NaturalWealthJournal

Dear Gaye,

This post is rather longer than usual, not least because it has been a while since I have been able to write. I hope, however, that it will be useful for those who are concerned at what might happen in the coming months and years. Many people are predicting doom and gloom. I say that there are huge challenges staring us in the face, but that we all have the answers to them, sitting right inside us.

Our reader makes some interesting points. A lot has been said about the whole 2012 “phenomenon” and although the evidence from the few sources that remain (all too few thanks to the Spanish conquistadores who smashed or burned most of the Mayan records) is very slim, there are plenty of other cultures that have predicted a time of great change – not just for humanity, but for the Earth itself.

Yet change is ever in the air, each moment in time a plethora of decisions being made by every one of the billions of people now alive. Perhaps it will help things if we all remember that each one of our choices, small as they might appear to us, are crucial to the wellbeing of all.

You asked me to talk about the financial climate, so let’s begin with that. Will we see a time of wholescale change on the financial front? I think we will. And I think it will be a change that takes a lot of people by surprise.

Our reader talks of the seismic shift in the foundation of what we call currency. I agree with him. There has to be a re-evaluation, whether profound or pragmatic. Hopefully both.

Let’s look at the pragmatic side briefly. There is no doubt that with the multiple trillions of debt in the countries of the Western World, something will have to give at some point. Right now, in Europe and the USA, interest rates are being kept artificially low, which is good news in the short-term for those who are borrowing. But there is a sting in the tail.

Central banks have been printing money like there’s no tomorrow, gifting it in droves to the financial institutions in the countries they service. They don’t do this without calling in the debt at some point. So you can be sure that there will be a period of interest-rate increases ahead. My guess is that this will come in 2014. When it comes, it will most likely be a quick-fire increase, perhaps even a hyper-inflation that will have a dramatic effect. When interest rates are low, an increase of even half a percent can feel huge to the pockets of ordinary folks.

Beyond that is the wider question of whether currencies can survive at all? Will the US Dollar still exist in five year’s time? Will the Euro collapse, sinking other currencies in the process?

Right now we are in the lull before the storm. In Europe, Greece has managed to stall the disintegration of the Euro with its recent elections. I don’t expect this to last. Greece will not be able to fulfil its promises, nor will Spain or Italy – whose debt is the third largest of any country in the world.

I see a different form of the Euro emerging in the next two years. As some countries default, a smaller group will almost certainly protect what they have. Headed by Germany, these countries will elbow out those they see as a threat to their stability. But I expect the Euro to survive in some shape or form.

As will the dollar. But not as you might know it.

The biggest shock I foresee for Americans is that the already long arm of the Chinese Empire will reach right into the heart of the West, dictating the shots to an extent that will leave many shaking their heads. The toxic debt is simply too great to ever be clawed back by simply trading our way out of trouble. China, with greater assets and more liquidity than any country in the world is ideally placed to capitalize on a system that has brought itself to its own knees through excessive lending.

There are those who think that China has over-stretched and it certainly has been guilty in recent years of emulating the western banks’ excessive lending. But the way of the East has always been very different to that of the West. Where we seek instant solutions, the Eastern way is to play for the long term. Patience is the name of the game.

If you think China might collapse any time soon, take a look at Australia, Africa and South America: all of which are now unofficial colonies of the Land of the Dragon. It’s just that no one is talking about it in the mainstream media. Europe and America will soon follow suit.

The other element to look at is the sheer number of people that the Chinese have at their disposal. Manpower is the crucial resource when it comes to creating an empire and China has more manpower than any other country (India still being behind in other ways).

They are also willing to export this resource because they need more space at home. They work harder and longer than any other people I know. And they will undercut the prices of locals who try to compete with them without a second thought.

All this is a recipe for success; for the Chinese rather than the West, where we have come to expect plenty in return for nothing.

But, can the banking systems survive at all? Yes is the answer, but only if the fiat currencies that they currently use are replaced by something “real”: which means returning to the gold standard or devaluing them by subtler means.

As a matter of fact, the governments of USA and Europe are already doing all they can to devalue their currencies without anyone noticing. If they can drive their currency rates close to parity with the price of gold, they will be able to make the transition more easily. Watch this space, as they say.

Opening things even wider, I believe we are undergoing a re-evaluation of what we, the common people, think currency is. It is more than just money, that’s for sure.

Health, Wealth, Spirit, Love and Self Expression are all forms of currency and it feels to me as though the tipping point is coming when enough people begin to remember this. When times are hard, we fall back on things that we truly value, such as love, friendship, connection. And times are going to get “harder.” So, a shaking of the current financial system, which is really nothing more than a high-level con, may be a good thing in long term, releasing us from the bondage of materialism and isolation and paving the way for a more integrated, sharing world.

On the more profound level I also feel our groaning planet saying “enough is enough!” It has had enough of the male-oriented ego-based policies that have dominated the last few centuries and we would all do well to remember the old prophecies (from all around the world, not just the Mayan Calendar) that speak of a time when the Earth itself decides to start a new era, bringing in climatic changes, collisions with asteroids and so on as a way of purging itself.

Already we have seen examples of this, with more droughts, floods, extreme weather fluctuations. It is my view that unless and until we shift the way we do things, this trend will continue. We get what we give – and we are giving our environment one heck of a kicking right now.

I’m not apocalyptic about this. We can change the course of events if we choose to. It’s entirely up to us. But we have to make decisions based on love, compassion and connection, rather than profit, ego and competition. We can do it. We just have to trust ourselves and each other, applying to our true natures; our Divine Selves.

When we relearn the art of respecting the planet on which we live, it will respect us in turn. If we return to the ways of listening to it, following the rhythm of its breath, rather than imposing our own, we will make it through.

It doesn’t have to take a long time either. Seismic shifts in consciousness can happen amazingly fast. One day people thought the Earth was flat, the next they knew it was round.

Whichever way you look at it, there is some kind of financial collapse imminent. An infection must be healed for the body to regain balance. The likelihood is that the whole house of cards will have to come down and be rebuilt. If this happens, you will see scenes like those in post-war Germany, when a barrow load of cash bought little more than a loaf of bread.

How to combat this? For now, it would be wise to consider divesting yourself of some of the “blue collar shares” you may have, replacing them with gold, silver or rare metals. Consider moving out of cities, if you can. You can be sure that we will see more riots and civil unrest in the coming years than we have seen for a generation. Martial Law is not a thing of the past.

It might also be a smart move to change from looking for instant profits to thinking in terms of asset protection. A lot of folks are about to have the roof blown away from over their heads as financial institutions are brought to their knees. In such times, preserving assets is just as good as gleaning profits. Now is a good moment to remind yourself that the return OF your money is more important than the return ON it.

Above all, we can ALL make a difference to the way things unfold in the next few years, simply by turning back to the oldest way of making choices available to us, the way that never fails to nurture both ourselves and the planet on which we live: our intuition.

When we follow our intuitions unerringly we always do what is best for us all, for our intuitions are the culmination of millennia of learning, whereas our ego-based thoughts only came to the fore in recent centuries.

The key is that odd-looking word “unerringly,” whose path one of inner faith.

Until next time,

Richard.

Learn how you can come through the challenges ahead at www.resonancewithlife.com