The Circles Of Life

If we take a look at 2020 thus far it may seem a little like something pulled from the script of a terrible zombie-apocalypse movie: locust swarms in East Africa; floods in Indonesia; uncontrollable Australian bushfires; the death of superstar Kobe Bryant; a tragic Ukrainian plane crash; stabbing sprees that felt almost a daily occurrence in London; tensions rising between Iran and the US to the point of a potential war; the murder of George Floyd reflecting the shocking persistence in police brutality and racial injustice; worldwide anti-racism protests… and as if we didn’t have enough unrest, the coronavirus epidemic that shut down the entire world and brought about truly apocalyptic panic buying, a President suggesting we should inject ourselves with disinfectant, a Prime Minister in intensive care, mass graves in Italy, a cease in travel and pop up hospitals around the world. After all of this, the madness is far from over. The aftermath of the pandemic threatens an economic crash like no other. So, should we be scared of 2020?

Are we doomed?

Although it may seem like the time to pack our bags and fly off to another planet, ancient wisdom could hold the key to understanding the unprecedented and chaotic times that we are living.

Take it back to the year 3100 BCE. From here onward there appeared to be a huge shift in human progress. Suddenly pyramids started popping up all over the globe: Mexico, Peru, Egypt, Mongolia, Sardinia. Logical thinking would tell us that the ancient architects of these civilizations could not have had any means of communicating with each other and yet they all left behind the same mysterious and often overlooked clues to our existence. By 3115 BCE the Mayan Long Count Calendar had begun. In 3102 BCE the Vedic Yuga system was devised. Both of these, along with Earth's collection of ancient pyramids, seem to be evoking the very same idea of a ‘global mind’ and alluding to a cyclical nature of our universe and of human consciousness.

The Mayans

You might be wondering where I’m going with this, but to get there we have to look first at the often mis-understood Mayan calendar. The Long Count Calendar is often not taken seriously given that it is attached to the stigma of the 2012 phenomena- that awkward moment when people thought the world would end in December 2012! Though it was the Long Count Calendar’s prediction responsible for this wide scale panic and subsequent anticlimax, actually, the calendar never theorized Earth’s apocalypse. The calendar was actually alluding to a transition into a new stage in a never-ending cycle. The astronomical calendar known to the Mayans as the ‘universal cycle’, puts forward the idea that the universe goes through constant patterns of destruction and recreation. The Mayans believed that conflict was therefore a key part of the cycle. At the end of each cycle, the old had to be destroyed to pave the way for the new. Once the new cycle began there would be the same slow climb up the pyramid which is characterised by an increase in human creativity, discovery or understanding. Humans reaching the peak of consciousness at the top of the pyramid would then bring about an inevitable plummet into a period of deep conflict and demolition which brings us to the first state again, ready to begin the next ascent. Each cycle was believed to the Mayans to last 2,880,000 days.

The Vedas

Interestingly, some of the oldest scriptures in Hinduism also depict a cyclical nature of life on Earth and of human awareness. The Vedic Yuga Cycles stated that life passes through 4 distinct phases in every cycle which are listed below. It is believed that we ascend through the phases slowly, reach peak, and then descend in the same manner. Kind of like a pyramid (fancy that!).

1) The Satya Yuga (Golden Age)

This is characterized by balance and harmony on Earth. In this phase spiritual senses and connectivity with each other and the divine are said to be at their peak. Humans in the Satya phase will have the ability to perceive the non-material. It is a time where love and truth are valued above all.

2) The Treta Yuga (Silver Age)

If we are ascending the pyramid, the Treta phase would be believed to be the start of this higher state of consciousness where humans begin to understand the universe’s subtle energies and begin to sense natural electromagnetics or electricity in the air. Humans in this state will begin to have access to paranormal phenomena such as telepathy, which were previously unimaginable.

3) Dvapara Yuga (Bronze Age)

The third Yuga, and first step out of the dark age. In this part of the cycle humanity shows the first progression toward comprehending spiritual ideas and an elevation in compassion and mental virtue.

4) The Kali Yuga (Iron Age)

This stage in the cycle is considered the lowest state of human consciousness in which war, deceit and lack of virtue are rampant. Here there is an obsession with the physical self, a lack of control, a pollution of nature. It is a phase filled with suffering. It is a necessary destruction and cleanse that makes way for a new cycle.

It takes the planet 72 years to pass through one degree of the zodiac and 25,920 years to complete one full circle of 360 degrees. One half of the journey takes 12,960 years. The Yuga’s are based on this half journey: Satya Yuga lasts 5184 years. Treta Yuga lasts 3888 years. Dwapara Yuga lasts 2592 years. Kali Yuga lasts 1296 years. These four yugas taken together come to a total of 12,960 years.

What can we learn from the ancients?

Perhaps their very own cycles of life could explain the fall of these great civilizations. The Mayans, the Incas, the ancient Egyptians...their disappearance may demonstrate that they reached the peak of consciousness which eventually brought about their inevitable downfall and the unavoidable regression in human advancement. It certainly would explain why to this day we cannot explain their remarkable achievements, like the impossible structures at Macchu Picchu and the startling accuracy of the pyramids of Giza - after all they will have been in a phase far more advanced than the one we are in now.

You might wonder if this is the case not only on a global scale but also a personal scale. Ever noticed how the most otherworldly, peaceful and iconic figures too often end up with an abrupt end? Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon. All peace advocates. All assassinated. If human beings reflect this same cycle, you might presume that each icon reached the peak of their own consciousness, their highest form, bringing an end to their journey on Earth. Or perhaps these figures serve us as catalysts of change, here to push us closer to a global awakening?

So what’s the deal with 2020?

If life really does pass through cycles, could we be transitioning into a new one? Could the chaos, all the suffering and all the destruction be a push into our next phase? Perhaps right now we are paving the way for progress into new era. We are waking up. We are one step closer to elevating our collective consciousness. Maybe 2020 isn’t the year it all ends after all, but just the beginning.

As Lesley Dwight beautifully put it:

“What if 2020 is the year we’ve been waiting for? A year so uncomfortable, so painful, so scary that it finally forces us to grow. A year that screams so loud it awakens us from our ignorant slumber’.

Change is painful. Change is unpredictable. Change is necessary. Change is coming.

#foodforthought