The strangeness, uncertainty and potential impact of Y2K are unprecedented.
It is deeply disturbing in at least three ways:
So, at a personal level (as on the societal level), we find the
Y2K crisis presenting us with both problems and oppportunities.
Specifically:
a) Y2K is very hard to come to terms with. Each of us
who encounters it, dances around it for quite a while before figuring
out what to do with it. Often we experience months of roller-coastering
in and out of intense anxiety. Those of us who see Y2K as an opportunity
may find ourselves going especially high and low. The unconfrontability
of Y2K makes it awkward to talk about with those who don't share
our understanding of the problem. Some people will just brush
it off, to our intense frustration. If someone was unaware of
the threat, we may feel like we're messing up their lives by waking
them up to it. And they may turn away from the subject (or us),
or make fun of it (or us). And, if we want to motivate them to
DO something about it in their communities, we often find they
have been sent into a spin by their fear and confusion. It may
take quite a while before they get their "Y2K sea legs"
and can finally function in the face of such an unsettling future.
These problems will be addressed more on the page "Understanding
and dealing with the personal disturbances triggered by the Y2K
issue."
b) Y2K offers an opportunity for individual and collective psychospiritual
growth. We get pushed to our limits and then some, over and over,
in endlessly new ways. We are (and will be) continually presented
with intense choices: to grow very big or shrink very small, to
break through or break down, to let go or be torn apart. The positive
direction is often quite clear but exceedingly difficult. And
sometimes it is unclear, and we must decide anyway. If we rise
to the occasion, we will often (but not always) suddenly find
ourselves larger, suddenly more able to make space for those who
couldn't or wouldn't take the harder path, those who are struggling
or suffering. Other time it may just feel like we are being broken
down. It is a time of testing. The psychological and spiritual
opportunities this presents will be addressed more on the page:
"Using the Y2K challenge
for individual and collective psychospiritual growth."
Ultimately, we
are challenged to take the opportunity -- and the responsibility
-- to build spiritual community with everyone we talk to about
Y2K.
Also it is vital that faith communities and religious institutions
involve themselves in dealing with Y2K, helping prepare congregations
and empowering them to prepare their communities. One Unitarian
Universalist minister, Rev. Dacia
Reid, has begun asking the important questions, teaching her
congregation about this momentous event, and tying Y2K in to her
spiritual traditions and sacred texts.
See also: