Now that we're a couple months into 2012, and less than nine months from the much ballyhooed December 21, 2012, it's time for another shift update. In my world, this topic is so hot that there is now significant information overload. I just returned from the Los Angeles Conscious Life Expo, with around 10,000 in attendance and a huge stable of so-called experts on the shift. I was struck by how much information about this the average person had in their head, while at the same time, not knowing what to do with it, particularly as it pertains to the part we play.

In these circles, people seem to have a basic understanding about a few aspects of the shift.  They understand that the shift is an age of monumental transformation for our world and for us as individuals. And they understand that this is a process, taking place over time, as opposed to a single big-bang event, and this process has begun. The shift is happening, and we're in its midst. People also seem to accept that there is nothing etched in stone about 2012. There is the possibility that our sick world could limp along for a few more years. Or, it could come tumbling down tomorrow. We simply don't know. As for the experts, let's not forget that the New Age is potentially a serious threat to the established order. Like all such mass movements, it is littered with disinformation, which is planted for the express purpose of keeping us off track. Shocking and reprehensible, yes, but a common feature of our world.

I also noticed at the Expo that most people seemed to lump all the experts together, and assume they were saying more or less the same thing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is particularly true for the difference between the New Age perspective, as expressed by so many white folks, and the indigenous perspective, such as the Maya and the Native American traditions. Over the last few years, I have been blessed to experience the indigenous perspective directly through my association with Mayan Wisdom Keeper Tata Erick Gonzalez and the community he founded and leads, Earth Peoples United (www.earthpeoplesunited.org). Understanding these differences can be very helpful in understanding the true meaning of the shift, and most importantly, what we are called upon to do at this momentous time.

One major difference is the indigenous understand that this is not about us. In most cases, the message of the New Age folks focuses on helping people achieve the life they desire, including health, happiness, personal empowerment and manifesting prosperity in hard times. In short, it's all about us. We come first. This is a tragic error, and one of the reasons why our culture cannot sustain itself. The indigenous understand that we are not the most important thing in the world. We are but one part in a much larger web of life, in which everything is energetically connected to everything else, and every part shares energy for the purpose of serving the whole. Our top priority, then, must be to serve the web of life. Everything meaningful that we manifest in this world springs from this. And if we are going to co-create the new Earth at this critical time, this must be the primary source of our power.

Another key difference is how they view the transformation, or the collapse, of the old paradigm world. Everybody pays lip service to the fact that our old paradigm world is unsustainable, and that it is destroying the very environment humans need to survive. Again, this is where agreement ends. The difference here is between a soft landing and a hard landing (crash) for the collapsing old paradigm. In the New Age rhetoric, there is much more of a loyalty to our old paradigm world, and the assumption that much of this will make it through the transformation unscathed.Like Y2K, the shift will come and go, and there will be change, but things will continue on much as they are.

With the indigenous, there are no such loyalties. They see white civilization as a force that has plundered the Earth since its beginning, and with an agenda to exterminate all indigenous people and their spirituality. They see the old paradigm as fundamentally out of balance and rotten to its core because it has lost its connection with the web of life and lost its connection with spirit. In order to change, this world must be completely overhauled. This begins with its people, one at a time, awakening to their magical heritage as spiritual beings, and making the commitment to live that way. The indigenous also have an understanding of the true history of our planet, and that civilizations have been coming and going for far longer than our recorded history tells us. After all, Atlantis is now at the bottom of the ocean, and it's not unthinkable that our world could face a similar fate.

So many of the New Age folks know so much about the shift, as in facts, dates, predictions and alignments. Yet, they know so little because this is not knowledge applied. It has become a head game, for the purpose of entertainment and distraction. With the indigenous, this same knowledge is a call to action. They know that the time has come for the correction of the imbalances of our world. For a spiritual warrior, this means one thing. We must prepare - prepare ourselves physically by reassuming complete responsibility for our own lives, and prepare ourselves spiritually through our prayers and ceremonies.

The New Age folks are waiting for something to happen, and acting like they hope it won't because they're not doing anything, except talk. The indigenous aren't waiting for something to happen, but rather playing their part in making it happen. If we are to persevere in this great challenge, and co-create the new Earth, we must follow the lead of the indigenous, and prepare ourselves to play our part in reconnecting with the web of life.

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