This is the preface to Kavita's new book:
Quantum Co-Creative Revolution: We Are All In This Together.
The book is available in Kindle format on www.amazon.com.
Quantum Co-Creative Revolution: We Are All In This Together.
The book is available in Kindle format on www.amazon.com.
This book
is about evolutionary spirituality, a new way of seeing the world, and a new
way of being in it. It faces the crises confronting us squarely in the eye, and
opens up a new vision for how to move beyond them. It is predicated on the idea
that life doesn’t present us with crises – either personal or collective –
unless it wants us to learn things, and move through.
For those
of us willing to admit that our world is in serious trouble, the question is
what can we do about it, and do it with efficacy, courage and joy? That is what
this book is about. I won’t waste time trying to convince anyone that in fact
we are in trouble – for those who are unconvinced, and wish to remain so, there
is little I can say; and for those who need more evidence, there are plenty of
other sources, from the daily news, to their own personal experiences, to many
well-written books. It’s the people who know we’re in trouble and genuinely
want to change things that I want to address here; those who want to connect the
dots between the causes of the crises and their potential solutions, and are
seeking the inspiration, hope and fellowship to do it.
None of
us can do this alone; we need each other to face the unprecedented crises
confronting us, and to transform them into the equally unprecedented
opportunities for a life of renewal and beauty, that so many of us desire. At
the heart of the crises lies the potential for an extraordinary transformation.
But we must act together. We must find our common ground, and create a
movement, an unstoppable force, of clarity, energy, passion and compassion,
which can catapult us to our higher evolution, and its embodiment on Earth,
this miraculous planet we share as our precious home.
We will
look here at what has been preventing this until now – our denial, our
distraction, a distorted worldview based on separation, the lack of a wider
perspective and sense of solidarity with others and the greater web of life.
Above all, to widen our perspective, to shift our identification from the
limited sphere of our own daily cares, to the knowledge of being part of a much
bigger Whole – a much larger arc in time and space -- is enormously empowering.
It gives us both consolation, inspiration and a much larger context for wise
and effective action. This is what this book is about. We will look, one by
one, at the limiting views that make us think we cannot change our world, and
open to one by which we can -- a view
of the unlimited capacities of our consciousness, and the unlimited possibilities
of our future.
I beg
your indulgence in advance if I use any words in this book that push your
buttons – it is almost impossible these days to find words that speak to
everyone, and especially in my case because I bridge the spiritual and social
activist worlds, which often don’t speak the same language! You’ll notice there
are certain concepts that I invoke again and again – for instance, from the
spiritual side, “interconnection and Oneness”, and the crucial importance of
“consciousness”; from the activist side, an unapologetic criticism of
capitalism – the “C-word” that for many today it seems blasphemous to
declaim! Though many today still seem to
find any challenge to capitalism threatening, I feel it is crucial to name it –
because it enshrines in our outer systems the mind-set of separation,
competition and private self-profit that is causing our crises today, and needs
to be replaced by a consciousness of interconnection and Oneness, essential to
transform our systems to sustainable, just ones.
I think
that until we identify the causes of the crises – both at the level of
consciousness, and our outer systems – we won’t be able to change them. So
please allow me to use these words freely, without white-washing or skirting
around the issues; and leave aside, for the moment, any previous judgments or
resistance you may have to these words. Of course, as the book unfolds, I will
unpack more fully what I mean by them, and the bigger context in which they are
located. This expanded context will defy any over-simplistic caricaturization
of these terms you may have picked up from previous associations.
In this
age of information overload, a massive desensitization has occurred, deflating
both hope and meaning. The media uses words (and more often images) to catch
our eye, whizzing by, with no time to process their meaning; we are programmed
into a collective attention deficit disorder – scattered, dumbed down and
numbed out. People surf only the surface of things, lacking both the time and
attention-span to dive deep. Catch-words come and go, but are not followed
through by reflection and action; the addiction to novelty that has been
induced by both the media and market forces militates against any new movement
of depth being sustained long enough to take hold. The banners under which any
challenge to the status quo would gather are quickly co-opted by market forces
and robbed of their power to change things.
Once we
are aware of the convergence of factors keeping our minds and vision in chains,
then we have a chance to break free, and to start thinking and acting from a
place of clarity, boldness and true freedom. It is my attempt in this book to
help us undo some of the major blocks in our thinking, and unleash the power of
creative vision so vital to meeting today’s crises, and moving through to the
next stage of our evolution.
I will
also deal quite a bit with the different levels of the crises, and the
different levels of solutions, offering keys to turn the locks in each case. So
bear with me as I challenge you to stretch your mind and open your heart, to
make certain connections you might not be accustomed to. I promise it will pay
off. We are multi-dimensional beings of extraordinary capacities, living in a
multi-dimensional universe with vast possibilities we have yet to explore (which
we’ve given, up until now, remarkably short shrift!) I encourage you, invite
you, to step through some doors, ones you might not even have dreamt existed.
Have the courage to step through, to take some imaginative leaps – your life,
and the precious life we share together on this Earth, will assuredly be
enriched by it, in ways beyond anything we can now predict.
We stand
on the brink of a new world. Join me, as we enter it and explore it together.
Introduction
I.
This book
explores the relationship between spirituality and social transformation in the
light of a new vision of integral, evolutionary spirituality. It embraces the
deep truth of interconnection and Oneness at the core of the ancient traditions
as well as new quantum science, and the vital integration of feminine wisdom at
all levels of our being, including our energetic, psychological, ecological and
economic systems.
Sounds
ambitious, big, spanning a mind-stretching arc of domains? Yes, it is, and I’m
the first to admit it. Yet the crises we are sitting in the midst of today are
likewise huge, and we need to rally all the forces at our disposal to garner a
vision and action, not only equal in magnitude, but powerful, comprehensive
enough to overcome them.
Many
people today, in our pluralistic, relativistic age, eschew “bigger pictures”
and “deeper meanings”, yet without them we are lost. We need them to guide our
way. They are, of course, never definitive, nor should we wish them to be – but
they give us reference points to work with, from which we can find our way. And
at this time, more than ever, we need to do exactly that – to step back and
reflect, to see where we are and where we are heading, in order to find a new
way.
Invariably
friends, when they heard I was writing this book, asked me who I saw as my
audience, who I am addressing. At first I thought about this in terms of
different sectors of the population – spiritual, intellectual, activists, or the
general public, the main-stream. Frankly, it gave me a headache to try to
decide, because I wanted to reach all of them! But in the end I decided the
answer is simple. The kind of people I want to reach are simply people who
care, whatever walk of life they may come from -- people who care about life
and the Earth. People who, because they care, want to make the connections
between today’s global crises and the causes behind them; the connections
between the different levels of the problem, as well as the solutions. People
who don’t just want to sit back and watch the world hurtle towards a
catastrophic future, but who care enough to want do something, and to do it now.
Like a
detective-mystery writer, I will throw out certain strands of my vision, and later
weave them together into a greater tapestry. So please hang in with the loose
ends, and enjoy the mystery. I am also happy for my readers to pick up any of
the strands and weave them together with their own insights– the richer the
tapestry the better, as we brain-storm and heart-source together new patterns
and new possibilities for our future.
This book
is a collaboration – with you, the reader. Please respond, if not to me, then
to life itself -- the call of the Earth and all that is here that you love.
Together we can turn the tide on climate change and the unjust systems causing
it. Each of us, in our own way, has something very special to contribute. Join
us in this great wave of co-creation, with each other, with all life on Earth,
and the Source itself of Creation.
Many
people talk today about the Great Transition, or the Great Turning. It is most
constructive to see, in this way, our crises as great opportunities -- and
powerfully pro-active. Increasingly modern science tells us, as did the ancient
mystics, that as we see things, so they become. We transmute, by the force of
our focus, possibility into fact. We must envision a future we want, and act on
it. Either demise or triumph becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, so let us
prophesize triumph, and act to make it come true.
There is
no debate anymore; the crisis of climate change is very real, and it is
man-made, as 98% of mainstream scientists agree. This is both the bad news and
the good news, because if we are causing it, we have it in our hands to change
it. The impending catastrophes aren’t being hurled down, willy-nilly, from the
sky. If we have caused the crises, it means we are not powerless -- if we are
responsible for the causes, it means we can also stop them. The question now is
– which is more irreversible, climate change or the minds of men? We need to
reverse our thinking, our consciousness itself, if we are to reverse the
destruction of the Earth. We need to change our value systems, and we have only
a short time to do it. This pressure should not paralyze, but rather incite us
to act.
The Causal Chain Between the Three
Controversial “C-Words”
Naomi
Klein (and now the Pope!) has already clearly identified the causal link
between capitalism and climate change (and in general, environmental
destruction and the growing inequality that goes with it.) Here I add a third
dimension to this causal chain, for it is the consciousness behind
capitalism and climate change that is the deeper cause of both of these. This
consciousness is a distorted one, the delusion that we are separate, and
therefore must live in competition with each other, and in conflict with
nature. This divisive consciousness finds its expression, par excellence, in
the capitalist credo – the enshrinement of individualistic self-seeking and
private self-profit, disregarding the consequences for others and nature -- the
result being our twin crisis of climate change and extreme social inequity.
To
reverse this vicious causal chain and replace it with a virtuous one – one that
restores healthy life systems and our creative, symbiotic relationship to them
– we need, then, to start with a fundamental change in consciousness. In fact,
this change would restore our natural relationship with consciousness itself,
which is itself the deepest source of our unity, our interconnected being.
Consciousness is by its nature connective. Once we have we embraced this
essential truth of our interconnectedness, with our own source, each other and
nature, it is natural to base our social and economic systems on cooperation
and sustainability – the outer embodiment, in our material systems, of our
interconnection and unity.
Thus a
new chain emerges, from a consciousness of interconnection, to cooperative and
sustainable systems, to a course-correction on climate change and our crises of
social inequity.
It is
interesting that each of the three “C-words” in the current causal chain –
consciousness, capitalism and climate change -- is highly controversial, and
naming each of them openly and frequently, as I do, has gotten me repeatedly
into trouble. Frankly, I think they are controversial precisely because their
reality, and the enormity of their effects, are in fact so obvious – that many
people don’t want to face them, or actively suppress them.
In our
hyper-materialistic world, few people are ready to admit the primary role of
consciousness in the material and social systems we create around us (partly because it would turn
upside down their entire worldview, giving them a power they don’t know yet how
to use, partly because it would shake their faith in outer technological
fixes.) Capitalism, meanwhile, is so
ingrained in our worldview, that it is equally taboo to question it -- the
gospel that it’s the best of all possible systems, despite increasingly
disturbing evidence of its failings, makes for an uncomfortable contradiction
far more convenient to suppress than address. And the reality of climate
change, staring us in the face and verified by 98% of scientists as well,
continues to be denied and ignored, precisely because it is so clear and overwhelming.
It is a
fascinating fact of human psychology that what is taboo is often exactly what
needs to be said. What is covered up, skirted or tip-toed around is exactly
what needs to be seen. So I won’t censor myself here, for the sake of political
correctness or so as not to offend – I will say things as I see them. I welcome
open debate on these things – in fact, I think it is crucial, for the sake of
both our survival and our evolution – but the vital first step is that we be
willing to openly name and face them.
***
Because I
am addressing such a wide range of sectors, and such a wide range of domains,
I’d like to make a disclaimer, right here at the outset. And that is, I know I
can’t please everyone, and certainly not on all counts. This is especially so,
I might add, because even in each of these domains, I’ll be throwing out some
bold and, for some, unexpected, claims, venturing into new, unfamiliar
territory. So I hope you are willing to give me some play here, to cut me some
slack. I warmly invite you to venture with me in this spirit of exploration, at
the cutting edge of the unknown.
This
means, of course, not to expect to agree with everything, but not to reject
everything else when you don’t! It is an unfortunate tendency of the mind to
give more weight to what it finds fault with or rejects – even if it is a small
thing -- than what it finds positive and accepts -- even if it is a lot -- and
sometimes to throw out the latter on account of the former! In addition, our
reasons for rejecting certain ideas are not necessarily valid in the first
place, but sometimes just reflexive reactions, at the basis of which is an
emotional bias or an unexamined prejudice. Whatever doesn’t accord with our
previous conditioning, clashes with our pre-conceptions, we tend to meet with
automatic resistance or doubt.
This book
is an exploration of consciousness, and the new levels to which we can bring
it, as much as of any concrete ideas or even theoretical concepts I offer.
Hopefully reading it will change you, open up new dimensions, but how deeply it
can do that also depends on the consciousness with which you approach it.
So I’d
like to invite you, my reader, to engage with this material in a special way,
bringing more consciousness than usual as to how we take in new viewpoints and
information. To be willing to be with new ideas, that at first might sound too
radical or challenging, patiently – suspending judgment, giving them time to
digest, letting other strands in the vision, as it weaves together through the
course of the book, continue to illuminate and give them context. And if there
are still some points you disagree with, simply to be with that too – holding
the complexity of agreeing with certain points but not necessarily others,
without dismissing the vision as a whole, or the spirit in which it is
intended, which is to stimulate and inspire but never to dictate or impose,
simply to share in the spirit of co-creative synergy.
For all
of us to learn to do this, to be more open to our differences and thus allow
higher perspectives to emerge, is as much a part of the aim of this book as
anything I will say in it. Beyond any of the ideas themselves, it is this
spirit of cooperation -- learning how to create the space, and spaciousness,
for the new to break through -- that this book seeks to cultivate and convey.
***
I chose
to organize this book in an unusual way. In order to give context to the ideas
that follow, I first give a brief account of my story. This helps to flesh out
the logic with which the vision I present here actually unfolded in my life;
you’ll see that it’s not mere theory – it was gained in the school of hard
knocks! I then offer a concise vision of interconnectedness – which I see as
primary to the consciousness shift that is happening today -- what it means and
how we can apply it to all levels of our being. We will come back to this at
the end the book, where it becomes the basis for a global citizens movement for
whole-systems transformation, which we can all partake in.
In
between these two “book-ends”, we flesh out a larger vision of the new paradigm
of “evolutionary spirituality” that is emerging today in our consciousness and
society. In Part 1, we begin by looking at how spirit and matter have become
split, historically, in our cultural consciousness, and how they are now
re-uniting. Consciousness, energy and matter are one, as both ancient mystics
knew, and modern quantum science is increasingly discovering. This means a
change in consciousness can radically re-align our material and social systems
– a quantum revolution, from the inside out.
In this
light, we then explore the continuum of levels through which consciousness
expresses itself as matter, moving from the subtle to the increasingly manifest
– from the energetic, informational, psychological to social levels, including
our material, ecological and economic systems. We explore different models that
show the interconnections between these levels, and how they can be brought
into alignment, co-creative Wholeness and synergy, powering this great
evolutionary transition.
In Part 2,
we highlight the crucial importance of re-balancing and uniting, at each of
these levels, feminine and masculine energies and perspectives, as an intrinsic
part of this quantum cultural leap. In Part 3, we come back for a deeper dive
into each level, zooming in to its particular challenges and its particular
gifts. We end with a section on Social Transformation, bringing the original
vision of interconnectedness with which we began, and all the insights which
followed, into an integral plan for a global citizens movement towards a new
sustainable, cooperative, evolutionary society. Yet this is just the beginning
– for I invite you then to help put this plan into action. The story we weave
together will continue, I hope, in your own heart and mind, on-line and in the
streets.
***
In the
course of this journey, we will be exploring both visible and invisible levels,
the seen and unseen levels of our being. The material world of our bodies and
the material systems we engage in is like the tip of the iceberg; if we dig
deeper, we find an entire ocean of consciousness and energy, which coalesce at
the surface into the material, physical world that we see. So again, I ask your
patience, and your openness to the possibility that these deeper perceptual
dimensions might in fact exist. They cannot be seen but they can be experienced – with training, or
in deep meditation, for instance -- for they are not something external to us,
but deeper levels of our own consciousness.
Awareness
of these unseen levels, how to gain access to them and leverage action from
them, is essential if we are to change our world. Balance and alignment at each
of these levels is also crucial, igniting the co-creative synergy that can bring
the unity at the core of our being into vital expression in our world. The
finely-tuned balance between receptivity and action, the feminine and masculine
energies, is an indispensable part of this, allowing us to receive the wisdom,
guidance and energy from the Source of Creation itself, to bring our life on
Earth into resonance with its unity at all levels – spirit, energy, psyche and
society. By surrendering our own small identity to the Whole, we gain entrance
to the immense intelligence in the subtle, non-local quantum field that unites
the whole Cosmos.
It is our
surrender and deepest immersion in the Source of Creation itself that gives
rise to the greatest power of creative emergence. The evolutionary leap
empowered by this connection will ignite nothing less than a revolution on
Earth.
II.
Before we
embark on this journey together, I’d like to lay the ground with a brief
preview of some of the main themes we will be exploring.
The Truth of Interconnectedness: We Are All
In This Together
Many
people are waking up to an inescapable truth -- if we are to survive and
thrive, we need to bring our systems into alignment with the principle of
interconnection and Oneness at the heart of all life.
We are learning
that whatever does not serve the well-being of the Whole doesn’t serve us as
individuals either. Conversely, when we serve the Whole, the Whole serves us
too. This is so astonishingly simple – astonishing because, somehow, we’ve
missed it – at least in the contemporary world we live in.
Astonishing
too, that we don’t see that this most basic misunderstanding is at the root of
our crises. We live in our tiny silos, our private self-interests – and wonder
why the world is crashing down around us!
When we
widen our perspective beyond our own personal sphere, however, we see something
fascinating – and ultimately very reassuring. We see that we are embedded in a
series of larger, concentric spheres, a widening spiral of nested systems –
ecological, economic, social – that nourish and sustain us. We are never on our
own; our entire being is intricately entwined in these systems, in the greater
Whole.
The
problem is that these systems cannot, in the long-run, continue to nourish and
sustain us, unless they are designed in such a way that we, from our side,
likewise nourish and sustain them. When the systems we live in are healthy, and
we are in healthy relationship with them, we thrive; if not, ultimately our
very survival is threatened.
It is
this cycle of mutual nourishment and enrichment between us, as individuals, and
the Whole that gives life its beauty and meaning, and is also the impetus of
our higher evolution. We feed the Whole, and the Whole feeds us, and from this
on-going synergy, our higher potentials – both as individuals, cultures and
cosmos -- emerge.
The
Spirit of Solidarity
Many
people are so focused on trying to survive, and trying to solve their own
problems, that they don’t realize that many of those problems could be solved
much more effectively if we all work together. This may sound incredibly
simplistic, but in today’s world we have been so programmed into
individualistic thinking, into looking after our own self-interests first, that
we fail to see how many of our problems come from this very isolation and
separation in the first place. Despite what capitalism conditions us to
believe, we are not made to struggle and compete, but pull together, cooperate,
help each other and thrive.
In a
cooperative society, everything we do has meaning and beauty, because it
sustains the Whole. And in turn the Whole sustains us, giving our lives ease
and flow. It is amazing how far we’ve come from this in our present competitive
society. And all because of a case of mistaken identity – we’re taught that
we’re on our own, not part of greater Whole.
In a
competitive, individualistic society, it’s each of us against the world alone –
you or me pitted against millions – while in a cooperative society, each of us
serves the Whole and in turn is served by millions. It isn’t rocket science to
see which of these causes limitless stress, and which gives life ease and
well-being. It’s pure common sense that the latter is a much better deal – far
more secure, relaxing and productive.
Who
wouldn’t prefer a cooperative, steady-state economy, where life is secure and
stable, and there’s room to both breathe easy and be creative – to one
predicated on the false grounds of limitless growth, and in fact, limitless
crisis?
What
would it look like” How would we get there? First we need to take that step of
recognizing the simple, unassailable fact that we are all interconnected. Then,
from this basic foundation in the truth of our being, everything else we need
to know and do will follow.
The
Many Ways in Which We Are Interconnected
The truth
of interconnectedness shows up at every level in the spectrum of our being,
both the seen and the unseen. It exists like the roots beneath the ground,
which we do not see, but which grow into the whole tree, trunk, limbs, branches
and leaves; each level gives support and rise to the other. In a healthy
system, each of these levels exists in a state of co-creative,
mutually-nourishing synergy.
And yet,
at each of these levels, we can either express duality and divisiveness or
interconnection and Wholeness. A crack in the foundation, a distortion or
imbalance below, will reverberate at every level above and make it unstable
(notice here I have switched from a natural metaphor to a man-made one.) This
is the instability, based on the false grounds of separation, that has mounted
to the untenable scale of the crises we are facing today.
If we all
are One, why is the gap between the rich and the poor widening, and why are we,
as a global culture, more alienated than ever from the natural world of which
we are a part? There could be many answers to this, but they all boil down to
this – we don’t live like we are One! Instead, we live in systems that do not
answer to our most basic needs, much less the higher truth of our interconnectedness.
Inner and Outer Revolution – We Need Both
Ironically,
while “consciousness” may be a taboo word to the world’s rationalists and
pragmatists, in spiritual circles we often hear that all we need to change the world is to change consciousness. This seems, at first glance, to imply
that action is not necessary, or important. But conscious action flows from an
inspired consciousness. They are not separate, but actually call forth each
other.
As we start to recognize that spirit and matter
are one, we also realize that the level of our consciousness is reflected and
embodied in our actions, our relationships and the material systems we live by.
Currently we are living in systems that do not represent an enlightened
consciousness – in fact, they often represent just the opposite: a
consciousness of division, competition, violence and fear. By default, we are
forced to comply with them outwardly, even if inwardly they chafe against the
yearnings of our soul. As our consciousness evolves, however, it itself compels
us to heal these splits, the ways in which our spirit and our material life are
incongruent. As we come into the consciousness of the interconnection and unity
of all life, we are called into natural action to change the outer structures
and systems by which we live.
Spirituality
must be a source of discernment, of waking up – both ourselves and others. It
has always been intended for this purpose, but must especially be so today, at
this time of such life-threatening challenges. The goal is not to find inner
peace and therefore exit responsibility for the world. On the contrary, inner
peace is only the beginning, the platform from which we can most powerfully
move the world. Inner peace is not an escape from the call to create outer
peace in the world, but rather confers upon us the very power to do so.
Years ago, as a student in the seventies, I, like
many others of my generation, wanted to change the world. I helped organize
anti-war demonstrations, did research on the connection between corporate
agribusiness and world hunger, and lived in Africa for a few years, working for
a rural health project in socialist Tanzania. At a certain point,
frustrated with the seemingly intractable obstacles to changing entrenched
power structures, I came to the conclusion that the only way to change things
was to change our own inner consciousness. I then embarked on a long journey
that took me to India
and many years practicing yoga and meditation in spiritual communities. I even
became a swami in an ashram myself.
One day in 2007, still in an ashram in India,
I had a “second awakening”, electrifying as the first that had sent me on my
spiritual search so many years before. After 25 years “on the cushion”, I
suddenly woke up to the reality that not only had all our years of
“consciousness transformation” not
transformed the planet, but that in fact we were on the verge of potentially
cataclysmic climate change, and ecological and economic collapse. I suddenly
realized that inner work can’t substitute
for outer work, but that the two vitally have to go together. I sought out
organizations integrating spirituality and social change – Global Peace
Initiative of Women, Agents of Conscious Evolution, the Great Transition
Initiative -- and for the last eight years have been working actively with
them. And I am not alone in this – there are many such groups and initiatives
burgeoning today.
My first awakening was to the truth of
interconnection and Oneness; my second to the crucial importance of applying it
in the world. The first was a blissful awakening; the second a rude one – but
ultimately blissful too, because it embraced reality in its true fullness,
which empowers us to transform darkness into light.
Not either/or, but both and more – for as
enlightened consciousness and enlightened systems mutually bring forth each
other, a new holistic, evolving society emerges, greater than the sum of its
parts, and far beyond anything we could have predicted. This means that true
inner revolution is inevitably the basis of true outer revolution, and that
overcoming the false distinction we make between them is essential to the
quantum leap in our evolution needed to heal both ourselves and our planet
today.
Andrew
Harvey, author of “The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism”, likewise powerfully
spells out the need to bring the inner and outer levels of transformation
together, super-charging the potential for genuine, deep-rooted change:
“A
spirituality that is only private and self-absorbed, one devoid of an authentic
political and social consciousness, does little to halt the suicidal juggernaut
of history. On the other hand, an activism that is not purified by profound
spiritual and psychological self-awareness and rooted in divine truth, wisdom,
and compassion will only perpetuate the problem it is trying to solve, however
righteous its intentions. When, however, the deepest and most grounded
spiritual vision is married to a practical and pragmatic drive to transform all
existing political, economic and social institutions, a holy force – the power
of wisdom and love in action – is born.”
As
consciousness evolves, it is natural for it to seek new, systemic outer
expressions.
Combining
inner and outer revolution is the fastest, most powerful way to accelerate both
our own transformation and that of our society and our planet. By advancing our
evolution both personally and collectively, it advances both exponentially, far more powerfully than if we work at either
the inner or outer level alone.
The New Story of Humanity
Many
people today, individually and as global culture, are looking for a “new story
for humanity.” The present one -- of separation, individualism, conflict and
violence -- is all too clearly failing us, destroying the fabric of our lives
and the very viability of our planet. Many see this quest for a new story as
something bewilderingly complex, yet I don’t think we have very far to look for
it. Its fulcrum is the interconnectedness and Oneness of our true being, and
the call to express it in every dimension -- from the spiritual, subtle-energy
and psychological levels, to our material, ecological and economic social
systems.
This
doesn’t mean, in any sense, a bland uniformity or conformity, but a vast,
creative celebration of unity-in-diversity. We all have an essential part in
the unfolding of this vast evolutionary big picture, and each of us is precious,
bearing unique gifts. In our interconnectedness, we complement, enrich, and
evolve each other.
This is
both an old story and a new story. It is old because our essential unity -- the
unconditioned, undivided nature of our consciousness -- is eternal, unchanging,
at the deepest level. In some societies, particularly traditional, indigenous
or matriarchal ones in the past, it has also been mirrored congruently in their
social systems. But more often, historically, and certainly today, it has been
expressed conversely, in the play of opposites, as the unity broken into
fragments, ridden with conflicts and division. We’ve identified with the
fragments rather than the unity. Now is the time to return to that unity – it
is calling us home.
Today
what is new, however, is that we are being forced not just to turn back to a static,
congruent symmetry with that essential unity of our being, but to move forward into
an evolving, co-creative, dynamic synergy with it, and on a global scale. This
is because our crisis of fragmentation has itself become global, endemic, and
reached its extreme limit, demanding a whole-systems leap to an entirely
different order of consciousness and society. So what is new is not only a
conscious connection with and expression of our true prior unity, but a
conscious, co-creative, dynamic, global and evolutionary one.
The new
story for humanity is thus also the “Universe Story”. We situate ourselves in
the larger possible arc of time and space – the miraculous, evolutionary
unfolding of this astonishing cosmos over the last 13 billion years, the awesome
grace of our place in that, and the call to support it and celebrate it, from
the heart of wonder and gratitude. Each of us contains the cumulative evolution
of the entire universe in our DNA and every cell of our body, and each of us is
part of its continued unfolding. Both science and spirituality now tell us that
we are one with all that exists – we are now called to live this. This is both
an extraordinary responsibility, and an extraordinary gift.
As the
new story for humanity is about bringing the essential unity of our being into
expression at all levels, it also sets the framework for the balance of
feminine and masculine at all levels. The unique gifts of the feminine, which
have been too-long suppressed, are surfacing now to help renew and evolve us
all.
The New Evolutionary Role of Women and the
Feminine
The balance
of feminine and masculine, the receptive and the active, are essential if we
are to attain the dynamic unity needed for today’s quantum revolution.
Less
driven by dominant masculine values in our society, women tend to be inclusive
in their perceptions and their relationality, more sensitive and responsive to
the needs of others and the environment around them. They are generally less
concerned with their own personal power and more with the wider needs of the
community around them. Unfortunately the sphere of their influence, the
“community” which they have traditionally served, has been narrowly confined --
limited in many cases to their own family and immediate neighborhood. The
sphere of feminine influence has to be expanded today to include the whole
world community and the planet.
The
feminine is not just inclusive of what is outside it, but also its own inner
source, making it supremely capable of bringing the two together. The feminine
sensibility is by its nature interconnective. Both inwardly and outwardly, it connects
to the world through the heart. Because women have been designed to bear life
(whether they do so, in the physical sense, or not) it is easier for them to
put themselves in the place of the other, to feel the interconnectedness of all
life, and naturally want to serve it. They draw life from within themselves
out, extending it to the world.
The
feminine must come out of the closet, bringing its deep connection with the
hidden template of unity at our core (both that of men and women) into expression
in the world, in our styles of governance, our economic and ecological
structures. The feminine has to go public, not following the now-failing
masculine power structures, but being fuelled by a new co-creative power, power
from and for the good of the Whole, connecting the inner sphere of spirit
with the outer of matter, our social, ecological and economic systems.
For all
the talk of women’s empowerment and women’s liberation, women have not yet
assumed their true historical task at this time; for the last forty years or
so, they have indeed been garnering power, but most have done so by copying
men, following the styles and structures of power men have established. More
and more women today, however, are waking up to the fact that it is another
kind of power they are called to bring in – a co-creative, constructive,
life-affirming power, issuing from the Source of the Whole and serving the
Whole. (There is no question of compromise or co-option here -- the contrast
with the competitive, life-destroying power of today’s globalized capitalism
couldn’t be starker!)
Mother
Nature Shares her Bounty Equally: Re-Claiming the Commons
Indigenous
cultures almost always see nature as our Mother. This simple shift in our way
of perceiving nature – not as an object to be exploited, but the living Source
that sustains us all – is at the basis of both ecological sustainability and
economic equality, the two most critical areas we need to address today. We
would never exploit or rape our own mother, nor take more than our fair share
of the bounty she shares equally with all her children, leaving our brothers
and sisters deprived. We cannot “own” pieces of our mother, nor hack and frack
her lifeless for our own private profit, without destroying the very basis of
our own life and of life itself.
The
feminine sensibility, and attitudes that respect it, are life-affirming,
life-protecting – both of human life and all the life-forms of nature. We need
to awaken and strengthen this sense of the sacredness of all life, and widen
the sphere of our actions to celebrate and defend it. This is true not only for
women but men; we are all in this together.
The Interconnection between Economics,
Ecological Healing and Social Justice/Equality
Right now
there is a direct, but destructive, connection between our global economic
system, ecological devastation, and vast social inequity. That these three
areas are exactly where our greatest crises lie is not at all incidental. Yet,
if our global economic system is recognized as the ground of both our
ecological and social crises, this also points the way to the solutions, for it
implies that by changing the economic system we can get to the roots of both
ecological destruction and acute social injustice.
The truth
of our interconnectedness is not just a beautiful concept or an intellectual
abstraction – it points directly to the need for active cooperation, for action
to embody our interconnected identity at all levels of our being and in all our
systems. Deeply felt, our sense of interconnectedness stirs us to action, to
protect that which we love. The rush of ecstasy we get in nature, or in the
arms of our beloved, calls us, in the same way, to defend what we love with our
life. It is not just a “feel-good” sentiment, but a vital call to action, that
makes us spring to life like a mother lion.
What kind
of social systems would best express interconnection and Oneness? In broad
strokes, such systems would focus on community, cooperation and equitable
sharing of the natural commons. New visions, social and economic, are emerging,
increasingly from processes that are themselves more cooperative and
co-creative – processes of collective intelligence, collaborative dialogue,
co-creative synergy, open-source knowledge-exchange. These processes seed
possibilities for a larger global platforms of participatory democracy and cooperatively-managed
economic systems, at all scales.
Both our
social governance forms and forms of economic management will be revolutionized
in this process, based on cooperation, collaboration and sharing. Socially, new
forms of participatory democracy, global citizens movements, digital “e-democracy”,
are actively being proposed. Economically, new forms of local resilience and
cooperative enterprises are already burgeoning; these cooperative structures
can be taken from a local to global scale. Both these approaches -- social
democracy and cooperative economy -- are natural off-shoots of the fundamental life-principles
of interconnection and unity-in-diversity, rising more and powerfully in the
public consciousness today.
Global Citizens Movement Towards A World
Participatory Democracy and Cooperative, Sustainable Economy
A global
crisis demands a global call to action. “Global” means we, the people of the world – not the present globalized corporate
economic system that is causing the crises – but we, the people, transforming
it, to a cooperative, sustainable one, through the structures of a new
participatory world democracy.
In this
book I extend that call to action, a call to galvanize a global citizens
movement towards a world participatory democracy and cooperative, sustainable
economy, based on the consciousness of interconnectedness, unity-in-diversity,
equitable sharing of resources and non-violence. In the first section of the
book, I will offer a model for how we can bring the much-needed
spirit of interconnection and co-creative unity into all the levels of our
being, from our personal psyche to our social, ecological and economic systems. At the end of the book I will also offer some strategies for how we can get there,
and invite you to join in this movement.
The Two Biggest Obstacles to Action; And How
We Can Break Through Them
Two
barriers we have to overcome are first, the inertia, apathy and hopelessness
that anything can be changed, the epidemic of “impotence” in the face of
entrenched powers; and, conversely, the fear of any alternative, cooperative
economic system being authoritarian, stripping away our freedoms (which is in
fact exactly what the present system
is doing!) People have to understand that a cooperative economy is an expression of people’s power,
unlike the present travesty of democracy, where decisions are made by ruling
corporate elites, who would indeed have us powerless.
Because
our crises are global, we do need a form a global governance to remedy their
causes and ensure that they do not recur. But this governance need not be
dictatorial or authoritarian – rather, the very point is that it would
cooperative and democratic, under the people’s control, for the benefit of the
people and the natural world we are part of. Systems do not have to be based on
top-down power and control; they can be based on collaborative, co-creative
synergy, “power-with” rather than “power-over”; with basic cooperative values
in place, as well as checks and balances, to ensure that no one dominant group
takes over.
One might
ask, but when has such a system ever existed? And that’s the whole point -- the
emergence of such a system is the next stage of humanity’s evolution. And this
is by necessity – for there’s no other direction to go but down. Crisis demands
evolution, a jump to a whole new order. There are plenty of precedents in the
past, of how necessity has compelled people to take courage in hand and jump
into a whole new future. At such revolutionary turning points, people take
power back into their hands. They set new norms for society, instead of
passively submitting to the ones that have been forced upon them.
Another
obstacle that, ironically, paralyzes many from action is the desire to control,
and the unwillingness to step forward without having the “whole plan” in
advance. No one of course has the whole answer in advance, but by coming
together and sparking in each other new hope and new possibilities, a new
evolving future emerges, greater than the sum of its parts, unleashing
potentials we couldn’t have even imagined. We cannot afford to be afraid of the
unknown, but trust that by stepping forward, step by step, its hidden,
implicate order will unfold. The unknown can actually work to our advantage, if
we are open and let it deliver its gifts.
This
means, while we need a framework in which to work together, we need to always
leave space for creativity and emergence. The model I have offered here is not
meant to be air-tight – it is meant to breathe, at all scales. We warmly invite
the participation of all who resonate with this vision to join us, to
contribute their creative gifts, and help transform our world from one of
competition and conflict to cooperation, connectedness, and the flourishing of
the Whole. We are all in this together.