Cataclysm

The word ‘cataclysm’ is derived from the Greek kata, “down, against” and klyzō, “wash over, surge.” A great deluge or flood, as pictured above. As we face an unprecedented rise in sea levels, a global pandemic leading to social unrest, political failure, and record gun sales in the U.S., it may be helpful to remember that the ‘flood myth’ has a precedent in nearly every culture from Mesopotamia to Greek Mythology to the Hebrew Bible. Whether or not the events of Genesis or Gilgamesh have any historical accuracy isn’t terribly important, something about these stories has undoubtedly grabbed hold of the collective human psyche.

The most well-known flood myth is that of Noah. In a nutshell, God gets fed up with humans and their general shittiness and tells his main man Noah to build a pretty sweet ship and get out while the gettin’s still good. God then proceeds to flood the world for forty days and nights, a divine rain that burned people in proportion to their sins. When that small feat was completed and the sinners had been appropriately cleansed, the waters subside and the earth is restored to its former glory.

It doesn’t take a ton of imagination to see the parallels with what we are facing today. What we are looking at – politically, socially, environmentally, epidemiologically – is this washing out, the great cataclysm that has been prophesied since time immemorial. It is a cleansing of the human spirit which has gone so far against nature. Pat yourself on the back, you made it to the apocalypse! I’ll have t-shirts available shortly.

What is important in such an event of biblical proportions (insofar as anything is important or unimportant) is to recognize that this is not a negative. It is to be welcomed, it is our natural evolution, though many have and will continue to fight against the tide. The apocalypse is considered to be the end of the world, it is mass-marketed as a doomsday scenario with zombies and machine guns and probably Dwayne Johnson. But, the actual word itself has no such connotations, the Greek ‘apokaluptein‘ just means ‘uncover’ or ‘reveal’. A great revelation, if you will.

This revelation, as I’ve discussed at length previously, is our essential nature or truth, our Buddha-nature or oneness as human beings. One being, many humans, without going too far down the rabbit hole. This becomes a lived – not imagined or intellectualized, but lived – reality through the science of meditation, and possibly the initial help of some choice psychedelics.

To try and put it most succinctly, it takes two to fight. Conflict and separation and problems all require duality, this and that, me and you. Us and them. If you look closely, you will see that this sense of division is at the root of nearly every challenge we are facing. It is the basis for competition, scarcity, war, politics, etc. And if you look even closer, you will see that in fact there is no “you” as opposed to “me”, here as opposed to there. It’s all one thing, one big love or infinity.

Meditation is the process of dissolving and disengaging from the entangled web we have built inside and outside of ourselves, known as mind or ego or thought or the self. It is a pulling away of the veil of separation, the revealing of indivisibility. And that is what we all pledged way back in the first grade, right? One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let’s honor that pledge.