By Forrest Rivers
As a child, I always had fun imagining finding a message in a bottle washed up onshore. I liked to picture what that message might say. Would it be an offering of hope? Or, might it be a critique of the world imploring us to do better? Maybe, the message would contain instructions from an enlightened sage on how to live more wisely? Then again, what if it said nothing at all? Maybe a blank piece of paper would be all that was needed to inspire our imaginations to finish the script in accordance with our soul’s deepest desires.
The following is a message that I would imagine a beachgoer discovering and reading long after the events of 2020 have receded into the ocean mist of our awareness. As you read on, I would strongly encourage you to think about what your own message might be to future generations, as you too, contemplate these tumultuous times we are all living through. For, in the end, each of our messages is intricately tied as sacred reflections of the Infinite ONE in and beyond form.
“A Message to Humanity”
Lovers, seekers, and humble explorers of the Great Mystery. I write to you from the year 2020. You may know it in your history books as the year all hell broke loose! In truth, multiple crises have defined this year and have left some questioning if this period might ominously mark the end of days for humanity. In spite of all of our advanced technologies and scientific prowess, we have been unable to control the outbreak of a virus that has wreaked havoc on much of the world’s population. In spite of our arrogant proclamations of being culturally superior and progressive socially, our political leaders and captains of industry have also been unable to prevent much of the Earth’s inhabitants from sliding into dire poverty as this pandemic unfolds.
This most bizarre and chaotic year has also marked the start of a mass wave of resistance movements all across the world against various forms of oppression…. including right here in the “land of the free!” Much of this resistance has been decidedly peaceful and non-violent. However, you should know, that calls by political extremists for armed and violent protests have increasingly grown in numbers flouting the great wisdom of Jesus that says:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
Sadly, as much of the world’s attention grows consumed by these multiple crises, our own Earth Mother and the cultures of her brave indigenous protectors, continue to be desecrated by commercial predators on a scale never before seen. It has become resoundingly clear that if we do not soon learn how to respect and live in oneness with our glorious green Earth and adopt the ways of our native ancestors, our own existence as a species may be in peril. My dear reader, my intent is not to provoke fear in you or bring you down with depressing words. Rather, it is, to be honest with you about the true state of the world at this moment.
The unfortunate fact remains, that in this present time too many people appear to be proud of their woeful ignorance and wear it like a badge of honor to justify unspeakable acts of horror against their own human family. On a side note, people in the “greatest country on earth”, have actually spent considerable time and energy protesting the wearing of health masks in public…. this in spite of the fact that the virus has killed many of their own elders! This disease of selfishness must end and the illusion of separation must be overcome.
However, lest you think that 2020 has been all doom and gloom, simmering just below the surface is a powerful movement of higher consciousness. Everywhere, people are turning within and beginning to grow in their awareness to seek solutions to the problems we collectively face. For many awakened souls, one key existential insight has been revealed through this period of real suffering: true inner wisdom, not conceptual knowledge, is what we need to guide humanity through its “dark night of the soul.” Can you imagine how peacefully and wonderfully we could all live if we put as much effort in truly knowing ourselves as we do in making money and consuming?
While it may be difficult for many in our generation to imagine such an alternative reality of higher consciousness in this age of ego run amok, I can only hope that the inspiring values of peace and love now finally prevail in the culture that you, humble reader, live in. Something within me says that the events of 2020 represented a dramatic point of departure for our spiritual evolution as a species. Like many people, I felt afraid when all of these unsettling events began happening. For a brief moment, I must confess that I wondered if the “end of times” were truly upon us. But then I closed my eyes and entered the depths of meditation and saw clearly what up until that moment had escaped me: that these are only a metaphorical “end times” in terms of how we currently relate to ourselves, each other and the Earth. In other words, these events are providing the spiritual fire to transition from a lower state of awareness into a higher one. Only through darkness can the light emerge. Only through suffering can the wheel of karma turn to fully known the joy of being.
In this moment of awakening, may all the world’s great messengers converge to deliver the universal message of everlasting peace and oneness that this world desperately cries out for? And, may all the artists emerge as heralds of light in the coming renaissance of creative expression and evolving consciousness. Finally, may this message help you keep faith in this world and always remember the truth behind these eight words in our transcendent moment of becoming:
“No God, No Peace
Know God, Know Peace.”
