntary associations. Instead of ever-increasing governmental bureaucracies, what this planet needs is a return to the idea of local associations to help people who need it. When Alexis de Tocqueville toured America in the 19th century, what he found most astonishing were the volunteer groups he encountered, from musical societies, to debating clubs, charitable organizations, and lyceums. People would come together to help improve things in their localities, and it worked. It will work in the future as well, and nobody will have to push paper to make it happen. All this adds up to what I think will become another sacred world in the Aquarian era to come: decentralize.
Start moving freely through the universe. There is nothing like being mobile to kick those manipulation urges clean out of your head. The untethering to come in the Aquarian era will mean not only a more flexible way of employment, but a much more malleable sense of self, where the personality you have today won't necessarily be there five years from now. After all, in a world where you can shift jobs or locations any time you feel like it, you will have the opportunity to lead several different lives. At the moment, even if you can't always hit the road when you feel like it, you can still be mentally mobile, as in learning new techniques, keeping your options open, and reinventing yourself as you please.
Well, there you have it: some preliminary suggestions about how you can rid the planet of that inevitable failure known as control freakery. Once you learn how to go with the natural flow, rely upon Divine guidance for everything, and just let things happen, not only your own life change for the better, but your own energies will positively impact the rest of the universe. Mind you, there will be times when trusting the flow isn't going to help anyone or anything, but as long as you never take action without oracular approval first, you will be fine. Nothing could be simpler, and nothing could be more effective.
What is the most powerful form of ego-gratification around today? That's easy: it's called groupthink. People who indulge in this pernicious variety of feel-goodness are absolutely convinced that their particular group, whether it is based on politics, religion, nationality, race, or gender, is the one and only superstar alliance on the planet. Yes, how wonderful it must be when you can persuade yourself that you belong to the right bunch of people, especially since it also means that you and your buddies are a race which exists far above all of the other lesser people on the planet, whom you are perfectly entitled to disdain. So of course your group must be supported, fought for, and protected against all its enemies. After all, it is the only group which has cornered the market on truth, virtue, goodness, money, security, and the future. Such a worldview must be extremely pleasant.
It becomes even more delicious if your groupthink is based upon some kind of victimology. There is nothing like ancestral suffering to propel a groupthinker into the ego-based stratosphere. Your great-great-grandpa suffered at the hands of whomever, so that makes you a superior person, right? And now you must keep the memory of this suffering alive for the rest of all eternity, since those long-ago horrors make you and your family special people, also right? Well, the practitioners of this kind of nonsense always forget is that in one way or another everybody's ancestors suffered at the hands of somebody else's ancestors. So every last one of us seven billion humans is not only descended from some kind of victim, but from some kind of oppressor as well. Oh, but that doesn't count! Your own group's personal suffering is the one that matters! So you constantly need memorials, museums, anniversaries, and the 900-page victimology tomes which weigh down the academic libraries. There is no other way to keep the horrors of victimization from happening again.
Okay, but the problem is that memorializing atrocities has been going on for centuries, if not millennia. So does that mean that today, in the 21st century, our planet is finally free of man's inhumanity to man? Well, not that I can see. Behold yet another universally-accepted paradigm which simply isn't working the way it is supposed to.
And it never will. The problem with groupthink is that it disrupts the natural flow of energies in our universe, and anything which does this is toxic. We need to remember that both quantum physics and Eastern spiritual traditions tell us that all energy manifestations in our universe are somehow interconnected. All of which means that there is no such thing as a group. Those boundaries you are trying to put up between you and the people you don't like are nothing but an illusion. What's worse is that any time you try to erect them, you make yourself the problem with the human race, not the solution. That's right. If you think that you are a member of any kind of human group, and also that somehow yours is a good group, you have done nothing but turn yourself into a bad guy.
Of course, all the zillions of groupthinkers around today are convinced of just the opposite: they are the good guys, while everyone else is some kind of baddie. This fantasy most particularly applies to political and religious groupthinkers, who are always somehow the good guys, even when they are at the throats of a different group. Sigh. The German Nazis were also convinced that they alone were the good guys on the planet, which naturally meant that they could take anything or kill anyone they pleased. If you pursue any kind of groupthink to its logical conclusion, the only place you will end up is right smack dab in the Third Reich. Forget trying to model yourself upon St. Francis of Assisi, Ramakrishna, or any other sentient being who could sense the interconnectedness of the human race. Nope, that won't do for you, good groupthinker that you are, you intend to go through your life with the exact same kind of mental energies to be found in Herr Schicklgruber. Lots of luck.
All this is probably difficult for most people to understand these days since it flies in the face of the "education" they got in an American classroom. What our kids get from those 21st century ignoramuses called teachers is nothing but toxic groupthink, plus a whole batch of other legacy illusions such as hierarchy, competition, and secularism. All of the preceding are, of course, are what their self-congratulatory instructors call critical thinking skills. Well, if you ask me, there are no more ghastly incompetents in today's world than our educators, but that is another story.
The good news here is that nothing lasts forever. Especially since the true Reality of our universe is quite easy to understand: it consists of universal interconnection, plus the kind of universal equality this interconnection creates. If people all over the world would start to align their actions and beliefs in accordance with these two principles, that curse called groupthink would finally start to die its well-deserved death. Take my word for it, this is the only way to end those problems called racism, religious hatred, gender bias, or any other kind of discrimination.
So how can you personally help to rid the world of its most toxic illusion? Here are my suggestions:
The necessary first step. If you want to change the world, you need to change yourself first. And if you want to change yourself, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to work with Divine energy. This is simple enough: just follow my guide on How to Work with Divine Energy.
Ditch the past. In my opinion the three most sacred words in the English language are get over it. Those who look back, such as Eurydice or Lot's wife, are always lost forever. If you have been expending huge amounts of energy memorializing some kind of specific ancestral suffering, it's time to stop. You aren't doing good in the world--you are only perpetuating some very bad energies. But if you're terrified that forgetting past horrors will condemn humanity to repeat them, just keep reminding yourself that man's inhumanity to man can only happen in a world of hiddenness. That kind of world is starting to disappear, and this alone will be enough to prevent atrocities from happening in the future. If you want a better human society, your energies should be directed towards the creation of the kind of universalist and transparent world where tyrants or racists can no longer get away with it, instead of being stuck in your own variety of victimology.
Ditch any kind of separateness experience, including sports and games. There is some sort of ridiculous fantasy around these days which goes like this: sports teach sportsmanship. Ah, yes--the reason why games, sports, or any other kind of us-against-them experience are beneficial is because the participants or the observers experience something called sportsmanship. Well, here comes some Reality: any kind of an us-against-them encounter is a toxic illusion which will inevitably wreak havoc in the quantum field. Repeat: any kind of human encounter which causes hurt or disappointment in even one sentient being is toxic. It doesn't matter whether it's the Olympics, World of Warcraft, the next Marvel frivolity, the Pulitzer Prizes, or a Little League ball game, these kinds of experiences will always be an Indra's Net nightmare. So no, it's not normal or healthy to watch a sporting event or the latest superhero drivel out of Hollywood. Fortunately, in the Aquarian world to come, people will no longer be able to watch any kind of us-against-them any more than they could watch an execution.
Understand what makes a good guy. The only good guys in our universe are those who practice the unitive vision. They live in harmony with the natural flow of energies, allow for human agency, and rely upon Divine guidance. They want to work for the good of all sentient beings instead of gratifying their own ego, and they send out compassion and blessings to all and sundry. So if you want to make sure you are truly a good guy as you go through your days, this is what you have to do. Yeah, I know. It ain't easy. But if you persevere, great will be your rewards. The nice news here is that the delights of the good guy lifestyle are limitless.
But what if you're attacked? Unfortunately, we are currently living in a world where the ignorant enjoy blaming other people for their difficulties. And let's face it, there's nothing like having enemies to give a person a hugely thrilling and interesting life. Well, what can the rest of us do about these poor ignoramuses? At the moment, it is only reasonable for you to defend yourself if you have to. But you need to remember the lessons of a spiritual visionary named Morihei Ueshiba, who was the founder of the martial art of aikido in the 1920's. Ueshiba was the first martial arts expert in history who could see past humanity's eternal us-against-them mentality. He believed that you fight if you must, but you do it in a way that mitigates the harm to both you and your enemy. You don't try to destroy your enemy--you do what you can to make him your friend. At all times you remind yourself that your "opponent" deserves only compassion. Especially since it is obvious that the bad energy this person is putting out will eventually rebound in something called the . . .
The Cosmic Boomerang. One basic energy law of this universe is something I call the Cosmic Boomerang. This law states that the kind of energies you put out into the universe are the exact same kind of energies which will eventually come back to you. Over the centuries this idea has been proverbially expressed in many different ways: what goes around comes around, you reap what you sow, sooner or later it catches up with you. I have never known anyone, including myself, who has been exempt from that little something called payback. So the Cosmic Boomerang is what you have to keep in mind when you must deal with those sentient beings whose actions continue to be based upon that illusion called separateness. Don't forget that sooner or later they will get their comeuppance without you having to lift a finger to make it happen. And if you personally are ever tempted to send out any kind of separateness thought or action, just remember that you're begging for some kind of harmful energy to come back and clobber you. So just don't do it. Or else.
Make every interaction you have with another sentient being a namaste experience. Namaste is a Sanskrit word which means I bow to you, and it is a way to acknowledge the Divine energy within each and every sentient being in the universe. While you don't always have to make a physical bow every time you send out a namaste, this kind of energy should always guide you on how to interact with every other sentient being you encounter. It is also one of the few guaranteed ways to hang on to your good-guyness.
Finally, don't forget that nothing lasts forever. Not even groupthink. The way things are now are not the way they are always going to be.
I am aware that the suggestions I'm recommending in this essay are difficult. But the rewards are worth it. Believe it or not, ditching your groupthink can be one of the most liberating experiences you will ever know. You no longer have to suffer under any kind of artificial boundaries, and the rigid structures of past cultures or religions become meaningless. Best of all, instead of wasting your time paying attention to that illusion called us-against-them, you can purse more worthwhile activities, such as creation, spiritual enlightenment, helping your neighbors, and acquiring wisdom. All of this adds up to turning yourself into what I call a citizen of the universe. There is no doubt in my mind that in the Aquarian age to come, this will become everyone's goal. And why not? After all, while being a member of a particular nation or religion is nice, being a citizen of the universe is absolutely fabulous.
We will begin this most amusing of my essays with my most lunatic belief: I am absolutely certain that the toxic energy which we humans call money is currently evaporating into air, into thin air. That's right. Money is starting to dematerialize all over the earth, and by the end of the 21st century it just won't be there any longer. This includes both the American dollar as well as other national currencies. All this means that the contemporary pursuit of what is known as filthy lucre is an utter exercise in futility. Somebody should tell the planet's money grubbers that all the scrambling they are doing after the cash isn't really worth it. They are chasing phantoms. They may as well forget it and go fishing.
Mind you, the disappearance of the planet's assorted currencies isn't going to happen all at once. I doubt that we will have a completely moneyless world until the 22nd century. So the human race can still look forward to a good many years during which they can max-out their Master Cards. It's just that in the years to come, if you are a legacy type possessed of what you think is sound financial sense, I don't recommend that you try to talk to your kids or grandkids about money. They will look at you as if you are cuckoo.
But never mind about that--what will happen to the planet when money isn't around any more? Will we go back to bartering for goods and services? Or will we grab our shotguns and steal anything not nailed down? Suppose the honchos at Versace, Cartier, and Macy's announced that starting next Thursday, all their inventory would be given away for free? Then what would happen? Yeah, I know: buffalo stampede. Money keeps our exchanges in good working order, so without it everything would collapse into chaos! Getting and spending is the only way to do life, just as great big bureaucratic national socialism is the only way to do government!
Well, in the bad old Piscean days this was correct. Money was a necessity. But we are now moving into the Aquarian era, where legacy ideas of ownership and capital are starting to dissolve into nothingness. When you go through your days focusing on Indra's Net instead of me-me-me-mine-mine-mine, you don't want to take more than what will satisfy your most minimal needs. This means that when we finally reach a moneyless world, it will not manifest as an eternal Black Friday. Aquarians are not going to have the slightest desire to go after the kind of expensive legacy crap which still poisons the planet, such as 24-carat gold Rolexes, late-model Porsches, and Blenheim Palace. I except that some of this stuff will be preserved in museums to show people the horrifying illusions of their idiot ancestors, but as for people wanting to own it themselves . . . no way.
So I am going to stand my ground on this. I am certain that money is currently in the process of vanishing from planet earth faster than you can say poof. But why should this be a problem? Let us remember that money has been nothing but a toxic form of energy from its inception. Money came into existence only about 5,000 years ago, and anything with a beginning will inevitably reach an end. It's just that it wasn't supposed to happen in your lifetime, right? Well, cheer up. A moneyless world is going to be a vast improvement over the mess we've got now. Here are my reasons why money is dying:
Currency is dematerializing. Have you noticed what has happened to our currencies in the past few decades? They have dissolved into nothingness. Once upon a time money actually possessed what human beings think of as solidity, since it was minted from precious metals like gold and silver. But nowadays money has turned into nothing but an electrical impulse, and a fiat one at that, since these impulses are not backed up by any kind of precious metal. In other words, money has become the most insubstantial of manifestations. At the moment it still seems real, but how much longer is that going to last?
Inflation. Our American dollars lose a percentage of their value every year thanks to inflation. The US Inflation Calculator tells us that from 1913 to 2016 the inflation rate was 2293.1%. If this rate continues for another hundred years, what costs about $500 in 2016 will cost over one million dollars in another century. Ever increasing valuelessness is a sign of a moribund energy.
The national debt. Those electrical impulses now known as dollars are not the only kind of fiscal bytes around today. There also exists a very different kind of electrical impulse, that of emptiness, also known as debt, which is swamping people, businesses, and governments with every passing year. The worst of these debts are those stratospheric governmental black holes which demagogic politicians all over the world have inflicted upon their hapless citizenry. The American national debt now stands at nineteen trillion dollars, and it increases by a good two or three billion dollars every day. Until someone explains to me how our governmental debt will ever be repaid, I guarantee that the only thing that it will accomplish is the death of the dollar. Those electrical bytes known as value and those electrical bytes known as void are going to cancel each other out.
Personal debt. The American people cannot manage their finances any more than their elected representatives. Millions of people in this country today are going through their lives up to their thorax with one kind of debt or another: credit cards, education, mortgages, car loans. And nearly half the people in American households don't manage to save a dime. Americans live out their lives swamped in emptiness instead of equity, which means that they are living out their lives in a void. This is not a healthy place to be.
Wealth is no longer being created. There are millions of profitable businesses in the contemporary world which produce valuable goods, and they keep the world's economies on track. The problem is that there are also millions of people all over the world who do not produce anything of value but who still manage to earn decent wages. I am of course referring to the planet's cubicle slaves, who push the paper, implement the rules and regulations, and otherwise spend their time dealing with utterly useless energies. They are leeching instead of producing, and whatever worthwhile goods are being created by others are being negated by all the millions who take but never give. All this adds up to nothing but enormous planetary waste, and I'm not talking about landfills. If you've ever wondered why the idea of a prosperous economy is an ever-receding phantom, it's because of the exponential growth of rules, law, regulations, procedures which now must be enforced by billions of drudges processing ever more meaningless paperwork. The loss of human potential in this ghastly dissipation is mind-boggling.
Post-capitalism. We are starting to move into a social arrangement which someone like Karl Marx never could have envisioned: a post-capitalist world. When Marx wrote his Kapital in 1867, equity was something which was going to last absolutely forever, just like the proletariat. Well, here at the dawn of the Aquarian era, the whole idea of capital is rapidly becoming yet more legacy uselessness. The operative economic term these days is share, which has become one of the most ubiquitous words on the internet and which is rapidly turning into a new kind of economic ideal. People today love to go online to share their experiences, their photographs, their recipes, and their likes or dislikes. Sharing is what will count in the future, not ownership. At the moment of course, what people share are mostly online intangibles, but if you ask me, they will eventually want to share a lot more than their bytes. There is plenty of evidence that this is already starting to happen: check out the sharing economy, the access economy, and the gift economy.
Population decline. Perpetual economic growth cannot happen when the population starts to drop. And all the signs are that this is exactly what is starting to happen on Planet Earth. Yes, I know that there continue to be scare predictions about how the human population will soon reach eleven billion, or twenty billion, or goodness only knows what kind of billion. Well, a more accurate vision of the future can be found at this site about dead shopping malls, or in articles like this one, which discusses the phenomenon of abandoned houses in Japan. The population of our earth is starting to decline instead of increase, and this decline will become increasingly evident as the years go on. Mind you, I don't think that the human race is about to vanish from the earth, but when the death rate overtakes the birth rate, economic growth neither can nor will continue to happen. This also means that by the end of the century, many people will be able to help themselves to free materials left behind by people who died without living heirs. When land, houses, cars, furniture, and electronics are free for the taking, who needs money?
So all forms of planetary money are going . . . going . . . and soon gone. But stop panicking and start thinking about the blessings that a moneyless world can bring to our dysfunctional planet. Wouldn't you enjoy living in a world where greed, conspicuous consumption, and elite credit cards have vanished into nothingness? Here are some things you can do to help create it:
The necessary first step. If you want to change the world, you need to change yourself first. And if you want to change yourself, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to work with Divine energy. This is simple enough: just follow my guide on How to Work with Divine Energy.
Understand what makes an interesting life. One of the biggest fallacies in our addled world is the illusion that you cannot have an interesting life unless you have money. The theory is that making a purchase, whether of an object or an experience, is supposed to supply you with some kind of intense enjoyment or something. Not that I can see, not in a world where hedonic adaptation is always kicking in. Fortunately there is a much healthier way to generate an interesting life, and it won't cost you a dime: you simply need to start practicing that Divine energy called create. When you switch your focus from spending to creating, you discover that nothing is lacking in your life, you couldn't care less if you don't have piles of creature comforts, and you never feel poor. Which of course you aren't. A person whose life is constantly filled with Divine energy doesn't know what poverty means. See Chapter 17 of The Compleat Psychic for suggestions about becoming more creative.
Never desire anything more than what you truly need. Japanese craftsmen have always believed that they lose their skills if they accumulate wealth beyond their most basic needs. So if you're wondering exactly what kind of income will be best for you, a Biblical quote can help here: "give me neither poverty nor riches" (Proverbs 30:8). In other words, the best possible financial goal is that of middleness. When you are content with what you have, not only are you living in harmony with the natural flow of energy, you will be able to maintain your creative skills as long as you live. Now I will admit that even the most dedicated of creators will occasionally lust to purchase a new object in space, even though he or she doesn't really need it. Well, at times like these, your oracle will tell you whether it is best for both you and the summum bonum if you do acquire it. Your oracle will also be able to guide you about whether your creative endeavors are truly filled with beneficial energies. As for the tools, raw materials, and other essentials you need for your own creations, here again you should follow your oracle's guidelines about taking only what you need.
Give away your creations for free. If you are currently earning a living from your artistic endeavors, you need to understand where your income is coming from, namely the cubicle slaves of this world. These are your brothers and sisters who would love to be creative themselves but who are trapped in a toxic system. And their unhappy energies are going into the money they give you for your creations. So even if you've managed to escape office slavery, you are still living off tainted energy like everyone else these days. But if you want to help kill off the system, there is one way you can do it: start giving away at least some of your creations for free. To a certain extent this is already happening: the internet is filled these days with plenty of free music, videos, instruction, software, and graphics. Mind you, I'm not recommending that you give away everything you create, not as long as we are in a money world. But you can help the moneyless world to manifest by giving away a small percentage of your products. And then if you can manage it, keep increasing the percentage. It's true that this will put a dent into your profit margin, but I guarantee that the more you give your stuff away, the more you will experience Aquarian bliss.
Give away your services for free. If you don't have stuff to give away, you can still give away your services. Do some of your neighbors need help? Is there anyway you can volunteer in your community? Forget about watching the latest toxic illusion on the flat screen and donate some of your time to someone who needs help. Of course, if the thought of giving up ESPN or Grand Theft Auto is too painful to be contemplate, then you need to ask and give permission for the Divine to free you of your obsession with sports and games. Guaranteed to work, take my word for it.
Give away your old stuff for free. Forget about selling something that you no longer need--give it away instead. Get into the habit of donating your stuff either to friends or family, or to online recycling services like Freecycle. And have a garage give instead of a sale. Your neighbors will love you for it.
Switch your focus from stuff to intangibles. If you find it difficult to free yourself from expensive luxury thingies, there is an easy solution. You simply need to switch your focus from "material" stuff to intangibles such as light, music, information, ideas, naturally flowing energies, and movement through space. It also helps to start paying attention to the natural world that surrounds you, especially the elemental energies of light, air, wind, stars, night, or thunder. When you shift your focus like this, the stuff lust simply isn't there any longer. And don't forget that in the years to come, the members of the ever-more transparent human race are not going to desire solid objects in space anyway. This means you.
Indulge in appreciation instead of ownership. Appreciation is another valuable intangible, especially since it is an energy which is completely free of cold hard cash. It is easy enough to do: if you encounter an object in space which pleases you, you should not make any attempt to acquire it but simply be glad that it exists. Then let it remain where it is so that other people can encounter it as well. You can do this with any kind of material good, work of art, or musical opus that you encounter: perceive it as intensely as you can and then move on. Lack of possession means not only that you will continue to live an unencumbered life, but that the universe will keep providing you with ever more new energy forms you can admire.
As long as we are in a money world try to avoid debt any way you can. With the possible exception of a home mortgage (and your oracle can guide you about that), do not under any circumstances go into debt. Debt is always an imprisonment where you have no room to maneuver. Equity, on the other hand, means freedom, up to and including the right to switch professions, start a new enterprise, create something of value, or just move on down the line. All of which are going to be the great desiderata of the Aquarian era.
If you're young, choose your future career wisely. In other words, pay no attention to the legacy financial crap you are probably getting from your elders and worsers. Chances are that their advice about careers in finance, accounting, marketing, or economics is not all that practical. Instead try to choose a way of earning your living based on the new kind of social and interconnected energies which are now manifesting, and make sure you consult your oracle to see if it is right for you. This will probably mean a low-money lifestyle, but don't forget that there are a good many crackpots around, including myself, who think that the less money you have, the more blessings you experience. See Chapter 9 of The Compleat Psychic about more career or business oracular advice.
Reread Walden (1854) every few years. No comment necessary.
But . . . but . . . but . . . Well, okay--if we're heading into a moneyless world, that means no more Wall Street, the London School of Economics, office torment, and getting and spending. But WHAT ABOUT LAS VEGAS? In a world without money, Las Vegas won't be there any more! We can't have that! Las Vegas is America's playground! Las Vegas has all the showgirls! Las Vegas gives us more thrills than hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes combined! How can Las Vegas just disappear from the face of the earth? Not to worry. You've got to remember why Native Americans originally settled in that particular part of the Mojave Desert: there were plenty of artesian wells. Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish, and people were drawn to it because of the water which came spontaneously out of the earth. All of which means, as far as I'm concerned, that the town called Las Vegas has been erected upon a sacred site. So in a moneyless world Las Vegas won't disappear--it will turn into what it was originally intended to be, a place of holy pilgrimage. In the years to come as the casinos start shutting down, they will be replaced by much more spiritual endeavors, such as yoga centers, tea houses, meditation pavilions, qigong and taijiquan schools, sweat lodges, and retreats for vision quests. People will also want to visit to the area just to interact with the majestic desert elements: the clarity of the dry air, the silence of the empty spaces, and the intensity of both sun and starlight. As for the showgirls, they will finally be able to escape the meat market and turn back into human beings, to be honored, like all members of Indra's Net, as manifestations of the Divine. So Las Vegas will finally fulfill its true destiny: a place of sacred pilgrimage for all and sundry, and the enlightenment to be gained therein will be exponentially more valuable than losing your shirt.
So there you have it. The non-existent future of money. But cheer up. The moneyless world to come should be seen as a delight, not an appalling horror. In a world without money, greed would evaporate, as would resentment, inequality, cubicle slaves, and great big coercive governments. I know that I would like to live in that kind of world, especially since it would be the fulfillment of our celebrated American Dream. Most people believe that our American dream is a money dream--people came to this country for one reason only, to get rich. Well, we need to remember that there has always been a second American dream, that of reaching the Divine, which has been around as long as the first one. This is a much more beneficial dream to be sure, but what we now need is a third Dream. Only this time it should be a Dream that would not apply to that groupthink called the United States but to all seven billion of us humans. This would be a Planetary Dream based upon those Realities called universal interconnection and universal equality, and it would give each member of the human race the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The end of money is the one single thing which will cause the Planetary Dream to manifest. If you ask me, the sooner the better.
This essay summarizes the one single benefit which universal psychic ability can give to our planet: all of us humans will be able to move out of those illusions called separateness and inequality and into that blessing known as the unitive vision. This change is already starting to happen thanks to our computer revolution and the alteration in human energies which it has generated. Whether we realize it or not, all of us seven billion humans are going to start experiencing a new kind of consciousness, which in turn is going to create a much better kind of world. Here are my suggestions about how each one of us can help this new world to manifest:
The necessary first step. If you want to change the world, you need to change yourself first. And if you want to change yourself, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to work with Divine energy. This is simple enough: just follow my guide on How to Work with Divine Energy.
Understand what makes the best possible human being and then turn yourself into one. What makes the best possible human being should be an easy answer by now: the most admirable, successful, and revered people in human history are the ones who are filled with Divine energy. That is the kind of human being you should want to be. Mind you, a goal like this doesn't mean that you have to jettison all your ego-based desires for a pleasant earthly existence. However, you do need to start focusing your ambitions, desires, perceptions, and relationships around the experience of the Divine. For most of us this means that you need to ditch whatever toxic energies you're carting around in your psyche, such as attention-whoring, greed, groupthink, selfishness, envy, and manipulation. The good news is that once you have ditched these energies for good, the new kind of life you will be living is perpetually fun. And to get into this new reality the one single thing you need to focus on is . . .
Work on releasing your ego. Any human who is filled with Divine energy will inevitably start to focus more on that reality called Indra's Net instead of the desires of his or her own personal ego. This means that releasing your desires instead of furiously taking action to fulfill them should become the core reality of your existence. Fortunately, the more you start working with Divine energy, as in prayer, divination, and rta, the easier it becomes. Eventually the most important thing that's going to matter to you is not your own personal gratification but the well-being of your neighbors--and by neighbors, I mean every sentient being in the universe.
Work on releasing your allegiances to those cultural forms which are now as dead as nail in door. One of my lifelong heroes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, tells us over and over that whenever we realize that we're trapped in something dead, we should cut our losses and move into new space and freedom. He's right. So stop suffering under the delusion that any kind of "reform" can fix all the legacy systems which are crumbling to pieces before our eyes here in the 21st century. This especially includes any kind of giant manipulative something, such as the United States government. So stop dreaming that it can actually solve social or economic problems. Stop hoping that a new boss, governor, prime minister, president, pope, or CEO will be able to fix that which is unfixable. Stop dreaming that any kind of control freakery can get people to behave themselves. Stop deluding yourself that your own personal groupthink, as in racial, national, political, or religious groupthink, will make the world a better place. In case you haven't noticed, both your religion and/or your politics are very much legacy these days, and like all other useless paradigms they are rapidly collapsing into entropy. What you need to do instead is start focusing how you can help to bring in a completely new kind of world.
Ditch your linguistic groupthink. The globalized planet beginning to come will need a globalized language, and it should be obvious that the language of the planetary future is going to be English. We are already at a point where you cannot have a professional career anywhere in the world unless you know English. I am sure that these words will raise the hackles of anyone who venerates a different tongue. Well, people need to remember that of all the various forms of groupthink alive and kicking on the planet today, linguistic groupthink is one of the most toxic. So the sooner it goes, the better. And since I also believe that the English language has ideas of free speech and democracy hardwired into its sounds and syllables, the single-language planet to come is going to manifest with ideas of universal human rights. Having said all this, however, I must also admit that I am wholeheartedly in favor of people knowing more than one language, since bi- or trilingualism can give each one of us broader perspectives or even a new personality--and there is nothing like a fluid sense of personality to dampen down your ego-based desires. So if English is your native language, you should do your best to learn at least one other language. If you are not a native English speaker, you must do everything that you can to become fluent in the globalized language and make sure that your children start learning it as early as they can. They will thank you for it.
Avoid separateness experiences. As in sports, games, us-against-them videos, awards, or anything else which disrupts universal interconnection and equality. Yikes! How can I mean this? No more fun and games? No more beer and peanuts? No more Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue? Of all my recommendations, this one will probably strike people as the most hideously unendurable, especially since us-against-them provides some of the most pleasurable, if also most illusionary, experiences on the planet. Winning is the only thing! What's life without the thrill of victory (never mind the agony of defeat)? Sorry. Any kind of us-against-them competition which causes hurt or disappointment in even just one single sentient being is irredeemably toxic. The sooner competition of any kind disappears from our planet, the better.
Make the Golden Rule your ethical guiding star. Once you understand the Reality of universal interconnection, you will realize that you cannot do to another sentient being what you would not want done to yourself. This idea is known as the ethics of reciprocity, or more popularly as the Golden Rule, and it is an ethical guide in most human cultures. As well it should be. It is important to remember that a large proportion of the energies you send out into the universe remain with you. So if you put out any kind of negative energy directed at another sentient being, you are hurting yourself more than you are hurting him. Lots of luck trying to escape this kind of self-inflicted Cosmic Boomerang. But it is easy enough to cure: just keep practicing the Golden Rule.
Listen to music. I have long believed that music can be a universal cure-all for just about anything. After all, it is a manifestation of that rta energy called harmony, and there is nothing like Divine harmony to give you a sense of universal interconnection. Mind you, not all music is a manifestation of the Divine these days, not in a world still in thrall to separateness illusions. But if you make time every day listen to Divinely-inspired sounds like classical, jazz, ambient, or raga, this kind of music can knock you out of your toxic energies in a few seconds flat. So forget the videos and chill out to some inspired sounds. The more you listen, the more you will harmonize your own vibrations.
Encourage universal information and interconnection. These are the energies which are going to blast away the legacy top-down manipulation institutions which are still blighting the earth, and they cannot be stopped. So you need to do what you can to promote digital freedom of speech or information all over the world. Not everyone on Planet Earth has these rights yet, but the more people who start working for them, the sooner everyone will have them. A good place to start is the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Remember that Aquarius is an air sign. The element of Aquarius is air, and air is an element which does not respect a boundary of any kind, whether fence, shield, barrier, enclosure, or national border. In the globalized world to come, all these illusory frontiers aren't going to be there any longer, which is all for the best. We should not forget that the only thing these artificial divisions have done throughout human history is block the natural flow of energies, so their eventual disappearance will be a blessing.
Practice universalist ideals. As far as your own personal life is concerned, you should do your best to universalize your reading, your movies, your cuisine, your music, and your lifestyle. In other words, stop it with any kind of groupthink, particularly the nationalist variety, and turn yourself into that treasure known as a citizen of the universe. The nice thing about being a citizen of the universe is that not only are you 100% guaranteed to come out a winner, so is everyone else.
Unification with the Divine. The unitive vision means not only a globalized perspective--it is also the method by which each one of us can achieve the greatest benefit of all, that of unification with the Divine. In case you've never realized it, all of us humans incarnate on this earth for one definite purpose, and no, it is not to make money. While it is up to you to discover what your specific life goals are (and your oracular tool can help you with this), the ultimate aim of every single one of us Homo sapiens is exactly the same: to reach union with the Divine. This is the kind of culmination which French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin called the Omega Point, the merging of all the jewels in Indra's Net with the Godhead (Teilhard de Chardin's 1955 book The Phenomenon of Man is online here). That's where you are going, and that's where you need to be.