No Crisis… Yet

SUN., JAN. 9, 2000, 6:10 AM
FARM, STUDY

There was much publicity about the possibility… and for many the probability… of a Y2K crisis, even disaster. It is now a week into the New Year and new century, and there seem to be no problems linked to this anticipated failure of computers. For yes, your culture now is seemingly almost dependent on computers… and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if they were no longer reliable. You didn’t have to experience that, but…

The danger, which still exists, is too much dependence on electronic machines… too much meaning that your culture and others, can’t function with them “down” (for any extended period). The longer this dependence lasts and the more it grows the less adaptable you will be, as a society, should there be a real failure. And now, of course, there is the expressed threat of terrorism attacks on computer systems. This would be a modern version of the “have-nots” lashing out against the “haves.”

You are not self-sufficient on this Farm in a relatively rural area of this well-developed nation. You are quite dependent on electricity, and it would be quite a challenge to live without it, for more than a short time. Yet you are better off than the majority of your people who live in cities and have much more dependence on electricity and on water and other sources of power. It is probably, then, and ironic, that many who live in simpler, less “civilized” cultures could survive better, for they still must adapt and live with “what they have.”

There probably will be no such long-term crisis in your lifetime, but such is still a possibility, for your culture has given up some of its independence for comfort and speed. This present Y2K threat was a warning that dependence can be dangerous, but… there seems to be no choice other than more dependence as your national… and the world… population continues to grow.

( 6:38 / 6:42 )

Consider this “parallel” of your life and that of humankind here on planet earth. You have been “mature,” but you are now experiencing losses of physical capacities, and also mental. You can no longer do what you once did, here on the Farm but certainly not at the university… perhaps even the church. You rue the losses, but you must try to adapt, with what you still have. You suspect that cancer cells are growing in your body, with strength to overcome more functioning cells, but without positive functions, “themselves.” There is no real threat at the moment, but if you were younger you would seek treatment that would “destroy this “invasion” and leave you healthy… and cancer free.

And, then, the parallel: the people of the earth can no longer be independent of technology. There is a dependence that makes possible this “high civilization,” technologically. With the size of the population you can no longer go back to simpler ways, without great suffering and loss of life, human. But this standard of living, which some have and some have not, is vulnerable. If it can’t be enjoyed by all… can it survive in a minority?

The increasing population is a factor comparable to your cancer. You have just a few irksome symptoms, but you still function well, for your age. Your loss of sight is worrisome, but “unfixable.” You foresee an end to this earth life but a continuation of life in the spirit. Cancer will probably end this earth life, but your eternal, spiritual life will move on. Even the aspects of you, physical, that still work well cannot continue, if the “whole” cannot.

The growth of the human population will be an increasing threat, until it is reduced by war, disease, or lack of food or water. War or disease will be means of reducing the health of the population, with the destruction of any nuclear war being truly unimaginable.