2020. It’s epic.

Let’s break this down in terms of story then. Ready for a deep dive? I won’t go into specific events. You can fill in the plot. Oh yes, I see you have a willing suspension of disbelief. You’re caught in the plot of who and what and when. But no. Storytellers are much more stealth than that. We hook you on a far more personal level—the level of the human experience, a Hero’s Journey. Our patrons deserve no less. We must dig deep. Stay with me. It’s worth it.

The progression of story is:

• Ordinary World
• Inciting Incident
• Debate (establishes the Dramatic Question)
• First Steps
• First Attempts
• Bad Guys Close In (mid-point)
• Drive to the Finish
• Crisis and Realization
• Final Battle
• Climax / Sacrifice
• Set back and resolution

In an Ordinary World, life is not drama; it’s day-to-day living. When we misread the more important aspects of life and our responsibilities, we create drama. Drama occurs with an Inciting Incident. It is a tangible, physical event that demands a response. It invites a Debate leading to the Dramatic Question that makes us question who we are, our choice in friends or career, our world view, and the nature of self. The best stories are big concept that are common to humanity. 2020, the movie, is the friggin’ gold standard.

Storytellers use the Aristotelian timeline to show dramatic progression. We, the protagonist, reach for what we think is right and our world crashes around us and then we get what we need in the end. It’s zero sum. Drama is zero sum. Aristotelian logic claims humanity is always wrong and by some divine guidance, we get what we need. Ptosh. If we aren’t advancing in life, we have a zero sum life viewpoint. It’s that simple. Life is not drama. Life is life. Life advances. Life has a long range view. We are here to play the game of life, write our own story and so with a bit of drama, learn our way back to ourselves and our fellows.

In a drama, we take our First Steps into the unknown to test our senses on our dramatic question. Armed with an inkling that we must propel ourselves into our destiny, we take our true First Attempts at fate. We must put ourselves on the line through action. An attempt has consequence and gains notice.

Then, the Bad Guys Close In. They do really bad things. But that ain’t nothin’ yet. We must summon our personal constitution and stay the course. Those of us who can summon our Drive to the Finish are rewarded with the next obstacle. Um, we don’t accept a new normal proposed by the bad guys.

This brings us to where we are in our 2020 movie. We are on the world stage at the end of year 2020, in what’s called the Crisis and Realization stage. We see that our viewpoint and goals are not met with expectations. We awaken and are fortified for our mission of true worth. We must bear witness to our state of existence. Look, decide. Take stock of ourselves. A crisis informs that basic dramatic question that began our quest, but now with clarity. We are well into our hero’s journey.

By the way, the main stream media (MSM) has a role in our current drama for what’s called the “scene turn”. It’s mini drama. A scene goes, “All is great! except this one thing that is so bad.” or “All is bad but hark, a ray of hope.” Up and Down. Up and down. That’s the MSM. A scene is told from the point of view of the character with the most to lose—the victim. Boy, the MSM doesn’t disappoint. They’re so chaotic that they change the point of view. All. The. Time. Victimhood everywhere. The average MSM viewer must assume the viewpoint of victim from all points of view to make sense of it all. Yet the Crisis and Realization stage exposes all, yes?

We’re heading into the Final Battle in January 2021. So get ready. It’s a battle to stake our claim as to who and what we are as humanity. It will be brutal, decisive. We enter it face foward. We are ready.

Our old selves are shed in the story Climax and a new consciousness is revealed in a Sacrifice of self. We meet our enemy. Perhaps we realize we allowed the enemy to exist for so long. Perhaps we made the enemy. In the end, we will have no ambiguity as to self, our humanity and our duty to one another. Those are the stakes. By the way, if that catharsis occurs too late in the story, it’s known as a Tragedy. But that won’t happen to us at large. It’s been said that American storytelling has positive endings. European stories are often tragic. America is young and optimistic. The enemy has met its match. And the world watches.

You know at the end of a story, when the enemy lies “dead” and then all of a sudden rises up to impart one last blow before succumbing to the hero once and for all? Expect it. That is the Set Back. Once you think the enemy is beaten, in his last gasp of breath, he will try to take the hero out with him. This is the most brutal act of our story, done by an enemy without hope. Don’t let it surprise you. Zero sum to the end.

Then the Resolution follows for our hero. We discover a new principle of life. No more misguided ideas.

So what is our happy ever after? For our 2020 movie we must decide this for humanity. No more living solely for oneself. How do we envision a world of freedom? How about the 4th Industrial Index? How about a world with no insanity, criminality or war? I believe we can achieve it.

The ability to postulate is our native spiritual ability. I want you to list all the tangible ways you envision yourself and the world. Put it in present time. Be specific. Let the universe catch up. Use the above 4th Industrial Index and your ideal scene for the world, and start postulating your role in making it happen. How do you see humanity? It’s livingness.

A life well-lived demands that we know the answers to living. Alas, this next hurdle of competency must be met with a learning attitude. The year 2021 will be that year.