by Robert &
Christine Gerzon
Question: What will happen on December 31, 1999, at the stroke of
midnight?
(A) The millennium miraculously ushers in a new golden age for
humankind.
(B) Midnight triggers global apocalypse and the end of the world.
(C) Some Y2K computer malfunctions and isolated terrorist acts
occur.
(D) A hyped-up New Year’s Eve celebration is followed by a
collective hangover and then back to business as usual.
Whichever answer you choose, the amazing thing is that this occasion is
being anticipated by more people than any other single event in history.
And we are awaiting it with an equal mixture of anxiety and excitement
because the truth is that none of us can know for sure what will happen.
Each of these options, represents the viewpoint of a part of our
population and perhaps even a part of each of us.
In our more sober moments, we may suspect that our species desperately
needs a wake-up call as we hurtle faster and faster along on a
technology-driven collision course with Mother Nature. We fight off that
uneasy feeling that our money-mad materialistic society might be due for
its day of reckoning with Fate, God, or whatever you want to call it. Is
there a part of you, even if it’s only a small part, that secretly hopes
for some sort of exciting apocalypse — a "Great Flood" that will cleanse
the earth and restore balance and harmony?
Our whole obsession with Y2K shows that there’s a part of us that
yearns for a major change in our lives, in our society. I believe that our
deepest desire, the sacred impulse awakened by this moment, is for a
spiritual change, a new birth. We hope that somehow, something will be
different when we wake up on this first weekend of the new millennium. We
hope life will be better, the world will look brighter, we’ll all get
along better, and our lives will have more meaning. We may even secretly
hope that a "Messiah" or something miraculous will happen to set the world
right again.
Perhaps our biggest fear is that nothing much will happen and January
1, 2000 will dawn with everything just the way it was the day before. We
will pry open a bloodshot eye, notice that the power’s still on, turn over
and go back to sleep. And that, is the most boring, and realistic,
scenario. A week after all the hype and hoopla of New Years Eve 2000, our
lives will probably be pretty much the same.
So how can we best prepare for this much-heralded event? If we believe
the media, we should be stocking up on batteries, bottled water, canned
goods and toilet paper. Isn’t it a little strange that here at the cusp of
the new millennium what we get is some suspiciously familiar advice: "When
you feel anxious, buy more stuff!"
Instead of stocking up, perhaps we should be taking stock — of our
lives and of our future. At this great moment we will all take a
collective, symbolic step into an unknown future. It is a mythic passage
that reminds us of the drama recounted in so many fairy tales — what will
happen at the stroke of midnight? A miraculous transformation — or a
missed opportunity?
Because of the media’s much-hyped anxiety about terrorists in Times
Square and Y2K computer meltdown, are we forgetting to pay attention to
deeper and more important anxieties? How will our time in history be
remembered — as one of rampant excess, inequality, destructive warfare and
an obsession with technological gadgets? Where are we headed as a species
on this planet? Are we making our planet increasingly unlivable for future
generations? What sort of values are shaping our society?
And closer to home — how are we living our lives? How are we nurturing
our precious human connections? How will we be remembered by those whose
lives we have touched? As Maya Angelou writes, "nobody but nobody can make
it out here alone."
This millennial stroke of midnight is a special moment. The most
remarkable thing about this much-heralded occasion is that it does not
arise from any natural phenomenon or celestial event. Both the anxiety
that our computer-dependent world will crash and the excitement of a major
calendrical passage are entirely of our own making.
It is we who make this moment special, simply by paying special
attention to it. This amazing global rite of passage can serve to remind
us that every moment is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. All we need to do to
make any moment special is to pay attention to it. All we need to do to
make each other feel special is to pay attention to each other.
This midnight moment is an amazing demonstration of the unique gift
that we all have as human beings, the power of awareness (and the
responsibility of using it to pay attention to what’s important). If the
"magic doesn’t happen" on January 1, 2000, don’t feel you have to wait
another thousand years — every day can be a great adventure, pregnant with
the potential for heartfelt, spiritual change in our lives.
Wishing you all the Light and Love of the season!
Read more articles by Robert Gerzon online at:
http://www.gerzon.com
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