---

It's A Phase
by Guy Spiro

---

One of the more interesting things I've noticed about consensus reality over the years is its tendency to think that the way that things are at any given time is the way they will always be. In those heady days before the dot com crash, when the stock market was over-valued and any computer science major who could string two lines of code together could leave school early and make over a hundred thousand a year, the herd acted as if it would never end. Since the crash, and the 9/11 attacks, and the war on terrorism, we have been under a dark cloud, and to hear people talk, the sun may never shine again.

It's at times like this that I wonder how it is that so many of us don't seem to realize that something always follows everything. In difficult times it is very important to ask ourselves, "what inevitably follows bad times?" After the inner smart-ass answers "worse times," we get to the truth that bad times are always followed by good times. This is how it is and ever shall be. There is no escape from the duality that all of existence, in the illusion of separation from the One, is based upon.

I don't mean to belittle the suffering that we all experience at various times in our lives. And yes, in some instances people can lead short, brutal lives in which there is very little that can be easily viewed as good. But for the most part, life is a series of ups and downs. Challenges and rewards. Pleasure and pain. The point is that neither is ever the way it will always be. By and large it is when things seem to be at their worst that some of the greatest opportunities appear. When things are really going badly, I find it is time to get excited because good things are about to start happening. Look back over your life and see if what I'm saying has not been true.

It is only in contrast to the bitter that the sweet can taste so good. It is true that we have been under a rather dark cloud since the Saturn opposed Pluto started to take shape in the late spring of 2001. Many are the transitions that we have all witnessed. Close friends have died. Businesses have folded. Relationships have faltered. Many have had reasons to feel less secure. These things happen in the best of times, but I think we can all agree that the past several months have been extraordinary. The good news is that the Saturn opposed Pluto will separate through the spring of this year, and by the early summer things will be back to feeling more normal. Challenges will still occur, but the dark cloud will have lifted. Remember then that the good times will be temporary. They will be followed by bad times that will be followed by good times. As the pendulum swings and the breath moves in and out and night continually follows day, this will be our lot in life.

Seek the good in all things and all people. Work to keep your balance on the way up and on the way down. See the opportunities that exist in both directions. Know that I'll be struggling right along with you to do these things.