But this millennium is definitely coming to a close, and the third millennium (according to the common calendar) is scheduled to begin. And this has given rise to a flood of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, the likes of which the planet hasn't seen for a thousand years!

Every kind of purported prophecy is proclaimed to the populace. Psychic hotlines abound. The Holy Scriptures get dissected like a frog, its teachings ignored in the search for a hidden message in the lettering itself. (Don't drink the tea. Just read the tea leaves.) Hints of a hollow philosophy cloaked in a mediocre adventure sells millions of books. (Please, don't tell me that you really liked The Celestine Prophecy.)

Doom has more spokespeople than Amway!

Ironic ain't it, that this extremely rational and scientific century should draw to a close in a lunatic spasm of cosmic proportions?

But then, why not? This was the century of Revolution. And I don't mean just bolsheviks. The 20th Century began with revolutions of thought and perception. From Einstein to Joyce to Picasso to Schoenberg to Sartre, the old way of thinking was transformed by revolutionaries, and the modern world, like or not, was born.

This century, in which so much changed for us. Going from Kittyhawk to the moon in 66 years. And now, into local outer space on a regular basis. From the wireless of Marconi and silent films to Gilligan's Island to home satellite dishes and 500 channels. What a century!

But I digress . . .

In our culture, this Millenium began in the Dark Ages. That humankind has come so far in a mere thousand years is, in itself, amazing.

And, without sounding panglossian, we are on the verge of a New World. Interconnected on a personal level, transcending national boundaries. Hard-wired. One to One. (Hey! I get email from people I don't know. I tend to answer - UNLESS IT'S SPAM.)

But, and it's a BIG BUT, is it because it's the Millenium?

Get a life folks! The Chinese calendar is the year 4000 something. The Jewish calendar is 5000 something. OUR OWN CALENDAR IS ONLY FIVE HUNDRED FOURTEEN YEARS OLD.

It isn't what we call it. It isn't the end of the century and the beginning of the next. It isn't the end of the millenium and the beginning of the next.