2020 Vision

Dear Reader,

Firstly, my warmest best wishes to you and my sincere hope that yours will be a Happy Year!

My apologies, however, for this delayed wish as the first week of the month has been filled with all kinds of tasks and appointments that have fully occupied me.

But I have also made some time to reflect more on what it is that I want to concentrate on this year and what is, furthermore, a new decade.  That reflection has caused me to see that this is very much the beginning of a new period and that anything prior to this year was 'the old time'. I feel sure that we now face a time of utter change - and a chance for something great to start to manifest itself despite all the apparent negativity that we see around us and in various parts of the world.

The situation now is in such stark contrast to the state of things as my life as a teenager was coming to an end in the early 1960s, having until then lived a quiet yet contented life, without any wealth except the plentiful flora and fauna that my father encouraged in his gardens, and as the country started to emerge from its post-war 'blues'.

Further, over several years in the early 1960s, I traversed the UK and large parts of Europe by hitch-hiking. In doing so I had plentiful wonderful experiences in meeting people wherever I went who were welcoming and outgoing - and mostly looking forward to the day when the UK would join what was then the European Common Market! Such wonderful memories I have, but sixty years later and we find Europe in a state of near disintegration. Ego and selfishness have taken their toll.

The current world changes are coming about for one very great reason: it is time. It is time - it is as simple as that. But the change will not properly work for us unless we make the effort and wake up to our situation. Sorry to put it bluntly, but that's how it is. Only by positivity and a sense of selflessness will we succeed. Only by praying to see the Light and acting accordingly will we escape from negativity.

To bring about positive change, this new era will need us to see everyone in this world with fresh eyes and to accept everyone as a brother or sister, and to respect Mother Earth. It is no longer the time to take the selfish view of concentrating on just self, family and friends and making money and having a 'happy time'. It is time for everyone to look at the whole world in the spirit of One-ness and preparedness to help. 

The situation - of so-called 'Climate Change' - demands that approach if for no other reason! We have to - personally and collectively - reduce the pollution that exists, whether that be in respect of gaseous emissions, industrial emissions or even states of anger which cause violent thoughts to spread from one person or group to another. That latter issue may imply a change in what we consume.

The media - which captures so much of our attention these days - in general needs to come back to doing what it did 50 years ago in providing quality news and entertainment. And we need to curtail our use of mobile phones - they are causing disruptions to the ecosystem. Further, we need to listen to harmonious music and circulate amongst agreeable company rather than allow ourselves to be stimulated towards aggression.

Perhaps we should cease watching and reading anything in the media unless it is a quality production? I'm being serious because unless we cleanse our minds of aggression and wanton thinking that perpetuates negativity, our task is likely to be thwarted. If children can go on strike from school in protest against Climate Change, we adults can respond by going on strike against those things that are harming our way of life and our thought processes. Especially anything that harms our children's future.

To encourage others to stop doing all those self-harmful things that are ingrained is difficult and may not sound very attractive to them, but isn't it better to change voluntarily rather than wait for more disasters to occur? We seem to be unconscious of the fact that what we do - whether personally or communally - has a knock-on effect.

As humans, the great majority of us feel so concerned about the state of things in Australia, yet perhaps we are all part of the cause of what has happened there! If we were to think in those terms perhaps we might do more to put things right - by restricting our usage and consumption of things that have so badly affected our way of life and the environment. I believe that voluntarily giving up the ways of the world only leads to personal happiness. Retain what is good and reject the rest.

On BBC's Question Time on Thursday, a member of the panel was calling for a plan of imaginative planning to bring about a rise in our standard of living! In response, I say that though the poorest need more support, for the majority it is good that we have had to peg back (in the UK) this past 10 years - it brings about a better sense of reality, for it is that kind of reality that we should be facing up to. And do it with a smiling face knowing - through Love and Compassion - that conservation and good housekeeping is better for the whole planet and its occupants.

The answer to 'Climate Change' and to bring back social harmony is in our own hands. We should not leave it to others, although I do not believe we are alone in the development that is Project Earth. There is much help at hand. On that point, whatever might appear that is strange in this new era, do not respond in fear as we have been conditioned by the media. The intention of the Universe - of God - is love, nothing else.

The marvellous Indian avatar Sri Sathya Sai Baba said (as long ago as 2011):

This is most ... most important. You cannot go on digging things out of the Earth. It has to stop at some stage and this needs to be focused upon now.

and, predicting a change in the world...

[The] way of thinking will no longer be to raise a sword or a gun to sort out a problem ... rather they will sit, and discuss issues and arrive at consensus ... or they will agree to disagree, but there will still be harmony.

This will not be long in happening - at all levels - because of a change of consciousness in us all, aided by us becoming more focused on Love and Compassion rather than fear. 

We all have a job to do - to create peace and harmony. I wish you well. 

To help with some good personal pointers, click here for 'Wake Up World!'

Thank you for reading this.