The Paradox of our Time

By Tanis Helliwell 

Our Difficult Questions

With the difficulties that we have been facing in the world these last years I have been giving more and more thought to what will be the same and what will be different in this millenium. What do we want to keep from the last thousand, or ten thousand years, of human evolution, and what is no longer working? Although we can celebrate advances we have made in science and medicine, in human rights and in education, there has been a terrific price to pay both for us as individuals and for our society. I’m an eternal optimist and believe that we are evolving in consciousness as a human race. At the same time I believe that to evolve we need to address the problems that we have created that are out of alignment with divine law.

To that end I would like to share with you a piece that was written by George Carlin. I believe it captures the essence of the issues we need to address.

The Paradox of Our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less Wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but we have less communication.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

The Cure: The Power of Forgiveness

If we wish to commence realigning ourselves to what is important the best place to start is with ourselves. To do this, we can start by forgiving all those who have done us wrong, or whom we have wronged. This includes parents, children, employers, friends. The list goes on. By forgiving others and ourselves, the old no longer holds us.

I’d like to share a personal story about the power of forgiveness I have been renovating my town house, and what the contractor said would take four weeks has taken six months. I’m sure many of you can relate to this situation.

During this process of living in scaffolding and drop sheets with no place to retreat except my bedroom, I have continually been called on to forgive him for not delivering on his promise. I’ve had the opportunity to measure the old Tanis, who would have blown up by now, with the new one who is unbelievably (even to my self-critical eye) patient. One of the things that helped me was to think of all the gifts that he was giving me. One was the gift of patience. Another was compassion for his situation, as his marriage went belly up and his business almost did during this period.

However, the greatest gift was that I became unattached to my home, which up until now has been my sanctuary. I’m so unattached that this three months I’ve rented it out and am house sitting for friends. I was back to see how the tenants were getting on last week and saw first hand that their standards of neatness were much below mine. Whoops. Did I forgot to mention the gift of acceptance and tolerance for other ways of being.

Although I thought I was doing quite well in learning these lessons, a few weeks ago I received a great confirmation, which you must admit sure helps. My accountant from seven years ago wrote me a letter asking me for forgiveness for what he had unknowingly done to my books. This was so long ago I had actually forgotten the situation, but his letter brought it back. Not only that. I realized that his letter was actually a gift from the universe acknowledging that I had done very well—for me that is—in learning that same quality. So here’s a toast to my contractor and my accountant and all those others who have encouraged me to grow as a human being. Cheers.

Tanis Helliwell, a mystic in the modern world, has brought spiritual consciousness into the mainstream for over 30 years. Since childhood, she has seen and heard elementals, angels, and master teachers in higher dimensions. Tanis is the founder of the International Institute for Transformation (IIT), which offers programs to assist individuals to become conscious creators to work with the spiritual laws that govern our world.

Tanis is the author of The High Beings of Hawaii, Summer with the Leprechauns, Pilgrimage with the Leprechauns, Embraced by Love, Manifest Your Soul’s Purpose, Hybrids: So You Think You Are Human and Decoding Your Destiny.

For information on Tanis’ courses, click here.