There’s a kingpin in every machine, a tiny area no bigger than the size of your hand – even in a machine the size of a warehouse. In this tiny place, if you insert anything foreign to the process of this machine – something even as small as a toothpick – you will stop this mammoth mechanism in its tracks.

What is the kingpin for humanity? What is the missing clue that will stop suffering – and our perpetuation and encouragement of it – in its tracks?

Are you overwhelmed by the global – or even the local – news? Does the crime, ‘natural’ disasters, and even the reporting of the weather get you down? Does the state of the world plummet you into a quicksand pit of despair? Do you sometimes wonder if humanity will ever stop fighting? If we will ever enlist our Will to the true cessation of famine, poverty, homelessness, and suicide? What about the growing epidemic of depression, anticipated to become even more prevalent than heart attacks and strokes in cutting short human lives? Does this get you down?

And in the privacy of your own personal life ? Do you ever feel like your past has you by the throat, choking the NOW life out of you? Do you get caught in downward spirals – seemingly relentless personal tornadoes – of fear, anxiety, confusion, self-criticism, and hopelessness? How often is the sun obliterated by clouds in your experience of life?

As a species, we are becoming rapidly more and more de-sensitized – more and more like a great machine. The images on the ‘news’ of suffering and disasters around the world – ‘reporting’ which became increasingly fear based in the late 1980’s – has so overwhelmed us that we take suffering for granted. Images and characterizations of violence and violent people as ‘heroes’ in movies, video games and television programs has made us ‘tough’ outside ? so tough that we are becoming increasingly desensitized.

When we ’step back’ and observe this trend from an observer’s vantage, what do we see? What are the effects of the trends that we are allowing to sweep our species, unchecked?

With a trillion dollars exchanging hands around this planet each and every day, how is it that we tolerate poverty and living on the razor’s edge of survival – for us and / or for the billions of people around the world who daily eke out a meager living? How is it that we complacently tolerate this? What’s gone wrong?

With thousands of people in villages and communities around the world living well into their hundreds, hundred and twenties, and even hundred and forties, why is it that we increasingly assume, sheepishly, that disease is a natural cause of death? What ever happened to dying from ‘old age’, robust and content with our life’s journey – at peace?

With six and a half billion people on this planet – and rising – how is it that any of us are lonely? How is it that we can experience such incredible isolation, as if we haven’t any kin?

With millions of people experiencing true satisfaction and inspiration in their lives, eager to get up each morning to live a new day of fulfillment, service, creativity and discovery, how is it that any of us are bored? How is it that we settle for dead-end jobs, under-challenging and even denegrading work environments? And how is it that we tolerate knowing that many of the products we buy are created on the backs of sweat shop workers, farmers unprotected from lethal pesticides, and other atrocities of modern ‘technology’?

How can this be?

It can be because we have become so desensitized. We are like the frog in the glass beaker that sits trustingly as the water boils – until it explodes. We adapt. We normalize unspeakable conditions, our ego mind convincing us that they’re alright.

What is the cost of this? What if we were to pull out a calculator, and with the most brilliant mathematical minds in the world leading this project, we were to take an inventory of all the areas of human life that are affected by our adapting to appalling circumstances, protocols and behaviors? What ‘price’ would we tally?

Take a breath – a deep breath.

All of this can stop, now. We know where to put the toothpick in the machine. We know how to stop this insanity in its tracks.

It’s about stillness. And being present.

It’s about re-sensitizing ourselves to the world around us and within us.

It’s about standing up in our internal power and discovering that we each are far more capable than we’ve been raised to believe we are.

There isn’t a single problem or challenge in our midst that is devoid of a matching solution. To see this – to know this – we must become sensitive to what is. And we must stand in our true power.

Think of Atlas, the Greek God who carries the planet on his back. He is doing this not out of suffering, or out of martyrdom. He is doing this out of pure strength. When we are strong work is not an effort. Challenges are not obstacles. The toothpick stops the machine with utmost ease.

Does this inspire you? Does it frighten you? Does it evoke your curiosity? Do you feel hot inside, as if your body is preparing to rise to an exciting challenge?

If you feel your senses whetted by what you are reading here – this is a sign that you’re ready to rise into clarity, empowerment, and freedom from misery – yours and humanity’s.

All of the great teachers throughout the ages have shared a common vision with their earthly students: That suffering is not a necessity.

There is a path out of suffering.

A path, by its very nature, is a guided route. It is a route that already has been traveled – at least by the person leading it. Jesus taught as he walked this path. He ’shone the light of his consciousness’ upon it and led the way for those who believed it could be true. Buddha taught as he walked this path. Mohammed taught as he walked this path. Lao Tzu taught as he walked this path. Gandhi taught as he walked this path. Martin Luther King Jr. taught as he walked this path. The list goes on ?

This path is not a religious path. Religions have evolved out of the teachings of great masters. The masters did not proclaim a religion. Religion ‘followed’ them.

You can be a simple mortal and walk this path.

And you can do this NOW.

Take stock of your suffering. In what areas of your life do you suffer? How? Do you suffer just in your own personal life? Do you witness suffering around you? In your immediate community? In the world at large?

How much would it be worth to you to reduce this suffering?

What if there was a clear and simple ‘Map’?

Breathe again. Take a deep, long, slow breath.

It is here, now.

The ‘Map’.

From Publishers Weekly

This smart and punchy guide to movies centered on man-made, divine or natural events leading to high death tolls or mass destruction is a must have for the genre’s devoted fan. The co-authors’ short history of the form begins with newsreel footage of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the earliest produced disaster film (the “little-seen” silent 1913 Italian film The Last Days of Pompeii) and nods to the many cheesy one-offs and contemporary mega-budget (more…)

Disaster Movies

In 2012, the Bible, and the End of the World, bestselling prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock explores a fascinating last-days controversy that is gaining the attention of millions all over the globe. What should Christians make of the rapidly spreading speculations that the world will end on December 21, 2012? The ancient Mayans were expert astronomers and their advanced calendar cycles predict 12/21/2012 as a catastrophic day of apocalypse. This prophecy has spawned a growing num (more…)

About 5:00 pm on September 30th, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck just offshore of the town of Padang in Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake toppled buildings and started many landslides, smashing homes and swallowing up entire villages. The following day, As rescue workers arrived and residents tried their best to dig out and help the survivors, another unrelated quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck less than 1,000 km south of the original epicenter. Each of the two quakes had at least one aftershock greater than 5.0 as well. Over 1,000 people are known to have died, an additional 3,000 still missing. Today, October 5th, officials called off the search for survivors in Padang, and are focusing now on caring for the living and coordinating with international relief agencies.

2009 sumatra earthquakes

A survivor squats on top of the ruins of a village hit by a landslide which occured when an earthquake hit the area of Kapalo Koto in Pariaman, West Sumatra province October 5, 2009. (REUTERS/Nicky Loh)

2009 sumatra earthquakes

An injured girl cries during an evacuation immediately after an earthquake hit Padang, Indonesia’s Sumatra island September 30, 2009. (REUTERS/Muhammad Fitrah/Singgalang Newspaper)

A man runs near a burning houses after a powerful earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009.

Rescue workers from UAE meet before carrying out activities as dusk settles on the Ambacang Hotel on Saturday Oct. 3, 2009 in Padang, Indonesia.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

A man carrying ducks evacuates his house, damaged by an earthquake, in Padang Pariaman, a coastal town in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra, October 4, 2009. (REUTERS/Crack Palinggi)

I care and I know you do. We are experiencing a new evolutionary wave, which in my opinion is an indication of hope. Many of us are tired of the repetition of daily drama in our lives, tired of the sameness brought on by attachments and the roles we are playing. Not everyone feels this way but many do. More people are focused on the dissolution of all that does not work and searching for ways to not only ignite their own personal fulfillment and purpose but also genuinely care and contribute to the community welfare.

Sometime we feel like we are riding the roller coaster of life long enough. Many are asking ‘Is there something beyond this roller coaster?’ We are waking up to something that has been staring us in the face forever. We are remembering that there is more to life than the appearance world. Many souls have been blind to the magic within as well as without. There obviously is a shift happening all over the world and it is felt more right now than actually seen.

There are people concerned about the Mayan Calendar and the end of known civilization. For years, I have been firm in the opinion that the date 2012 is an indication of a consciousness shift within us regardless of the planetary alignment predicted for that cycle of time. We are collectively waking up to a higher reality. There will always be natural earth and other changes. They have already begun. It is reassuring to remember that in the midst of disorder there is Order. It is up to individual consciousness to harmonize with the quantum shifts.

If our intention is to increase awareness, sharing, compassion and love as one united human family, there is something we need to do. We will have spiritual proof of a higher plan when we awaken that part in us which transcends matter. The spirit within gives us the power to see beyond the limited physical vision and prophesy.

We rise to great heights when we strengthen the inner life and weaken the constant identification with the personality, body and material surroundings. To achieve our purpose, the blindfolds must be dropped. Life is giving us an opportunity to take well-directed and constructive action as the bridge builders.

Perhaps, you are stunned by changes causing personal hardship. We have a choice to grow in consciousness and to exercise our faith or to complain and forget the love that God has for us. It is easy to be a believer when everything good is happening. We have a choice to give up or to embrace a high ideal and put into action what we claim as our belief. When we stay fixed on God both within and without and a high ideal, we enrich ourselves and others regardless of what is occuring in the material world. Nothing can permanently hamper us if we lift up our head and persist in a bigger view.

When we accept and know that God lives within us, we cannot stoop down below our true level. A different energy, an energy of light and love, is coming to planet earth. It will continue as an invisible celestial shower nourishing receptive souls. We grow into greatness. Changes force us to evolve. Perhaps, you think I am not practical considering all the predictions. I know as my truth that we are not alone. Feeling as I do, I am secure. No matter what changes we go through, God is always with us.

Many of us sincerely desire to help others. We can only give to those who are hungry on any level if we have found the right food within us. Growing up, evolving our consciousness, doesn’t happen accidentally. It is up to us.

The future is created through our thoughts, feelings and actions. A loving soul benefits wherever he or she is placed. When we are full of fear, it means that we are dancing the dance of duality. We have separated our self from the Divine. We feel a true security when we remember and accept that we are not separated from God. It is anger, fear and despair that creates the sense of separation. No matter what changes we go through, God, the Light, is always with us.

If our belief is strong and our focus steady, this amazing cycle of change can actually be a happy time. It is a window of opportunity where we can let in the radiant Light and actually live as authentic and loving beings. It is in the Light that we are united. The diversity that appears betweens souls is in the way we consciously live as Light in form.

There is nothing to fear when we live with pure intention, a willingness to expand and embrace infinite possibilities and goodness. Together we can evolve with the changes and deliberately create a momentum where earthly happiness and unity is our reality and not only a dream.

From Publishers Weekly
McCartney, a creative writing teacher at Antioch University in Los Angeles, eschews conventional structure in this debut novel, offering instead a surreal and self-referential encyclopedia for the 21st century. Arranged alphabetically, McCartney employs a short, free association style to expound on disparate topics, including Princess Diana, head lice, extinction—and everything in between. The narrator’s obsessions—pornography, razors, cholos and his mothe (more…)

The End of the World Book: A Novel (Hardcover)

An illustrated survey of how cinema has dealt with the idea of Armageddon, from WWII nuclear movies and atomic spy flicks, through 1950s monster movies to World War III, Cold War anxiety and post-Holocaust tales. It includes “Pre-Millennial Tension” epics like “Independence Day” and “Armageddon”.

(more…)

Millennium Movies: End of the World Cinema (Hardcover)

Well the Mayan Calender says so and so does the I Ching!

Are you sure about that? If you believe in 2012: End of the World because of the Time Wave, maybe you should know the facts. Just because some guy strung out on psychadelic drugs says that the I Ching agrees with the Mayan Long Count calender end date means absolutely nothing. In fact, the I Ching is not a calendar, nor was it ever used as one. Why would someone concoct a reason to force two ancient and well known systems for opposite uses to have the same ending date?

An excellent question! Does the Maya’s ancient Long Count calendar really predict the end of the world? You will be very interested in learning that every webpage, magazine and television show that has created a great deal of hubbub about this end of the Mayan Long Count uses the Aztec Sun Stone as their imagery. Why are they all showing you the wrong artifact while telling you that 2012: End of the World is coming?

Niburu is coming back and will collide with Earth smashing it in half.

Yes, that’s what a lot of Sumerian crazed followers are claiming. There is a great deal of support for this said missing planet’s reappearance in our solar system. However, no where is there a prediction or prophecy that Niburu is coming back and its arrival is coinciding with 2012: End of the World. One thing of note, an odd disturbance is going on out there beyond our realm of sight that is causing Pluto to behave rather oddly. So is the real Planet X, a.k.a. Niburu at this moment getting ready to plunge toward Earth?

What about the Hopi Indians and their legends of prophecy for the next age?

Did they predict this year 2012 end of the world too? First of all, these are not just the Hopi people’s legends, actually the Hopi are the record keepers for all of the brother tribes. That would be all North American Indian tribes and people. The Blue Star Kachina is coming. When he dances in the plaza for all the people to see, things will not bode well for Earth will rock to and fro like the shaking of a child who has been misbehaving.

Do the Hopi agree with the Mayan predictions for Year 2012: End of the World? It agrees with our current Mayan age of man ending on a Day of Movement as their Long Count calendar does. This age of humanity began with major disrupting movement on the planet, and will end with the same kind of events. Then there are the Inca predictions too.

None of this stuff is in the Bible, so it can’t possibly be true!

You might want to read the book from cover to cover again. No, the bible doesn’t state, Year 2012: End of the World. If you read it with your mind open and your television silenced, you might just realize that it says a great deal more now than the last time you read it. Maybe you just weren’t paying attention to what the verses were trying to tell you in an ancient tongue, with limited knowledge. So exactly what does it say that agrees with these other predictions and prophecies?

“For then shall be great tribulations such as not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, none ever shall be.” Matthew 24:21

Not since the beginning of the world to this time. That would definitely give credence to this being the 4th age of man for the Mayas and the 4th world for the Hopi. There is even a verse in the Bible that states that at the end of times, the world will ’shake to and fro’. The man on the white horse who arrives in Revelations 19:11? He is the same figure as Kalki from the Hindu puranas. Both of whom come to cleanse the world in the end of days and wearing white robes with sword at ready.

What about Merlin, Nostradamus and The Web Bot?

What about the crop circle predictions and polar shift? What about all the other things you haven’t a clue are being said. What things are true as opposed to which ones are disinformation? You really don’t have any time to waste, December 21, 2012 is only months away, not decades. Something this life altering is best to approach it with your mind and eyes wide open.

If 2012: End of the World is real, what are you really going to do about your future or the future of your loved ones? Do you really want to just accept what everyone else thinks, or would you rather to be able to decide for yourself what is fact, what is fiction and what you mean to do about all of it? You won’t find answers in a blockbuster movie or on the television screen. You can’t harness the power of your mind if it is hooked up to the programmer.

It’s 2009, and the 2012 Official Countdown is starting. Every major religion, minor religions you’ve never even heard of, non-religious spiritualists, and even atheists and agnostics agree that in 2102, something will happen.Click Here For 2012 Official Countdown Instant Access Now!It could be that the mysterious planet X will shift into earth’s rotational path and collide with our planet so that all of life that isn’t immediately destroyed will be flung from the surface and into space. It could be that an explosion of gravity will drag the planet earth to the center of the galaxy where it will be swallowed up by all the other planets and possibly even a massive black hole. It could also be that a meteor will hit the earth, whose impact will make the bombing of Hiroshima look like a ripple from a pebble tossed into a lake, and cause concurrent massive tsunamis. It matters little what will happen exactly in 2012; it will still be the end of the world.In 2012: The Official Countdown by James Sayer, you will discover the truth about 13.0.0.0.0, which has everything to do with our future and life as we know it. You will uncover the mystery of the modern mayans, discover how a decree from the Pope himself may be the reason the truth is so hard to find, learn exactly where you don’t want to be on that fateful date, uncover the dirty truth about how the calendar we have been using for centuries is so inaccurate we would have done better to just carve days into a tree trunk, and learn all about the very real impending threat of worldwide domination stemming from 2012.This book will teach you a multi-pronged survival plan. You will discover how you’ll deal with simple things like drinkable water or breathable air.You are this close to the real Nostradamus prophecies. With the 2012 Official Countdown, learn how after all the dust settles, you can still come out on top.Click Here For 2012 Official Countdown Instant Access Now!

Most ancient cultures have unique ways of describing macro historical events. The Southwestern American Hopi Indians are but one example. Their history and ancient lore speaks of a twenty five year purification window just ahead of the Fifth World. That twenty five year period ends in the year 2012.

Such prophecies are not limited to the Hopi though. There seems to be a cosmic consciousness at work here.

The Seneca Indians medicine man, Moses Shongo, both spoke and wrote of the coming Fifth World in 2012. Speaking Wind, a Pueblo Indian from northern New Mexico was more exact saying the Fifth world would begin in December of 2012.

In the Southern hemisphere where the Q’ero tribe live high in the Peruvian Andes mountains, tribal priests have been predicting a twenty two year “turning over” period that would start in 1990 and end in 2012. What would then happen is a uniting of the lower, upper, and middle world. In this golden world that they call Taripay Pacha, we come back to the fullness of meeting and seeing who we really are!

But on the other side of 2012, a well-known spiritual messenger, Willaru Huayta, has prophecied a massive asteroid will pass clsoe to the earth and only those who have conquered their egos in the purification process leading up to 2012 will survive.

Halfway around the world, in South Africa, a similiar story from a Zulu shaman (Credo Muttwa) is voiced.

Can all of these stories, all of these ancient prognostications be wrong? And where did they originate, where have they come from and why? How has this pending cultural awareness developed? The good news is that we have five years to figure it all out and hopefully find some answers to the 2012 phenomena.