PhilGood

Despite the groggy, sleepless itch in my eyes and the Armageddon proportioned headache, I feel great. I enjoyed every moment of my apocalyptic festivities last night. After all, the world did end right? Wait…

                            [Cue awkward moment for Family Radio] 

“I woke up this morning.”

You won’t hear about 3 million delusionals saying this with much enthusiasm today. I can’t help but think of how awkward Family Radio supporters must be feeling. Or is ‘embarrassed’ the right word? Well if I had bought into an idea that somehow, without a profound disaster or event, existence as we know it would begin a 5 month journey to it’s own demise, I would begin to question the legitimacy of my great hypnotist Harold Camping. At what point in the 21st Century did certain sections of the human race decide that at a specific date and time they had a righteous passage into a divine afterlife, while the rest of us simply cease to have any consciousness? Why do we continue to tolerate these profound waves of superstition? In an age of intellectual development and global scientific expansion, can we not see further than some humour and ridicule in response to such outlandish egomaniacs? 

We have been wired with a sense of intolerance towards racism, tribalism and sexism, yet a minority group who segregate and platform themselves above 97 percent of the world with nothing more than a belief system, are met with a laugh and slap of mortification. Throughout history the discrimination of faith and the manipulative nature of religious campaigns has given humankind a standpoint for the atrocities of war and persecution. Now a man who claims to have worked out a numerical formula after studying an ancient and manipulated set of manuscripts has indulged in an outright discrimination of anyone who doesn’t buy into a cult’s eccentricities. Persecution? Yes please…

What makes things worse is that many of Camping’s followers gave up their jobs and life savings, in order to prepare for an apocalypse that never happened. Family Radio is a multi-million dollar corporation funded by donations which they continue to take. Wouldn’t Armageddon say “money now has no purpose”? In terms of a business, the global radio network has ensured success by hiding under a mask of religion and swindling millions from their blinded followers, good job! Should I feel sorry for the sheep?  

For now I will enjoy every moment of my post Rapture wait for Armageddon. Waking up to smell the coffee has never been better…but for Family Radio? I don’t know.

Evolution is a term to define only one organism, and that’s the Self. The Self is the universe, the Self is the alpha and omega, God and infinity. And that’s the only thing that evolves because we are all part of the Self. Nothing goes through an evolutionary process alone or without direct benefit to the whole. So when you begin to think that there’s this controlling elite, this controlling hand behind the curtains leading the planet to destruction. When you think the end is near, the apocalypse, Armageddon, and when you think we as a species are doomed. It is not they it is you that brought this about, it is you, and for a very good reason. You are evolving. Stop blaming everyone and everything else. Quit panicking about global tyranny and natural disaster, and pay attention. Because the world is telling you something. It is telling you exactly what is wrong with you and how to fix it.  

- Ben Stewart, Kymatica (2009)

                                                   [Cue sarcasm]

I feel as if I’m living on the edge! As words fall onto this page, the Apocalypse has begun and I feel fantastic! But let me write on and add to the spam of Armageddon theories, jokes, and obscenities.

                                                  [End sarcasm]

Understandably, today will see a lot of traffic around the predictions of Harold Camping. According to the Family Radio broadcaster, the Rapture should be in full swing today. Camping’s followers believe that 200 million Christians will be given passage into a heaven while the rest of the population (97 percent of all people) will remain on Earth till 21 October 2011, the date according to Camping of Armageddon. Camping also believes that those who have not been raptured today, will simply cease to have a conscious existence after 5 months. 

The majority of responses, seemingly light-hearted in nature, to Camping’s eccentricities came from both religious and secular groups and seem to show a universal agreement that Armageddon is always just too close for comfort. Unless some profound event changes perception, both religion and science find comfort in the unpredictability of our  doomsday. Whatever one’s take on Armageddon is, it’s understandable to think we simply cannot exist forever. Do we fear the end of consciousness or are we attracted to the Apocalypse of existence?

A post by LiveScience on the ‘Mother Nature Network’ suggests that doomsday serves as a reassuring concept, solving problems of everyday life. In terms of an “apocalyptic worldview”, according to Lorenzo DiTommaso on the Mother Nature Network, doomsday can serve as a means to an end of world problems which are “too big to solve”.

The universal obsession with Armageddon may simply have arisen from the fear of ourselves. Humans have without question been the most selfish and destructive life forms of the Earth’s existence. I think that in realizing our malicious potential as a race we have subsequently set ourselves up for destruction, on a subconscious and physical level. The problem with the acceptance of our Armageddon lies in the willingness to take responsibility or not. Doomsday theorists have over the years placed our fate in the hands of nature, astronomy, and religion more than the human existence itself. Perhaps we simply fear fatalism. Perhaps we need the belief that we are not in control of our fate. Perhaps we are just born to self destruct.

Now please excuse me while I revel in a few post-apocalyptic festivities. I have a rock show to attend…