The Abdication of Self-Belief

Yesterday had been long heralded by certain branches of the spiritual community as an immensely important day on the cosmic calendar, second only to 21^st December, 2012 - the event of which will mark the end of the world, the beginning of a new era of perception for mankind, or the day before 22^nd December, 2012… depending on who you listen to.

At 11:11am on 11/11/11, it was said there would be a shifting of human consciousness, opening the gates to a higher vibrational energy flooding the planet.

In numerology - the study of the meanings of numbers and their influence on life – the number 11 is a Master Number, and of great significance, so to have so many of them repeat on a single date was deemed particularly auspicious.

Indeed, the only other time in recent history where so many ‘ones’ were lined up was on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, shortly after William and Kate were married.

A very prominent angelologist wrote on her website:

“It is time to relax and call on Archangel Gabriel for purification so that you are ready for the first cosmic moment on 11.11.11 at 11.11.  At that moment the portals of heaven open so that Source energy bathes Earth and everyone on it for an instant. 

Many people will be opened up spiritually and psychically and huge numbers will shift from the third to the fourth or the fourth to the fifth dimension.  Heart chakras may open.  Miracles and unexpected things can happen.”

She was one of many, many people who wrote about this occasion…

… but, just like both of Harold Camping’s ‘Rapture’ predictions earlier this year, nothing of any great note happened… no sudden, joyous stumble into a bright, new, peaceful world…

I wonder, now, if an Emperor’s Clothes effect will kick in and these same people who preached and prophesised with such conviction will tell their followers that it actually did happen, but they may not be able to feel it because they weren’t properly attuned – but not to fear, they can gain attunement by buying a copy of their new book ‘Attuning to the Golden Light of Spirity Love’ or going to one of their seminars.

It seems, as with Camping, that the truth is always another step away… like false peaks when you’re walking up a mountain. As you pant and push yourself over the crest of what you believe is the summit, you see a higher point in the distance: some place new to struggle on to that is in some way more important than where you are right now.

For as long as our species has deemed itself to be civilised, we’ve been placing these supernatural markers ahead of us as beacons of hope, drawing our thoughts to the light of a better life to come.

Even here in the 21^st Century, otherwise rational people have a deeply superstitious nature – for example, it’s reported that 56% of women believe in ghosts. That’s higher than the percentage of women who believe in men.

So why do we – in societal terms - continually allow ourselves to be led towards these false dawns, or to believe in things that we haven’t actually experienced first-hand – such as angels, unicorns, mermaids, national enemies, gods and goddesses?

Most of the British people alive 100 years ago would never have met a German or known much about their way of life, but three years later, they’d be fired up to wage war against them. Likewise, the average German wouldn’t have cared about the trials and tribulations of the British.

Yet, it took just a small group of people to convince 65 million others to go to war, leaving 15 million dead at the end of it, where all who survived went back to where they wanted to be in the first place… just trying to lead a peaceful, happy life.

It’s as though we have a need to be led… or perhaps we have been conditioned to seek the wisdom of leadership rather than fully believe in, and lead, ourselves?

The same angelologist I mentioned earlier also has this on her website:

“I met my first unicorn when I was sitting on the lawn with my laptop on my knee.  A beautiful white presence appeared by my side and I was amazed to realize it was a unicorn.  It gave me information about the unicorn realms and told me that they are looking for people of high energy who want to help the world.”

Of course, in an infinite universe with infinite possibility, there must be unicorns… somewhere. There must be a world where police officer in top hats ride round on the backs of combat-trained velociraptors that carry knives in their little hands.

Just… it’s not here… sadly.

If you believe in unicorns because someone tell you that there are unicorns, and that they’ve seen unicorns, but you’ve never seen a unicorn in your life..?

I guess I could be seen as a ‘Doubting Thomas’ - the disciple of Jesus who didn’t believe that his dead friend had been resurrected.

“I’m sorry, Jesus. It’s just that I’ve never seen or heard of anyone rising from the dead before. I thought they were taking the piss when they told me.”

“No worries, Doubting Thomas. I wouldn’t have believed it, either. It’s cool and I don’t know why the rest of them are making such a fuss.”

One of the greatest steps forward we could make, as a species, would be to believe in ourselves and our own, individual potential as a benefit to our collective, community strength – rather than continue the mind-set that we are a disempowered fraction of something larger and better that we will always be subservient to.

If we lived in the now and appreciated the brilliance of the life that is hidden in plain sight, we wouldn’t need these beacons of hope. We’d be building up our dreams from the firm foundation of the present moment – making and working on plans rather than fantasising about reaching some distant goal.

But now, despite this damp squib of a non-event, 11.11.11 gives way to the anticipation of 21.12.12 and, so, the hysteria will continue and be greatly amplified as we approach the feared and revered possibilities of that day.

And on 22^nd December, 2012, millions of believers will be screaming and hacking their way through department stores, buying gifts they never thought would be needed, maxing credit cards they never thought they’d have to pay off, feeling pretty pissed off that the end of the world didn’t come.

And then they’ll set their sights on some other day, in the future, when life will be better.

Life is now.