February 2002

Dear Readers: Many of your questions and concerns have found their way onto my desk as well as into my heart. I do my best to submit as many of these as I can to what I call Gaia's In-Basket. Typically, a central theme or concern can be noted on a month to month basis. Not surprisingly, we are currently concerned with safety and security, prosperity versus lack, and with an uncertain future on both of local and global proportion. The questions and answers included in this article are excerpts from recent private sessions. They are reprinted here with permission so that many can benefit from what was expressed.

I believe apathy and skepticism are the biggest hurdles we must overcome if we are to not only survive as a species, but thrive in this new century. What do you believe is the biggest challenge currently facing humanity?

Most individuals are not apathetic about their own lives, but they are apathetic about the lives of others because they have not walked in their shoes, and while skepticism certainly reduces possibilities it does not altogether eliminate them. A challenge can also be thought of as a dare, a demand or a provocation. Taken at face value it is something that must be undertaken and surmounted, at times in spite of great odds. Challenges require effort and can be exacting; they often put one's will, character and strength to a test. I see no challenges facing humanity in the new century or beyond it. How can that be when things appear to be falling apart? It is precisely because things are or already have fallen apart that I see no challenges before you. Perhaps it will be easier to explain if we allow the last century to be the one where great challenges were put forth and this century the one where great opportunities are offered.

Challenges are created when one is not certain of the outcome; perhaps the goal will be achieved and perhaps not, perhaps humanity will make it and perhaps not. It is the old game, win vs. lose; the old paradigm. Opportunities by contrast are often put forth as offers rather than dares. An offer can be attained, a challenge merely survived. Opportunities suggest a good chance for win/win and they are indicators of favorable times for advance. This century will offer you more opportunities to experience growth and creativity than ever before. As a species you will have the opportunity to transcend disease and illness, as individuals you will find yourselves in tailor made occupations that support your gifts and talents. As a race of beings you will rediscover the meaning of divinity and behold this in each other, as beings of light you will once again understand personal sovereignty and wisdom. As a planet sunrises and sunsets long forgotten will be rediscovered and the colors of the horizon will appear as never before.

What are the biggest challenges facing humanity? Dismissing the opportunities that are laid at your feet in favor of the challenges that are thrown in your face. How can you tell the difference? Challenges often require a specific or limited outcome, opportunities are unlimited and expansive. Challenges are often issued by a power or authority which ultimately determines the outcome, opportunities are gifts from an unlimited universe and have no expiration date. Challenges are most often governed by physical properties and require the mastering of one's environment, opportunities are supported by physical and non-physical laws where one becomes the partner of one's environment rather than its master. The acceleration currently in effect will make certain that you become aware of the new opportunities. Perhaps you will lay down the old and tired challenges prior to embracing them.

In a recent article you mentioned the continuing instability of the world's financial markets. While this is not surprising given current events, I cannot help but want to know more especially as my career income is heavily invested in many business sectors. Would you please add more details to your previous comments with particular emphasis upon the near future?

I will answer your question in the detail that your mind craves yet know that my answer is directed to the center of your being where creativity is not shadowed by fear and security and well-being maintain equilibrium. Your prosperity and that of others is generated because of or in spite of the world around you. Your income is not generated by your investments in the stock market regardless of the sectors you have chosen, it is generated by your choice to receive just compensation, abundance, and prosperity. These decisions are separate from the entity called Stock Market. The stock market rises and falls because the will of humanity rises and falls in regard to what it will keep,what it will share and what it does or does not feel it deserves. It is artificially regulated and manipulated to suit the desires of the few rather than the needs of the many. The world financial markets need not fall or crash in order to be transformed, yet humanity has often chosen to dismantle rather than to recreate or reinvent. 2002 - The world's financial markets will continue their ups and downs. Talk of economic recovery will continue even as more burdens are placed upon the consumer. Modest gains will be posted in certain sectors while others post significant losses. These will be downplayed as insignificant indicators. Those who are unable to discern market conditions for themselves are advised to align with those who can or withdraw with little or no penalty as the stakes will begin to increase. The first public rumblings of wanting to make a difference with one's investments will be heard. The financial markets will take silent note of this and begin to make small adjustments to accommodate this small but growing sector. Returns on these investments will be marginal yet their impact will still be felt.

2003 - All sectors in all forms of investments will show more peaks and valleys than ever before. Pundits and analysts alike will be left scrambling to find credibility with their followers. Predictions of economic recovery and growth will continue even when the facts do not support this. Consumers and investors will be encouraged to participate in newly created stimulus programs; not a market for the faint hearted or those easily swayed by promises that sound too good to be true. Those with substantial money and/or equity investments will look to the long term for returns previously considered short term. Pundits will continue to predict more peaks than valleys. Investments between private parties (unprotected and unregulated) will be on the rise. Gains in these investments will promote their popularity; losses will at first not be posted. The government will be watching these closely and will want its share regardless of whether or not a gain is posted. In other words, one will have to pay to play. Various ventures based upon a pyramid structure will be on a significant rise as loopholes making them legitimate are discovered and employed. The governing bodies will turn a blind eye to these temporarily as their gains will be looked upon as stimulating local economies. Other measures of investment growth will be proposed beyond the DOW and the NASDAQ. These will become popular especially with young adults and novice investors who will more easily understand the new system. Measures such as Gross Domestic Product, Unemployment, and others will be downplayed or abandoned so as not to alert the masses as to the precarious economic outlook presented.

2004 - A difficult year for many. Past predictions of economic recovery will falter and ultimately unravel. All markets and all economies will seem to be in "retrograde." Continuing to redefine one's priorities as well as investments will be of utmost importance to those who have already begun the process. For those who have not, it may be too little and too late to turn it all around without coming face to face with one's own shadow(s). World economies will begin to turn away from ruling parties as they look to other means of leadership. The United States will lose some friends and allies and make a greater point of seeking out others in order to maintain power and popularity. This will find only moderate success. It will attempt to strategically ally itself in markets previously discounted or ignored altogether. The balance of power in the world will begin to shift.

2005 - A year of defining and redefining. Decisions based upon past experiences or generalities will be challenged. Wrong turns or dead ends will feel exaggerated and exasperating. A good time to abandon the past in favor of the present. Best to invest in oneself than in others. Faith in government and its promises will be at an all time low. Most banking transactions will take place via data transmissions of one form or another. As less paper money is circulated banking in financial institutions will fall out of favor and be superfluous for the most part. It will become apparent that true power is not held in institutions or corporations, but in those who stand and/or hide behind them. The consume will no longer be able to drive the economy and a sub-economy will develop; black markets will thrive.

It is important that each one who receives these words do so by opening their eyes and their hearts. Each thought and decision includes a way in, a way out, and a way through. An investment in oneself is also one in your economy for how can your economy grow if you do not? All that falls away will be rebuilt, but by who and when? This only humanity can decide. Begin now by putting personal programs into place that will support you today, tomorrow and beyond. If your programs support you but not your neighbor, perhaps they can be given more consideration. Look deeper than ever before to discover who and what you are. What will you place your faith in or on? Must your prosperity take solid form? How and where do you carry it, place it, invest it, trust it? Invest in your heart, in mine, and in humanity's and poverty and lack will become of the past.

Has your position regarding human consumption of animal protein changed over the years given the significant increase in the use of hormones, pesticides, contaminants such as E. Coli and Salmonella, as well as Mad Cow and Hoof and Mouth Disease?

My position has been and continues to be that of allowing humanity and all other beings to choose for themselves. Those who subscribe to the Vegan fare can be as healthy as those who consume animal proteins and vice-versa given a balanced lifestyle. Health and wellness are determined by one's whole environment rather than its fragments or parts. What one consumes is only one of many contributory aspects of wellness. A Vegan in a stressful life condition is not more healthful than a non-stressed meat-eater, do you see?

My position regarding how game animals are raised, slaughtered and processed has also not changed, it is disrespectful in thought, deed and action. It does not support the longevity of animal or human alike. Divine intelligence at work within and without each species has led to the continual survival of all species, but while divine intelligence may contribute to survival it does not guarantee health. Diseases are on the rise because inter and intra species cooperation between various species has been declining. The link or web that connects all things has become frayed and is quickly unraveling.

Let us say for example that a large quantity of animals are placed in a small pen. Almost instantaneously, each animal regardless of species will receive information (knowing) from one another via a network which exists between same species and the intelligence that connects it to all species. This intelligence network may for instance communicate the relative lifespan of the holding pen they are in relative to the species placed in it. In other words, they understand one another on a level that exists beyond individual conscious awareness. This understanding includes the knowledge that the species or the individual has been raised for human consumption. This knowledge itself does not create fear within the individual or within the species as life and death are understood to be transitory states of consciousness. Disease is born of distrust and of poor life condition; it is born when ignorance of, by, and against a species in present. Disease within one species will mean the same for the next, it cannot be otherwise.

Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and other plant based consumables are no different; only their appearance belies this fact. The same intelligence network as in the small pen exists within fields and across acres. Plants are aware that upon maturation they will be hauled up, packaged, and sent away. Divine intelligence tells them when they will be abandoned to chemical infestation and many will release what vitamins would have been stored within them prior to this experience. It is their natural response given the same breakdown within the species. An organic garden is still subject to the energies carried and created by those who manage and care for the land, therefore as you can see, the relationship between sentience species and kingdoms is both sacred and precarious.

How does one ensure good health given the scenario presented here? By discovering and maintaining balance whenever possible, by offering a moment's divine grace prior to consuming what appears on one's plate, by becoming a part of the intelligence network that exists within and between all species and all things. If you speak to the house plant you water, will you do less for the carrot you consume? If you doubt this, speak and/or listen to the vegetables and fruits upon the stands at your local grocery store. See if they do not have a tale to tell. Notice which ones will fall off the shelves that they might roll over to you. Create or renew your relationship with your food sources. Bless them, honor them, toast to their good health and you will see that they will do the same for you.

Pardon me for saying what others must be thinking, but given the wonderful channels, psychics, healers and other planetary visionaries around the globe, why were there no predictions or warnings regarding the events of September 11, 2001?

Because the collective consciousness of humanity chose to physicalize this experience; to make it real. Humanity (you) is calling the shots, even when it does not appear to be so and even when they seem to take place from behind the scenes. This attack as it is being called, lies at one end of the spectrum collectively called, "wake up calls,"albeit at the opposite end of what many would desire. This spectrum carries and disperses wave or light frequency bands. Each of these bands is capable of producing an infinite amount and variety of frequencies (experiences) in response to what humanity's collective conscious chooses to create or call forth. The scientific and mathematic theories that comprise this spectrum would dazzle your mind, but in the end the reality would still be the same: Think it and you create its possibility; generate enough interest in it and you make it real. It really is that simple.

In that instant, the collective consciousness of humanity chose to experience fear, dread and hate first hand and the frequency wave band acquiesced. In the moment prior to that choice being made, collective consciousness was still divided with some interested in love and peace and others preferring to experience or play out fear and other unfinished or unexperienced emotions.

Regarding your question, why did anyone not predict this event, the answer is two-fold. The event was seen ahead of time by exactly 27 different individuals. Of these, 19 believed that they were mistaken or had dreamt the experienced. Why? Because their experience was tied to a possible time line, a thread which they followed for a short time and then abandoned in favor of a more interesting or positive time line. The experience is similar to weaving a dream sequence to a specific outcome prior to awakening. These 19 individuals were not what you would call world visionaries, they were not psychics, channels or what you would call gifted. By your standards they would be considered quite ordinary, in fact, one was a child of seven and another a fifteen year old adolescent. Who would believe these individuals if they had stepped forward, would you? Even if you did believe them, what would you do? These same questions were considered and then silenced by these individuals.

Six other individuals saw in great detail all that was later witnessed on your television screens. They cried out upon receiving these visions and bitter tears followed. Strangely they did not curse others for what was to occur but themselves for having or creating the vision. One believed (and still does) that he brought the experience to bear upon the rest of humanity for his own poor choices (sins) of the past. Another spoke out quickly, deeply and loudly. He wasted no time in alerting as many authorities as would listen. He and his family (of middle-eastern descent) are currently being investigated as possible accomplices. The intent here is not to offer the reader a play by play account of the individual thought processes of those with gifts to perceive what most do not, rather it is to broaden perspectives so that humanity will accommodate and honor the gifts that each carry. What today is called a gift will soon be second nature to all humanity. All will choose consciously and from the heart so that unfortunate surprises of this nature become obsolete.

Perhaps the question remaining is, how can humanity reach a mass consciousness that exists beyond the choices made on September 11, 2001? The answer rests within the evolutionary soul of the individual and the race. The evolutionary soul (enlightened heart and mind) does not require great armies or weapons of mass destruction, do you? The evolutionary (ascended) soul does not require that rules be monitored by law enforcement officials, do you? The evolutionary (tranquil) soul does not need to hunt another being or to invade the shores of another country near or far, do you? The muddied waters will soon wash themselves of the old, tired, and bloody ways. When the waters run clean again so will humanity's consciousness be clear and uplifted.

Our recent bout with aggression and terrorism seems to have contributed to a significant loss of freedom and liberty. Is humanity going in the direction of a 'One World Order'? If so, is this inevitable or can it be avoided? If it can be avoided, what can I do to help?

An excellent question although the answer is both yes and no and may feel somewhat unsatisfactory. Humanity craves freedom in the same way that an adolescent wishes to be free from the control of its parents. But the same adolescent is not often prepared to face the challenges that independence will bring. If the adolescent has not yet refined his or her leadership qualities there will be less of a desire to lead, create or empower. The natural choice for this individual will be to follow rather than to lead. Because of this he or she will not notice a sacrifice or reduction in freedom, the individual will still be celebrating the emancipation from his or her parental guardians. The same is true of humanity for the most part and especially true of those who make their home in North America, the United States. This country has been celebrating its independence from its parental source for more than two hundred years. The true power of this nation rests as with all others, in its natural resources of which its population is one. When its true leaders arise, the current adolescent ones which test the wills of many and play at games of war will retire.

There is an aspect of humanity that does not mind following rather than leading. Leadership requires responsibility and the shoulders of humanity already burn from responsibilities and burdens. For many a 'One World Order' is seen as just that, order out of chaos, leadership by the strongest and the most fit, protection of life and property. Long ago there were many kingdoms and many chose to live near these kingdoms that they would enjoy the protection of the king. Others moved farther away, choosing less protection and greater vulnerability to external circumstances, as well as independence and freedom. It will be the same in your time, some will choose to move further away from the kingdom, physically or otherwise. One can move away from the kingdom by changing a mind set or an emotional stance of the heart. The rigors and demands of everyday life may not always allow a physical relocation.

Soon there will be a great separation of the peoples, not only by divisions of countries as you see before you today, but by the divisions of the heart and the passions that fuel them. Upon one time the United States knew a division of its northern and southern states, now it will be with the north and south poles within humanity as polarity makes its inevitable exodus to the center where balance will be restored. What can you do for yourself and for others in this regard? Find the center point within your being and explore it to its fullest. The center point lies just between love and hate, just beneath apathy and cynicism, just above prejudice and betrayal, just to the side of judgment and fear. It exists within your heart and beyond it as well. Explore it with the wonder and audacity of a child. Breathe life into it and awaken the dormant passions imprisoned long ago. This is where your courage to dream is born. The fountain of youth and the pinnacle of joy both exist here. Discover what you truly seek and then assist others to do the same.

Allow others to have their own experiences without sharing in them, encouraging them or negating them. Allow your beingness to rest alongside that of all humanity and all possibility. Embrace peace, sovereignty, love and life for all beings in all places; a radical procedure given today's events but one that continues to show great promise. Honor those who make choices unlike your own. Their choices are made in ignorance or distress, not in good or evil. If you subject them to a polarity judgment you do the same with yourself thus removing yourself from the center. Even temporarily, is it worth it?

Sovereignty, (the natural experience of freedom) that which humanity endears itself to will not easily be wrested from it. Errant children are often led away by the hand of the parent and adolescents often give way to the word of authority. In adulthood, authority often imposes chains and these will now be broken. Do not battle the decisions that others make or what is paraded before you by the media for both are illusion. What is put to you in error set to right within your heart then set it free. From what you see and experience take only the best, care for it and cultivate it in within your heart as would do one who carries a most sacred root which must be planted anew for that is indeed the truth.

Copyright © 2002 Pepper Lewis, The Peaceful Planet