Working with my collaborators at Planet Waves, I set out on a mission of finding signs of progress amidst the many strange and tragic news events of 2013. Americans, as a lot, are people averse to following current events, and when we do, we rarely look back in an honest way.
It's true: there's hardly time these days. Yet part of not looking back means not remembering what we've learned in the past, not taking advantage of our mistakes, and not taking responsibility for them. It sounds good to praise the power of now, but that serves little purpose if you forget a discovery about yourself that you made a day or a week ago and never put it to use.
By many accounts, we are alive in a momentous era of history, and events of 2014 are going to ramp this up by a few orders of magnitude. Astrology describes this scenario in a longterm aspect called the Uranus-Pluto square, part of a cycle that you can trace back through history and observe the upheavals, revolutions, and transformations of society. This one pattern is enough to shake up any skeptic who claims astrology isn't real.
The last time we experienced a major phase of this cycle was in the mid-1960s, when Uranus and Pluto formed a conjunction. It's only in hindsight that we can see the positive developments of that era. Yes, it was an exciting time to be alive if you were not wracked with anxiety or paranoia.
There were also the assassinations of many progressive leaders, and while that was happening, tens of thousands of 18-year-old boys were being shipped to Vietnam and coming home in flag-draped coffins a year later, or soaked with dioxin and terror three years later. Many people lost close friends, boyfriends, fathers, husbands, and brothers to a war that just about everyone now admits was a pointless disaster. Yet who stands up to the equally corrupt, profit-driven war machine today? Do you?
Mars retrograde in Libra is going to send a jolt of energy through the Uranus-Pluto square, and precipitate many events long in development.
In searching for the positive, just about everything fell into one category—the revelation or acknowledgment of a problem that had been previously concealed or denied. The main developments seemed to be evidence of people waking up to injustice in one form or another.
There is a lesson in the workbook for A Course in Miracles that is titled, "Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved." It begins, "A problem cannot be solved if you do not know what it is. Even if it is really solved already you will still have the problem, because you will not recognize that it has been solved. This is the situation of the world. The problem of separation, which is really the only problem, has already been solved. Yet the solution is not recognized because the problem is not recognized."
Problem 1: NSA Spying is Unconstitutional
In June, a man named Edward Snowden revealed to the world that the Obama administration had expanded the program of spying on the American people, created by the Bush administration. This caused an actual fuss.
Snowden, fearing for his life and his freedom and preferring not to be tortured, went first to Hong Kong, then to Moscow, where Vladimir Putin gave him a visa to stay for a year.
Various courts have litigated the program and in logic befitting Alice in Wonderland, managed to find it perfectly constitutional. Then in late December, a federal judge named Richard Leon said the obvious in a ruling: the program is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which in plain language guarantees that the American people shall be secure in their papers and their possessions, which will be subject to search only with warrant specifically naming the thing to be seized.
Judge Leon was appointed by President George W. Bush, which may seem a little strange—but a true conservative believes in following the Constitution, and federal judges are appointed for life to make it possible for them to think with their own minds. This is apparently something Leon likes to do; that and he has a knack for the obvious.
"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary' invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval," Judge Leon wrote in a 68-page ruling. "Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."
The same week, a panel commissioned by President Obama recommended that the president remove NSA authority over phone data, leave it in the hands of private companies, and put the NSA under civilian control.
We are very close to recognizing this is a problem.
Problem 2: Government Subsidized Minimum Wage
In 2013, protests about below-poverty wages erupted outside fast food restaurants and big box stores like Walmart. It actually made the news when Walmart suggested that employees donate food to one another so they could have a good Thanksgiving.
One of my favorite facts of the year is that megacorporations that pay minimum wage (and often, minimum taxes) have massive numbers of employees on public assistance. An astounding 52 percent of McDonald employees receive food stamps or other forms of public assistance, costing the government $1.2 billion a year, while the company makes $5.46 billion in profits.
McDonald's CEO Donald Thompson is paid $6,875 an hour. Were he paid the federal minimum wage, he would have to work 1.89 million hours a year.
Yum! Brand comes in second place for pumping the government, with Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC eating $648 million in public assistance; Subway is next, costing $436 million, Burger King $356 million, Wendy's $278 million, and so on. Fast food corporations chiseling their employees costs the government $3.8 billion each year.
It is good news that we know this. It makes it a lot easier to see that those who advocate for "free market" capitalism are full of shit. This kind of information may take a little time to sink in, and it has to sink in deeper than the public's addiction to fat, salt, sugar, cheap meat, and carbs, but it still counts for raising consciousness.
Problem 3: Monsanto (and it's now a household word)
I have covered the crimes of Monsanto since 1991, so it's always been a household word wherever I live—and a secret just about everyplace else. This year, Monsanto came under the spotlight after a worldwide protest was called against the agricultural nightmares that it creates.
On May 25, the March Against Monsanto was staged, with protests in cities around the world. While this was not exactly the Occupy movement, it was a miracle that people came out to protest a corporation that until recently was known mostly to farmers and people who visited Disney World as a kid.
The battle over labeling genetically modified foods did not go well, but it's now on the surface of awareness. On the eve of the March Against Monsanto, 71 senators voted against an amendment that would have guaranteed states the right to enact mandatory GMO labeling laws.
One problem is the bribery known as campaign contributions. One of GMO's biggest apologists, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, received $739,926 in campaign contributions from agriculture firms in 2012, which would give her a reason to chirp endless lies about how wonderful GMO crops are, how they resist disease, feed the poor, and resist droughts. All of this is now out in the open.
One problem getting the country on board is junk food. Those who chow down on Doritos don't really care what kind of corn it is.
Problem 4: Relationship Bigotry
We actually made some progress on this one. The Supreme Court threw out the Defense of Marriage Act, one of the most ridiculous laws ever written, passed thanks to two serial infidels, Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton.
California's referendum allowing same-sex marriages was also upheld by the Supreme Court. There are now 17 states that allow same-sex marriage and 33 that have a ban on same-sex marriage. That may seem lopsided, but the cat is out of the closet. The imporant thing is that the Supreme Court has set a precedent, and any law that is challenged could easily fall on its face.
Many places with a ban have populations that are not nearly as bigoted as their Neanderthal, religious nut politicians. Speaking of Neanderthals, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty and Alec Baldwin got spanked—to the tune of millions—for making homophobic comments. Baldwin lost his program after making an anti-gay slur to a photographer. Phil Duck took a public flogging from A&E.
The new Roman Catholic pope even got into the act, telling reporters, "If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, well who am I to judge them? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this in a very beautiful way, but says, wait a moment, how do you say... it says, [that] these persons must not be marginalized for this, they must be integrated into society."
Then came the best surprise of all, at least for the Chronogram polyamory bureau chief. In December, a federal judge ruled that laws prohibiting what is politely called "cohabitation"—that is, polygamy—violate the First Amendment right to freedom of religion and assembly. Clark Waddoups quoted Supreme Court Justice Kennedy, saying that the Constitution provides people with "an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression and certain intimate conduct." Judge Waddoups was also appointed by George W. Bush. Go figure.
And Then There's Us
It seems in hindsight that the collective awareness has indeed cracked open within a relatively short amount of time. Much of what I've just reported is indicative of raising consciousness. What seemed totally impossible just years ago is now a palpable reality. Each of these developments offers some evidence of actual change.
Yet those of us who have been aware of these problems for a while know there is still a long way to go. Fortunately, we are in the midst of an acceleration process indicated by the Uranus-Pluto square.
Awareness is a crucial first step. That's where we are, on the verge of fully recognizing what we know. Many people are observing that an old order is dissolving. Yet for real change to happen, many individuals need to take up the work in a deeply personal way. With awareness comes the need for incredible responsibility; for a kind of impeccability.
New consciousness can start to rise, and then be blocked by old hangups, habits, the fear of change, and other facets of the past weighing on people who say they want to move ahead. Progress requires more than hope and good intentions. There is the reality of the road ahead.
Those who have already treaded the path of real change for a while know how deep and dark the journey is; how uncomfortable; the extent to which any seemingly outer issue must be embraced as an inner reality in order for actual change to come. We know how much therapy, spiritual work, and experience it can take to unravel deeply ingrained patterns.
It is challenging to take that kind of responsibility and do something about what we feel and see; it's much easier to stand in dumbfounded paralysis, completely shocked and desensitized, or to entertain ourselves to death, watching events unfold like a circus. How we respond is ultimately a personal choice. And the moment of decision is arriving.
Additional research and writing: Hillary Conary, Elizabeth Michaud, Len Wallick, and Chad Woodward.
