Difficult Times Ahead

Caution - Difficult times aheadI have been trying to write about the book The Great Waves of Change: Navigating the Difficult Times Ahead, by trying to compare it with other books written in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, which predicted global catastrophic events.  While The Great Waves of Change has some similarities to these books, it has some crucial differences as well.  I believe a succinct way of describing this book would be to share my Amazon review, with some additional commentary [in brackets].

The Most Upbeat Book Of Impending Global Catastrophe You’ll Ever Read, November 12, 2010

Marshall Summers has been in the “channeled material” space long enough for it to be cool in the 80’s, out of favor in the 90’s and back in favor in the 00’s. So it would not be unreasonable to say this book is like The Secret in that both books are channeled material, and channeled material with which the authors are intimately familiar. This book isn’t like The Secret in that the subject matter is very different.
Fulfilling your desires will seem awfully shallow in the difficult times ahead
[The Secret has attained phenomenal cultural success by telling people how to get things they want by leveraging the law of attraction.  It’s going to seem very shallow to work on fulfilling your desires in the face of the difficult times ahead.]
This book predicts global, wrenching, catastrophic change that no one will be able to run away from or hide from. So it would not be unreasonable to say this book is like An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, only worse, because it predicts catastrophic global warming regardless of what measures are taken. Some people will read this book and believe it unquestionably endorses the idea of anthropogenic global warming, while others will read it and just see global warming without mentioning a specific cause. This book isn’t like An Inconvenient Truth in that it addresses other subjects as well.
Global warming, anthropogenic or not, is part of the difficult times ahead
This book predicts steep declines in the availability of resources we’ve taken for granted, and steep increases in the price of everything as a result. So it would not be unreasonable to say this book is like Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage (New Edition) except that it not only talks about shortages of energy, but fresh water and arable land as well.
M. King Hubbert predicted declining oil production would lead to difficult times ahead
[I ask my children if they’ve heard of M. King Hubbert, and they say “Oh, he’s that guy who started Scientology, right?”  No, that’s L. Ron Hubbard.  M. King Hubbert (1903 – 1989) was a geologist who focused on the science related to the extraction of petroleum.  He was the first person to scientifically consider the possibility of a peak to global oil production.  Don’t answer this question now, but ask yourself “How will the price of a Big Mac change if the price of a barrel of oil were to, say, double?”]
This book predicts an attempt by extraterrestrials to secure control of our world’s resources by presenting themselves as noble saviors or ancestors of humankind. So it would not be unreasonable to say this book is like the television series Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict – Season 1 except that the Taelons aren’t gray with big black eyes, they don’t abduct people, and they’re not engaged in an interbreeding program.
Humanity will be visibly visited in the difficult times ahead
[I consider this part of the book to be the part with which people have the greatest difficulty.  But given the explosion of information regarding exoplanets (planets outside our solar system), is this idea as implausible as it once was?]
This book provides intermediate recommendations for lifestyle changes, but this book’s ultimate answer for everything is the cultivation of Knowledge, a central technical term for this book. It goes into great detail as to what Knowledge is and isn’t, and says something about Knowledge on just about every page. Knowledge in this book is a Big Deal, what Hindus might call the Self, what Christians might call the Mind of Christ. A promise is made that if you cultivate a vital relationship with Knowledge, you’ll be a much stronger, more self-sufficient, more magnanimous, more helpful person in the face of the abovementioned wrenching changes, which would be a very good thing indeed.
[This blog describes my engagement, and Alisa’s engagement, with Knowledge.  This blog describes what is happening as we study Steps to Knowledge.  There’s going to be a lot of judging, blame-shifting, recrimination, hand-wringing and finger-pointing in the difficult times ahead, none of which will be helpful.  Becoming a person who doesn’t indulge in these things is a definite upstat.]
While it seems like this book is full of gloom and doom, it actually projects a possible future for mankind where Earth is a member of the Greater Community of Worlds, a self-sufficient, sustainable race with its sovereignty intact. That’s why I gave the review this title. The worst possible outcome is that humanity ends up like the Jem’Hadar of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Series, an enslaved client race of another world.
The Jem'Hadar is a possible future for humanity in the difficult times ahead
[Ok, ok, I’m not saying we’re going to get all scaly like this guy.  The Jem’Hadar of DS9 were genetically engineered to be addicted to a certain drug, and thus were controlled by the makers/providers of this drug.  Mock if you will, but is this all that different from the aboriginal north Americans who were encouraged to consume alcoholic beverages?]
My only complaint (and it is a small one) is that a cynical person might read this book and say “Whoa, this book is one big shameless plug for Steps to Knowledge: The Book of Inner Knowing : Spiritual Preparation for an Emerging World (New Knowledge Library), The Allies of Humanity: Book 1, and Marshall’s other books.” Somewhere it should be mentioned that multiple first chapters of Marshall’s books are available at his website, and that all of Steps to Knowledge is currently downloadable to head off that cynicism at the pass. I didn’t consider that a big enough complaint to withhold the fifth star.
[Between the time I wrote this review and now, the Society for the New Message from God started giving away e-versions of the Great Waves of Change, so it’s clearly not about making a buck.]
Are the predictions true? That’s hard to say, because there is very little timeline given. Multiple decades, less than a century. But the signs of difficult times to come are not too hard to see. “Become a better person for the hard times to come” is generally good advice. Will Knowledge deliver on the mighty promises Marshall Summers makes on its behalf? I suppose we’ll find out in the years to come.
[I consider the flooding in Queensland, Australia, the Fukushima earthquake/tsunami, the 500-year flooding in Europe, the recent flood in Colorado, and the recent flood in eastern Russia to be signs of the difficult times ahead.]

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