Is it the end of the world or the beginning of everything?

It is true that change often begins with destruction but this is also a time for rebirth and recreation. Not so much a spiritual awakening, as a shift in consciousness from a society based on the individual, to a society based on collectivity.

The year 2012 stands for a societal renaissance, a coming of age as a driving political force: the realization that our personal power is multiplied to the nth fold when we unite with like-minded individuals.

Since the onset of the Internet, we have all woken up one day to find we have been blessed with superpowers: omniscience, omnipresence. We have become, more than ever, godlike. I can “see” what is happening anywhere across the world, at any given time. I can dive into the Collective Consciousness and pick up on world-wide trends. I can speak any language. If anything, this gift of immediate wisdom should be proof of our higher purpose and our capabilities.

We need to realize that sharing is power. And the Internet is the most powerful sharing tool we have ever had, since the dawn of humanity. Only now can we benefit so directly from others’ experiences and integrate them into our own lives, while being spared the strenuous process of years of study and acquisition of personal experience.

Many of our most trusted institutions are falling apart, and this can be frightening. But if you take a closer look, you will see that the institutions that are crumbling are the ones that have been based on fear, separation, ignorance and conflict.

In a world that is always connected and wide awake, there is no place for hidden agendas. We may be losing our privacy as individuals, but that is only the first step on the way to Total Transparency. Congruence = Credibility. This is why so many of our beloved institutions are crumbling around us. Everything is being brought to light; there are no dark corners left for hipocrisy and incoherence to hide.

The thing of utmost importance is this: everyone and everything that is aligned with this new frequency will survive. Everything else will be lost. We cannot take back the Internet, our newly-found collective wisdom and connectedness. We need to step into the light and let ourselves –individuals, brands, governments and corporations- be seen for what we truly are. Only then can we deal with issues that have been hidden in the dark for ages. The light is expanding faster every day and soon there will be no place to hide. This is an amazing opportunity for growth, to teach each other how to improve both as individuals and as societies.

The greatest trend will be –and already is– a significant increase in Transparency, Cocreation and the recognition of the Collective as power and wisdom. This is already happening, in baby steps: I see proof of this in online gaming. Crowdsourcing. Worldwide viral phenomena and trends.

The transition will take different shapes in different regions. For example, the US has tended to glorify personal power, the triumph of individual will over reality in the construction of dreams. But the people of the US surrender their power when they fail to embrace their cultural differences. They have felt safer in ostracizing those who seem different, in pointing out who is “right” and who is “wrong”. In labelling others, our own personal power is lost. For who can I side with, who can support my dream if we are all so different from each other?

Mexican society has the opposite problem. We are a big, noisy family that feels good when it gets together. We have always been know for our solidarity, our hospitality as a collective. But we have no faith in our individual power. We have been taught that we cannot compete with our own government, never mind the rest of the world, and that we are never strong enough to generate significant change. We need to realize that we do have the power to shape reality, and that it is that much easier when we cooperate instead of tear each other down.

I think it was Barbara Marx Hubbard who said: “Everything is getting better and better, worse and worse, faster and faster.” It’s time we realize it’s no longer about choosing sides: there are no sides. We Am only One.