“A hard rain is gonna
fall,” sang Bob Dylan over 40 years ago. “I heard the sound of thunder
that roared out a warning; I heard the roar of a wave that could drown
the whole world…and I’ll reflect from the mountain so all souls can see
it.” This song is eerily prophetic today, as we reflect on the “hard
rain” brought by recent hurricanes, flooding, and forest fires in the
U.S., flooding in Guatemala, and the devastating earthquake in South
Asia that killed more than 54,000 people. Our hearts go out to all those
suffering from these disasters.
The winds of change are
blowing fiercely in the southern United States today, as the hurricanes
reveal poverty, racism, neglect of environmental eco-systems, and our
vulnerability to oil dependency. As we wrote in our article on Katrina
last month, the hurricane was a spiritual wake-up call to highlight
significant issues Americans need to address today. Clearly the disaster
is revealing the consequences of our denial about environmental problems,
and also revealing the huge racial and social divisions still festering in
our nation that need to be healed. Katrina, hitting the Gulf states,
helped us see the huge “gulf” or gap between rich and poor people there.
Hurricanes, earthquakes
and other natural disasters are expressions of Divine purpose, as the
forces of nature are always in alignment with God’s will, unlike humans
who have free will to align with Divine purpose or not. As humanity, we
co-create with the forces of nature and so can change the location and
severity of hurricanes or earthquakes by our thoughts and our prayers.
That’s why meteorologists can’t accurately predict the hurricane’s path or
strength, and why geologists can’t predict the date or exact epicenter of
earthquakes.
Fortunately, the ill
effects of Hurricane Rita may have been lessened moment by moment by the
prayers, thoughts and feelings of many people in the area and around the
world. Many people in Hurricane Rita’s expected path in Texas who were
interviewed on the news spoke about praying to God to lessen the
hurricane’s effect.
National Karma
Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita acted like agents of national karma in the Gulf area, which was
hardest hit. This is where the mighty Mississippi carries the rivers of
the heartland of America, flowing down through the whole country and
emptying in the Gulf area. Perhaps the blessing of this experience may be
found in how the hurricanes are shaking loose all the rigid, traditional
and stuck energy in the South.
One of the karmic
aspects of these hurricanes relates to oil, as the whole U.S. Gulf area is
a major area for the production, refining and shipping of oil. The karma
was created by America’s over-consumption of oil at home and our
exploitation of it around the world, regardless of the negative effects on
other countries and people. Now our karma of aggression in the Gulf states
of the Middle East has come home to roost in our own Gulf states, as oil
production and refining has been badly hit and oil prices have risen
dramatically.
The hurricanes showed us
that the U.S. cannot be isolated from the world--as we often try to be—as
sooner or later outside energy will come to our shores. The hurricane may
have embodied some of the fury that people around the world feel towards
the U.S. and its military actions related to oil--regardless of public
statements about establishing democracy, etc. This is part of a great
national cleansing and opportunity for soul-searching that our nation will
be facing in the near future, as the hurricanes will have a big economic
impact on our nation.
There is also a cleansing of some old karma of
slavery and racism, which has been stuck in the Gulf region and needs to
be brought into the national spot light. In 1989, for example, David Duke,
a member of the racist Ku Klux Klan, ran for State Legislature in Matarie,
Louisiana, and stirred up huge conflicts. Just after his contentious
public address in Matarie, a tornado touched down there, but missed all of
the surrounding towns.
The shape of the land in the Gulf area with the mouth
of the Mississippi is very feminine and receptive, so this area may be
receiving a transformational karmic energy and processing for the rest of
the nation. With so much destruction, thousands of people had to move out
of the area, providing a great lesson in detachment from homes,
possessions, and even relatives and friends. Ironically, the new Homeland
Security Agency was created after 9/11 to make Americans feel safer about
terrorists, but now there’s little “homeland security” as the weather is
bringing new threats and bureaucratic manipulations and ineptitude have
eroded public confidence in government.
If prayer can be
combined with positive action--such as restoring Gulf area wetlands, as
nature seems to be asking--perhaps a more sustainable culture can be built
on the ruins of the old.
