It’s 4:30 in the morning and I’m awoken by a cavalcade of alarms meant to wake the 30 or so people I found myself sharing a room with in a tiny village deep in the heart of the Yucatan.

I am reminded that it’s December 21st and a meditation is occurring at 5:11 am for the beginning of the new time cycle as calculated by the ancient Mayans. I quickly get together everything I brought with me to Mexico and join the group meditation.

With my hands grasping a candle and my eyes closed I allow all thoughts to dissolve from my mind (which at that moment are few since I just woke up not too much earlier). Deep into my inner path to outer space a droning sound comes into my field of awareness. Ommmmm…

Photo: By Anatoly Bisinbaev

Suddenly I feel a wave of energy streaming through my being—is this the long-awaited ‘shift’ I was hearing about? Shift or not, the intensity of the experience is something that was undeniable to me and I synched into harmony with it in hopes it would profoundly change me from that point forward. It did. However, I would come to actually solidify this realization once I journeyed to Chichen Itza two hours later and found myself in front of El Castillo, the famed Mayan pyramid.

The experience cannot be accurately described in words but one sticks up above the rest in my mind: inspiration.

Being surrounded by people adorned in white singing, dancing, meditating and celebrating I had a rush of emotions within me that made me feel convinced that even if there is no shift brought on by macrocosmic forces, we as human beings have the willpower and determination to become agents of a positive change for society and all the systems therein. We, as one human family have the ability to safeguard and live in harmony with the one habitable environment we have, for the benefit of our present humanity and all the possible future generations it will give life to.

There is no need to dis-empower ourselves by looking for saviors. We are the ones we have been waiting for, as the saying goes. Instead of looking externally for guidance let’s use the ultra-powerful tool of meditation to look within for the answers. Once we cut through the noise we can get to the signal and use it as our guide. Siddhartha didn’t become the Buddha by reading books or following gurus; he took the inner path to realized enlightenment.

Now that the long-awaited Mayan end date has come and gone I can see peoples’ attitudes (particularly in the spiritual community) shift away from wishful thinking that external forces will save us from ourselves or take us to the next step in our collective evolution. With 2012 being the last significantly focused on end date of an ancient time cycle, we can finally focus on creating the sort of society/world/future we previously placed within the realm of fantasy barring macrocosmic influence and guidance.

As I looked upon the majestic pyramid before me deep within the Yucatan I got the sudden urge to go over the fence blocking it off from tourists and directly connect to this ancient powerhouse. When I placed my hands on its base and closed my eyes what I felt was extrasensory. An intense sensation began vibrating through my palms no less than a minute after I began streamlining with the conscious holographic information processor we call the universe through that ancient Mayan conduit. As this feeling slowly crept up my arms I could feel a transfer, a download occurring.

Fully embracing what was happening I lost all sense of the external world until I felt something on my shoulder that brought me back into reality. A man with the Chichen Itza patrol told me in his native tongue I couldn’t touch the pyramid. I apologized and stepped away, taking with me something whose impact I still feel to this day. Accomplishing what I came down to the Mayan pyramids to do, I felt satisfied that I did my part in what should be a collective effort where each one of us is a beacon of light bringing out our best and the best in others.

If we wish to see a world 10, 20 or 50 years into a future that we are not only proud of but one that surpasses our highest expectations we have to sow the seeds that will spring forth that future. An enlightened society isn’t going to pop into existence spontaneously. Waiting for a dimensional shift, second coming or enlightened aliens will not improve the state of our environment, culture, society and other areas that have looming issues. If there is just one thing that we can take away from 12.21.12 or any other perceived end date, let it be that we are the ones that define what our world is like. We can live in cooperative unity or antagonistic division.

Let’s let go of petty differences and selfish desires destroying our planet and quality of life to work together towards mending our world. Our task is great but it’s not impossible. Are you going to be a part of the change or will you sit on the sidelines? The choice is ultimately yours but keep in mind the tremendously positive power we as humans have when we work together towards a common cause. We are climbing up a mountain and with each others’ help we can reach the summit.

Paul Lenda is a conscious evolution guide, author of The Creation of a Consciousness Shift, intentional evolutionary & celebrator of life that wishes to provide an integral role in the positive social transformation of humanity. With a natural craving and passion for knowledge, Paul has developed an extensive background in the spiritual & transformative aspects of life that is both knowledge and experience-based and has spent countless hours studying various belief systems and philosophies in order to develop it. Visit his website at http://shift.is. ~ Assistant Editor: Malin Bergman

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