Last year in San Miguel de Allende, a feeling of stasis seemed to have set in. What happened...and how are we sorting it all out?

"2010: the Year the Earth Stood Still"

Klaatu: I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason.

-- "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951)

In a previous lifetime, as a student and later a university professor of cinema history, I had the opportunity to interview not once, but twice, the director of the 1951 film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (the first and classic version), Robert Wise.

The interviews were separated by 20 years, and in that time Wise shifted his perspective somewhat on the human condition.

Just as a nod to pedigree, Wise was the editor on "Citizen Kane" (1941) -- probably the most estimable screen credit ever, after the director of the same film, the inimitable Orson Welles...and then, many years after that the director of "West Side Story" (1960) and "The Sound of Music" (1965) -- the highest grossing film up to then, superseded only by "ET" and, later, "Titanic" -- and much later, "Avatar".

In other words, Wise was not only an auteur, in the tradition of creators of art films, like Bergman, Fellini, and Antonioni -- but also a razzle-dazzle box-office impresario, like Billy Rose, Mike Todd, and Cecil B. de Mille. He was beloved by both film critics and Hollywood 'suits.'

My interviews with him both times were, as I look at my notes, uncommonly slanted toward his work on "The Day the Earth Stood Still." In the film, Klaatu, a luminous visitor from another planet, comes to Earth to warn Earthlings that if they continue their aggressive, selfish, clueless ways, they will be destroyed.

My questions to Wise in 1972, as a student at the American Film Institute, were about his thoughts on whether we humans would survive as a species, given our penchant for greed and self-sabotage, or would slouch into the sunset and disappear as, say, the dinosaurs did.

"We will survive," Wise said, sounding like Faulkner receiving the Nobel Prize, "and even prevail. But we will need to adapt."

That was in the morning-after of the late 1960s cultural party, when adapt-or-die was becoming the order of the day. Most of us adapted, in one way or another, and limped along to the next stage in our personal and collective development. The hippies among us got jobs, made families, and "got lives."

Twenty years later, I encountered Wise again, when I was head of the film school I had created, with Greer Garson's money, at the College of Santa Fe. He agreed to be interviewed for two hours, while student cameras rolled. At that time, I asked him the same question.

"Basically, I am an optimist," Wise said. "But I must tell you that we actually may not endure as a species. We may become victims of something from the outside -- something we never would have imagined, such as a disease or a far-off conflict that suddenly appears on our doorstep. Or we could succumb to something from the inside: change tends to confuse us and make us fearful...great change terrifies us to paralysis. Or we may simply kill each other off."

It was a decidedly bleaker assessment of the human future, and when I reminded Wise of his earlier much brighter prediction, he gave me a half-smile and shrugged, as if to say, "Stuff happens."

I was remembering those interviews with Robert Wise when I reflected recently on what exactly happened in the year just past in our cherished San Miguel. What happened, more precisely, in the gringo community, of which I have been a part of the past decade.

For us, the world really did seem to stand still. Real estate stood still. Stores and restaurants stood still. Tourism from the English-speaking world stood still. Many of us may have stopped imagining this paradise-found as our personal Shangra-La -- and begun wondering if this is the "best place" or if we needed to begin looking for another.

Wise had said that it might come in the form of disease (the misnamed Swine Flu?) or a far-off conflict (the drug wars on the border?)...or that we might just kill each other off. This last, I haven't seen as yet, but I can at least imagine such cannibalistic carnage of life and limb out of sheer boredom.

It is as if we have been sitting here all this year waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The year just behind us was one of tremendous change in San Miguel, and most of us are still sorting things out. Subtle shifts took place -- and some shifts not so subtle: the weekdays were empty of tourists from the US and Canada...the weekends were filled with Mexicans from D.F., Guadalajara, and Monterrey, proudly rediscovering their heritage of independence. Could this be a harbinger of things to come? In the year ahead, could we see a reverse expat migration out of San Miguel back to the United States and Canada, back to our grandchildren, our imagined security, our Medicare benefits?

But, in a world where everything stands still, anything is possible. We could, in 2011, see a huge shift in the kinds of people who come here to stay. Those would be people without fear, citizens of the world, interested in contributing to the local community without trying to remake it in its own image...people who can, to use Robert Wise's word, "adapt."

Klaatu's message to Earthlings can help guide us in the new year: Take nothing for granted. Be grateful. Give more than take. Be humble. Stop complaining. If we are going to survive -- even endure and flourish -- in this heaven-sent place, let us welcome change, be good guests, find connection with our hosts, love our cultural differences, and embrace what we have in common.

In this way, the world -- our world, at least -- can move forward again from this place of stasis. And the words of Robert Wise will really be words to the wise.

John Petersen's piece on the changes that are beginning to emerge. This is an exciting time to be alive. JD

It may not be clear yet where we are going -- but what is clear is that we can decide where we want to go. The future doesn't just happen; we make it happen. It is the product of our desires, interests, perspectives, visions, and actions. What we think and what we do makes a difference. It makes the only difference. We need to change the world—around a new vision. It's important to keep in mind that we're talking about a new world.

Envisioning the world of 2012, big extraordinary change happens. There is a new realization that we are directly related to the planet, all other people, and the rest of nature in very concrete and practical ways. It has also become clear that we are interdependent in ways that are obvious but not yet fully understood. This mind-set is reflected in…

• An increased emphasis on connectedness and interdependence. The Internet, the global economy, the environment, and many other aspects of life have made transparent that we are all directly and indirectly connected to each other and the larger context in which we live in ways that were previously not obvious. All transactions now take these linkages into consideration. Because of this interdependence, it is logical that nonconstructive relationships are intrinsically destructive and that there has been …

• A shift toward cooperation and away from competition. The interdependencies that we live with coupled with the highly destructive potential of advanced technologies have made it obvious that finding ways of working together is much better than fighting over differences. This has translated into a …

• Commitment to conflict resolution without resorting to violence. The potential destructive capability of new technologies juxtaposed with the need to build a new world has mandated that violence, especially between developed nations, as in all-out world wars, is no longer feasible. Sophisticated methods of negotiation and influence become the main tools of persuasion.

• A commitment to justice for all people. Since in an interconnected society injustice to some ultimately affects all others, a broad-based commitment to justice for all is imperative.

• A world of abundance. The resolution of energy problems and the advent of advanced information-technology applications presents the possibility of a world without intrinsic scarcity. Equitable access to and distribution of food, knowledge, shelter, and work could well become possible.

• Individual self-realization. The crucible of phenomenal global change would produce a new perspective of oneself and the untapped potential in each of us. A dedication to self-realization would be reflected in all aspects of human activity.

• Individuals choose for themselves rather than taking their cues externally. Interdependency coupled with unsurpassed knowledge and a common allegiance to justice weakens the requirement for centralized authority.

• Harmony with nature. The fact that everything that lives on this planet is connected with everything else means that we live with nature, actively cocreating the context within which we live. We therefore see ourselves as part of the larger, global system. Maintaining harmony with nature is a priority that produces personal, spiritual, physical, and economic benefits.

• A shift toward localization. The failure of global supply chains initiates a reliance on local suppliers rather than distant ones. This is especially true with food items, for which local farmers and ranchers become preferred.

• A commitment to healthy food. Fresh, healthy food is a necessity for sustaining the physical and mental requirements of living in the new world.

The key to getting to this new future is a vision. We need a picture of a viable global future to guide us going forward. In practical terms, this new world needs to be pretty idealistic. After all, we're really (really!) going to build a new one in a new context, which makes all kinds of things possible that certainly wouldn't work right now. That's what we should aim for. That's the contextual objective we should carry around in our minds.

Excerpted from A Vision For 2012 ©2008 by John L. Petersen, published by Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO. Available from www.fulcrumbooks.com.

Word going around is that there is a conspiracy -- although not exactly organized -- in the United States to try to keep Baby Boomers within the borders.

This would be based on the fear that boomers, 8000 of whom are turning 60 every day, will pick up and move to Mexico, as I did ten years ago. Leaving the US would represent a large hole in revenues that could be collected and spending that could be given over to the chain-stores in the malls.

The media is involved, of course, which is why there are so many stories about the lawlessness of Mexico -- the only place that is a problem is the border between the US and Mexico...and most of the problem has been cause by that segment of the undisciplined American public that is addicted to drugs (most Mexicans can't afford addiction...it's too expensive).

Will we ever know if this is true or not? A year ago I would have said probably not. Now I'm thinking that we are suddenly living in a time (New Time) when EVERYthing is being dug up and put out there for EVERYone to see.

Regardless, I wouldn't put it past the folks in charge up north to have figured out there is a hemorrhage of boomer money going south -- and to have wanted to do just about anything to keep that money at home.

Is this great Spill in the Gulf really a baptism into New Time? Holy Water and Holy Oil -- the two sacred elements of the sacrament of Baptism in the Christian Church.

Is what is happening down there creating in us a new way of thinking about ourselves as 'the environment' we had thought was 'out there'?

We are the earth. Our bodies are the very minerals of this planet. And like the planet that is our mother, we are made up three-quarters of water.

Let us hope this horrific wake-up call shifts the perception in the Collective into remembering that we are living on an island in space, with an islander's responsibility to take good care of the ground beneath our feet...and the water around us, for that matter.

On Tuesday, April 20, a Transocean rig called the Deepwater Horizon exploded and caught fire approximately 42 miles Southeast of Venice, Louisiana, while completing drilling a well for British Petroleum. U.S. Crude oil began to hemorrhage in gushes from wounds on the floor of the sea -- and never stopped.

What unfolded in the weeks that followed had all the hallmarks of a blockbuster disaster movie. The horrendous spill , the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez every four days, has created panic in the region where the toxic oil slick is making its way ashore and anger in rest of the nation and around the world.

The extent of the damage from scientists: sightings of several underwater plumes, including one 22 miles long, six miles wide, and more than a thousand feet deep. BP-US, which will pay a penalty based on the size of the spill, estimated that 210,000 gallons of oil were flowing into the ocean daily, though government scientists suspected the number is closer to 800,000 gallons.

To try to grasp a deeper meaning from this deep-water catastrophe, we turned to the renowned astrologer Jessica Murray, who offered this, in part, as an explanation from stellar configurations:

"[The] fatal blast in the Gulf of Mexico happened under a sky that featured Saturn (business as usual) exactly opposed to Uranus (explosions), which is moving into position with Pluto (hidden power) for their long-running square. Ceres, the asteroid of the Earth Mother, conjoined Pluto, the despoiler, in the sign Capricorn (corporations) within a degree.

"The fact that this was no ordinary oil spill became clear right away as the disaster moved through several quick meaning changes in the public mind: from that of an accident brought on by the failure of a mechanical device, to that of an example of how government fails to regulate oil companies, to that of an entire system where corporate interests are allowed to commit travesties against Nature.

"The rig explosion coincided with the entry of Chiron (wounding) into Pisces (oceans) that very day. Horrified TV viewers saw aerial photographs of the blue sea turning into a conflagration of toxic crude. The mind reels. The heart recoils."

She goes on to say that we are now living in a time when all secrets are being revealed -- in this case the secret plundering of the planet's precious (and irreplaceable) natural resources by multi-national corporations and the collusion of governments in these world-scale dirty deals.

However we want to look at this huge and scary event, what is emerging into human consciousness at an even great velocity and volume as the oil into the water is the terrible truth that we have disconnected ourselves fatally from nature, 'using' it for our selfish and misguided purposes -- and we are now about the pay the consequences.

We can ignore this disaster in deep waters by going into collective denial -- surrendering our minds and souls to the numbing drone of what Jessica Murray calls our 'infotainments' -- or we can see it as the wake-up call it surely is...and decide to learn how to live as humble and obedient children of our Mother Earth. For each of us, that will look differently; for all of us, it will be necessary if we are to survive as a species.

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Check out Joseph's newest book: God On Your Own: Finding a Spiritual Path Outside Religion, with a Foreword by Thomas Moore.

God On Our Own

When Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said earlier this month that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost “all credibility” over how it had dealt with pedophile priests, he may have been opening an exceedingly large can of worms. The Latin root of “credibility” is credo (I believe), the first word of the Act of Faith in the Catholic liturgy and part of the Mass. It’s a loaded word.

Truth be told, the Roman Catholic Church is finding itself besieged—and discredited—not only in Ireland, but in Germany and other countries in Europe, in the United States, Chile, and here in Mexico, where scores, maybe hundreds of boys and girls were allegedly abused by the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Just the other day we learned from the Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Tlhagale, that the church in Africa “is inflicted by the same scourge” and “trust has been compromised.”

The issue on the front-burner is, as it was in the Watergate scandal, not only the illegal (and in this case immoral) acts at the center of the storm but the cover-up—a pattern of high clerics, perhaps even the Pope himself, ignoring, denying, excusing, explaining away, and otherwise sweeping under the carpet the dirty sex secrets lurking in the shadows of the sacristy. Maybe this scandal should be called Holy Water-gate.

While the revelations about the “sins of the fathers” are remarkable—after all, hadn’t we entrusted them with the care of our souls and the souls of our children?—perhaps more remarkable is the idea that the scandal might bring down the Pope. Might Benedict XVI, Nixon-like, be forced from office? Could a small handful of cardinals led by the ecclesiastical equivalent of Barry Goldwater be dispatched to the papal apartments to say, “Your Holiness…it’s over.” If so, would the Pope take the Roman Catholic Church down with him?

All of this begs a further question: if the Catholic Church—if all organized religion—went away tomorrow, would that be such a bad thing? Would it make any difference to our spiritual lives? A post-religion world might sound implausible, but twenty years ago a world without the Soviet Union was equally unimaginable…and we seem to be getting along quite well without it.

We may have outgrown religion in the same way the world outgrew Soviet Communism. We simply may not need religion anymore. At an earlier time in our evolution, it probably was wise of us to invent rules and regulations to bind us (“religion” means “to bind back”) to the divinity. We may have needed intermediaries, holy men—alas, always men—to help us reconnect (another meaning of the word “religion”) to our Creative Source.

But now many of us everywhere are finding that we can take care of our souls by ourselves, thank you very much. Two years ago the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that the number of people unaffiliated with a particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who were not affiliated with a religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four are not affiliated with any particular religion.

Giving up religion does not automatically make one an atheist. Far from it. Last year’s Trinity College poll revealed that more than half of Nones (people who mark “none” when asked for a religious affiliation) believe in God or a Higher Power. We don’t have to be religious to be spiritual.

Teilhard de Chardin, the mid-twentieth century mystic, wrote, “We have been thinking of ourselves as human beings on a spiritual journey; it would be more correct to think of ourselves as spiritual beings on a human journey.”

But up to now we seem not to have understood that truth. According to Carl Jung, that which we cannot or will not see in ourselves, we project out onto others. Have we for eons been projecting our core spiritual identity out onto an imaginary God up in the clouds and assigning connection to that distant deity—within us all the while—to priests, shamans, ministers, gurus, and the rest? If so, the time may have come for us to withdraw that projection, which is the first step toward what Jung calls individuation: psychological maturity. We may be ready, in other words, to own our inner divinity.

If there are any heroes in this squalid mess of a scandal so full of villains, they might be the unfortunate victims of priestly sexual abuse. Unawares, they may have sacrificed themselves to bring about the toppling of organized religion in our time. Having suffered at the hands of priest perpetrators on our behalf, these innocents may go down in the history books as the martyrs of a more highly-evolved, religion-less world, where we all have the opportunity to take personal responsibility for our spiritual lives.

Joseph Dispenza is the author of God On Your Own: Finding a Spiritual Path Outside Religion and other books. He is a founder of LifePath in San Miguel. joseph@lifepathretreats.com.

Professor James Lovelock says we can't save the planet -- it's too late. Lovelock (of Gaia fame) is suggesting we all just relax and enjoy what we have right now...but not to expect that anything will change -- in fact, we (the planet) are/is on a downward spiral.

I have printed out Jessica Murray's article on Mother Earth and I'm waiting for a good time to read it. Something has been forming in my mind around the idea of Heaven On Earth. A long essay that takes off from the last chapter of "God On Your Own" and goes into the notion of creating a planetary spirituality to replace religion.

What did the Pope know...and when did he know it? The article in the Washington Post yesterday makes Benedict sound like Nixon.

I lived in DC in the early 70s and watched as crazy Nixon (didn't everyone in the world know he was nuts -- except, of course, the American Collective, which voted him into office twice?) stumbled around and finally fell on his sword. All this unfolded in the same newspaper that carries news, now, about crazy Benedict.

More is at play here, of course, than simple comupaance. Cosmic forces are working to destroy institutions: the Church is just one of those.

Religion actually keeps people from having a direct connection with God. As that thought dawn on us, religion will go onto the dump-heap with all the other bad ideas of the past Age.

Sex, it seems will bring down the Roman Catholic Church.

I have been waiting for this for some years, and now the time appears to have come -- or at least is beginning to come into focus.

The shadow of monastic chastity and priestly celibacy is, of course, sex itself. Now it comes tumbling out of the sacerdotal closet, spilling out like consecrated wine all over the vestments.

Goodbye, Pope Benedict. Goodbye Pope JP2. Goodbye to all that...and good riddance.

Read the First Chapter of my book, "God On Your Own: Finding a Spiritual Path Outside Religion"- FREE.

A Former Monk Guides You on Your Personal Journey of the Spirit

"Joseph Dispenza and I have much in common. We know monastic life firsthand, and we know Christian theology. When we were very young, something stirred to turn us toward an unknown spiritual focus; though the forms shifted over the years, the path of seeking is intact.

"I admire many elements of his story, especially his willingness to pursue intuition in service of his unique spiritual destiny. He takes the spiritual life seriously and yet wears it lightly"

- From the Foreword by Thomas Moore