As write this, May 21st, 2011 is in it's final hour, and aside from an Icelandic volcano acting up, it seems that the earth and its inhabitants have been spared Judgement Day 2011. The billboard in this picture was posted on tenth avenue and 37th street (thereabouts) in New York City. I discovered it on a walk to that neighborhood last week, however I had been hearing about the impending end of days for about 2 years now. My mother listens to that station (94.7), to a very level-sounding radio evangelist by the name of Harold Camping. Mr.Camping is known for his doomsday predictions - his most recent (and obviously failed) forecast was for an earth-ending cataclysm in 1994.
My mother had not placed much stock in this latest prediction, continuing to listen to the radio station mostly for the traditional hymns and bible readings. But lots of people did. I understand that the above billboard was paid for by a man who liquidated his life savings to warn people about the coming rapture. He was interviewed in Times Square tonight where he kept glancing at his watch saying he didn't understand why nothing happened. Although we are all responsible for our decisions, a surprising number of people are are easily led. Mr.Camping's prediction was couched in such uncompromising language that he attracted a certain type of zealous believer while at the same time repelling more moderate people. If he'd said this event was 'likely' rather than 'certain', I have a feeling that he might have influenced many more people.
This event resonated with me because I am in the process of examining many of my own beliefs, and identifying the influences on my way of thinking - in short, I am trying to drill down to 'me'. In this quest, it is helpful to remember that belief and truth are not the same thing. There is also a need to tease apart belief and opinion. You could say that we present our opinions to the world, but guard our beliefs even from ourselves. I am learning that I don't truly believe some of the things that I profess (all people are basically good), and that I deeply believe some things that I had not up to now acknowledged (some people are just plain bad). I don't know if those things are true, and with further experience its possible that my beliefs may again be revised. Or, maybe they are just opinions.
Seung Sahn, one of my favorite authors, has coined a phrase "Only Don't Know" - meaning that we should always maintain a mind open to all possibilities. Another of my favorite authors, Shunryu Suzuki suggests that we keep a "Beginner's Mind", which means essentially the same thing. Yet a third author, Pema Chodron advises us to become "Comfortable with Uncertainty", which is a similar idea. This way of living requires that we free ourselves of the kind of opinion that often masquerades as belief, and root ourselves instead in the simple beliefs that tend to dovetail with the truth.
Scientists have already predicted the end of earth days - specifically the death of our sun and the resultant darkening ( and freezing) of the earth, leading to the end of life as we know it. That's another five billion years away. Or we could be hit by a meteor. It is all so unknowable that I wonder if it's even useful to harbor a belief in this regard.
I also have to wonder if Harold Camping himself truly believed his own prediction, or was able to grasp its full import. When asked how he would spend this day ( May 21, 2011 - the day he expected all the faithful to be raptured to heaven, including presumably, himself) he replied to the effect that he would spend the day reading the Bible and watching the TV coverage of rapture news from around the world. Which begs the question - was he expecting to be "Left Behind" ?
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