The 2012 Story (55 page)

Hermann Hesse’s novel about the lives of two friends,
Narcissus and Goldmund
, paints a beautiful story of the two ways, or paths, that a person can follow. One leads into life’s experiences of excitement, love, grief, and loss. The other renounces the world and seeks the quiet places of contemplation, keeping the soul pure and undisturbed by life’s travails (and joys). In their occasional meetings throughout their lives, each comes to lament his own chosen way and wish for what the other has. But it is too late to turn back time, and each experiences a kind of epiphany in their very different deaths, dying as they had lived life and reaping the rewards and grieving the losses of their chosen paths.

If we make the analogy to our Western-versus-Indian discussion, Hesse’s story suggests that the Western and Indian mind-sets are each missing something the other has. A gesture of reconciliation is necessary. I hesitate to state, in tangible terms, what this might be. I don’t think it is a tangible thing. Perhaps it is simply “peace.” Neither side has it, and it can only be found with and through the other. That said, it is blatantly apparent that the Western mind could have learned a lot from the Indigenous mind in regard to having a healthy and sustainable relationship with nature. Respect and reverence for nature is a hallmark of indigenous societies; for Western civilization, not so much.

What does the West bring to 2012? What do the Maya bring to 2012? Western science’s access to the tools of archaeology and information can offer a reconstruction of the true original 2012 paradigm, which was lost and forgotten by the descendants of its creators, as well as a framing of that as a perennial wisdom. My own mind, as a Western-educated mind, sees value in this. The Maya bring to the 2012 table a ceremonial rite of sacrifice, the skills required to facilitate the needed transformation and renewal. Together, a long-overdue fusion can be possible. We need a shared ceremony, a mystery play to enact, in which both sides sacrifice themselves and rebirth each other. Hearts and minds united, body and spirit humming together, evoking the great alchemical union of opposites at the end of the cycle. This hypothetical mystery play, or hierophany, reminds me of the union of the solar and galactic levels suggested by the galactic alignment.

Terence McKenna proposed that a shamanically driven “archaic revival” is needed in the West to radically derail the pathologies of egoism that are destroying the planet.
³¹
He believed that the root of the Western mind partakes of the same holistic gestalt that tenuously survives in indigenous corners of the planet, and that the shamanic practices of high Maya civilization in the Classic Period can inspire and awaken our own dreams of returning to our long-lost perennial homeland. And to return is not to regress, for we’ve come around the globe armed with something new: the direct experience that an ego-directed civilization isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Terence believed we could get recentered in true and sustainable values by “following in Maya footsteps.” In his introduction to my book
Maya Cosmogenesis 2012
he wrote:

What is needed in the Western world is our own renaissance, our own revival of our true identities, beings who live in the awareness that the earth is our homeland, and
nature is us
. The war on nature that Western civilization has been waging has been a war on our humanity. The world’s problems have been generated by a limited state of consciousness called narcissistic egoism. And problems, as Albert Einstein said, cannot be solved by the same level of consciousness that made those problems. A higher state of reconciliation must be achieved. The transrational perspective must be opened. From that higher domain, which ego will find already populated by Indians, mystics, and Australian aborigines, the problems can be solved. It just may be that 2012 will contribute to a renaissance that ultimately has international and global implications. If we entertain for a moment that the word “Maya” means the larger consciousness of the Maya mind-set, future historians could very well identify era-2012 as the trigger point for a Maya Renaissance, a renewal of high ideals and a larger consciousness through which the world’s troubles can be approached with some hope of reconciliation and solution. A nice thought, but as always, time will tell if we can and
will
do it.

Here’s the nub of the issue that leads us even deeper into the 2012 mystery: How do we get there?

CHAPTER TWELVE

RESTORING THE BIG PICTURE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve established that a larger perspective, or self-concept, is necessary in order to do two things: actualize our full potential as human beings and effectively address and transform the crisis of the modern world. Both aspects involve reorienting the relationship between ego and this higher perspective, and I’ve emphasized that this goal is a deep principle within the Perennial Philosophy, which is also the essence of Maya spiritual teachings for cycle endings. The crisis, caused by a limited ego consciousness running the show, prevents the transformational breakthrough of awakening to the larger, trans-ego perspective. The entire dynamic and challenge is clarified by a deep archetypal reading of
The Popol Vuh
. The relationship between Seven Macaw and One Hunahpu embodies this spiritual teaching, tempered by the principle of sacrifice, of surrendering attachment to illusion. On another level, which we left behind in Part I, the rebirth of One Hunahpu at the end of
The Popol Vuh
Creation Myth is a metaphor for the solstice sun’s alignment with the dark rift in the Milky Way. I framed my overall approach to 2012 with three stages—the tangible nuts-and-bolts reconstruction, the identification of universal perennial wisdom in the Maya material that relates to cycle endings (2012), and finally the possibility of directly experiencing profound integrative truths. This last stage, which we’ll explore here, strives to open the mind and heart to a direct revelation of higher gnosis, the bigger picture. This is important because, according to the Perennial Philosophy, all true knowledge comes from an ecstatic connection with the transcendent.

So we have a complete package, but one final item needs to be addressed. How do we transcend the ego and gain the initiatory glimpse of direct gnosis? How do we restore One Hunahpu’s head, his unity consciousness? In Chapter 9 we saw that the Maya prophecy for cycle endings involves the appearance of the vain and false ruler, Seven Macaw, controlling humanity through fear and deception. In laying out striking parallels in world politics that would be amusing if they weren’t so gravely true, we saw that the archetype of megalomaniacal egoism, in individual leaders as well as in corporate mandates, is indeed ruling and ruining the planet. The Maya prophecy for 2012 has come true. But, as
The Popol Vuh
reveals, that’s only the first part of the prophecy.

The Hero Twins succeed in sacrificing Seven Macaw and the other lords of darkness; they were challenged to sacrifice the hegemony of egoism fueled by illusion to pave the way for the resurrection of One Hunahpu, the awakening of a higher unity consciousness beyond ego. The metaphor speaks truly for the crossroads that humanity finds itself in today. Will we sacrifice our attachment to the illusions of limited consciousness drawn over our eyes by self-serving egoism? Can we recognize that this is an essential key to facilitating world renewal, for creating a sustainable future? And then, how do we do it? Let’s look at these one at a time.

First, will we sacrifice our attachment to illusion? Well, this is a free-will choice and a possibility for each individual. The point, however, is that our civilization’s ruling institutions need to be reformed upon the principle of selfless service. This is a tall order, and I believe the effort will be impossible unless the people inside of the effort are engaged in their own simultaneous inner process of transformation. You can’t just expect to put a bandage on transnational corporate feudalism and expect it to heal. Political institutions must change from within. No amount of legislative machination, or activists demonstrating, or more violent means of terrorism, will help unless the root spiritual cause of the world’s dysfunctional structure is corrected. To fight the world’s external problems in this way is like shadowboxing—one tries to hit phantoms. Instead, a kind of spiritually centered social activism is necessary. This begins to sound like the grounded earth-based spirituality of the Maya, who, rooted in the earth, could look out to celestial spheres with deep knowing. The structures of culture thereby congeal around stable foundations. Rooted in a spiritual center, civilization can flower. Rooted in the shortsighted agenda of ego, it is doomed to collapse.

Second, can we recognize that sacrificing the monopoly of egoism is essential for facilitating world renewal? Well, there is only one being on the planet who would disagree: Seven Macaw. In explicating the profound teachings of the Perennial Philosophy I’ve tried to make the case on rational grounds. Intellectuals will have to do some soul-searching to determine if they agree or disagree, and carefully discern what is motivating their decision. I suspect that those who believe self-serving egoism should continue to run the world, as some kind of benevolent automatically self-regulating over-being within global capitalism and politics, are probably hearing the demented whisperings of Seven Macaw. And they are probably motivated by the fear of annihilation, because they confuse ego with Self, and consequently ego’s loss of power is seen as a mortal threat. Ego fears losing; the Self does not.

Third, how do we do it? How do we embrace the big picture? How do we put ego back into correct relationship with the unitary Self, and how do we actively midwife the renewed world that unfolds from that fundamental shift? How is One Hunahpu reborn? This is the second part of the Maya prophecy for era-2012, and is the focus of this chapter.

Our playbook should be
The Popol Vuh
, which elaborates in archetypal terms the process of transforming Seven Macaw into One Hunahpu, utilizing the necessary key, which is: sacrifice. Yes, a big scary word with lots of blood and violence oozing out. But all the world’s religions and metaphysical systems of spiritual transformation agree: Sacrifice is the key. Preferably self-sacrifice, for the simple reason that if we don’t do it, the universe will do it for us. The former method can be quite exquisite and fulfilling while the latter alternative is not so pretty. Luckily, the thing that needs to be sacrificed is the thing that runs the show at the end of the cycle: illusion. The macabre interpretation of sacrifice is unnecessarily literal. So far, so good. Unfortunately, illusion is deeply entangled with ego, and unraveling the ego-illusion mess can seem as difficult as untangling a fifty-pound knotted ball of yarn.

A long laundry list of methods and techniques for freeing the ego-identity from the tangled knot of illusion is well known, including yoga and meditation, sacred plants and shamanic healing work, and devotional prayer or chanting. I personally believe that developing a meditation practice is a very good thing to do—and best of all, it’s free! Vipassana meditation (breathing meditation), in particular, can have beautiful and profound effects on one’s life. We want to bring a presence of mind to our actions and awaken a deeper field in which the results of our actions can be directly perceived and felt. We shouldn’t expect to sustain this mode of consciousness constantly, but an initiatory glimpse of the deep interrelationship between our thoughts and actions and the larger field of other beings and nature can radically change how we behave in normal consciousness.

For example, if one experiences (by whatever means) a spiritual opening in which one feels, for a second or a minute, a deep compassion for all created beings and a deep knowing that all life is interdependent and connected, your lifestyle and behavorial choices are going to reform around this conviction. I’m trying to ease into this slowly, so I used the word “conviction,” but really the experience is more of a revelation of truth than a decisive commitment to a particular belief. The experience imprints the soul with a deep knowing, a true vision of the way reality operates. This doesn’t mean peace and harmony and the lion lying down with the lamb. As Joseph Campbell said, “No, the lion is going to eat the lamb, but that is the way of nature.”
¹
This is being in the Tao, the flow, allowing the thing-in-itself, including the thing that you are, to be. Talk to your friends, coworkers, and family members. You might be surprised to discover, after a little gentle prodding, how many people will say they have had an experience something like this at some point in their lives.