How did humans get hooked on dark prophecies? Go back just a decade and a half to the concerns people had about Y2K as an example. Or go to the prophecies of doom, such as the one made by Harold Camping for May 21, 2011 or the follow up prediction by The eBible Fellowship of Philadelphia, a group that proclaimed the “End” would come on Wednesday, October 7, 2015. (Hey! Did I miss something?)
Why are so many of us always looking for signs of End Times? Asteroids and comets should form a union. They star in major movies and numerous TV shows in a thankless job of arriving unexpectedly on the scene to wipe out humanity. Wait for 99942 Apophis: The Uncreator might fall down the drain of gravity in April 2068 after several near-Earth passes. No doubt the big collision will be preceded by TV documentaries and movie spectaculars that feature a few human survivors and every species of bacterium and cockroach left to repopulate Planet Earth. Bolide collisions get top billing in the Media.
Signs. More specifically, omens. Some people can’t take their eyes off them: For such people “Collision, Next Exit” hangs like an Interstate sign suspended over the highway of life. Looking for guidance, the passenger asks some trusted prophetic driver, “Should we get off here?”
Remember Comet Hale-Bopp? Picture an almost monastic-like group of people imbued with stories of UFOs, Apocalypses, Recycling of Earth, and world-ending comets. Living an ascetic life, some of this group, including the leader, underwent voluntary castration to facilitate their life of denial. Of course, the denial occurred in affluent America, and the group’s 9,000 square foot house had amenities and, strangely, many monitoring devices to keep track of everyone at all times. When Hale-Bopp, the dirty ball of ice, traveled through the Solar System and passed by Earth in March, 1997, the Franciscan-like followers of Marshall Applewhite, belonging to a cult named Heaven’s Gate, saw suicide as a way to continue a journey. Supposedly, a spacecraft was following the foreboding comet, and they could hitch a ride by dying as a way to expedite leaving the planet. In their leader’s words, "It is also possible that part of our test of faith is our hating this world, even our flesh body, to the extent to be willing to leave it without any proof of the Next Level's existence." Now there’s a thought: Let’s go some place. We don’t know the location. In fact, we don’t even know whether the location exists. Be frank here. That’s exiting the highway because of a fleeting, temporary roadwork sign.
The word omen has a dubious and debated etymology, and that might indicate how shadowy our connection is to dark prophecies. Some Jungian archetype or Freudian id lurks as a moveable sign in the recesses of brain and underlies everything mind becomes. Yet, if you will allow me to paraphrase Freud’s famous statement about his cigar, “Sometimes a sign is just a sign. Nothing more.”
Is the weather bad? Sometimes. Does bad weather portend worldwide disaster? No. Weather is a local or regional phenomenon. Does the ground shake in an earthquake? Sometimes, usually in very specific places with very specific causes. Does an earthquake, landslide, tsunami, or volcanic eruption portend the end? Will the world end this past October 7, 2015? No. We already know it has survived as it has survived every dark prophecy since people started to foretell universal ends. Will something really bad happen to you because you have seen some sign of cataclysm? Probably not. Maybe the significance of any omen is that it is more a sign of what lies deep within rather than of what lies without.
Will calamities occur? Of course. Will some of them be as predictable as tornado outbreaks? Of course. Should you worry about distant asteroids? No. Should you take the exit that says “Collision, Next Exit”? No. Drive on. Sometimes signs are just signs. You will pass a number of people holding up or pointing to such signs, people who, for whatever reason or un-reason, want you to follow them to the off ramp along your career, dreams, or life. Drive on.
Why are so many of us always looking for signs of End Times? Asteroids and comets should form a union. They star in major movies and numerous TV shows in a thankless job of arriving unexpectedly on the scene to wipe out humanity. Wait for 99942 Apophis: The Uncreator might fall down the drain of gravity in April 2068 after several near-Earth passes. No doubt the big collision will be preceded by TV documentaries and movie spectaculars that feature a few human survivors and every species of bacterium and cockroach left to repopulate Planet Earth. Bolide collisions get top billing in the Media.
Signs. More specifically, omens. Some people can’t take their eyes off them: For such people “Collision, Next Exit” hangs like an Interstate sign suspended over the highway of life. Looking for guidance, the passenger asks some trusted prophetic driver, “Should we get off here?”
Remember Comet Hale-Bopp? Picture an almost monastic-like group of people imbued with stories of UFOs, Apocalypses, Recycling of Earth, and world-ending comets. Living an ascetic life, some of this group, including the leader, underwent voluntary castration to facilitate their life of denial. Of course, the denial occurred in affluent America, and the group’s 9,000 square foot house had amenities and, strangely, many monitoring devices to keep track of everyone at all times. When Hale-Bopp, the dirty ball of ice, traveled through the Solar System and passed by Earth in March, 1997, the Franciscan-like followers of Marshall Applewhite, belonging to a cult named Heaven’s Gate, saw suicide as a way to continue a journey. Supposedly, a spacecraft was following the foreboding comet, and they could hitch a ride by dying as a way to expedite leaving the planet. In their leader’s words, "It is also possible that part of our test of faith is our hating this world, even our flesh body, to the extent to be willing to leave it without any proof of the Next Level's existence." Now there’s a thought: Let’s go some place. We don’t know the location. In fact, we don’t even know whether the location exists. Be frank here. That’s exiting the highway because of a fleeting, temporary roadwork sign.
The word omen has a dubious and debated etymology, and that might indicate how shadowy our connection is to dark prophecies. Some Jungian archetype or Freudian id lurks as a moveable sign in the recesses of brain and underlies everything mind becomes. Yet, if you will allow me to paraphrase Freud’s famous statement about his cigar, “Sometimes a sign is just a sign. Nothing more.”
Is the weather bad? Sometimes. Does bad weather portend worldwide disaster? No. Weather is a local or regional phenomenon. Does the ground shake in an earthquake? Sometimes, usually in very specific places with very specific causes. Does an earthquake, landslide, tsunami, or volcanic eruption portend the end? Will the world end this past October 7, 2015? No. We already know it has survived as it has survived every dark prophecy since people started to foretell universal ends. Will something really bad happen to you because you have seen some sign of cataclysm? Probably not. Maybe the significance of any omen is that it is more a sign of what lies deep within rather than of what lies without.
Will calamities occur? Of course. Will some of them be as predictable as tornado outbreaks? Of course. Should you worry about distant asteroids? No. Should you take the exit that says “Collision, Next Exit”? No. Drive on. Sometimes signs are just signs. You will pass a number of people holding up or pointing to such signs, people who, for whatever reason or un-reason, want you to follow them to the off ramp along your career, dreams, or life. Drive on.
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