The End of the World! Ooh,Scary!

The End of the World

It seems that among many groups in society, and especially amongst young people, there is now a lot of discussion about “the end of the world”. This, not so new, topic of interest, is of course visibly manifest in movies such as “2012” and many of the other disaster movies. A worrying effect of this topic is the negativity towards life and the community that can ensue for those who dwell on problems and disastrous potentialities. The origins are to be found in many diverse sources, such as the Bible, especially the Book of Revelations, and The Koran,

(Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away.)

                                                                        (The Koran Surah  27)

Then there are Nostradamus’ prophecies, but there are always problems due to interpretation.

The Holy Writings especially, but many other literary works of varying worth, use a lot of symbolism and metaphor. Problems occur when people take such passages and apply them in literal ways. The best way to interpret a prophecy is after the event – which could be difficult after the end of the world!  There have been numerous interpretations of Bible prophecy since about 1800AD, but even within the writer’s lifetime, say about 1970, the protagonists were Christians versus communism, especially the Soviet version.  Of course, the main adversary is now often interpreted as Muslims. Might not the main adversary at this stage of human development actually be the tendencies within ourselves towards materialism, hedonism? Or even literalism? (Not to mention certainty of opinion :) ).

Human civilisation has actually been through many “ends”. As a crisis occurs in our collective development, and sometimes humanity has passed the test and made a great leap to another plateau in the advancement and complexity of our civilisation, and other times been reduced back to simple living such as tribalism or even family communities. Either way, the world as it was known “ended”.  After a time of comparative peace, a civilisation encounters issues and limited resources, which cause crises and impel that community to either make a significant leap forward or suffer a catastrophic collapse.
(for a much greatly detailed explanation go to Giuseppe Robiati's document "Toward a New World Order"

                              (Caption: Spiders retreating from floods in Pakistan, into the trees)

A positive attitude would then be best on the part of that civilisation and its members.

Perhaps this is what Charles Dickens was expressing:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

            (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)

It is evident that our current civilisation has reached the point of limited resources, such as with energy and water for our current level of knowledge and organisation, and related issues abound. Yet fantastic opportunities lie ahead of us. People do not like change, but we are impelled to make a quantum leap forward.

What lies ahead of us? The next great resource in the development of mankind is knowledge, but knowledge is of two kinds.  The first is intellectual and scientific knowledge, which has grown exponentially since the mid 19^th century. But this same knowledge has made the world a global village, with tensions ever growing between the villagers. In 1844 Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph “What hath God wrought?” 

The other knowledge, which is needed to accompany and balance out the first, is knowledge of the heart, or of the spirit. Every scientific discovery can be used for good or ill, and every invention for right or wrong.  The goal we are forced to reach for is the unity of mankind. This is our Judgement Day, and we must not fail the test.

“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization”.

            (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 214)

 “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established”.

                                                (Baha'u'llah)