10 April 2006

The End is Nigh!

I sincerely believe, Ladies and Gentlemen, that we are going to face a tough century. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's the end of the world, but I have a strong gut feeling that I will get to see the world start to kill itself during my lifetime.

Here are some reasons why:
  1. Price of fossil fuels are skyrocketing while supplies are dwindling
  2. Effects of global warming suddenly seem to be nearer than ever (9820 hits on Google News at the moment)
  3. Decline of Religion (killing people because some foreign newspaper drew a comic of your Prophet is never warranted)
  4. Religious Fundamentalism: In order to prevent #3 (Decline of Religion), some religious fanatics are trying to impose religious laws in the form of "morality laws". For multicultural Malaysia, anyone who is not Islam is soon going to be put under Islamic Law anyway. It goes without saying countries like Iran were run by fundamentalists most of the time. Even the United States is having the same problem, where people are trying to make schools teach about "how God created the world" instead of "Evolution resulted in this world".
  5. People are resorting to violence to express dissatisfaction at governments. Sure, this is old news but they just keep popping up one after the other. Just as Thailand is starting its recovery from the peaceful protests, the whole of Nepal erupted into violent protests. Something's terribly queer.
  6. I read about a rape case almost 3 times a week in local newspapers. People's sexual behaviour are slowly becoming primitive again.
  7. China is gearing up to be the next world superpower (goodbye USA). I hope they won't be imposing their conservative ideals of the world. But hey, the world is slowly becoming conservative anyway.
  8. A worldwide epidemic is waiting to occur. Bird flu and SARS (remember that?) are just so eager to wipe humans off this Earth. No one's really talking about HIV anymore, but it's slowly becoming worse too.
I write this post with a very heavy feeling in my heart. I constantly keep track of world affairs, but not once have I been so distraught. I suddenly remembered John Titor. "John who?" you ask?

John Titor is a nickname used by someone who claimed to be a time-traveller from 2034. He made some very specific and interesting predictions about the future (but of course to him, he is just recalling history). There are many websites dedicated to this guy, such as www.johntitor.com and there are also many people who try to claim that he is a fake. You can go to the link provided earlier to read a basic Wikipedia article about him and his predictions, or just do a search on Google. Just in case you have no time, John claimed that World War III is in 2015. And we are going nuclear.

This post makes me look like Chicken Little, going around shouting "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" But unlike him, I am here to tell you that you should start making the world around you a better place. So even if the world crumbles, you are at least happy with the life directly around you.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

All in His time.

Innocent^^Guy said...

This John Titor thing intrigues me. He has some good facts and statement that he made. But he dun have any paper work to prove it. Anyway, I kinda like into him now. I heard that there was a movie but I couldn't find it. There is also another documentary called obsessed and scientific. If you happen to find it, you know what to do..thanx

Anonymous said...

I'm just wondering...

How does the concept of apocalypse fit into buddhist teachings? If the world did end, there will no longer be any rebirth?

Zemien said...

[DISCLAIMER: The following are my own interpretations of the teachings of the Buddha and may not necessarily be totally correct]

The Buddha has clearly stated that life started in many worlds before this, and it will continue beyond this world as well (where we will have, presumably, another Buddha)

Assuming apocalypse happens, we will just bring our karma over to the next world system and the whole process starts over. The switch, I think, may not be immediate.

Since there are about 31 realms of existence ('human life' smack right in the middle) it is possible due to apocalypse that we spend aeons in either the lower half ('hell') or the upper half ('heaven'). But to the Buddha, human existence is better than the highest of heavens because it is only humans who can gain proper enlightenment.

So basically, the answer to your question is, "There will still be rebirth."

Innocent^^Guy said...

so complicated...i like the prefer the "Bleach" explanation. The one using the hourglass thing. Humans at bottom and the Souls at the top. Then wat eva that flows out from the human world goes to the soul world and those that flow out from the sould world goes back to the human world. Because of Quincy's who kills the soul in the human world making them not able to return to the soul world, in the end, balance bcomes unbalance and the world crumbles..hehe ...u are a bleach fan too..revisit the episode where quincy first appear.