So tomorrow a new year begins… A great year—as prophesied! A year of new reflection over our experiences and emotions. By the end of 2016, we will be less afraid, more imaginative and understanding; we will gain a greater distance—and hence comprehend better—the changes of the last thirty years, including technology and science (like the nature of matter, cosmos, even of “magic”). We will feel freer with regards to the powers that try to control and manipulate our lives, such as for example certain industries and political entities. Hard as they try, they can’t destroy our human freedom (sadly, only we can do it…) We will gain a better understanding of our own time and history, which will allow us better to comprehend just how our identities have emerged. For example, we will see more clearly that belonging to a history, a nationality, or a race, even a gender, are simply attributes. We just HAPPENED to be born in this place, not another, to this family, not another, to this culture, and not another. We could have been born somewhere else! Important they may be, such identities DO NOT define us ultimately—though there have always been individuals or groups trying to use such characteristics for their own benefit, often presenting them as finite or “absolute,” thus completely twisting their meaning. There have been even times where we allowed ourselves to be trapped in such horrific manipulations, when we let others to convince us that a nationality or a culture, or a skin color are “inferior” to ours. In 2016 we will gain more clarity about those dreadful errors—and hence will have more courage to stand against such manipulations. Everyone deserves—and is capable of—respect, understanding, and love. Such deeper understanding will allow us to reflect deeper on our own identities and the identities of our fellow human beings; to study them with love and respect, while being less emotional, hence less afraid. We will feel less threatened because we will understand better the nature of aggression, which is a most pitiful, debasing state for a human being. Because we will understand better that in order to be happy and creative we need much less than we thought we did; we will shop and celebrate less—but instead, reflect and love more. We will spend less time chasing material goods but more time with friends and loved ones—talking, singing, walking, sitting on grass… We will be less afraid of the challenge of thinking, hence we will read more, including poetry—discovering or rediscovering, how liberating reading is. We will be less afraid of those, who think differently from us. Instead, we will grow more interested in other cultures, customs, beliefs. We will understand that the fact that someone thinks or behaves differently in no way threatens us; that in fact we can learn from those “others,” while enriching what we hold dear by deeper reflection and knowledge. We will become more emphatic, and more willing to help others, especially those, who need our help. We will make the world a better place.
2016 will be a blessed year—and I wish you this with all my heart!
Joanna Kurowska
JOANNA KUROWSKA 