That Trance is a Terrifying Place

According to predictions, the world as we know it may come to an end this year. Numerous speculations have been made as to what might unfold in 2012, including an apocalypse, a polar shift, a new age, global catastrophes, or simply a change of consciousness. We've heard it all. If you dive into it, it's frightening. Just watching a documentary on Discovery Channel about the topic scares me to death, I admit. And the more I hear about it, the more I tremble with fear. I can almost hear a time bomb ticking. I am completely engulfed in the matter and it doesn't occur to me to shake myself awake and take a look around.

When I finally do come back to my senses, it's like landing back in the present; it's like my mind reuniting with my body in a sudden strike of awareness.

There's only one other experience I can compare the feeling to, and that is watching a late night infomercial. If you ever browse through your TV channels late at night and stop for even a minute to watch an infomercial, you know the feeling, but only if you realize you don't really need the item that only moments ago you didn't know existed. But if you dial the toll free number to take advantage of the limited time offer, then you believe the world will end on December 21.

It seems like a totally unrelated thing, I know, but upon further reflection I discovered why the feeling is the same. According to my own conclusions, the commonality between the two experiences is the belief system.

Here's how it works. You are presented with a new item, something totally revolutionary that will change your life forever. They start by showing how miserable your life is without the magic item, and they play a black and white scene of some insufferable situation where a badly dressed woman is having a bad hair day because she's peeling her hard boiled eggs with her own hands. What a mess. The next scene is invariable bright and colorful and shows a happy and impeccably dressed pretty lady whose life has been transformed by the new EggGenie, an electric egg cooker created by the gods. All the while the voice of the announcer repeats over and over the wonders of the product in question. But wait, that's not all; a limited number of lucky callers within a short period of time will get double the offer. Without your being even aware, you hear the same wonderful things so many times until you can't live without an EggGenie. How you have survived all these years without it is a miracle.

In reality, the commercial puts you in a trance. When, and if, you snap out of it before placing an order with overnight priority shipping, you realize that your life and everything around you is perfect without an electric egg cooker. That realization, the awakening, the return to reality is called presence. Everything is okay now.

That's the same trance I get into when watching a documentary about the end of the world in 2012, with all its predictions and speculations. That trance is a terrifying place, but when I snap out and realize what a beautiful day it is, today, all my fears of being suddenly swallowed by a massive dark hole evaporate.