The Century Plant is also named Agave. This picture is not of the blue agave used to make tequila (oh, darn). First of all, while it is entirely possible, that this particular plant has lived 100 years just to bloom, research can not confirm that this is why it is called Century. The name does, however correlate with the past hundred years of Earth's existence.
This spike in the middle of the plant shot up within a couple of days. Since I took this picture, it has grown another five feet, towering above the house. None of us can see well enough to see if there are any blooms yet on the top of this Washington Monument of a spectacle in our village.
I imagine the Century plant as having lived just to become a symbol of the blooming of a new age, a new life force among us. A natural energy is present on this planet of our charge. It is becoming visible and everything is filled with new life as the old passes away - reluctantly, of course.
People are beginning to live more and more through the eyes of a global interdependent paradigm. People are beginning to understand their connectedness to life in other parts of the world.
I had the opportunity to be part of bringing awareness to this emerging paradigm for so many years. I have been a pioneer with so many others in aligning with its growth. Since the fifties, especially, our lives have been radically changing - transforming into so much more than even visionaries ever imagined. Some changes I have personally experienced include:
An absolute image of being married and raising children with all variations from this mother/father/children image is being replaced with loving relationships.
Workplace roles in which men are in charge and women serve their needs is almost vanished in lieu of teams, each member with a role in production.
Civic policies are being challenged and change in every way possible. The struggle to let the old die is often a violent encounter.
International relationships still governed by gaining power over for economic gain are literally being laughed at. Capitalism philosophy itself has been eroded into greed.
Self-esteem which depends on the approval of others, is being replaced by awakening awareness of inner wisdom and validation.
New forms of coexistence are slowly but surely emerging, even in places on this Earth where it is no where close to visible.
Most obvious is our relationship to the radically changing environment. The climate is indeed changing, whether warming or freezing. We are all being called to free ourselves from maintaining the WAY IT WAS and move into the WAY IT IS as new forms emerge like spikes on the Century Plant and its elusive blooming right before our eyes.
I imagine how it was a hundred years ago. I have experienced radical change in my own being for my seventy years on earth, and I am aware that it is up to all of us to bless the emerging new realities rooted in what has been and one step into what is becoming more and more real each day.
The Age of Social Demonstration of what is possible has passed. When we stop resisting that which is bigger than both of us, as the comedian used to put it, and honoring that which is happening in our very beings, the real dialogue can begin.
So don't send me messages to ban this or that. Don't bother castigating me for believing in what I know is true. Show me the new way to function, operate, imagine, believe. I will live likewise.
Where are you seeing the new century emerging and blooming in ways that you never imagined would come to be?
