By saying we want to address the meaning and significance of these events, we are not saying that it is all something that can be simply explained away, or that there is some trite explanation or cliché that is suddenly going to click for you in a minor way.  No, not at all.  Rather we would say that the meanings and significance of these events are the kinds of meanings and significance that need to be continually pondered and explored.  It is not something that is pat, "So there it is – granted – next…"  It is not that way at all.  Rather the deeper meanings and significance of these events are important arenas of exploration and growth, and understanding and wisdom.  So, let’s talk about couple of these arenas of wisdom exploration, all right…

First, there is no one simple meaning of  ‘what this (the tsunami) is about.’  Again, that would be cliché and oversimplification.  It would be a form of dismissing it, wouldn’t it?  Dismissing says, "Let’s just give it a cliché and be done with it."  So let’s look a few things here.  

We would like to say that the universe must be congratulated on the way that it manages to maintain order.  The universe is very self aware, very self-functioning, very wise, and operates with order.  It can rotate the planets around the sun, the moon around the earth with great precision and in great harmony.  Just as your Earth can have its ecology and keep its whole system of atmosphere breathable, its flora and fauna and all the  species on the Earth surviving with their interaction and with their food chain, so there is much order to the Universe. 

So, it is important to acknowledge that this event including the movement of the tectonic plates and the tidal waves in the area of Asia involving twelve countries was not something out of order.  It’s in the order of the Earth’s flow geologically and chronologically.  But, it doesn’t feel that way to you, does it?  Why? First we congratulate the Earth for its order.  Let’s acknowledge that that order is something that is absolutely there.  Yet doesn’t feel good because with the tsunami that order is bumping up here against humanity and humanity is bumping up against it.  This is a very big subject that you are all very aware of – man’s interaction (man and women’s obviously) with the ecology. This brings in the whole question of domination vs. dominion with nature.  That issue of domination vs. dominion with nature is something that is brought to the forefront here – blamelessly.  These events in Asia are blameless – totally blameless.

This is the first time in human history when such a cataclysmic event has occurred where the majority of the planet’s population knows of the event and knows it is a blameless catastrophe.  That is something new for humanity. That is something very ponderable.  How does humanity respond to a blameless, catastrophic, enormous event?  We would suggest that is a very important question. And, it is not completely answered yet. But, let’s look to see what is happening.

One of the responses you are seeing to the events is the enormity of giving and caring that people are doing. There is an enormous opening of the heart, a flooding and flowing of giving and caring for such a  blameless catastrophe.  You are also seeing a tremendous uniting of intention and purpose.  A unity that is a first – a first in that way.  Oh, you have had portents of what it would be like for so many people to feel similar emotions.  Because of the media carrying news around the world, you saw it first with the assassination of John Kennedy.  That perhaps was the first wave.  Around the world there was a wave of emotion caused by Kennedy’s death (though not everywhere in the world). That was just a beginning.  You, in more recent times, experienced it in a certain way with the death of Princess Diana of Britain. These were events and circumstances where there was placing of blame.  And, then of course, on September 11, 2001 you had a catastrophe that was felt around the world, but still there were perpetrators and blame involved.  But this earthquake/tsunami is the first time news of such a catastrophe and disaster has swept round the world without any sense of blame.  There are no ‘bad guys’ here.

So, this is now opening the door to some very interesting new things for humanity.  When there are catastrophes like this, in order to find the meaning, you must study the function.  How does this event function?  How does this event function with humanity? What does it do? Therein will lie its meaning.  We have just been talking about how it is functioning.

How has it been functioning? It has been functioning to open hearts. It has been functioning to wake people up to certain equalities in life – meaning that humanity is humanity, the rich and poor alike are affected here. This event also functions to help people observe themselves react.  Yes, people are observing their reactions.  Let’s give a specific example.  Let’s say that one night you have on the Larry King TV show workers in the field that are trying to get food to starving children in flood ravaged poor villages in Sri Lanka.  Let’s say hypothetically that someone doesn’t pay much attention to that story and they notice they are turning the dial to turn the story off.  They just sort of pass it over.  And, let’s say the next night there is the story of the supermodel - famous for being on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine - who clung to a tree for eight hours to save her life in the tsunami, and who’s boyfriend is yet to be found.  A dramatic story. And, that person might just observe how riveted they are to that story more than the other.  Why they might ask themselves. "Oh, isn’t that interesting. I wanted to watch that entire show."   So, it is the opportunity for people to observe their observation. We always talked about being an observer, then being an observer of your observer.  And, in this way there is this opportunity for these events to function to allow people to observe their observing.  Where are you placing your attention?  What stories are moving you? Why? What does it say about you?

What stories are calling you?  Or are you one of those ignoring the tsunami news stories completely?  We’re asking that because it has to be addressed. Do you remember that on September 11th there were some people who were in denial of it – didn’t want to watch it – and then there were others who were completely obsessed and had to watch it? In other words, how is it being observed?  How is it as an event functioning with people?  

With this event what you have is massive impact on people’s consciousness with the choice to respond to it as they wish. And, lo and behold, one of the things that has been happening is that the media has been, shall we say, respectful – by and large.  There are exceptions yet it’s been less sensationalistic overall.  You can hear in many of the commentator’s voices they are speaking from the heart even though they are trying to keep the viewers watching.  There has not been an egregious use of sensationalism as there could have been.  This is a shift and a plus there.  This is another of the functionings of the events, in that way.

Also this event is functioning to transcend politics because it is a blameless event.  Now there are still some people who want to make it political – ‘this country is giving more than that country’ sort-of-thing,– and ‘why did Bush do this, and why did Bush do that?’ These may be valid questions – but not in the bigger picture for it could take attention and could distract from what is important.  So, it is important to remain focused on what is important. So, what we are saying here is that this event also functions to transcend politics, even though it may have an inclusion of it in the aftermath with the reconstruction. 

Still, the event itself totally transcends politics in its focus and magnitude. So here you have a uniting event that transcends politics.  You can’t call the dropping of the A-bomb anything like that.  You can’t call any other mass catastrophic events that you have ever had in your history a transcending of politics and uniting of hearts.  So, here we see that this is a unique moment.  Here is an event that is unique to mankind: information sent around the world of a gigantic event that is blameless, that transcends politics, that unites people and allows people to observe their reactions, and to respond to the events by giving.  

And what about misinterpretation of the meaning of the event? There is another very interesting function here. You have been hearing for years and years and years, "Earth changes are coming!  Earth changes are coming!" We would suggest that this is an Earth change, though not in an Armageddon-like way - in a natural way -the tectonics shifted. 

There is something else that happened that we are going to address.  That is: the shift in time that occurred. This is a microcosm of the macrocosm.  Something else that you have been hearing about for years, "There is a shift coming, there is a shift coming: Earth changes – shift, Earth changes—shift—the planet is going to be different!  Well, you’ve got a slightly different time now because the Earth’s rotation was altered by the quake by 1/10,000th of a second. That doesn’t sound like very much – 1/10,000th of a second, but it is a shift in time.  Time on the Earth was changed by 1/10,000th of a second.  What are the ramifications of that?  What will that mean in the long-term scientifically?  Who knows?  Because it has never happened before, at least not in your measurable history.

There’s been a microcosmic shift in time that just may be representative of a macrocosmic shift.  You’ve been hearing for years and years, "There are going to be shifts, there are going to be Earth changes."  Yes, you’ve been hearing ‘doom and gloom‘ Yes, there have been exaggerations – but, here you have an event that is clearly both of those: an Earth change and a shift in time.  Right?  Right.  So, perhaps it’s time to congratulate yourselves and say, "Wait a minute here’s an example of what we’ve been moving toward as we know we’re building a new world - as we know we’re building a new world in which materiality is merged with spirit and (the world) knows it. Maybe we can say that this is one of the ways that the shifts and Earth changes are happening that are bearable, do-able, and have other meanings - and can take higher purpose into consideration."

It’s very important to note that one of the other functions of this event does have a higher purpose of uniting people – uniting people in so very many ways. And also, drawing attention to people that one would not otherwise know about (people in remote areas). The tsunami didn’t just happen in just one country—it was twelve countries.  Isn’t that interesting? There’s a huge diversification of cultures and thought that were impacted, thus providing the opportunity for other people to investigate and learn many things.

There is an opportunity in the function of these events, as with September 11, to hear magical stories that are inspirational, stories of courage, stories of heroism and caring.  There are some remarkable stories, beautiful stories, that are very educational, as well as inspirational. 

So, to reiterate, with these tsunami related events you’ve got a microcosmic time shift (which - if everything is a metaphor, if there is any such thing as a true microcosm then a microcosm IS a macrocosm). So, you can look at it anyway you wish (microcosm or macrocosm). And there was an Earth change which was not such a small thing.  Tens of thousands of people were taken.  You’ve also been hearing (in the doom and gloom prophesies) "Oh, a lot of people are going to die".  Well, a lot of people did die, and yet in viewing the magnitude of the whole picture of the Earth it was a "natural" disaster.  In the big picture of the whole world, yes, many people died.  And yet, it was not about ‘ascension’ was it. No, it wasn’t.  It was not about some of the ‘gloom and doom’ kinds of things that you’ve heard about from some fringe groups, that you know.  Yet it does involve, in that way, yes, a lot of people who have died.  This opened hearts and unified people.

So, these are some of the functions (of the tsunami events). These are some of the ways this event has functioned that we feel has deep meaning and significance and therefore can help you with understanding.  It functions to enlighten, it functions to open the heart, it functions to help people observe how they live through and observe blameless tragedy – blameless tragedy.  What are the effects of that? It serves to educate on many levels about how to give help to people, alarm systems, the importance of the information highway, and also it serves to educate people about mother nature.  

Now to come back to the subject of dominion vs. domination with nature.  This earthquake/tsunami event brings that issue right to the forefront, doesn’t it.  This is another one of the functions.  Nature is going to do what nature does. That’s the nature of the planet. It has to move.  As we have said before, Earth has to have earthquakes to stay alive.  Without earthquakes the planet would die.  That is because of the movement of the magma. The magma has to move in order to keep the Earth’s core hot.  If the magma doesn’t move the Earth core would get cold and the planet would die.  So, when the magma moves, the continents have to shift.  Therefore earthquakes are mandatory for the health of the Earth.  So, here you’ve got nature, and how is man going to live "with" and be in dominion "with" nature. This question is now brought up. Tsunami functions to serve that question. And, we would suggest that all the issues it brings up with all the scientists and all the conferences that are being done now (the ways the tectonics have been discussed) are going to be changed now.  Natural events are going to be far, far more globally viewed now - globally viewed – and that is a very important function for these events. The global viewing of natural events is now taking place on the planet.  And, it begs the questions: How do we live with this global view? How do we live with the extremities that the planet can indeed inflict out of her own survival needs?  A good question isn’t it? So, (the tsunami) brings this question to the fore. How can man live in dominion with nature? Not domination, dominion.

Now, let’s go to the stories.  There are lots of (tsunami) stories (of individuals in the news).  And you may have your own favorite one.  It’s worthy of looking at. What are your favorite stories you have heard from the survivor stories (in the news)?  The stories that stand out to you are speaking to you in a personal way.

As you remember from the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and there is such a resonance (link) to this for many people to September 11, and the shared humanity of it, when you picked a story that touched or moved you there was something personal for you in it. 

That (same process) is worthy of doing in this case.  This gives the event a function that has personal meaning (to you) and that can bring to you a deeper understanding.  Ask yourself, ‘What are the stories that touched me?’ (See the metaphor in them that is relevant to your life).

Well, we’re going to tell you one that touched the channel and she’ll have to figure out why.  And it’s the story – you may have heard it – about the ten year old girl from Biritain who was vacationing on the beach in Puquet, Thailand with her family.  She saw the sea go out, and she knew immediately that this was the first sign of a tsunami.  At ten years old she went to her parents and said, "A tsunami is coming, we must leave, we must go.  We have to get out of here! A tsunami is coming. I know because I studied it in school. And, I know this is what’s happening."  And the parents listened. To their credit they listened.  And then they told other people, and the little girl told other people on the beach, and they listened and left the beach.  And then the people in the hotel listened and they left the hotel.  And, as it turned out, it was the one hotel of the many, many where no one died. No one died. They all left the beach.  They all left the hotel. They listened to this ten year old girl. And that speaks to what? To the channel it speaks to the power of education.  That was her joy in that.  But, also we would say it certainly speaks to a certain willingness perhaps for adults to respect the knowledge that their children have.

Oooh, did you hear the story about the elephants? That’s a beautiful story.  There are elephants for hire to give rides for tourists. We are not sure in what location, one would guess India.  At any rate they were  down near the beach and it was described that the elephants ‘were crying’ prior to the tsunami. The elephants were crying. They were making wailing sounds that the elephant’s owners and trainers had never heard the elephants making before. They said the only way they could describe the strange sounds was that it was like crying.  And the trainers kept trying to tell the elephants "Stop that,  stop that – let’s get to work" and the animals refused. They refused to put the people on their backs for the tourism rides.  And they were trying to – wanted to – run.  They tried to break away and run for the hills, the higher ground.  Finally the trainer- owners gave up.  So they followed the elephants that were leading the way up to another to a higher area.  And then the first tsunami wave hit and they began to understand the elephants behavior.  At that point the elephants started - on their own volition - picking people up and putting them on their backs.  They picked people up with their trunks and scooped them up and put them on their backs. One of the trainers said it was the most amazing thing to watch my elephant just on his own start picking people up and putting them on his back. A beautiful story reported in the Los Angeles Times.  And these elephants really, truly  saved some lives – saved lives. So that’s it. That  story is amazing because it speaks to the interconnectedness between nature and the animal kingdom . Humanity can learn from that.  You also heard about a lot of animals who left the scene and ran away, had a sense of the impending danger. They had an ‘extra sensing’ that humanity has had shall we say trained out of your genetic code by modern society. Animals have this ability to sense invisible dangers the elements can bring. The value of it is clearly to be seen here. This speaks to the value of the interconnectedness between the animal realm and the ecology of the planet and its natural events.  And, how much can be learned from this about being in dominion with and more connected to the planet’s nature.  It has been studied a bit with dolphins and whales.  It is time to study this with other animals, yes?

So, we would just leave you with these few reflections to help you to gain some insight, some understanding, and to see some meaning to these events. Not to say that these events were good and wonderful. To reduce them to good and bad, right and wrong, black and white is reductionism, oversimplification, and dismisses deeper meaning.  Far more important is to go deep inside to look at the meanings.  What does it mean to humanity to have a first time historical event, as we’ve said, a first time event of this magnitude that is blameless? And, the first time the media could go around the world on the wires and the satellites and thus on the internet, on CNN and radio, and people could respond quickly and feel things together in virtual time with a sense of unity and compassion.  FIRST TIME, that is to be acknowledged. Not saying it was ‘good’ but saying that the function is meaningful.

The function of this event can be significant. The function of this event can be viable, valuable, useful, and in the long term can be helpful, yes indeed, in mankind’s evolution. 

The intricacy of the intelligence of the self-aware universe is capable of a coalescing of events that serve a higher purpose.

And we will invite you to find the personal meaning for yourself of this event to add your piece of wisdom to the collective growth.

And we invite you to give deeply and freely from your heart to lift those who cannot help themselves in this extraordinary circumstance. More love is produced for all mankind in this way. The collective grows.

Much love, Much love for now...

[Minor editing done by Shawn]

© Copyright 2005, Shawn Randall
Shawn Randall is regarded as the foremost channeling teacher in the U.S. for more than twenty years. She is known in many countries for her teaching and channeling, crop circle studies, and tours to power places. She is also an author. Shawn and Torah are my friends and were my channeling teachers. If you would like to contact Shawn, please do so at SRCntr@aol.com.