It’s a fair question because humankind is arriving at the most critical juncture in its history and shows no sign of taking its heavy foot off the gas or its eye off the rear-view mirror. 2020 showed us that there is perhaps, something slightly the matter and that it might be wise to pull over and have a look under the bonnet. But that’s not our style. We’ve built up such a momentum that even with a tangible sense of the wheels coming off, we just can’t stop. There may be trouble ahead and music to be faced, but we still imagine that if we keep our eyes on the road and our hands upon the wheel it will all somehow go away. 

For all our GPS we have no idea where we are, how we got here or where the tracks of our tears will lead us. But that’s not to say that there isn’t a route map; more that we have forgotten. We are moving so fast and are so close up now that everything appears pixelated. It’s no wonder that we struggle to make any sense of it all. But what if we could see the whole picture? And what if it had been right under our noses all along?

This blog is a couple of things. It’s a wry ramble through our chaotic times. It’s also a commentary on them seen through the lens of a vast planetary cycle of ages called the Yugas, featuring occasional extracts from my forthcoming book. Governed by the cyclical motion of the Solar System, these ages provide the undulating backdrop for all human history. Understood in detail by the sages of ancient India, the theory holds that despite appearances to the contrary, humankind is entering – has entered – a higher age. It’s just that most of us haven’t caught on yet. This blog aims to help us see current events in a larger, anciently new and positive context that may help us not to worry so much! All is going to be well…eventually.

Rooted in high science and writ large across the art and architecture of the ancient world, this knowledge also quietly underpins all the great spiritual traditions. As such, it doesn’t belong to anyone and has no agenda; it just is. As the great Swami Sri Yukteswar observed, it is not a question of belief, but whether or not it is true. Apparently, the universe does not need our opinion – which is just as well. A universe dependent on human consensus hardly bears thinking about. Make the Universe Great Again? I think not. But there is a film in there somewhere. Possibly.

It’s not so much that we need a new story, more that we need to reacquaint ourselves with the old one in a new way. Meanwhile, our crabwise progress makes for ugly, but necessary, viewing. We are in transition – by definition a lengthy, messy business. But we should keep in mind that this not the end of the world – far from it. It’s just the bitter endgame of the Dark Ages. Spring, not winter, is coming.

Meanwhile