THE OLD AND THE NEW MIXING AND MERGING.
Last Friday, thanks to very recent Aquarian technology, an old-world pageant could be watched “in real time” all over the planet, setting people´s imaginations and fantasy in motion. The Romans talked about “panem et circenses” to keep the population satisfied and happy. Give them bread to still their physical hunger, and entertainment to feed their dreams by proxy. Then they won´t cause trouble but leave the rulers to rule as they please.
I am talking about the royal wedding in London between the heir to the throne of England and his chosen life partner. The royal houses of Europe are but a relic from the old paradigm monarchic system. As the tidal waves of the Aquarian Paradigm advanced during the past two and a half centuries, the royals have lost their power and original role. Yet, some of the royal houses have been preserved, purely as form and symbol at the behest of the people.
There are republicans and anarchists who hate the guts of all royals. They would have their heads roll, as they did literally during the French Revolution 222 years ago. But they are clearly a minority.
Personally, I´m convinced that the hate and contempt some republicans and revolutionaries harbor for royalty is all about envy. They envy their apparent wealth and lifestyle. I bet that the day they become republican presidents, they will vastly surpass all old-fashioned royals in hoarding and spending, especially if they succeed in perpetuating their rule, as most democratically elected rulers routinely try to do.
Fresh examples of this are the autocratic rulers now being challenged by young, angry, jobless rebels across North Africa and the Middle East. This is a clear expression of the strong Aquarian wave we are living right now. As predicted more than a year ago in my book PARADIGM PULSE – SENSING THE SURGE OF CHANGE, available as e-book right on this website.
Envy of royalty comes from deep ignorance of what it means to be royal. Especially these days, with “reality show” telescopic cameras following them wherever they go, even into their most private spaces. As you know, “the people have the right to be informed” and it is, after all, the people who call the shots by patronizing the so called pink and yellow media outlets. Well, to be more exact it´s the people´s money that is King. And look: We still use the word “king” to symbolize power. But I can assure you that no European king or queen today has any political power whatsoever left.
Privilege comes at a price. Being royal requires sacrifices that most people would never accept to make. I know I wouldn´t want to. These days all royals live in glassbowls, due to the often misused Aquarian principle of transparency. They have busy schedules being dressed-up, reading or listening to boring speeches, shaking hands, inaugurating events and travelling to tiring meetings. They have to parade false smiles and stick to strict protocols, never able to express what they really think or feel for fear that media will make a major scandal or political issue of it. They are anything but free. A lesser degree of the same problem was one of my own reasons for leaving the diplomatic service after only 7 years. Even though they were very successful years for me personally.
I really admire the royals I know for their attendance to duty and their sense of responsibility. Most of them work very hard at the service of their country. And they did not choose their situation.
So those who envy the royals usually have no idea what it really means – or at least meant – to be royalty. I now say meant, because here a change of paradigm has been slowly occurring during the last thirty or forty years, a generational shift following the powerful Aquarian wave of the 1960s. The younger generations of all European royal families have more and more insisted on living like normal people, and have refused to marry within their rank, traditionally an absolute condition for keeping their titles, privileges and right to inherit the throne.
By refusing to live on the terms of traditional royalty, especially when it comes to marriage, the young generations have introduced the Aquarian Paradigm right into the heart of its polar opposite, their own regal sign of Leo. In doing so, they may have saved royalty for a new role and form in future society by modernizing it and making it more transparent and less hypocritical. Or they have finally doomed it to extinction. Personally, I believe that this rebellion on the part of the younger royals is the ultimate nail in the royal coffin, as we move into definite Aquarian territory. After all, if they do not accept the duties and responsibilities that go with royalty, why should they enjoy its privileges?
Throughout the ages there have been odd princes who fell in love with a commoner, or even a prostitute, and insisted on marrying her. The result was immediate ousting from all royal titles and privileges. As those know who have seen the recent film The King´s Speech, Edward VIII of England had to abdicate to marry a divorced American woman only 74 years ago. Not so any more.
The heir to the throne of every single one of the still existing eight monarchies in Europe (not counting the smaller Principalities), has now married a commoner. In most cases for the first time in history. The wedding between Britain´s Prince William and Kate Middleton the other day is the latest example that confirms this trend.
The most drastic example of these royal “mésalliances” is the Crown Prince and future King of Norway. He insisted on marrying a girl he met in a night-club who had an extra-marital child with a man who was reportedly in jail for a drug-related felony. Even so, their wedding was full royal gala. The other European royal houses, on the face of it, cheered and wished them well. The pageant included the small “natural” son of the future queen participating in the ceremony and waving to the people from his mother´s arm on the palace balcony. The Aquarian Paradigm is indeed changing everything.
That they are deprived of all political power doesn´t mean that today´s royals are without importance. Especially when they remain above all political divisions and strife. They often play a very important psychological, social and commercial role for their countries.
A hereditary head of state functions as a uniting symbol for all his or her “subjects”, whatever political faction or party they favor. He or she can mediate wisely between fighting opponents, and can maintain stability without usurping power in a vacuum between two governments in a political crisis. I say “can”. To what extent this actually happens depends on personal intelligence, wisdom, integrity and diplomatic training.
The argument that royals drain the resources of the country and cost the people untold fortunes in upkeep may be true in third world absolute monarchies that still function as despotic dictatorships. But corrupt presidents of republics spend just as much, or more, whether “democratically elected” or not. However, this is not at all true in the old established European monarchies, in spite of loud claims from a few biased journalists.
The European royals all have their own private family fortunes accumulated over many generations – however unjust that may seem to some – and their spending of public money is closely monitored by press and parliament.
A monarchy saves the enormous cost of presidential election campaigns every four years. And a sitting president hardly costs less tax money during his or her “reign” than a king or queen does. Maybe more. There is a necessity – and a rationale – for spending public money on the head of state, whatever its title.
What I find particularly important is this: An elected head of state is by definition a controversial figure, elected only by a part of the population, however “democratic” this may be. Another part of the population, often almost as large as the winning side, may be strongly opposed to such a head of state. And whichever side wins the draw, the politically elected president can be expected to be as corrupt as they come. Otherwise, he could never be elected with the present system. He or she is not someone the entire population can rally around in times of crisis. Such a president cannot serve as a unifying symbol and empower the people to join forces in a common effort for the common good. In contrast, a non-political, never-to-be-elected national King or Queen who was born and educated for the role, can – and most likely will – serve as a unifying national symbol. As modern history has frequently borne out.
In today´s European constitutional monarchies we see an interesting example of old form and new content mixing and supporting each other in a productive way. This is one of many exmples of how the two competing paradigms mix and merge during the transitional period, for better or worse.
The principle of a neutral and wise head of state, who is above political conflicts and differences, is super-important if we wish to regain some sanity in politics. And it can, at least theoretically, be achieved with even better results without royalty. The difficulty is the selection – not election – process, when it is not automatic through heredity.
Already some 2,400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato proclaimed that a truly good ruler must be an altruistic wise philosopher, uninterested in personal gain. As we well know, very few such individuals have made it to power. And those who did, were usually quickly removed by ruthless self-servers with more material resources. Human nature with its all too common greed for power and money has made such an ideal form of government a rare bird indeed.
Using general elections to elect an ideal ruler has proved a dismal failure. Why? – Because the general population has so far not had enough knowledge and wisdom to know who would be the best person to put in charge, and they are easily duped by clever and dishonest political marketing.
Besides, a wise altruistic philosopher can never even present himself for an election under the present political system. Why, you ask. For the simple reason that even to reach the stage of being nominated as a candidate, he would need to spend millions of dollars. For good reasons most wise philosophers don´t have that kind of money.
It´s true that labor candidates – never to be mistaken for wise philosophers! – have been elected without money of their own. This was made possible through small contributions from masses of members in true Aquarian spirit. More often than not there would have been additional larger contributions from old-paradigm political opportunists who bet on being handsomely rewarded in terms of power and its companion – money -once their candidate was elected, even if they did not share his political ideas. The driving force is always personal material gains of some kind, and the money invested in a political victory never comes without strings attached.
Besides, it´s been rare indeed in real life that a politically elected figure has lived up to the campaign promises that won him the election. Barack Obama is the most recent example of this – and one of the most glaring ones in memory.
As we have seen, it´s impossible to avoid corruption sticking up its ugly head in any political framework under the present system.
When discussing these things, we must not forget that the artificial division of Humanity and Planet Earth into national states, with their divisive, war-generating nationalism and patriotism, is definitely a thing of the old paradigm, and it´s destined to disappear. This does not mean that we have to suffer an old-paradigm global dictatorship imposed by “the New World Order”. Nor does it mean that ethnic and cultural differences will be erased. On the contrary, diversity will become much more respected and honored, as the present divisions based on geophysical, geopolitical and financial divisions go the way of the dodo.
We will have a global network of autonomous local communities as the material foundations of society. (See my Action Plan for Shifting Paradigm. If you haven´t got it already, you can ask for it free of charge on the Contact page of this website.)
The immaterial side of our Aquarian future will express itself through borderless planetary communities based on spiritual ideas and goals. It will all be organic and self-regulatory. No autocratic authorities imposing global rules and restrictions will be tolerated.
So what´s the situation today? What´s different? – One positive difference is that the general population has more access to information than before, and is better educated than ever before. All thanks to the Aquarian Paradigm at work. If this sounds like a good thing, it´s been sabotaged by powerful old-paradigm media monopolies that “cook” or filter the information to suit the vested political and financial interests of their owners or supporters. Which, among other things, means publishing whatever they are being paid handsomely for. This is called “presstitution” by famous forecaster of future trends, Gerald Celente.
What we see here is yet another example of the turbulent waters of the Paradigm Shift, where the old mixes with the new, creating situations never before experienced by Humanity. When the scales are finally going to tip, depends on the weight of active input by the contending parties: The financially powerful global corporations and their old-paradigm oligarchs on one side, and we the people as representatives of the new Aquarian ideas and energies on the other.
What it amounts to is a fight between two different visions of reality: On one side a fragmented crass materialism operating with fierce competition and an outdated doctrine of scarcity. The conviction that whoever does not win, by whatever means, in an eternal struggle, will not survive. And that physical survival – and thrift – is the only thing that matters, because that´s all there is. And, finally, that there is not enough for everybody in a finite world with a growing population, so it´s either me or them. A matter of Life or Death. For me to win, you must lose. For me to survive, you must die.
The opposite Aquarian side in this fight is fast realizing that our existence does not consist of scattered and scarce material particles. Instead, it consists of “Wholes with Souls”, where each Whole has an identity and a purpose, and is created from an invisible matrix of information and energy. Also, it´s far more – and entirely different – than the sum of its material parts.
In addition, the forerunners of the Aquarian Paradigm are conscious of the unlimited abundance of Nature – as long as we stop abusing it and meddling with it – and the boundless potential of our human inventiveness and inherent spiritual resources.
So let´s not be pessimistic, but instead bet on the fast unfolding Aquarian Paradigm as the fertile soil where Plato´s advice can grow into reality, so we finally get the wise leadership, both local and global, that we need and deserve.
If there is awareness, and a will, then there is a way.
Until we meet again next week, take care and – most important – take action!
Yours,
Dr. Jens
