How to feel safe and be happy in the midst of personal and planetary chaos

We are in the midst of the wash, rinse and spin cycles of our collective growth, and no one is exempt from some tumultuous tumbling.

by Scott Kalechstein — 

When I was a child, I had recurring nightmares about a nuclear end of the world. My parents would come into my room and soothe me as I trembled. Sometimes I couldn’t fall back to sleep for hours, and then only with the light on.

In public school, we had occasional shelter drills when, at the sound of an alarm, we would go out into the hallway and crouch against the wall with our heads curled in between our knees. In my extracurricular studies, I learned that if an atomic bomb were really to explode in my city, we would all instantly vaporize — which made me wonder how assuming a crouched position would be of any help.

As a young adult, I started studying A Course In Miracles, which, as it relates to the end of the world, is downright peppy: “The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears.”

Now that’s an ending we can all look forward to!

In the 1980s, I studied with Hilda, a spiritual teacher who had a gift for seeing the future. Hilda foretold what we would be facing between now and the year 2012. She called these times the tribulations. She spoke of a cold new world order headed by fear-mongering leaders who would be handed power on a plate of passivity by the slumbering masses. She predicted that the United States government and those behind the scenes would chip away at our freedoms in the name of security until the people got fed up enough to find their voices and take their power back.

She asked us to respond by speaking out and protesting through peaceful non-cooperation, the way Gandhi would have. And she assured us we would have plenty of help from Mother Earth in the form of planetary upheaval. These earth changes would force large numbers of people to start thinking and behaving as one human family, and not as separate nations with separate interests and agendas.

In the Chinese language, the word crisis is spelled as a combination of two symbols, one signifying “danger” and one “opportunity.” Facing shared global crises offers an unprecedented opportunity for masses of people to set aside their differences, open their hearts and work together.

The heat is on, and I’m not just referring to global warming. Humanity no longer has the luxury of time in which to evolve slowly and gradually. These days, it’s evolve or perish. Black-and-white thinking, us-and-them attitudes, good-versus-evil ideologies — all are up for review and transformation. “Polarity” ice caps are melting, and the waters are overflowing the levees we constructed to keep our emotions contained and controlled.

If you are not experiencing huge changes flooding your psyche, check your pulse.

We are in the midst of the wash, rinse and spin cycles of our collective growth, and no one is exempt from some tumultuous tumbling. The personal, political and social tossing and turning we are currently experiencing is just the beginning of a much needed cleaning of some very dirty laundry. It’s time for a global cleanse.

Right now, I’m also cleansing physically, taking certain herbs that help flush out toxins, fungus and parasites, and avoiding foods that feed them. Subsequently, things are appearing on the surface of my skin and in my stool that are not pretty. That stuff had been inside me and is now being released.

If I didn’t understand how a cleanse proceeds, I’d be worried. But, I know that the process includes gook coming to the surface. Things appear worse before they get better. That’s how healing works.

Many governments and corporations are currently amidst a cleanse, as well. The dishonesty that used to dys-function quite smoothly beneath the world’s radar screen is now getting a public viewing. Social and political systems everywhere are being forced to come in for numerous enemas and colonics. What is coming out is being splashed all over the headlines for the world to see.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and floods, as well as more personal earth changes like divorce and bankruptcy — many of us are experiencing unprecedented cleansing in our lives. Perhaps it is safe to say that the majority of people on the planet now are in the midst of some kind of healing crisis, having their cages rattled and their comfort zones penetrated.

People of all traditions get on their knees to pray, to feel reverence and to practice humility. Earth changes bring us down to that place instantaneously. When faced with the end of the world as we know it, we realize pretty quickly what really matters in life.

And what comes from hitting bottom, from being brought to our knees? Ask anyone in recovery. They’ll tell you it’s a whole new world.

A time of change need not be a time of fear. It is possible to have inner peace and an unshakable trust in God while everything around us is falling apart. It is possible to abide in a still, safe place inside that cannot be shaken by external events, an inner sanctuary that will stand no matter what unfolds outside our center. Looking out from that place, we can be peaceful — even joyful — about living in a world that’s currently in the washing machine.

In his book Illusions, Richard Bach reminds us, “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” Our story is far from over …

Scott Kalechstein is a modern day troubadour and inspirational speaker who travels through the United States, Canada and Europe giving concerts, talks and workshops, as well as presenting at conferences. www.scottsongs.com or [email protected].

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 24, Number 6, December 2005/January 2006.