Quick question:

What do all of these things have in common?

- Activation of the National Guard

- Closure of schools.

- Warnings by FEMA

- Recommendations to stock up on food and water supplies

- A Red Heifer ceremonial sacrifice

- Jonah-related Biblical prophecies

- Appearance of the "Devil's Comet"

- CERN's decision to turn on the Large Hadron Collider (after two years)

- NASA's launch of three rockets at the moon -- named after a serpent deity

That’s right…

They all have to do with April 8 -- the Great American Eclipse.

Be VERY AFRAID of April 8

In 2017, I watched grown men weep as the moon blotted out the sun and cast an ethereal twilight across the Oregon landscape. For a few precious minutes, all the petty concerns of day-to-day life fell away.

It’s difficult to describe how surreal and mind-blowing an eclipse is.

(These people do a great job of talking about why everyone should see an eclipse at least once in their lives: “It was one of the most amazing and emotional experiences I've ever had, other than seeing my own children being born. It changed my whole perception. It made me really want to see more of things like that. And the fact that it happens on the earth for free and you can just go see it, it's amazing.)

Normally a solar eclipse is just a beautiful natural phenomenon that draws crowds of tourists, but this time, things seem a bit different…

Multiple states have declared states of emergency.

They say it's to help manage the huge influx of people expected and ensure they have enough personnel on the ground.

Okay, sure, tourism logistics -- I get that.

But here's where it gets weird…

In addition to police and first responders, some states are also apparently deploying National Guard troops, including specialized units trained to handle chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

For crowd control at a solar eclipse viewing?

Schools are closed. FEMA is freaking out.

Some officials are warning residents to stock up on 2-3 weeks worth of food, just in case. They're talking about being "overwhelmed" and fearing "disaster" if services get strained by the crowds.

What’s changed?

In 2017, I spontaneously bought a car and drove cross-country from Ohio to Oregon to see the eclipse. Nobody was freaking out. Everything was fine while I drove there and home.

No National Guard. No crowd control. No warnings.

What gives now?

Lots of speculation. And sure, lots of weird things are happening. But lots of weird things are always happening.

LIFE IS ALWAYS WEIRD.

Maybe we’re in for a disaster-filled week next week, but…

You know what I think?

Fear Loves Company

They want people to think twice about traveling. They want you to cower at home.

Maybe not in a malicious way. Maybe they think they’re doing a good thing. But FEAR is ALWAYS the primary motivator. It’s the way people in charge manipulate the masses into doing what they want them to do.

From the moment we're born, we're conditioned to fear.

Fear strangers, fear germs, fear failure, fear not fitting in.

The media bombards us with worst-case scenarios 24/7. The education system rewards conformity and punishes risk-taking (unless we’re talking about risky DEBT). The medical establishment pathologizes every aspect of the human experience.

It's no wonder we're all walking around in a constant state of anxiety.

I don’t know why it has to be like this. (Maybe it doesn’t.)

But there doesn’t even have to be some grand conspiracy at work.

Most peddling fear are true believers themselves. They've never known anything else. They were raised on fear, educated in fear, and now they perpetuate fear.

But fear is a terrible motivator.

It might get short-term compliance, but it kills creativity, intuition, and joy. It keeps us stuck in a scarcity mindset, always grasping for some illusion of control.

We don't have to buy into it.

We can choose to break the cycle and live from a place of curiosity, spotting and capturing the pockets of abundance. We can question fear-based narratives and trust our own inner compass. We can take responsibility for our own well-being and cultivate resilience in the face of uncertainty.

Wonder > Worry

If you're on the fence about going to see the eclipse, I get it.

(Or maybe the logistics just suck. Valid.)

Go or don’t go. Doesn’t matter.

But let me ask you this -

When was the last time you did something that truly filled you with AWE? When was the last time you disconnected from the fear-mongering media and just marveled at the wonders of the universe?

It sounds hokey and hippie, but…

I saw the last eclipse with thousands of people. For one minute, we were just souls united in the presence of something impossibly grand and beautiful.

Maybe THAT is what “they” -- whoever they are, fill in the blank with your biggest enemies -- don't want you to feel.

They don't want you having experiences that fill you full of wonder. That remind you of your place in the vast infinite grandiosity of the cosmos. They want you locked in fear, addicted to their "updates," dependent on their "protection."

It doesn’t matter who they are…

We are sovereign beings. We get to choose how we experience this life.

You get to choose wonder over worry, adventure over anxiety, presence over panic.

Tomorrow, Greta and I are going to take “The Tank” -- our old, beat up F-150 -- and drive that thing to Texas.

We’ll be in good company.

We’ll be hanging out with the likes of Peter Diamandis, Paul Stamets, Andrew Weil, and others on the cutting-edge of health, science, and technology.

And ASTRONAUTS.

We’ll be hobnobbing with a whole flock of astronauts: Christopher Huie (Virgin Galactic), Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides (Virgin Galactic), Dr. Chris Boshuizen (Blue Origin), Brendan Hall (DearMoon), Ron Garan (NASA), Nicole Stott (NASA), and a whole lot more.

If you never hear from me again…

We went down raging against the safety industrial complex.

Hope to see you in the shadow!