Pensées Deux

I'm a writer, painter, photographer, videographer, meditator and long-time spiritual seeker. I didn't sit down with the intention of writing this book - I'm an old man who'd put off confronting some major personal fears all my life, then realized the time had come to face them. As I journaled along the way, I began to see parallels with the Christian musings of Pascal's original Pensées. From physical and emotional points of view, humans haven't evolved much over the last six hundred years. But the vast intellectual and psychological tsunami now washing over humanity may be drowning civilization. Some churches are becoming powerful political drivers trying to control at least one nation. Public education is being viewed as a failed enterprise, a costly waste of taxpayer money that could instead be going into more weapons' research (hey, close the schools and you automatically reduce school shootings!). Homelessness is on the rise (ha, just barely beginning). AI is about to take away a million jobs a year. And of course climate change is not just here, but unstoppable, because the will to change has been too weak for too long. The vast majority would rather pin their hopes on benevolent aliens coming to the rescue than face up to the responsible task of figuring out how to work toward better societies. All this turmoil made me examine spirituality with new eyes, and delve deeper into my own development. Bottom line: meditation must be followed with action. Has the time come for swift spiritual evolution to emerge? Does the will exist? And if so, what form will take shape? Is fear the real driver and hope just fantasy, or is there a note of change now sounding in the air?