Are We Ready To Go Beyond 2012?

We are now less than three months away from December 21, 2012. The supposed end of the Mayan calendar has been receiving a lot of attention lately precisely because the date is so near. National Geographic's Doomsday Preppers is up on cable and if you haven't made similar preparations already perhaps you're now wishing you did. Although at this point in time, there's really not much in the way of physical preparations or skills acquisitions that one can do on the scale that's needed to be totally "disaster ready." But that's certainly no excuse not to have some sort of readiness level against most common emergencies.

For all the attention that December 21 has received, that day is still an enigma. What will really happen? We've been bombarded with a smorgasbord of theories ranging from alien invasion, pole shifts, catastrophic direct hits by coronal mass ejections, worldwide economic collapse all the way to the other end of the spectrum involving dimensional shifts, a worldwide raising of consciousness and the end of evil in the world. If there's one thing these theories are consistent with, it's in saying that a big change is coming.

Still, I would advise people not to get hung up on the date because I've also heard from other sources that should something happen, it would happen in January or February 2013 (depending on the source). At this point in time, all we can say is what's in the Bible, that "only the Father in heaven knows the day and the time." But this also carries the implied message that we have to be ready anytime.

Be that as it may, whatever preparations we may undertake is no guarantee for whatever may happen in the future. It's not even a guarantee against the next few hours, because any one of us can suddenly die from an accident or other cause. So what message can we extract during this time of uncertainty about the future? For me, the message would be this: living in the NOW.

The esoteric concept of Now didn't only come from Eckhart Tolle. It is a deep esoteric concept that we can get a hint of in the Bible when God in the burning bush gave His name as I AM THAT I AM. In some of his books, Master Choa Kok Sui mentions that during meditation, some meditators may experience the past, present and future converging, at which point the meditator would be experiencing the Now. That's a very deep concept of Now, something that can hardly be understood without experiencing it. But in order to dissect this concept into something applicable for us, we need to look at other levels of the Now.

For our everyday purposes, we can confine our concept of Now to living in the present. We often remain regretful of our past and fret about the future, so much so that we may miss the opportunities in front of us right now, today, to really appreciate what we have, where we are in life, and undertake the actions that would improve our state.

What if we just finally read that book we've been putting off for some time now, or played with our kid despite coming home tired from the office? What if we just savored the taste of our favorite coffee this afternoon, or finally did that community service we've been thinking about for so long? Today is tomorrow's yesterday, so if we spent today doing good, being happy and being grateful, then tomorrow when we look back we can be content that we made the most out of the day that had just passed. And guess what, we can even do more of that today!

Does this mean that we just act without factoring in the future and other possible events? Not at all. What is important is that we do not waste the time we have right now, to make the most of what we can do during the day, be it in prayer, meditation, helping others, completing a project or spending time with a loved one. Be aware of the things that matter and then go for it. Keep in mind that money, while important, is not the only thing that matters in this world. However, it's up to the individual to decide what to give priority to, although of course it would be wise to pay particular attention to the things that would survive with you after death (knowledge and karma).

If you have the time and resources to do some disaster planning and preparation, then do it wholeheartedly. Just be aware of the need to balance one's time between important tasks (and this includes sleep and rest!), and of course to let go at the end of the day. There are some things that we cannot control nor plan for, including hurts and disappointments, and that's where a measure of detachment is necessary.

I believe the greatest regret is that of time spent unwisely. In that sense, by living in the Now, what may happen in the future does not matter as much as the satisfaction gained by spending one's time wisely and making the most out of the time and resources that one has. So while December 21 is indeed speeding inexorably towards us, let's not forget the most important time which is, as you may have guessed, right now.