Crisis for the Global Materialistic Culture

In the countdown to 2012 we continue to see the world economy collapsing. The S&P 500 has now slid to an eleven and a half year low. The Dow and NASDAQ both closed at their lowest points since March 12, 2003, which was just above the low of the last bear market. The big three automakers in Detroit are looking for a government bailout with taxpayer money, while flying to Washington in private jets to ask for it. Why are they in this predicament? Because they have not been interested in building what people really need.

According to Carl Johan Calleman, the Mayan Calendar suggests that this present period is characterized by a “deep crisis for the global materialistic culture.” Although media pundits anxiously speculate on when the crashing economic picture will “bottom,” it is quite possible that the world is changing permanently, and will not ever return to what it has been.

Much of the global materialistic culture has been devoted to creating consumer addicts, people who want products not out of need, but for superficial and spurious reasons. This ultimately depletes and wastes not only finite and precious planetary resources, but it also militates against the authentic nature of persons, who exist in a multidimensional reality that includes more than this physical universe.

The global materialistic culture MUST collapse, because it is fundamentally unhealthy. This process, while necessary, is likely to be rough and painful. It will be a collective experience similar to that which someone goes through personally when he or she finally becomes willing to face their own inner state of dysfunction.

The good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that the tunnel isn’t really that long. And the main question for everyone involved is this: are we going to accept the change, or resist it?