November 8, 2012
Road to the Apocalypse: “Apocalypse Not”
This is the second installment in our ‘Road to the Apocalypse’ series that’s leading up to Andrew’s final Guru & Pandit virtual dialogue of 2012 with integral philosopher Ken Wilber, taking place on Friday, December 21st at 7pm ET (USA). Register for FREE here.
With all of the hype surrounding the coming Apocalypse—proclaimed by many to be happening on December 21st, 2012—it’s easy to feel that the voices offering a less foreboding image of the future are much fewer and farther between.
The tendency in the media is to either lavish undue attention on these prophets of our collective doom or to simply ignore them altogether. But what if there were legitimate reasons to be optimistic about our future? What if the proclaimed destruction of the natural world—at the hands of chemicals, disease, overpopulation, and the depletion of resources—does not actually reflect reality?
In an intriguing and thoughtful article featured in WIRED magazine, “Apocalypse Not: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry About End Times,” Matt Ridley makes a strong case that the end is NOT near, that humanity has shown itself capable of responding to environmental crises, and that the world is actually in much better shape than some would have us believe. Read an excerpt below:
“Apocalypse Not: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry About End Times”
by Matt Ridley
When the sun rises on December 22, as it surely will, do not expect apologies or even a rethink. No matter how often apocalyptic predictions fail to come true, another one soon arrives. And the prophets of apocalypse always draw a following—from the 100,000 Millerites who took to the hills in 1843, awaiting the end of the world, to the thousands who believed in Harold Camping, the Christian radio broadcaster who forecast the final rapture in both 1994 and 2011…Continue reading the article
**You can view the entire ‘Road to the Apocalypse’ series here.
Join Andrew and Ken Wilber in their final Guru and Pandit dialogue of 2012. Register for FREE here.
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Andrew Cohen is a spiritual teacher, cultural visionary, founder of EnlightenNext, and the author of 
I’d like to know how technology will reverse the acidification of the oceans? How we can stop the extinction of so many species. This article is Idealistic bs I’m afraid. All evidence points to the fact that humans are consuming and destroying faster than the earth can replenish. Scientists (ones not working for the oil companies) have proved the ice is melting in the Arctic. Articles like this are irresponsible because they discourage people from changing their ways. The main one being that people need to stop breeding!
This article does a real disservice to the condition of people living in India today in the worst pollution I have ever witnessed at first hand on the planet and in overwhelming and abject poverty. 400 MILLION PEOPLE in India live under the poverty line and many starving. Where is the Enlightenment here?
If God has a plan to fix any of this, He isn’t telling anyone. Or perhaps the human being is not the type of entity that can be told. Obstinate and greedy, men overwhelm the rational argument. Wise and whole people would have set up a science of sustainability as one of the primary endeavors.
In my experience, in the human being desire operates before reason. The rational faculty is brought in after the deeds were decided, and functions to rationalize rather than understand in depths. The astronomers say we have five billion years remaining on this planet, but this basic information has not been integrated into ANYONE’S model for resource use and population growth.
Curiously, the Christians defy their own idea of God and break His commandment given by Moses, by stealing resources from the unborn future generations. If they are reborn in the distant future, they’d be exceedingly angry at today’s generation for its waste, but today no one can stop them. They allow no access to desire. Moses should have asked for a more holistic view, when the religions to come could not bring one themselves.
This is just more righteous “spiritual by-passing,” or a false sense of doing the right thing. The problem with a (self) righteous attitude is that it leads to detachment from reality. It’s a “new agey” way of keeping a positive attitude so we never have to feel badly about what’s actually happening. They’re actually saying that it’s someone else’s problem (reality), not theirs.
I struggle for balance in the face of all the negativity thrust upon us as a result of increased awareness through being able to hold the “unholdable” perspective, and as a result, being more conscious than the average comatose individuals who have been intentionally lulled to sleep (the average people I know don’t have a clue about what’s going on or are in denial).
I look at these events with a belief that these are not random, meaningless events, but, rather, are occurring for the distinct purpose of waking us up, to stretch us into new territories of awareness. For me, that waking up is the profound realization that what we are now doing, as Americans, and as humanity, is simply not sustainable, and that there will be a shift, and things will be very different than they are now.
It’s not my intention to make others wrong. They are entitled to believe what they want. But when people hold rigid beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, it truly becomes a pattern of denial. It’s essential that we stay present with what’s going on in the world and stay available emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. Our survival may depend on it. Anything else is just checking out, and that is not being conscious.