Millenium

The approach of the year 2000 has created a wave of fears for today's technological societies. Large numbers of people are foreseeing disaster upon crisis upon chaos as our computer-oriented societies look toward a numerical nightmare. Some are stockpiling supplies in preparation for a complete breakdown in goods and services; others are buying special programs to ensure the safety of their cyber environment. Still others are prophesying global confusion and taking measures to "hide the money in the mattress" in the face of possible failure of the world-wide money network.

In many ways, modern societies have adopted technology as God. We have become so dependent on the abilities of science and its computerized offspring that our faith in these things is almost absolute. Those of us who do not have the knowledge or expertise to understand the inner workings of technological contrivances accept the "miracles" that they bring us with the same quasi-religious awe our ancestors exhibited at the reports of wonders and magic in tales and songs that spread from village to village with troubadours and traveling clerics. Our spiritual need to understand the workings of our universe is unchanged from Medieval times -- we have merely replaced the priest/magician with the computer genius/theoretical physicist!

The approach of the year 1000 had the people of the time expecting anything and everything -- from the Second Coming of Christ to the appearance of the "Great Beast" and the end of the world. Portents were everywhere as imaginations saw prophecy in the sudden storm or falling star, disaster or glory signaled by eclipse of sun or moon. Darkness threatened more than ever before, and spiritual guidance was sought by everyone; the magical and awful "thousand" was too frightening to withstand alone.

We have the same awe of "thousand" in years as did our ancestors -- there is something so portentous in the idea of a thousand years! Our life spans have lengthened remarkably in the last century, thanks to science and technology (another godlike aspect of these factors in our lives), but we still view time in a subjective way. Seventy or eighty years of life is paltry, compared to a thousand years of history and the incredible multitude of events and discoveries that have occurred. Our fascination with millennia seems to lead us to expect a universal significance to manifest itself in a year with three zeros, with a cosmic upheaval of some sort marking the event!

Since we have begun to answer so many questions about the way the universe ticks via computer technology, we have grown more and more aware of the "unanswerable" -- with all the fear of the unknown which it implies. Our technology functions as a means of alleviating that fear; it becomes the "campfire" around which we huddle when we become afraid of the demons in the dark. The thought of its breakdown and the potential chaos which could result is as terrifying to us as the "end of the world" our ancestors feared.

The Y2K phenomenon has become the topic of conversation and source of fear for the "faithful" of today. We look to government and business to prepare for this threat with the same combination of hope and fear our ancestors felt when they turned to their spiritual leaders for reassurance and help.

We need, as humans, food for the spirit. Our gods have always been protectors, sources of the answers to eternal questions, refuges in times of uncertainty and fear. Faith in something beyond our own small selves seems to be a basic need, which is made even more manifest when we approach a turning point or crossroads as individuals or as a species. When our gods disappoint us, we search for new ones that will offer us a sense of safety in the face of the danger of unknowable future. Technology and science may very well let us down, and we will have to look elsewhere for reassurance and comfort.

We haven't really changed a great deal in the last ten centuries. We have learned many things, invented or discovered faster and easier ways to affect our environment, increased our life spans and found more questions to ask; but we are still children, subject to the fear of the unknown. We still seek a wise Parent who will guide us and protect us until we can face the world on our own. There may well be just as much worry and fear about Y3K and subsequent millennia as they approach - we are, after all, far from being finished with our potential growth!

If we can remember, however, that seeking the unknown with anticipation and delight is one of the most positive aspects of childhood, perhaps we will reach a Y#K that generates joy, instead of fear, and opens the door to a universe of creative maturity and power. When and if we (as a species) arrive at that point in our growth curve, we may well discover that our gods are our selves and the One is the flow of energy that is both source and refuge, the Whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.