It has been predicted that at this time we would find ourselves in a great new age of awakening.Are we there,yet?Or has the opposite happened-society has descended into ignorance,materialism and mechanical existence.
What is your personal view?

If this is awakening, I guess it was great party yesterday. I would call this more like hangover, where mouth tastes like s*i* and all can do is lay down.

For example global economical fall down may drive, force people to rethink their values. Same time it makes people feel unsafe, irritated, frustrated and fearful about the future, which may lead growing rate of anarchy, violence.

The change may not be bloodless, if we for example watch revolutions of Libya, Syria, Egypt. There is great restlessness in towns like London, Madrid etc.

"New Age" or "Orwellian Nightmare"?...

Now that I think about it, no one ever said the two were mutually exclusive. What if the "New Age" IS an "Orwellian Nightmare"? Is the "New Age" we talk about really the over-optimistic Pseudo-Utopian dream of a "better world" we think it is, or are we just setting ourselves up for a far more Machiavellian nightmare we refuse to admit is far more likely? I mean, if we look at the odds realistically, and take human nature and characteristic human trends into consideration, we have to agree that it is far less likely we will ever find ourselves in a cool future of enlightenment and peace instead of the more likely wage slave toiling for subsistence in the heart of a corporate machine.

And while I shiver at the idea of being a slave to the mindless excess of a machine with no humanity in a gray and lifeless world of drones, I am not sure I want the doe eyed and vacuous scene of utopia in a rainforest with people running around in sheer togas eating fruit and throwing themselves at each other without concern. I'm not Zardoz, and Barbarella was a good movie but I don't want to visit, much less live there.

My idea of a better world (without a doubt) is not the same as yours. I doubt (if we are completely honest about how we actually feel and think) no one would like the other person's idea of a perfect world much. I don't like the idea of working for nothing, especially if my contribution to society is disproportional to that of others. Compensation for my efforts is required no matter how idealistic you want to be. On the same token, I'm not interested in putting a despot on the throne (unless that despot is my puppet ruler and target while giving me everything but the public spot light).