Group consciousness, fear, and the economy

Frederick asks why real estate prices in his country have not fallen despite a political crisis and rising interest rates.

The Wonders answer: fear.

When the fear of losing is greater than the fear of paying, prices hold up — people worldwide are more afraid of not buying a home than of buying one, since they see everything rising and no end in sight.

The forming world consciousness reads this not as another passing recession but as long-term pain, so nobody wants to sell unless they cannot afford to keep, while everyone wants to buy before prices rise further.

A correction will come, but not for a while, because fear is too great.

Oil, having reached nearly $150 a barrel and sitting around $135, remains far above its true value, inflated by fear; it has eased only because people are beginning to weigh the fear of not having enough oil against the fear of using it, walking a tightrope.

Prices will drop like a stone only when consciousness chooses a different direction and humanity says it will not play the game any more.

Too many are invested: people earning $20,000-$40,000 a year are in the stock market trying to get rich, so speculation has multiplied and these small speculators, feeding on each other's fear, now hold commodity prices up, where formerly large speculators followed the small buyer's lead.

Frederick reflects that his old pride in sensing where things were moving before others has become a limit; the Wonders tell him he has not lost that ability but should not let pride get in the way — he should use his awareness and simply feel the energy of fear around him, which has been increasing exponentially for almost two years and is in a self-feeding frenzy like piranhas.

They give a high probability that it will self-destruct within a year to a year and a half, because most people cannot sustain fear at that intensity for long.