The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Reflections from 2021 & an outlook on 2022

2021 will certainly go down in the history books for many reasons. Above all, as the year closes, it seems that humanity is slowly coming to accept that this pandemic is not going away for a very long time. It will only evolve, mutating as it moves from body to body. It seems the only way to stop it is 100% vaccination of all humans inhabiting Earth and that simply won’t happen. There are still simply too many of us living indigenous lifestyles outside of modern society, not to mention those fighting for their freedom of choice. As conspiracy theories run rampant, the global debate is polarizing humanity into tribes with viciously opposing views.

A revolution is upon us.

Irrespective of one’s views on this topic, one only needs to watch closely to what’s happening in the fallout from this pandemic to see what’s happening. It simply doesn’t matter how we got here, we are here and a battle is brewing. As presented in the ancient text The Art of War, applied successfully by Roman ruler Julius Cesar and French emperor Napoleon, the ultimate winning strategy has always been ‘divide and rule’. Interestingly though, it seems this battle is leaderless. It’s as if Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand is expressing itself again, but this time the many hands are fighting for their survival and seeking opportunity along the way. The medical industrial complex warns us of the dangers this virus presents. People are scared they and their loved ones might die, so naturally they want to protect themselves. Governments step in to protect their populations with vaccination programs and mobility restrictions. Pharmaceutical companies race to produce enough vaccines and booster shots for the entire human population. Media and communications platforms try their best to keep us informed. Every sector is undergoing massive transformation as businesses of all shapes and sizes struggle to survive.

Fear is to blame.

Survival is the rally call that unites and aligns the interests of individuals, organizations, companies and governments. Harm is real. This virus is killing lots of people and we must take action. But fear, that’s simply a ghost living in our minds and haunting us every moment of every day. We’re addicted to the drama; in love with the villain and the victim. It has taken occupation over our healthy minds, inducing incredible stress and inhibiting our ability to think clearly. Fear is actually keeping us from making true progress as a human race.

Have we lost our minds?

What if we’re acting like victims and choosing to be powerless? Blaming our circumstances and pointing fingers. What if we don’t really understand power? Almost all the expressions we seem to call power today are actually motivated by a need to control and dominate to protect one’s interests or validate one’s worth. This is not power; this is force. True power always comes from within and needs no external validation. Freedom only exists in the mind, nowhere else. Freedom is simply a choice; it has no circumstance.

Our addiction to money is killing us.

Money steals our freedom, turning us into slaves. Jailed by the need to show off our ‘freedom’ and express our ‘power’, we consume until we are gluttons. Zombies with mobile phones as pacifiers, we are the walking dead. Sounds harsh, huh? But can you really see that we’ve all been infected. You and me along with all the ‘very bad’ people running our governments and multinationals that we love to point fingers at daily. We are no different, except maybe the magnitude of our delusions. But it’s ok. We’re all in this together.

And that’s the point.

It is time to remember the truth of our humanness. We are one species among many inhabiting this planet. What separates us from the pack is the incredible power of our minds. In a hyper-connected digital world, our wires (brain waves) have gotten tangled and are now short circuiting to grand proportions. It’s no wonder why mental health issues are skyrocketing everywhere on the planet. We simply are a product of our environment; those that we allow in our presence, the food that we eat and the thoughts we choose to occupy our mind.

There is a way out.

Every single one of us is part of nature, not inseparable. When we accept that we are part of a greater whole, whether our beautiful planet Earth or the cosmos, we recognize that we are all connected and innately inseparable. When we harm others, we are not only hurting ourselves, we are harming all beings and Earth itself. This is not woo-woo, this is hard science. Our perception of separation is merely a mental projection created by our senses. We can feel our bodies, we can touch and smell one another, and we can see objects with our eyes. But all matter is simply energy in motion; hard science. Our perception of separation is merely an illusion.

It’s time to slow down.

In many ways, this is the blessing of this pandemic; teaching us to appreciate the simple things in life. The secret to a peaceful and harmonious life is contentment. To be grateful for everything we can sense and experience; the gift of life. To feel the perfection and wholeness of our lives. Trusting that every experience is happening for us and not to us. This is how we love ourselves unconditionally and that is the only form of true power. It is both transcendent and magnetizing. It will heal and it will attract all that serves our growth.

The new normal is natural.

It is a remembering of what truly matters…a healthy and balanced mind/body/soul connection, nurturing relationships & conscious connections with loved ones that foster our growth, a deeper connection with the natural world, a balanced and healthy diet that fuels our body to thrive as it is designed and an embodied experience of our connection to all life on Earth.

Trust is the gateway to liberation.

All fear dissolves when we place our attention in the present moment, as fear only exists in the mind’s memory of the past and its projection into the future. When we learn to become present, there is only peace. This experience allows the mind to rest in this moment. A feeling of trust emerges within us. As we surrender to the now, we begin to witness life’s perfection freely unfolding through us. Our relationships begin to flourish as this trust radiates into every interaction we allow ourselves to experience. Trust in ourselves, trust in life itself and trust in our relationships; a holy trinity cycling and expanding within us. We become powerful beyond belief.

Live your dream.

Don’t worry, it will come. Just keep focusing your attention in the present moment and listen closely to what emerges from the silent void of stillness, then allow it to unfold through you. Whatever emerges, it’s perfect. Follow the breadcrumbs and trust where they take you. Like a humble servant to life’s divine will, make it sacred. Stay sincere to your values and never abandon your integrity.

A world without strangers.

That’s my dream; bold and audacious, yet simple in daily application. Every interaction becomes an opportunity to foster a culture of connection. To move through life with a simple mission; to become more present in every moment and to give my full attention to every interaction. For I believe that it is these nurturing connections and the communities that form through them that become the root structure that connects us to life. This alone has the power to heal humanity.

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for…

2022 will bring us many tricks and treats; hopefully more of the latter. Here’s what to expect…

• Travel will begin to normalize as a global architecture for vaccination verification systems matures.
• Like influenza, the Corona virus is not going away anytime soon. Booster shots will become required to keep one’s vaccination record current, which will be required for future travel.
• A revolution will emerge to the forefront as those fighting for personal liberties, social justice and freedom of choice unite globally and amplify their ‘call to action’.
• Flying cars will start operating taxi shuttle services in regions with less restrictive regulatory frameworks.
• The convergence of online gaming, virtual reality, the metaverse and digital assets will reshape how we use the internet entirely. We will begin to see how virtual/augmented reality and IRL (in real life) interactions merge. Community facilitation within these online and hybrid interactions will be critical.
• Decentralized Finance (DeFi) will continue to disrupt the online banking sector, offering more efficient and cost effective ways to trade and transact between digital & fiat currencies, leverage digital assets to facilitate loans, and all kinds of payments.
• The rapid popularization of NFTs within arts & collectibles will expand into virtually every asset class imaginable, within both physical and virtual worlds. As a result of virtually every asset becoming digitized with smart contracts built on the blockchain, traditional institutions that serve as intermediaries of authentication will increasingly struggle to justify their very own value. This will ultimately lead to the crumbling of banking institutions, insurance companies, certification organizations just to name a few, but essentially every organization that serves as an intermediary between human interactions and value exchanges is quickly becoming obsolete.
• A location independent workforce, a rising freelance or gig economy, and the mainstreaming of entrepreneurship will entice more people to become digital nomads. People will naturally gravitate to locations that offer more freedom and a higher quality of life. With many nations seeking to take advantage of this seismic shift, we can expect to see an even more ethnically diverse and globalized world.
• Communications and logistics platforms will expand into more sectors, such as re-purposing and recycling of materials. Online messaging, delivery of goods, taxi and courier services, and payment gateways have led the innovation wave; with WeChat, Gojek and Grab leading the way in Asia.
• IOT (internet of things), automation, robotics and AI (artificial intelligence) will have a much greater impact on our lives as 5G networks expand around the planet. The convergence of these technologies will liberate human potential to a much greater degree, as all programmable jobs will no longer require humans.

Ok, that’s a wrap. Thanks for hanging in there and following this meandering flow of ideas. If you would like to continue the conversation, please check out pureproject.org.

Wishing you all a glorious, harmonious and prosperous 2022.