The following article is mostly excerpted from Chapter Ten of Psychic Empowerment for Everyone, written by Dr. Joe Slate and myself. I think it says everything I can say about the opportunities and responsibilities we all face in these most critical times. The point is: we can do something! We don't have to be passive and accepting, just hoping and praying for the best. YOU are a psychic powerhouse and joined with others WE can accomplish miracles.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
We had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
We were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
(A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, 1859)

Charles Dickens' words about the French Revolution could be as easily said about the times in which we now live. An unknown person said "These Times, they are Dangerous." We commonly perceive news events as "dangerous" more often that we welcome them as "opportunity," and yet both are always present in some proportion—sometimes favoring one over the other.

But these are probably the most dangerous and challenging times for all humanity than any before in known history. And yet, we have enormous opportunities for not only the positive resolution of these challenges but to apply the most recent scientific knowledge concerning psychic powers to common reality.

It doesn't matter whether you live in North America or in another part of the world, the challenges we all face are enormous and from a mundane perspective the chances for peace, prosperity and what we like to call progress seem less than comfortable. And, at the time of this writing, we are still waiting to see how the famous Mayan prophecy about the "End of the World," at least as we know it, on December 21, 2012 works out. Of course, the tempering phrase "as we know it" offers a tremendous hedge. Tomorrow is always different than yesterday.

I am an optimist and believe we will be here to celebrate a New Year in January 2013. I believe that not only will we survive but we will see a new beginning with the passing of the age. Nevertheless we cannot be complacent; we cannot just assume that "the best is yet to come." Humans have intervened in the natural order too much and humans have to recognize the repercussions of our disturbance and make necessary changes for our survival. We have to do our part to change old ways to new ways.

Just a partial list of the challenges I enumerate in the book include:
• Global warming and climate change, melting ice caps, endangered species
• Increasing incidents of extreme weather, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, floods, and tsunamis
• Increasing incidents and severity of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and other earth changes
• The energy crisis of impending fossil fuel shortages, and inadequate and delayed development of alternative fuels
• International terrorism combined with religious fanaticism, the spread of powerful weapons that can be triggered by individuals and small groups and the collapse of democratic governments
• The reappearance of nationalist expansionism and tribal/ethnic conflicts causing extensive suffering and death to minority populations
• The seeming renewal of the "Cold War" between resurgent Russia and the over-extended United States with a near helpless Europe in the middle
• A very real arms race, with arms producers again selling weaponry to all comers
• The existence of, and newly emerging threats of, nuclear blackmail
• The appearance and spread of new diseases through rapid migration of people and importation of animal and vegetable products beyond their natural habitat
• The potential danger of dependence on newly deployed technology without redundancy for backup and shortages of trained personnel
• A failing educational system not providing even basic skills for the Information Age, for a technology based economy and a global society
• A crumbling infrastructure of transportation, utilities, communications and public safety
• The loss of ethical, moral and spiritual pertinence to guide individual & institutional behavior
• The lack of true international law and enforceable justice system
• The growth of piracy—on the high seas, on the Internet, and in the market place through non-compliance with copyright and trademark laws, evasions of patent protection, and blatant theft of intellectual property
• An inability to develop a supportive, non-punitive, tax system
• The lack of meaningful and pertinent political debate
• A failed, fiscally irresponsible government administered by ideologues and special interests
• The failure of democratic and parliamentary governments to address the fundamental needs of their constituencies rather than pandering to superficialities and special interests
• A worldwide lack of sufficient investment in new technologies and basic science

The list could go on and on. It's like the drumbeat of disaster, the sound of a failing heart or the whine of an incoming missile.

Yes, these should be seen as dangerous times, but most people turn their heads and instead play electronic games and listen to their iPods, absorb themselves in the glamour of steroid enhanced athletes and silicone endowed entertainers, and eat themselves into dangerous obesity and diabetes. Schools are teaching religious fundamentalism at the expense of science and problem-solving methodologies; replacing science and math courses with athletic programs for the few at the expense of the many; and replacing sex education with sex ignorance and social ineptitude.

The "End Times" and 2012
Are these dangerous times truly the End Times prophesied by Nostradamus and others? Is any psychic prediction or prophecy absolutely determinate?

No! Think of what we have learned thus far (in the preceding nine chapters of the book) about the nature of the pulsating field of subatomic energy packets that represent potentials and possibilities until the outcome is fixed by observation making them probabilities and realities. In the case of something possible at a future time, the final determination can only happen at the critical moment, or string of moments. Prior to that, directed, intentional, energized thought, especially when multiplied in power through group participation, can change the seemingly determinate future.

Think of what you now know of Psychic Powers—your psychic power. The psychic world is not only predictive but it can be projective—we have the power to change the future with enough effort and conviction. We don' just receive images from the future; we can project powerful, super-imposing change-empowered, images into the future to overlay those older images from another time. You, we, can prevent Armageddon no matter who predicted it.

Peace, Prosperity, and Progress for 2013: A Positive Program We Can Do
We can take positive actions in regard to every one of that long litany of challenges described earlier. And we can also condense all those challenges into a single comprehensive counter-formula of Peace, Prosperity, and Progress, and condense that into a single powerful sigil: PPP. But, we have to put a time tag onto that. Regardless of our belief in the Mayan date line of 2012, we can image Peace, Prosperity, and Progress for 2013.

PPP—2013
What if everyone reading this goes into daily meditation or prayer and images PPP—2013, knowing that it represents an end to the troubled present world as we know it, the one filled with potential disasters represented by the long list of challenges, and replaces it with a new beginning of PPP—2013, a genuine New Order of the Ages as promised in the Great Seal of the United State of America, Novus Ordo Seclorum?

Let's take everything we learn through this book, and along with all the other practical applications of our increased psychic skills, do this one simple meditation exercise to help make a better world, ushering in a real New Age of Higher Consciousness; an age of Love and Beauty; and an age of Peace, Prosperity, and Progress.

All meditation work benefits from performance in a special place that offers peace and quiet, but the wonderful thing about meditation is that you can do it anywhere at any time (but not while driving, please). The important element is YOU, not the place. And you don't have to place yourself in a challenging physical posture although, in general, sitting is preferred to lying down for the simple reason that we too often tend to fall asleep when doing so. A recliner in half-position is a good compromise. Repetition in the same place does establish a psychic power spot that reinforces your work the more you use it.

An important first step in meditation is to slow your brain waves down to the alpha level which roughly corresponds to what used to be called a "brown study," suited to day dreaming. To achieve this, simply close your eyes and breathe slowly and rhythmically, with the in-breath about the same length as the out-breath. Many practitioners recommend breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, but the most important thing is to focus on breathing slowly and rhythmically, in and out, in and out. If you can work up to doing this for ten to fifteen minutes, you will have many health benefits, relieving stress, and clarifying your mind, free of emotion.

Remaining free of emotion, remaining physically and mentally relaxed, remaining poised and aware of the moment, feel yourself here and now, aware only of yourself in your body as if you are a clean slate beneath a cloudless sky.

Now look within for the Light that powers your whole being—body, mind, and spirit. (Feeling it is the same as seeing it.) Become one with the Light, bathing in it and feeling refreshed, re-energized, even rejuvenated, for this Light is the source of your personal life-force. Continue with this feeling, and then see and feel your personal force as part of the universal force field, a pulsating ocean of subatomic energy. You are filled with infinite peace, infinite harmony, and infinite power.

Feeling this connection with the Source, think of our sigil: PPP—2013. Feel it, see it, and know it is filled with the energy of the Source; know that it is empowered to bring to reality all that PPP—2013 represents. Know, too, that you have been joined with others in bringing this into reality. Feel that our work has been joined by a Greater Force. (Continue this for about ten minutes—but don't stop to check the clock!)

One final step: You must truly feel that you are living in a world of Peace, Prosperity, and Progress. You are substituting a new reality for the old one, and to do that you must leave the old one and know that you are living in the new one. You are in your all powerful subconscious mind that recognizes only images and feelings. Truly feel that you are now living in the image you have created.

Feel that that we have started this process and all that it means, and then let go and slowly withdraw from the universal Source and return to your own personal source and gently return to wakefulness. Feel with certainty that we have Peace, Prosperity, and Progress already now. It is the new reality in process.

Repeat daily if you can. Doing this meditation work at approximately the same time and place is helpful, but don't become rigid in the externals because it is what you do internally that counts.

Let's review what we've done. First of all, realize that when we enter into this wonderful New World in 2013, you can continue the process by progressing the time factor to 2014, and then to 2015, etc. 2013 is just the starting point, and the work of building a brand new world must continue.

But, what have we done? We set forth the problem and detailed the challenges we face in resolving the problem. Then we developed a formula that represents the solution to these challenges as Peace, Prosperity and Progress, and condensed all that these three words mean to into a single formula, or sigil, representing the end of the old world and the start of the new. We took that sigil deep inside, through our subconscious mind, to our personal power source, and then merged into the universal Source and empowered the sigil to accomplish all that we intended. Then we placed ourselves in this new reality. And, then, we let go, knowing that we have set in motion the process of bringing it into reality. We let go, launching our empowered program to change the future.

It's a simple concept, and one that is adaptable to any goal—not just one that fixes problems but that brings about any positive change.

We can, we must, do our personal part not just individually and politically, but psychically, to correct past errors and make positive changes to the New World, the promise that the founding fathers saw for America as the New Atlantis but now for our entire global culture. We are indeed ONE.