What is the Shift of The Ages?


The Shift of The Ages is a time long spoken of by native peoples, including the Mayan elder Don Alejandro. The earth has just completed a 26,000 year cosmological cycle called The Great Year. The completion of the cycle is said to signify a time of opportunity for us to transform ourselves and our societies for the better. Contemporary understanding reinforces this ancient wisdom. Our technology is progressing faster than ever before, mankind has a greater impact on the environment than ever before, and our population is the largest it has ever been in recorded history. We have all we need to create great things on this planet. The Shift of The Ages is about moving the use of these great gifts from war, pollution, and exploitation to peace, sustainability, and cooperation. This type of alchemical transformation (turning the "coal" in "gold") is the major underlying theme of my music, and why I decided to name this three part musical series after it.



As a young, idealistic mestizo growing up in Austin, Texas, this message resonated with me. The idea of reflecting critically upon ourselves, our mindset, our lifestyle, our community, our culture, and society for the sake of cultivating the highest possible good is, to me, fascinating and enthralling. I used to take the bus a lot, like, four hours a day, five days a week, to get to and from school. As I rode, I saw the contrast of the lower and upper classes, the homeless and hungry next to the sky scrapers, the psychologically diseased with no quality therapists, the dissociated and distressed with no healthy community to turn to. It’s one thing to write about this. It’s another thing to be near it almost every day for years. It’s something else entirely to be IN it all of your life. In a world so rich with natural resources, it’s a shame these things even exist. They don’t need to. But, there is a reason why they do exist. The issues at hand are very large and take betterment on the small, and large, scale to shift in the right direction towards a more harmonious existence. This is why the concept of healing and evolution through self-understanding, communication, organization, and collective action seems so tremendously valuable to me.



I’ve always been interested in doing what I can to assist others. Seeing other people happy just makes me happy. I like feeling good, and I like making other people feel good. This drive towards ecstasy brought me to the questions: What are my unique gifts? What are my affinities? How can I use these abilities to improve the world, in the best possible way, for all of us at this time? The skills I found most useful were my capacity for compassion, communication, writing, composing, production, organization, and performance, mostly within the realm of music and creative media. This is what feeds my spirit and gives me the drive to move forward with passion and persistence. I love creating music and feel this love shines through to others when I share my art. It’s contagious. Through music I am able to more rapidly and effectively cultivate the mindset, heart-space, and circumstances I want to see. I figure, as I become better and better at my craft, I can begin using the resulting rewards to improve my own life and the lives of those around me. For example, a group of local musicians and I could put on a music festival and fundraiser, generate several hundred dollars, and reinvest those funds in community garden spaces to promote healthy, local, organic food. This is something that could happen within a few months. A more ambitious example would be organizing world class musicians to put on a series of productions to raise, say, a million dollars, and reinvest these funds in the world’s first successful vertical farms (these are basically hydroponic sky-scrapers that yield enough food to feed a city). Who knows, maybe they could be placed in Austin. This could happen over the course of several years. These are just two examples of endless possibilities. The point is, we, as individuals, need to start thinking about how to use our unique skills in powerful ways to better the condition of all life on this planet. It starts small, but has the potential to grow into something immense and marvelously rewarding.



The Iroquois people urged the consideration of the seventh generation: your kids’ kids’ kids’ kids’ kids’ kids’ kids. This thought of the future is especially important in our current time. Things are changing more rapidly than ever (I hope you’re reading this on a smart phone). What we do now will deeply affect the future of this planet. There are many angles to consider, many obstacles to overcome, and a lot of brilliance to experience as we pursue the highest good for ourselves and all of those around us. This is the Shift of The Ages. Let’s have fun with it.



With compassion,

-Pojo The Idealist