Apocalypse

I've been really sort of exercising my brain during this vacation. Sort of geeky I know, but I've been finding myself getting caught up into some different topics, which leads to other topics, and inevitably starts to encourage my own theories on things. This all started when I saw this clip from Zeitgeist, which gives an extremely interesting look at religious structure and it's remarkable correlations with astrology. Keep in mind when your watching this though this is from an obviously bias source, but some of the stuff they have to say is very interesting. My Mom then keyed me onto a subject she's been reading about called Noetic Science, which in the most briefest of explanations is: "Advancing the science of consciousness and human experience to serve individual and collective transformation."Some pretty intriguing and hefty stuff here, and could be interpreted to be the actual science of mysticism and basically magic if you will through the study of our brain's and it's unused potential. Needless to say this was already starting to get me thinking about a lot of things. I then received Dan Brown's book: The Lost Symbol, which ironically touches on aspects from both Noetic Sciences and aspects of things discussed in Zeitgeist! While I know it's a work of fiction, there is still a lot of interesting facts in the book relating to both. I now find myself reading The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers. This was actually a suggested reading from friends Alain Stracke and his wife Lynda Reid, which sprang out of conversations I was having with them roughly three weeks ago. While I've only begun to scratch the surface, it's already gone further to encourage some things I've been learning from these other resources, and these all have begun to effect/encourage the way I think about life, religion, beliefs, and even the gaming industry. I HIGHLY recommend looking into some of this stuff, as I've found it to be incredibly interesting and I can certainly see that this won't be ending for me any time soon.

While I have a lot on my mind there were two things I wanted to talk about briefly in this post... First of all the concept of the "Apocalypse," which ironically enough has become quite popular with kids my age (yea I'm still a kid...) and definitely the entertainment industry. You hear many genres now being "Post-Apocalyptic," and typically involve atom bombs, zombies, mutants, and the like. Yet I think you'll find this as interesting as I did... did you know the literal meaning behind the word "Apocalypse" is "lifting of the veil" or "revelation?" This doesn't quite sound like Armageddon to me. The Bible even discusses "revelation at the end of the æon, or age." (please note that even though I'm linking wikipedia right now, this also comes straight from Zeitgeist, The Lost Symbol, and I think it's discussed some in The Power of Myth.) If you watch the clip from Zeitgeist, you realize that the "age" discussed could be the new celestial age of "Aquarius" which we'll be moving out of the age of "Pisces" and into. Brown brings in a few interesting points, and implies that perhaps this pending "Apocalypse" is actually predicting a new age of enlightenment. New revelations that may shake the foundations of the way we think, interpret the world, and live our lives. We are constantly making new leaps and bounds as far as technology is concerned, we can move matter faster than light, we're doing crazy stuff with dark matter, and we're even developing mini-lightsabers for field surgeons... Could break throughs in Noetic Sciences lead to a new age of revelation? Although it's also a good thing to point out that in any age of enlightenment, there will most likely be a "dark age" where people may find themselves different sides. Where innovation meets resistance from those who disagree with it either for religious beliefs or possible other ethical dilemmas. Could this impending Armageddon be a clash between sciences and religion? Who knows? I certainly won't be holding my breath in 2012.

I also wanted to talk a bit about Mythology, and it's possible link with society and even video games... but I've already written quite a bit and perhaps I should read more of "The Power of Myth" before I start going into that tangent :P

I'll finish with this though... as I was driving with my Dad today I began thinking about Montreal. It's funny to think that it has been eight months since I first moved in up there, three apartments, four parking spots, five roommates, two visas, and two jobs... To think now after all this time I finally feel like everything has fit into place. I have a nice apartment, where I can now park my car, I've got a good roommate, I like my job, I've got my visa approved, and I finally have a circle of friends. It's only taken me eight months to sort out my life haha. Yet it finally feels in place, and I couldn't be more excited for 2010. For me it's actually the start for the rest of my life, 2009 was a transition period between college and career, and 2010 marks the official start of my career in a sense. I have nothing but high hopes and positive feelings about this new year. Some great things happened in 2009, but 2010 is going to be better :)

Happy New Years everyone! Let's make 2010 a great one!