<< The end is near

I was having a couple of beers with a friend not so long ago and we started toying around with the idea of the world’s end. It seems we live in rather dire times and unsurprisingly it ain’t complicated to start thinking of these as the last of our days. 

Political polarization, war, climate change, all of these events can paint a rather bleak image of the future and that is quite understandable. However, a quick peek into history can quickly tell us we have been there. 

Around the year 1000, the archbishop Wulftan of York* (in the face of the invasion by the Danish army) wrote the following text:

It’s been long prophesied that Satan will be released from his bindings after a thousand years. A thousand years have gone by since Christ walked among humans. Satan's bindings have been released and the time of the Antichrist approaches. People will fight among each other. Conflict will spread wide and lead to jealousy and animosity, thievery and hunger, fire and bloodthirst, disease, death and many disgraces.**

Not incredibly different from what we could hear from the mouth of a colleague or some of the news sources nowadays. 

There’s a rather important element that we miss in today's society and that is a lot less fatalism. 

Our shared story on this planet has always been riddled all sorts of catastrophe and unfortunate tales (at both personal and community levels).

This should not be constituted an excuse, nor taken as normal; but we should always remember to have hope and work hard for tomorrow is not written and can always change. 

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Notes: 

* As reported by Tore Skeie in his book Hvitekrist: Om Olav Haraldsson og hans. Norwegian title loosely translated to: “White Christ: Of Olav Haraldsson and his time.

** Original text translated by author to Norwegian: Det er for lenge siden profetert at Satan skal slippe løs fra sine lenker etter tusen år. Tusen år og mer har nå gått siden Kristus gikk blant menneskene. Satans lenker er vitterlig sprengt og Antikrists tid nærmer seg. Mennesker vil kjempe mot hverandre. Konflikt vil favne vidt og bredt og føre til sjalousi og fiendskap, ran og sult, brann og blodsutgytelse, sykdom, død og mange ulykker.- Hvitekrist P.45