Resources. Environment. In a new world reality, this is what really matters. Political theory, economic theory is all based on the stability of the environment and resources. It’s the ground we stand upon. It’s the air we breathe. It’s our ability to function in every moment of life.
The New Message gives us a very great teaching about the changing world itself, the greater environment in which we all live, the world we depend upon every day in countless ways. It’s giving us the picture of this change, what it means, why it’s happening and where it’s taking us, or could take us, and the choices that we have yet to make and could make to make a real difference in the outcome. So the world begins to teach us some key things that I’d like to talk with you about today.
The first is the environment itself. I think the environment is always treated as a background for everything else that we do as human beings—our culture, our politics, our economics. And we just assume that the environment will always be there to support us and provide everything we need to create all the things we want and need. But the environment in the New Message is called the most important thing in the world. For if it changes or if it declines, it changes everything.
When I talk about the environment, I’m talking about our climate, the air we breathe, our soils, our water, our food, our resources, our forests and even the diseases and the pestilence that threaten us; and all the advent of violent weather we’re facing today—droughts, super fires, floods—on almost continuous scale. This is the environment. And the environment is now tapping us on the shoulder and saying, “Hello. I’m here.” And we have to be here for that environment.
This is not a political movement or a social movement. This is a changing world reality. If you change the environment, it changes everything, every aspect of our life, all the things that we depend upon for our basic ability to live here, all the things that civilization requires to function and have stability in perpetuity. Our food, our water, our air, our energy, our opportunity—progress—all depend on the stability of that environment.
And the New Message talks about freedom—practical freedom, political freedom. This freedom is only possible in a stable environment, a stable environment that has the assurance of continual supply and support. On that platform, real individual freedom can be adopted and sustained. But if the environment becomes too unstable or begins to decline, then surely that freedom will be lost and now things will have to be directed and mandated for us, not by us.
So when you think of freedom—your freedom, your personal freedom—think about the environment that supports you and everyone. Political scenarios change, political leaders change, political drama changes, and all that can be very consuming, but it’s really the environment that matters.
And even war. The New Message describes war as always a competition for resources, despite whatever political or religious aspirations or issues are at stake. It’s always an attempt to gain more resources or to compete for resources or to gain someone else’s resources.
Resources. Environment. In a new world reality, this is what really matters. Political theory, economic theory is all based on the stability of the environment and resources. It’s the ground we stand upon. It’s the air we breathe. It’s our ability to function in every moment of life.
If this environment becomes too destabilized, we’re now facing a specter of war the likes of which we have rarely seen in modern times at all, what the New Message calls “the wars of desperation,” where nations are so depleted they have to assault, attack and displace the populations of nations around them that have the resources that they need. That’s no longer trade, commerce and agreement. It now becomes a desperate attempt at competition. We certainly want to avoid that.
So humanity has changed the environment, the climate, which changes the environment. And it’s changing the environment even at this moment in ways that we will not be able to control. We may have already passed the threshold of stabilizing the climate. I think we have. So here we are living in this momentous time of change at the most fundamental level, and yet how many people see this and feel this and know this?
Brings up this dilemma that the New Message proposes, which is the problem of change. The problem of change is: Big change, little reaction; little change, big reaction. That’s the problem with change. People are not engaged with life. They’re disconnected from nature. They’ve forgotten what it takes to survive in this world. They’re now indulging in their own personal fantasies, personal realm of speculation, preoccupation and addiction, competing with others for resources constantly.
So life is producing a great check for us, a great check on everything. If our food declines, war will arise. If water is depleted, human migration will increase dramatically. The New Message has said the entire Middle East may be unsupportable for human life in 20 or 30 years. In the revelation on The Prophet, received in Damascus, Syria in 2009, it said:
The world will be unrecognizable in 20 years.
And here we are at the beginning of 2022 and things are getting ever more strange and discordant.
The New Message teaches that we’re living in a declining world, a world of declining resources, growing population drinking from a slowly shrinking well. This is a pretty frightening picture when you think about it, and it can be earth-shaking for you when you really begin to experience this and feel it. It is not meant to defeat you, but it is meant to wake you up; wake out of your dream of personal happiness and personal preoccupation to start thinking about how you’re going to function in this changing environment, how you’re going to live in a new world reality, how you’re going to face the Great Waves of environmental, economic and social change that are already underway. This is a real turning point for humanity.
It’s not like things are just going to go on. Things will get bumpier. “We have a little pandemic we’ll have to deal with. We’ll get through that. We’ll get back to normal.” There is no getting back to normal.
We’re in the middle of a pandemic as a Great Wave of change, which it is, that alone will change the economies, the outlook and the well-being and even the lives of many, many people. Far greater it is than people realize or want to think of it.
So who can face that? People want to hide behind conspiracy theories or call it a conspiracy or think it’s just a passing phase or it’s just a giant flu or it’s being created for the profit of certain companies. It’s like, people aren’t facing reality, people. This is reality.
What is reality? Well, I don’t know if we can ultimately define that, but my working assumption is:
Reality is everything that is happening beyond your thoughts and beliefs.
And if you’re not paying attention to what’s happening beyond your thoughts and your beliefs, then your life will become imperiled by those things that you’re not paying attention to. Already the things that I’ve spoken of are in motion. It’s not some future possibility. It’s not some dire prediction for the future. The Great Waves of change are happening now, and they will get greater and greater as we proceed.
