2014: The Year Ahead, by Neil Kramer
This brief piece appears in New Dawn magazine, Jan-Feb 2014 edition. The editor asked me and several other authors and thinkers to give our 500 word perspective on what 2014 will bring. Read more at newdawnmagazine.com and get your copy.
For millions of stirring souls, 2012 resonated the blunt but timely message of “recognize your own authority or perish.” The old slothful days of dutifully following someone else’s belief system had formally concluded. Associated reveries of mass salvation punctually burned away, like fog in the morning sun. People began to grasp that there is no special master, temple, book, or system that will deliver us from pain. There is only growth.
Growth brings truth. In this light, 2013 continued a trajectory of harsh realization by obligating people to admit the reality of their own lives. Not what they would like to see, but what actually is. Whenever this precious process occurs, untrue things rapidly take on a conspicuous aspect; insincere friendships, marriages, jobs, beliefs, and ideologies begin to disintegrate. Never have I seen so much dysfunction and fantasy put on the table for all to see. Terrifying – unquestionably – yet cleansing. There can be no falsehood if we wish to embody our own immaculate core.
For the sovereign self-determining soul, 2014 will see all remaining cracks open up into deep canyons; in the control system, in government, in society, and in ourselves. Issues that had been papered over for many a long year, will demand unswerving attention. No more hiding. The paradigm is shifting with surprising haste. What was alternative in 2001 is now mainstream. What was paranormal is now normal. What was extraordinary is now ordinary. This makes it hard for unconsciously egotistical teachers and scholars to operate, especially in the alternative sphere. Power based on obscure knowledge is an empty power. As Bruce Lee once said, “Knowledge earns you power, but character earns you respect.”
People want to see who walks it. How has their metaphysical study improved their life and relationships? How has it informed their humor and love? As ever, many can persuasively talk about it on Youtube and Podcasts and Skype and Television, but can they do it in real life? In their own domestic lives?
2014 resonates the primacy of being; being over knowledge. Simply stated, the quality of one’s being is more significant than the depth of one’s knowledge. I define being as the graceful confluence of the animal nature, the higher soul will, and divine presence. All these elements, in harmony, constitute “good being.”
Where “being” is important, gathering is also important. It is no longer enough to just talk to each other on screens and pages – we need to do it face to face. We need proximity. To share space with fellow journeyers so we may embrace, support, listen, and speak the naked truth. This is where the real learning takes place. Around the fire and in the forest; on the city streets and in the cafes; in cars on long highways and in warm kitchens filled with cheer and wonderment.
There is no greater intimacy than being known by another. In loving each other deeply and unconditionally, we come to know our true grace. Let us gather in 2014, and let us gather often.