The Great Hunter

The latest tragedy to befall the people of planet Earth is the terrible earthquake that struck Haiti a few days ago (Jan 12 2010). Sadly this happened in one of the poorest countries on the face of the planet. Haiti was ill prepared for this catastrophe, since they have never experienced a quake of this magnitude before, their infrastructure was not equipped to handle this sort of devastation. Many tens of thousands of people are missing and feared dead. Their society has descended into anarchy as all law and order has disappeared. It is a sad state of affairs. This could happen anywhere on Earth, at any time with no warning at all and no rational reason behind it. The clock is ticking for all of us in this funny thing we call life. This truth is put so eloquently by Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan Matus:

"The countless paths one takes in life are all equal, oppressors and oppressed meet at the end and the only thing that prevails is that life was all together too short for both"

Whether we are rich or poor, black or white, Religious or Atheist; death will always find us. We only walk this Earth for a short time, scarcely the blink of an eye, before we are called to leave. That is why we must cherish every moment, the good times, the bad times, they are equally valuable as we continue our journey towards enlightenment. Many people over many lifetimes have had many different conceptions as to what life is and what lies beyond its fragile boundaries. Whatever your personal beliefs may be, there is one thing that most of us can agree on: death is not the end.

Since man first picked up his stone tools in the forgotten ages of prehistory; we have always possessed a keen thirst for knowledge. Fearless pioneers have explored the darkest jungles of human experience and brought back invaluable secrets. Shamans have ventured into other realities seeking answers for the betterment of humanity. Western science has learned to build machines that leave the bonds of earth and fly amongst the stars; and the Internet has opened instant communications across continents. The "progress" of man has seemed to know no bounds. However, lately it seems that the vast majority of our technological pursuits have focused on three things: making life a little longer, making life a little more comfortable and making life shorter for our enemies.


We have lost our way, clinging vainly to life, in constant fear of our own approaching demise. We run away, but we do not know where to run to. Most people put the idea of their own death as far away as possible; perhaps only contemplating their mortality in times of crisis or at the loss of a loved one. It is much easier that way, we can focus on day to day things and the inevitable time of our passing lies somewhere in the distant mists of tomorrow. We think we are immortal most of the time, imagining that death will never find us, that somehow we will be able to escape its clutches. This misconception gives us license to say anything we want, do anything we want, basically permission to act atrociously. There will always be time to make amends, we can always apologize tomorrow for the sins of today we foolishly tell ourselves. But this is not so.

None of us have time for such foolishness anymore, we can no longer afford to continue down our current path toward oblivion. The acceptance of our own death does not mean that one should fall into the dark shadow of despair, fearing each day that it may arrive. It should rather catalyze our spirits to act more responsibly in our daily affairs. Take this chance to shower goodness upon the earth, be the change you want to see in the world. Be present in the moment, not thinking ahead five minutes or to what you ate for breakfast, there is only now. There is no power on Earth that can guarantee you will live for another five minutes.

As we enter this new decade, I see more and more people taking responsibility for being here and for the actions of their lives. No longer should bad behavior be attributed to external forces. The "devil made me do it" mentality is the greatest cop-out in history. Once we begin to stop enabling ourselves, we will start to act better. We will start to heal ourselves from the inside out. This mysterious thing we call Life will eventually end and that is why it is so important to change now. When the Great Hunter finally does arrive, this does not mean the end of consciousness, but the beginning of something new. Give your lost loved ones the love and respect that they deserve, but do not overly mourn them, when you are truly ready, you will be reunited in another time, in another world. A world where suffering and loss are only remembered as quaint oddities of the past. Our souls travel down the long road of creation and our purpose is to learn. Whether it takes us a hundred lifetimes or only a few, we will eventually escape the iron grip of fear and gain the clarity and power needed to transcend the bars of our vibrational prison.