There are at least two theories about what’s happening on the planet in 2024. Can both be right?
In 2009, I co-founded a nonprofit organization called The Emergence Project, dedicated to studying the Mayan teachings about this time in deep history. I thought that with my skills as a research analyst and many years of spiritual exploration in a wide variety of traditions, I could “figure it all out”. I read countless books, watched endless videos, and talked to many wise and thoughtful seekers of truth. In the end, I had to admit that I had failed to comprehend the enormity, vastness, depth, and scope of the prophecies and teachings about this time that were evident in various traditions for thousands of years. Quite simply, it was a mystery of the highest order and remains so today.
But now the cosmic plot has only thickened. We are in the middle of an enormous set of changes affecting our life here on Planet Earth, beyond any one individual’s or group’s comprehension. While many things seem clearer to me than when I studied the planetary cycles of history in 2008 to 2012, the picture has also gotten more complicated. It seems that more understanding can also lead to more complexity. Funny how that works.
If you’re reading this then you most likely realize that we are here at a most interesting time in our planetary history. Some “spiritual, but not religious” teachers would say that we all chose to incarnate at this particular time and there is a distinct reason and purpose that each and every one of us are here to fulfill now. And we are all experiencing the rather astonishing changes here on Spaceship Earth (as Buckminster Fuller used to call it).
Trying to understand the big picture about what’s happening on the planet is no easy task. The feeling of being overwhelmed with information and events is widespread whether someone is spiritually oriented or not. There are many worthy teachers out there now who confirm this, and are offering suggestions and ways to cope with the overload.
In this blog, I hope to break this down a little and offer my own views in addition to that of others.
The Blind Men and an Elephant
I like to think of the expanded notion of our earth-centric reality now as a diamond with many facets. Each one of us looks at the diamond but taking in the whole is impossible. At best, we can only see a few different facets. One person sees one facet; another sees another. The sum of all of our views is closest to the truth along the lines of the old parable of The Blind Men and an Elephant.
But, of course, how do we arrive at this sum of so many views when everyone is arguing (just like the blind men) that they are right? So, let’s just posit that what we call consensus reality is a huge unknowable thing that is the sum total all human experience and perspectives. And it of course may paradoxically contain truths that seem directly opposed to each other (whew!) Readers of this blog may at this point feel that I’m going down a rabbit hole, by being overly philosophical or complex, but I hope you will stay with me.
With that as a sort of prelude, how should we look at earth changes and where does the climate crisis fit in to the picture? There is so much confusion and division over this issue that at times it seems impossible to sort out. As with Covid, you were either on the right side of the fence or the wrong side. There was no such thing as taking a nuanced or middle position.
So What's Really Happening?
Let’s start with the basics. The climate crisis is real and it’s here. Much of the science says that it’s of human origin because of CO2 production and this is undoubtedly a major factor. Unfortunately, powerful financial interests have started to use this as a distraction from thinking about how humanity has poisoned the planet and our food chain with chemicals, radioactive water from Fukushima, microplastics and in general treating the planet and the natural world with carelessness and a lack of respect. This distraction allows “business as usual” to continue.
Focusing only on this one aspect—CO2 and warming—provides a convenient distraction for the companies that have been largely responsible for these environmental disasters. It allows them to point the finger back at each of us as individuals saying that we are a huge part the problem. This is a case of deflection and diversion of responsibility. It’s part of why this topic is now so confusing.
Not to be overly cynical but the confusion is deliberate. This over-focus on the climate crisis has turned out to be our collective shorthand for “everything that’s wrong with the planet now and everything that’s changing”. Unfortunately, this narrative falls way short of describing the more complex realities at stake. And it smacks of Western scientific materialism’s typical stance of absolute certainty. (Good science requires a certain humility about what we can know and what we can’t. Our best scientists have always had that quality but these days it seems to be in short supply.)
There are two competing narratives out there. One is based on “the science” which is that there is a human-made climate crisis which is mainly caused by excessive levels of CO2. The other is drawn from ancient wisdom traditions and based on narratives of deep history preserved by indigenous people and spiritual teachers, having to do with well anticipated earth changes taking place now. (Note: some traditionally religious teachings also have a sense of this as well.)
In this latter version, we are going through earth changes that have long been predicted as prophecy. This includes the traditions of the Mayans, who were master astronomers and understood the workings of planetary cycles over thousands of years. The Mayans foresaw the events we are now experiencing, as did the Hopi and many other indigenous peoples.
The much-publicized 2012 Mayan Calendar “event” was widely misunderstood, in no small measure because (more often than not) the media positioned it as a distinct event—something would happen visibly and discernibly in that particular year. The reality, however, is that 2012 should have been understood as the beginning of a cycle—a portal into a succession of great changes taking place over a long period. And this is exactly what happened and continues to happen.
Here’s something interesting to consider: both of these versions of reality can be true.
Not only can both be true, but even putting those two opposing ideas in our poor, tired, information-weary heads at the same time does not tell the whole picture. There are myriad possibilities and don’t let any of the “experts” tell you that they know exactly what’s going on. For example, it’s still possible that we’re headed for another ice age or at least a cooler rather than warmer planet. Our scientific methodologies are excellent at describing present trends. But they cannot predict the future. The computer models we now use to predict future trends are only as good as the data that we use to program them. This data comes from past and present measurements with predictive data based on algorithms. So, it’s entirely possible that these changes can still lead in many different directions.
In addition, our science still has not caught up with ancient science concerning the effect of planetary and astronomical activity and how the cosmos can effect changes on our earthly life. The sun is very active now and with the earth’s magnetic field weakening, we are being bombarded by cosmic rays, solar flares, and CMEs. Many teachers say that this is positively affecting our spiritual growth and evolution.
There is hope, however, that this gap in science is changing. For example, I was quite surprised to see a recent New Yorker article about the impact of solar flares on the electrical grid and satellite communications systems. Disappointingly, the article stopped short of discussing how this might affect biological systems, and only mentioned in passing that stronger solar radiation patterns and flares can affect how birds navigate. It didn’t take the next logical and obvious step of asking: if it can affect birds, then why not humans?
Explaining the Unexplainable (Or Trying To)
Much of the chaos in the world can now be partially attributed to how huge planetary changes and cycles involving the sun and other space phenomena are affecting human cognition and perception. If the world feels a little crazy to you these days (or a lot crazy) then there’s a reason for it. I suppose you could say there’s a “scientific” reason for it (although, as I mentioned much ancient science has been rejected in our modernist thinking.) Understanding the reasons might not make the changes we’re going through any easier but it might make them somehow more bearable.
These are just a few of the factors bearing down on humanity now in 2024. Conventional science is important but it has limitations and will only give us part of the picture. The climate crisis narrative has been distorted by those who want to use it for financial advantage such as corporations and financial elites who see it as a business opportunity. But don’t fall for simplistic narratives like if we all drive EVs and recycle, everything will be fine. Things are vastly more complicated than that and the onus should be on corporations and governments to fix what needs fixing. In terms of future changes, we should keep in mind that science describes but doesn’t predict and prophecy and clairvoyance predicts but doesn’t describe.
So, summing up, here’s a short list of factors possibly affecting what we as humans perceive as severe instabilty and chaos in the global landscape:
- Long predicted earth changes
- CO2-induced climate instability
- Chemical and plastics pollution (e.g.Fukushima)
- Global saturation of 5G and other wireless radiation
- Solar radiation and other space weather and planetary resonance
The spiritual teacher Lee Caroll has pointed out that it’s human-made pollution that has worsened the heating up of the planet, but cautions that it’s not the primary cause. He also suggests that the current warming is temporary and is preparatory to a cooling phase (but not an Ice Age per se). Mix all these factors together and we can see the incredible challenge in trying to understand how all these trends and earth changes interact as we try to parse the myriad forces shaping the new earth. But without fully understanding them, any actions we take to improve our situation may not result in beneficial results.
