Harmonic Convergence: A Braver New World? : Resonating With Jose Arguelles, a New-Age Scholar

SANTA FE, N.M. — Nature has conspired to paint a perfect evening for Jose Arguelles--prophet of the New Age (his followers’ term; most definitely not his), eminence grise behind harmonic convergence. The air above St. John’s College is of an ineffable azure, still enough to carry the drumbeats halfway to Albuquerque.

A troupe of Aztec dancers, sizzling in feather headdresses and intricately woven loinclothes, whirls and stomps and preens. Few in the audience of 1,500 remark on the dance troupe’s title: Warriors of the Seven Caves.

On the podium at last, Arguelles adjusts the harmonics with an eerie, plaintive flute solo. He is dressed simply--khaki shirt, brown pants, crepe-soled shoes--and he delivers a message to match.

Those who have come for a down-to-earth explanation of, and rationale for, harmonic convergence will be disappointed.

On this night, Arguelles is not about to get into the “inner wheel of evolutionary directional guardians” or the “bio-electromagnetic battery and sense-field matrix.”

On this evening, he will address his people, part of the “critical mass” of 144,000 necessary to bring about harmonic convergence.

To some, his message will be simplistic. To most, it will be inspirational.

Part of the message is just plain fun. (Indeed, in person Arguelles is about as guru-like as your Uncle Charlie.) “This is the first Mayan be-in for--well, for a long time,” he says. “Kind of sexy. We represent the hot, luminous tip of a galacto-magnetic vortex.”

Part of it is brutally specific: “We are talking about dismantling governments, the military, polluting industries.”

Part of it is frankly interplanetary: “E. T.s are obviously here and UFOs are obviously here. Clearly, there’s intelligence in the universe that is greater than we have developed. Ask your government: ‘Did you shoot down UFOs? Why?’ If UFOs had meant us ill, they would have done away with us a long time ago.”

A great deal of the message is couched in language not immediately scrutable to an Old Ager: “If the energy is to be effective, you have to stand in your own truth.” “It’s all a matter of getting with your wave form and harmonizing your hologram.” “If each one of us remains in our own integrity, we will reestablish the connection with the dream world.”

His Santa Fe audience is tailor-made--spawned, it would seem, in a rather exclusive galaxy of its own. Typical, perhaps, is Athena Pettingill, formerly of Beverly Hills, whose contribution to harmonic convergence has consisted in burying crystals around Ayers Rock, a holy site in Australia. “The aborigines were a little hostile,” she confesses. “It seems only the men handle crystals down there.”

“Santa Fe,” she further explains, “is a holy site too. I moved here when my knowingness--my guidance if you will--told me to come here. I love it. Where else can you have a solar-powered toilet seat?”

This, then, is Arguelles’ natural constituency: accepting, unquestioning. It is in private, though, that the affable, unpretentious author is at his most persuasive.

Mano-a-mano, he is articulate, patient, gracious. The impression is that of a scholar/seer who knows what’s going to happen and is not particularly unnerved, even concerned, by agnostic or critic. It’s going to happen anyway.

“Great numbers of people will have gathered together on Saturday,” he says with some satisfaction, “from Ayers Rock to Glastonbury, England, to Easter Island--and sure, Yonkers.

“Many will gather without any clear idea why--which is an interesting point. Something is stimulating them. It’s as if a signal has gone out, of a particular frequency; going out regardless of whether you comprehend it.

“It’s a signal from the Earth. It’s calling humans to acknowledge the very, very precarious state the Earth is in; calling humans to rise to their highest aspiration. . . .

“If the Earth were to go extinct because of the highly near-sighted technology humans have developed, it’s not that no one would notice. Earth isn’t just an isolated little rock. It’s like if someone cut off your finger. Somewhere there’s an ‘ouch!’ The more evolved life forms in the galaxy have an interest in what’s happening here.

“The galaxy is sending a signal. So is the Earth.”

Why, then, has the signal been missed by so many?

“Human civilization as it has developed has become increasingly out of phase with nature. We’ve developed highly artificial environments, to the point that what we hear is only the feedback of our own signals. It takes a lot to get through.”

Asked whether he believes the Maya came from--and returned to--outer space, Arguelles replies, “Yes.”

Asked why E. T.s--especially the good guys among them, the salt of the galaxy--have not yet seen fit to share their wisdom with a pooped Earth, he replies: “They haven’t been asked. Moreover, they don’t trust us. Would you? One of the reasons for harmonic convergence is to establish a field of trust.”

Asked to explain resonance in layman’s terms, he plunges in with almost boyish enthusiasm:

“Earth has a resonant frequency of 7.8 hertz. But it has been increasingly impacted by random dissonant frequencies--from radio and TV waves, more recently from radioactivity, chemicals, fluorocarbons--to the point where Earth is aphasic with the solar and galactic resonance.

“The effect of what we call the ‘civilization’ we’ve built up has been kind of a waxy yellow buildup.”

So Earth is, in effect, off its feed?

“Absolutely. But the galactic beam, plus the efforts of Earth itself, will change our frequency. As a living organism, Earth has needs, and a self-healing capacity. With human help, of course.”

What of the billions who don’t exactly believe this?

“Don’t worry. This is not some kind of Armageddon. The Earth will be working on us in spite of ourselves. No way we can not respond. You get thrown into a pool of water, you’ll respond, whether you believe it or not.

“And by 2012--the end of the Mayan calendar--the Earth will have been cleansed and purified; humans will have rediscovered their original state of trust, of innocence. And we’ll take our rightful place in the galactic community.”

So no more Love Canals? No more “LaVerne and Shirley”?

“No.”

What will take their place?

“Something far better.”

Out in the desert, one of those instant New Mexico rainstorms lets loose a resounding thunderclap.

“Thank you,” Jose Arguelles says.