Atlantis Rising Magazine, <I>Publisher's Comments</I>, by J. Douglas Kenyon

With the final year of the millennium now well underway, many of us are scanning the horizon for events, which may be properly termed climactic. Indeed many candidates for the distinction have already begun to appear.

Whether the hoped-for rediscovery of ancient secrets or the trial of a president, warfare in the middle east or fulfillment of dreams by some of alien rescue, the unfolding events of this year could generate the greatest suspense since the last millennium turn, which, by all accounts, saw western civilization go nearly mad with fear for the world's impending end. And here, a thousand years later (though the actual date of transition to the next millennium may be insignificant-pegged as it is to an arbitrarily created calendar), the case is once more being made that the times coincide with those foretold by prophets of both good and ill.

Whether, the anticipation of dreadful events is based on folly or wisdom may not be easily settled at this stage, but a couple conclusions, at least, can be safely drawn now.

Whether or not the chances of catastrophe are increasing, the expectations of such eventualities certainly are, and if human consciousness has anything to do with shaping the world around us, we must conclude that, by that factor alone, the possibilities for evil have been augmented. In other words, if one looks for trouble, one will find it.

One doesn't have to be a mindless Pollyanna to take the position that the best antidotes for the toxic anxieties abroad in the land are the kind of optimistic courage suitable for meeting challenges; and recognition that passage from an age of darkness and materialism to one of enlightenment and peace will not be traversed without considerable change.

Indeed, if we are on the threshold of momentous change, it is worth remembering that events of this sort are, more than anything, opportunities where the final outcome is determined, not so much by events themselves, as by our response to them.

As someone very wise once said, all change occurs through dramatic episode, and such an episode, though quite possibly terrifying to the participants, is, nevertheless, governed by the same laws that turn caterpillars into butterflies, lead into gold and water into wine.

J. Douglas Kenyon