The Light Has Gone Out

Photo by ^@^ina

Excerpt from Witnessing the End of an Era by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

A light in the inner world that gave meaning and spiritual sustenance to our souls and to the whole world has been going out. And it is now extinguished. Something that for millennia was central to the inner life has gone, lost through our greed, and arrogance, our ego-centered power dynamics and forgetfulness of the sacred. We are not just entering an external era of extinction, but an inner dark age. And what is more dangerous is that we do not appear to know it is happening, even though this inner light is fundamental to the well-being of our individual soul and the soul of the world. [...]

However, this does not mean that the light of the Divine, the spiritual light within creation, has gone out. This divine light is present in every cell of creation. Without this light there could be no life, no existence. The whole of creation is like a single light from the Source that goes through a prism and becomes the many colors of existence. But the light of any era is a light that is given to humanity to help it to evolve, and part of our evolution has traditionally been looking after the physical and spiritual well-being of the planet, which we have failed to do. Without this light there can be no collective transformation or evolution, no collective shift in consciousness.

The light of one era can attract the light of the coming era. This is part of mystery of “light upon light”—how light attracts light. There have been indications of this in a gradual reawakening to the interconnectedness of all of creation, a dawning of the consciousness of oneness which is one of the central qualities of the next era. Together with this awareness we have already been given some of the tools and technologies of the new era, such as global connectivity through cell phones and the Internet.

And yet, despite some implementation of “fair trade” and other sustainable practices, the development of “globalization” has just led to more exploitation and corporate greed, rather than values that are in service to the whole. Collectively we have created a greater divide between rich and poor, more ecological destruction, more collective forgetfulness of the sacred. We have placed short-term economic progress above real concern for the planet. And so the light of this past era, rather than transforming into the light of the next era, has gone out.

As a result, at present we cannot welcome in a new era—a shift in our collective consciousness towards oneness and a return to the sacred—because we lack the light, the energy that is needed to make this happen. Although many individuals have embraced this new dimension of consciousness and its awareness of the sacred, this shift has not yet happened to our collective consciousness, to our corporate or political world. It is this collective shift that is needed if we are to restore and rebalance our inner and outer environment.

Read the full Part I and Part II

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You Are Here

“What is power? Power is the ability to define. We the people lost power, since we the people gave it away to those in power.

Make no mistakes, you still have the power: Personal power cannot be given away. If you live to your heart, you have the power to be alive and great.

Live as such.” – Casey Kochmer

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Sinister Shanghai

Letters look much more mysterious and cryptic when you don’t understand them (particularly Chinese). This wall in the back streets of Shanghai whispers of ancient secrets scrawled by hands unknown.

Actually, when I had a friend translate it actually means “Make sure you use toilet paper!” Considering the writing was next to a toilet… that makes sense.

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Monks

It’s my second time in Bangkok (first time was back in 2006). The first thing that hits you is the smell. Vehicle exhaust, sewage, cooking meat, sweating bodies, fermenting fruit… a cacophony of odours. And the monks. I never get tired of the monks.

Surprisingly, it’s much harder to eat vegetarian here than I expected. You’d think in a Buddhist country, meat would be the exception. At a bar one night, a friend’s coworker (who is Thai) asked me why I don’t eat meat. I half-jokingly said “Because I’m Buddhist.” (Which is partially true. My mostly vegetarianism includes a few other reasons). The Thai girl laughed, as if I’d said something nonsensical. “I’m Buddhist too!” she said. “I eat meat.”

Such is the mashup that is Thailand.

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Hong Kong

A quick shot from the road while shooting Breaking Free.

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Burning Man – CORE Project Vancouver

In support of the Burning Man CORE project, I shot this video for the Vancouver regional team. Check out more at Playa Time.

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Honduras

Shots from my latest shoot for “Breaking Free” – an upcoming web-series about expats following their dreams abroad. View the whole Flickr set here

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A Video Introduction To MatadorU

A little piece I whipped together to promote MatadorU – the online media school offering classes in travel writing and travel photography. It’s part of a new crop of videos I just completed shooting in DC and New York. More to come!

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