Lifting the veil – the real apocalypse- on breaking down illusions
This article was written on November 11th 2014. Perhaps more relevant today than then
The word apocalypse comes from Greek, apokalypsis, meaning an uncovering, a lifting of the veil, or the disclosure of something hidden, a surprise.
Almost all humans are under some illusion. Each illusion has a depth or hierarchy to it. The more able you are to perceive multiple perspectives simultaneously, generally the less your level of illusion.
Human history is a story of massive illusions that when exposed simply tilted the axis of our world view.
Consider…the earth is flat, the earth was the centre of the Universe and the sun and planets revolved around Earth. Or the origins of disease. The recognition of bacteria and the requirement for hygiene.
Today’s illusions include, but are not limited to…
money is scarce;
there have to be the haves and have-nots;
business must exist to make a profit first and foremost;
debt cannot be forgiven;
life is a hard lonely separate journey;
one person cannot make a difference;
power must be centralised;
we do not yet have the technology to provide affordable renewable energy; owning a home is a major way to get ahead;
you must get a good college education if you want to get ahead;
success looks like money and lots of toys;
fame is important;
you need a massive social media footprint to make it;
the Universe is on a course towards entropy (breakdown);
the way we run organisations is the only way (Limited liability, corporate law, boards, organisational structure);
we cannot stop the fossil fuel industry in its tracks because it would involve too much economic short-term loss….
The veil of many of these illusions is being lifted as evidenced by the Occupy movement, the Arab spring, student loan protests, and various breakdowns that will not be solved by applying old or even existing solutions.
My own apocalypse has been a savage one…where the main focus has been the challenge of two fundamental illusions. The illusion of isolation and lack of support…the ‘solo’ journey; and the illusion of scarcity.
What I have learned these last few years is that the more I follow in my teacher (Buckminster Fuller’s) footsteps and do what is spontaneously arousable from within me for the highest good for the highest number of people, the more support I have…in every form…through real live people, and through what might appear as the miraculous…and invisible levels of support.
And the harder lesson, is that even when I feel a serious experience of financial scarcity, I am surrounded by abundance, and have always been provisioned. This has taught me resilience of invaluable magnitude. In a crisis, you would be wise to have me around.
I am of the opinion that in the next few years, many of our consensus illusions will be challenged to the core and the world will go through its multi-faceted apocalypse.
This is not a bad thing. We must remove the veil to enable sight.
This I mean both metaphorically and literally.
Until women are removed from their veils in the literal sense, then the illusion of women as not having an ability to contribute to society on par with men, not being able to be beautiful for their womanhood, for their bodies, for their curves and allure….we will not be free to invite all of humanity to the table. The veil may well include the modern veil of plastic surgery, where age is feared as being ugly. It would also include the veil or colour, race and sexual preference, disability at the educational, physical or developmental level…
I welcome apocalypse. It may be extremely uncomfortable. We may feel like right idiots for not seeing the truth and being so enamoured by the glamorous illusions…but ultimately the less our sight is veiled, the more beauty we get to see and the freer we are.
May 10th 2020
Photo taken May 10th, 2020
