It is easy to believe the world may be on the verge of collapse, especially as we look back through the last decade which rose out of the ashes of the receding Great Recession. We as a country, and globally, pulled ourselves up by the proverbial bootstraps to begin yet another Phoenix rising.
Here in the U.S.A.: Unemployment plummeted. Marriage equality was legalized. Medical Marijuana gained increasing approval. The Affordable Care Act was passed. Bullying became dinner table conversation. Stock markets rose to new heights. The Paris Climate Accord was signed. Breast cancer is on the decline. Hope was on the rise.
Against all odds, the pendulum once again is swinging from progressive to populist around the western world from Brexit in the U.K. to the rise of the Tea Party in America. These changes birthed an opening for the unlikely U.S. election of DJ Trump. During this seemingly aberrant historic shift away from America’s proud role as the leader of the free world, most of us here in American are in despair, enraged and mobilizing to prove democracy by, for and of the people works. Leading up to and during the passage of presidential power from President Barak Obama to DJT, we have witnessed erratic and sudden distract, divide and conquer tactics treasured by rising tyrannical autocrats implemented here in the heart of the democratic experiment.
Friends, colleagues, family and even lovers are severing relationships over the political divide being drawn. Our American citizenry are being divided even further with comments made by the patriarchal privileged leaders of the U.S. congress fueling the disconnect. For example, Mitch McConnell dismissed and dissed the majority of our U.S. citizenry by telling us to “Grow up!” “Move on!”– a message sent around the world.
Fake news is the norm. Inexperience in serving the public is forgiven in exchange for promised business prowess. Cherished institutions are being eviscerated or silenced, protesting companies are targeted for boycott, opponents and whistle blowers are ridiculed, journalists bullied, freedom of speech threatened, our right to protest and gather endangered, and impending massive deportation hangs over us all. Misogyny, racism, bigotry, and hate crimes are on the rise again. All because of cancerous greed-- for money, adulation and “power over” the rest of us. Worst of all, a lack of commitment to something bigger for the longer term based on facts and science as well as intuition is over. On top of our patriarchal shenanigans, our natural resources are decaying. Scientists warn us that we are on the path towards extinction as our ecosystems suffer accelerated destruction.
Not to worry.
We are right on time.
We are on the verge of a process of renewal.
All processes of nature are forcing us to spring forward from hardship and uncertainty into a greater future. The big challenge for all of us is putting Greatness, a “New Age” meme, into real time.
Spiraling forward in our personal and planetary development (just like adolescence or the midlife renewal process), we must accomplish required developmental tasks if we are to move through the sequential stages of our life course—our time here on earth.
Our world is undergoing a major cleanup. A major tug of war encompasses the globe. As always, it’s about power and control over resources, peoples, and landmass. Pushed past its natural limits, our planet, and life as we know it, is destined to break down. Self-correcting, the earth always jumps into the next phase of her development. If we move quickly to take collaborative action, we will move from breakdown into breakthrough in the U.S.A and around the world, as well as to preserve Mother Earth. Best hurry or we could very well morph into something we never intended. And certainly, don’t want.
We are being asked to meet The Greatness Challenge.
