You don’t have to believe in Mayan-calendar prophetic interpretations about an upcoming apocalypse in 2012. You really don’t. You might be more than wondering. Perhaps you are struggling to decide the truth of the matter. It is to you I direct my basic New Thought sensibilities and queries.

Why believe the world is ending? Better to focus on longstanding wisdom that asserts, there is a universal creative power within each of us, allowing us to choose how we experience the world. Our awareness of our essence, meaning we are energetic-beings living in a basic, infinite zero-pointed sea of energy, is our safety, security.

If you’re going to immerse in farfetched ideas, why not pursue an initially outlandish-sounding concept, that of endless simultaneous universes? With that kind of package deal, you are given hope and power — to imagine, commit to, embody a universe you magnetize via the law of attraction. You draw to you a universe that is positive, that speaks of peace, that predicts that peace will arise, peace as the cause, peace the path, peace the effect. The quantum physicists who speak of alternate universes are worthy of being heeded, even of our welcoming their understanding, that each of us may activate a universe we choose, consciously or unconsciously. 2012-talk has accelerated the value, and urgency, of a more sophisticated grasp worldwide of how energy flows.

Oh, the world will end for some, according to law of attraction purists. The latter declare that in 2012 awesome devastation will indeed happen to some degree for those who insist on the reality of fated catastrophe. Like attracts like, as any alchemists worth their salt, sulphur, and mercury would assert. The current Mayan-minded prophets will manage somehow to find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time, which for them really is the right place at the right time, the very confirmation to them of their beliefs and interpretations. Yes, purists also teach that those who experience hurricane or tsunami devastation have unconsciously soul-contracted these conditions. The purists are technically correct about energetic law. My way however has been to look to, identify with the spirit behind and within, and not merely the letter of, the law called attraction. Miracles do happen. Whether you are inclined to think it is because of a deeper subconscious power or because of grace bestowed by a benevolent Universal Spirit/Creator stepping in to prevent or reverse attracted situations, miracles occur and they always trump law. So even those who vigorously accept imminent planetary demise may retain just enough openness to let a smart-energy heal them, redirect their mind, their steps, their choices.

To believe in the 2012 prophecy is to construct a gamble. To spend now and stock up on food, or wait a year? To run to some designated safe place, or to realize nothing will save the globe, and thus learn acceptance?

Yet, if you are going to bet, why not bet on Life? Why not bet on the sages over eons who have come into the world, long before and after the Mayan calendar was assembled? Why not consider the input from these sages, who blithefully ignore apocalyptic-thinking, who don’t teach fear? Rather, they reveal their experiences of a divine energy of love at the heart of things. Love doesn’t destroy.

There is and always has been what ought to be called a world hypnosis or a collective will, a mass-mesmerism afflicting humankind. Under this illusion, fate rules the world, and doomsday predictions make sense. Yet why cling to the hypnotized crowd?

If you’re going to listen to predictions, why not hear myriad mystics who only like to foretell one huge certainty, that rather than reacting to the external world and/or fearing others’ suggestions, going within leads to unshakeable trust in the beauty and goodness of life.

Going within is not without its own gambles, risks. From my years of experience with various mystics across the world, I absorbed a great principle. Energy does not equal wisdom. Its corollary is ancient does not always mean wise, or true. Too many seekers fall into a trap of logic, if (A), then (B). Too often, a seeker may think if (A) the leaders of this path told me I could experience energy by following their meditation instructions, and they were right, then (B) everything about life these teachers say is true and should be followed. Not necessarily, and yet nevertheless, in we must go, say world sages, stipulating one directive upon which they all agree. Basically, by going within, we raise energy, instantly perhaps, but we develop wisdom gradually in its usage. (Who said growth was instant or clear-cut?). Sit in silence, breathe without pause, a few minutes at a time throughout the day, and your own intuitive rhythms will begin to guide and uplift you.

If you’re going to believe in something, why not in evolving consciousness? A focused awareness seeing deeply into the heart of things, yields a spacious lightheartedness.

If you’re going to fear, why not fear the fearing of fear itself, taking FDR’s maxim to an expanded level? The result is a nicely wrung, watered-down fear barely able to babble. You realize that no condition, no civilization, no calendar, no crystal ball has power over you. My sister, a serious, conservative church-going Catholic, expressed recently her increasing nervousness over the 2012 reports. She is one of many from disparate backgrounds, who make it clear to me that “2012-tremors,” that shaky feeling of hopelessness and helplessness, are infiltrating world-cultures. It need not be so. There are laws of universe just awaiting your response.

If you’re going to be attracted to the Law of Attraction, why not go beyond that law soon, to deeper ones? The law of attraction is a good little workhorse of a law, but it plods through time and space, while you drum your fingers waiting for goal-manifestation to trudge up to you. The greatest sages live in and by a law that leaps light-years ahead in efficiency, what I’ve begun calling the law of recognition — just the simple, mere act of acknowledging that every unit of energy making you “you” is a carrier of a universal love individualized. In that spark of recognition, worlds trade places, a life spins around changed, its orbit switched to joy from the old path of dread. Nothing is being magnetized, drawn, attracted. There is no homework to do, no ritual-creating, no journaling, no exercises, just your recognizing that all is well in your world, as you remain affixed to the intense aliveness of the present-moment.

If you’re going to be fascinated by a linear past, with its works of the ancients, pick the right past. Maybe we just like to scare ourselves, for the fun of it, with thoughts of an apocalypse. Perhaps deep down most people know there is a difference between facts and conclusions.

Perhaps instead of debating or worrying, spend time instead on canticle, not catastrophe, praising, being in gratitude for creation, for life. Maybe find a sage, such as my mentor, St. Francis of Assisi, to ponder, so that whatever our religion or path, we radiate a luminous aura, a Franciscan spirit in a frantic world. As 2012 approaches, and the hype intensifies, people might need role models, teachers, perhaps including you, to emit that strength that comes of inner wisdom and a sharper vision. In this way you calm, clarify, lead, live in pristine wonder and trust. I can see Francis wandering the Umbrian hills, trusting in the Creator/Universal Spirit, embracing our link with nature, exuding affinity with Brother Sun and Sister Moon, the sky, the stars, all creation. In Francis’ world, he never fears nature. Why should we?

In conclusion, the law of attraction is quite a complex topic that requires patience to go through so a better way to do it is to conduct a Review of Manifestation Magic that has some important points that you can avail to achieve your heart’s desire and prevail through the challenges put forward by fate.