My Personal Journey to 2012

2012 has become a serious cliché, hasn't it? Well, maybe cliché is the wrong term. It might be better to characterize it as the topic du jour in metaphysical circles. I know this sounds a bit sarcastic and so it is; not because I dismiss 2012 as a frivolous non-event but because of all the silly shellacking that's been layered upon the idea so that it's in danger of becoming so much New Age pejorative in the eyes of many.

Hollywood Goes 2012

First there are the sensationalists and the fear mongers. The prime sensationalist example is Hollywood's film version of 2012, which could have been named Titanic Goes Global. Okay, cut Hollywood some slack. The bar is kind of low there; people love to be scared off their couches, so they're just really giving us what the public wants. Then come the fear mongers who gain attention, notoriety, or some kind of power by doomsday predictions of dire earth changes or full-scale alien invasions.

But these things will pass by the end of the year when December 2012 arrives and we're still here to get drunk and celebrate the New Year.

2102, the Big Picture

In more sober metaphysical circles, we often hear elaborate theories based on the Mayan Calendar, the Precession of the Equinoxes, and the alignment with the galactic center. Now these are some big concepts. And honestly, they're a bit abstract for most people. I mean, look at me. I thought the Mayan Calendar was just a back door attempt to get more weekend holidays. And doesn't the Precession of the Equinoxes have something to do with the Rose Bowl parade?

These concepts actually have merit, but to me they've always seemed a bit academic or intellectual. Now, if we view 2012 as a consciousness raising event, I think we get closer to the mark, but even here I'd pose a question to the consciousness mavens: is the advent of 2012 transforming our consciousness or is our consciousness creating a new paradigm around the advent of 2012? Is the cup filling us, or are we filling the cup?

A Chicken/Egg Question

Yes, it's a bit of a chicken/egg question, but I'm going to venture an answer. I prefer to think of all the astrological, shift-of-the-ages events surrounding 2012 as an opportunity or a catalyst to bring forth things already within us. I base my statement on thirty-five years of studying quantum physics, ancient spiritual traditions, and personal psychic experiences.

It's a Matter of Consciousness

I believe there is a dimension of potential from which what we call reality is drawn. It's an infinite smorgasbord of possibilities and it's drawn into reality by us as conscious entities. That upon which we focus tends to appear. This is repeatedly borne out in quantum experiments showing that the light energy permeating the universe collapses into particles as soon as we observe it. When we concentrate or focus on some aspect of the subatomic world, it reacts and produces a particle to meet our expected outcome.

This gives complete credence to the ancient spiritual wisdom that consciousness, the same consciousness that flows through us, is the instrument by which physical reality comes into being. That being the case, no external event can arise outside of us; we create the external events. But if everything arises from our consciousness and consciousness encompasses everything, how can we speak of consciousness raising? The answer is that consciousness is layered.

Layers of the Mind

We have a conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind. Collectively, they contain the entirety of knowledge and information we possess, but that doesn't mean we're aware of it all at once. For example, say you're in your bedroom (your conscious mind). Just off this bedroom is a huge walk-in closet cluttered with infinite items you've accumulated. The stuff at the front of the closet is more easily accessed (your subconscious mind) but the stuff toward the back is really hard to get to because of the tremendous clutter (the unconscious mind). But the thing is, as long as any of it is in the closet, you're barely aware or even unaware of any of your own stuff.

One day your mother tells you that you're in a rut. She suggests you look in your closet to find something new to play with. It's only when you open the closet door, observe something, and pull it out that it comes fully into your conscious awareness. So 2012 is like the idea your mom gave you. It was the catalyst in the "real world" that got you to focus on the stuff you already owned and rediscover it by pulling it out of your closet.

The year 2012 is not an external, consciousness-raising event in and of itself. It is, rather, a subliminal trigger or idea to help us focus on recovering aspects of the infinite knowledge buried within us. And because consciousness is ultimately a shared energy stemming from One Source, people around the world will begin pulling similar stuff out of their closets. Thus, we have a misperception that this awareness is arising from a source outside of us when all we've really done is trigger a process that takes place within.

In my next column, I'll discuss ways we might be able to recognize the progression of consciousness within ourselves by using my own story as an example.