Collective Intelligence: The Need for Synthesis

To upgrade our thinking patterns is a beginning step to an upgrade in human consciousness, and is necessary if we are to succeed in adapting to our rapidly and inevitably changing world. In other words, if we don’t enact a change, or learn to adapt to the incoming energies of change and transformation, our presence is likely to be no longer required, or needed. It is a sobering thought.

The human species has entered a period of profound, fundamental, and unprecedented change. It needs to acquire new skills in order to co-exist with an environment that is itself undergoing profound change within the larger fabric of living systems - planetary, solar, and galactic. We need to upgrade our capacities in order to have the internal resistance to an upgrade in energies. Not to do so may result, quite literally, in us blowing a species-fuse! Whichever way we look at it, we are in need of preparation. If we are not prepared, that which manifests as truth may very well seem like science-fiction. And it needs to be stressed that our future depends to a large degree upon the ability to renew our perceptions about the world. It is a question of how our inner vision can be brought in balance with (and in support to) the impacts of a changing environment. If there is enough ‘critical mass’ of mind-change then there is a better possibility that shifting energies will be experienced less chaotically. Evolutionary biologist Elizabeth Sahtouris expresses the same sentiment when she writes


While people have always created reality out of their beliefs, until now a handful of powerful people dictated the beliefs of each human culture. The glory of our own time is that the news is finally out that each and every one of us has the authority, even the mandate, to choose the beliefs by which we live and create our individual and communal lives. To create the human future well we need good Vistas - consciously created belief systems comprised of worldviews and the values for negotiating them courageously and lovingly.




Our priority is to first change our perceptions and way of thinking. It is a challenge we face to adapt our thinking so that we ‘think-in-sync’ with our changing world.

Collective Intelligence: The Need for Synthesis

All living species are inherently connected in varying degrees of subtlety - the collective mind of humanity is no exception. Often we discover our ideas are simultaneously shared with our friends or associates as minds in close contact/proximity entangle together and share thought-forms. The collective mind of humanity is moving ever closer to being more awakened, yet we require triggers, stimuli, in order to activate latent capacities. Global communications have helped to increase our awareness of distant events and to trigger shared empathy and collective emotionality. This is part of what can be termed ‘collective intelligence’; others have named this the ‘global brain’, or the ‘noosphere’. The thought forms that we emanate go towards the state of our collective mind, and are functional in that an intentional act carries with it more force, power, and effectiveness than a non-intentional action.

A species collective intelligence can exist without being self-aware because it already exists. A collective consciousness does not require that all ‘components’ be conscious since a conscious entity produces an exponential effect, so only a relatively few conscious ‘nodes’ or ‘awake people’ can represent the many. This is why human history has progressed from the actions of the few; it is not surprising that many of the agents of human history have been conscious of the collective mind of humanity, or have been the agents of conscious entities. As proclaimed inventor Doug Engelbart says – ‘The key thing about all the world’s big problems is that they have to be dealt with collectively...If we don’t get collectively smarter, we’re doomed’. Likewise, the well-known thinker Marshall McLuhan, who coined the phrase ‘the global village’, sees humanity as a total global community. He wrote that where previously human evolution was about the ‘outering’ of physical tools and technology for progress, human acceleration is now concerned with the intensification of the central nervous system worldwide: ‘Evolution became not an involuntary response of organisms to new conditions but a part of the consensus of human consciousness. Such a revolution is enormously greater and more confusing to past attitudes than anything that can confront a mere culture or civilisation’.

The analogy is that of humanity operating as a planetary ‘nervous system’; a global brain, with each individual representing a firing neuron and our communications as conscious informational networks. Systems philosopher Ervin Laszlo defines the global brain as:



The global brain is the quasi-neural energy - and information - processing network created by six and a half billion humans on the planet, interacting in many ways, private as well as public, and on many levels, local as well as global. A quantum shift in the global brain is a sudden and fundamental transformation in the relations of a significant segment of the six and a half billion humans to each other and to nature - a macroshift in society - and a likewise sudden and fundamental transformation in cutting-edge perceptions regarding the nature of reality - a paradigm shift in science. The two shifts together make for a veritable “reality revolution” in society as well as in science.



What Laszlo refers to as the ‘reality revolution’ is simultaneously a ‘quantum’ shift in the species collective mind alongside a global transformation in perception regarding the nature of reality. For such a revolution to occur during our period of transition on this planet would be of tremendous value in terms of parallel evolutionary shifts. As famed Jesuit preist and ‘noosphere philospher’ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: ‘…according to the evolutionary structure of the world, we can only find our person by uniting together. There is no mind without synthesis’. It is no coincidence that at the same time our planet, within its solar family, is experiencing a sudden evolutionary ‘jump point’ (or phase transition), our species is coming also to a peak in its collective mind. We must remember that throughout human history the real and fundamental changes have always come about from sufficient numbers of people changing their minds; rather than from governments or social decrees. By a deliberate change in the way people perceive reality, and thus the world, great shifts can be brought about. It is a dangerous flaw to take our own limits of perception to be the limits of our world, as Schopenhauer so ably noted.

Macroshift

Every epoch has fashioned its corresponding mind-set, some more functional than others. For example, the earlier mythic conceptions of a sacred world dominated by unseen forces and humankind’s integral relationship with powerful nature developed into a theistic consciousness. Here, divine right on Earth developed into a hierarchical system of religious authority. This belief of a divinely-ordered cosmos then progressed into the Enlightenment’s mechanistic ‘clockwork’ view of the universe where science sought to prove that natural laws held the world under linear domination. However, this materialistic mind-set that has prevailed more or less intact up until the present moment is no longer of functional use to us. In fact, if we continue with it we are liable to become its victims. Thus, an ‘upgrade’ of our perceptive capacities is required in a very real and practical way. For the past 300 years mainstream western society provided its citizens with a worldview and belief-system that has encouraged ideas related to ‘survival of the fittest’; the sense of competition and conquest. Such ideals are now rapidly contaminating our social and cultural environment and leading us on a path to destruction. The next shift must coincide with the transition phase and involve a conscious decision to develop our understanding, worldview, and wisdom, through an intensive ‘inner evolution’. The focus of this shift is to replace such obsolete material beliefs with ones concentrating on connection, communication, and consciousness. Ghandi was right when he said: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. When you evolve your inner world you also change the immediate world around you, as well as those close to you. It is time to release, or abandon, obsolete and superstitious beliefs. Our newly emerging scientific paradigm, with its quantum theories of entanglement, reminds us that we participate within an integrally connected and living universe. This understanding of a living universe makes it more imperative that humanity lives in accordance with balanced needs rather than consumptive desires. It is more about living simply so that others may simply live. As Willis Harman puts it

Throughout history, the really fundamental changes in societies have come about not from dictates of governments and the results of battles but through vast numbers of people changing their minds - sometimes only a little bit...by deliberately changing the internal image of reality, people can change the world. Perhaps the only limits to the human mind as those we believe in.

Such a ‘macroshift’ in human thought requires a critical number of people in society to evolve their mindset. It is a radical, yet necessary, shift from a Cartesian worldview of ‘parts’ to one encompassing a connected ‘wholeness’. By way of paraphrasing what Einstein said, the problems created by the prevalent way of thinking cannot be solved by the same way of thinking. This is a crucial insight. Without renewing our outdated cultural attitudes and thinking we will be unable to regenerate today’s dominant mechanistic civilization into a rejuvenated and integral global civilization. Thus, the modes of colonization and consumption need to be replaced by connection, communication, and consciousness. This entails a behavioural shift from possessiveness to sharing; from separation to wholeness; and from outer to inner authority. Humanistic thinker Ervin Laszlo outlines what he believes to be obsolete thinking:
- Order through hierarchy
- Individual uniqueness
- Everything is reversible
- Economic growth is good
- New is better/Technology is the answer
- Our country is right

Late to the evolutionary party

Let’s be clear about this; we have arrived late to the evolutionary party. In a now well-known analogy that places the evolution of Earth within a single year calendar - from Jan 1st to Dec 31st – with each day of the year equal to 12 million years, then the first form of life, a simple bacterium, arose sometime in February. More complex life-forms arrived throughout Spring and Summer, and fishes came to the party around late November 20th. Then the bouncers – the dinosaurs - finally arrived around December 10th, only to disappear drunk on Christmas Day. It wasn’t until the afternoon of December 31st that the first of our recognizable human ancestors showed-up (typically late!). So when did we - homo sapiens sapiens – gate-crash the party? Well, we knocked on the door around 11.45pm; which makes all recorded history taking place within the final minute of the year. We are, in all respects, a rapid evolutionary phenomenon. And it’s going to get a whole lot more rapid. Which means we need to ditch the ‘old mind’ as fast as possible before we take too many wrong decisions or succumb to mounting insecurities. Our ‘old mind’ was set up to be on the look-out for insecurities and fear-situations: it was our survival apparatus. Yet this apparatus has continued to be reinforced through social conditioning, resulting in limited perceptual capacity. What is required now is a reinvigoration of vision: everything that we have culturally achieved has been the result of human vision. The human imagination is a primary force; it allows intervention of energies and guidance. It is both creative and destructive, and through it we are able to manifest the ‘world’ we envision. We now need to upgrade our visionary capacity, to open up more fully to inspired thoughts and guidance. To fail to do so will be a great loss for our species as these are critical times for the instinctive perceptual faculties, and we need to bring these ‘organs’ into being. As the revered Persian poet Jalalludin Rumi once wrote:

New organs of perception come into being as a result of necessity.

Therefore, O man, increase your necessity, so that you may
increase your perception.

Every change requires a change in consciousness; this has always been the case. Many of us are now slowly beginning to recognize this fact and to cooperate with the upgrade. The transition stage we are to experience in the grander evolutionary cycle will likewise affect the evolution of human consciousness, and may result in new capacities being catalyzed into emergence. Yet at the same time, it is important that we ourselves participate in an effort to shift our thinking patterns – to develop a new ‘mind-set’. If a person’s mind-set is rigidly fixed into the ‘old patterns’ of thinking, then these perceptions will feel threatened by drastic change. It may even try to resist strongly, as it fights to retain a familiar environment where it is ‘business as usual’. Yet the 21st Century will not be a place for ‘business as usual’; it will be a new epoch and as such it deserves a corresponding consciousness.

Ancient styles of thinking

Many of us are unsuspecting of the degree of insecurity that governs our perceptive abilities. We focus on the immediate and seemingly ignore the long-term, despite the long-term having the greater urgency in scale. Our social institutions and media continue to reinforce the immediate and short-term, thus stregthening our social myopia. As a telling example a recently published report in the UK, titled Beyond Terror: The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World, focused on the disproportionate attention given to terrorism in the ‘short-term’ compared to the threats that although resulting in more fatalities were classed as ongoing ‘long-term’ problems. The report stated that in 2001 in the US alone the following number of Americans were killed from various causes:
Malnutrition - 3, 500
HIV/Aids - 14, 000
Pneumonia - 62, 000
Heart disease - 700, 000+
Suicide - 30, 000+
Traffic accidents - 42, 000+
Fire-arms related - 30, 000
Homicides - 20, 000+

Whereas international terrorism stood at around 2, 500. This shows our ‘old mind’ at work, how it perceives and prioritizes events. It is also a mind that goes very far back into our species evolution; a mind that evolved to deal with a very different world. Our early history equipped us to live in relatively stable environments within small communities; challenges were short-term and nearby. The human mind thus evolved to deal with slow-impact short-term changes. The world that made our mind is now gone, and the world we have created around us is a new world; paradoxically it is a world that we have developed limited capacity to comprehend. It is fair to say that we now have a mismatch between the human mind we possess and the world we inhabit today. Most of the momentous changes in our cultural history have taken less than one hundred years; these days we don’t have that luxury of time as events are rapidly changing around us before human cultural evolution has had time to readapt. Cultural evolution has worked more or less well until the present century; now it finds itself hampered by an outdated human perceptual system. Contemporary society still relies too heavily – and unconsciously – upon ancient modes of thought and ancient styles of thinking. This begs the question: can a collective and rapid ‘change of mind’ occur on this planet? In the words of one neurologist, ‘conscious evolution needs to take the place of unconscious cultural evolution’.

A New Mind for a New World

We all share a common psychological environment which many of us, most of the time, take for granted. We have underestimated the impact of human thought worldwide, neglecting to consider the power of destructive thought and ‘mental pollution’ upon a sensitive and responsive biosphere. Within an integral world (and also within a total integral universe) – everything counts. How we are taught (or conditioned) to think will affect how our species manages cultural development and its subsequent intervention into Earth’s living systems. It can be stated that for the most part humanity unknowingly participates within a cultural hypnosis. From early childhood our experiences are established to conform to our specific ‘cultural norm’; any ‘anomalies’ are usually corrected and then reinforced through various socialising processes such as family, school, friends, etc. Thus, our ‘world’ is often given to us through the medium of particular cultural filters, and so each of us is literally hypnotised from infancy to perceive the world as the way people in our culture perceive it. This is a very powerful behavioural and perceptual socialising mechanism. To break from this indoctrinated perceptual environment is extremely difficult, and often beset with many personal problems arising from peer pressure and friendship-family ties. A ‘shock’ is often necessary in order to catalyse one’s own ‘change of mind’. Such experiences as a ‘near-death experience’ (NDE) are often cited as examples which radically change people’s life views. What we may be experienceing on a collective level through our planetary evolutionary transition is a species near-death experience. If this doesn’t shock us awake then we may as well sleep forever.

For a ‘new mind’ to emerge during the times ahead it will be necessary for people to take power back into their own perceptual mechanisms; to empower themselves by withholding legitimacy towards old and outdated modes of thinking. Social philospher Willis Harman has described this by stating – ‘by deliberately changing their internal images of reality, people can change the world’. This change then requires us to take back our legitimacy unto ourselves; to decide carefully on what we think, how we think, and which beliefs we choose to adapt. This also concerns our opinions, agreements, and support, which we have previously been all too-ready to give away. Our beliefs, perceptions, and state of mind are crucial for how we understand the world around us. Thus, by giving away our right over the power to choose how we wish to perceive the world serves to empower others over us. This, in essence, is the crux of social control, and this mechanism belongs to the paradigm of the ‘old world’ and will have no place in a world that is ‘post-transition’.

Time for a Mental Shift

The next series of posts will be extracts from one of the chapters from my new book:

The difficulty we find ourselves in at the present time is that parallel to the dramatic physical changes we are currently experiencing there is also pressure for a simultaneous mental shift. This is a shift in thinking as least as significant as was the Enlightenment shift from a heliocentric worldview to a humanistic one. The Cartesian view of a mechanistic universe is outdated and incompatible within an evolutionary paradigm. What is required is a total change in our human perception. For example, new findings in quantum biology inform us that in contrast to stories of evolution through competition and strength, evolution works by symbiotic relationships and co-operation. Inter-cellular communication and gene-transfer are processes that involve co-operation in information sharing. It is necessary that the findings in the ‘new sciences’ help to push forward a thinking more in-line with natural, environmental, and universal principles. Ultimately, change begins with one’s own mind-set and worldview: as the Delphic inscription instructs us to ‘Know Thyself’.

Schopenhauer famously said that ‘everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world’. If we can develop and expand the perception of our own limits we can go some way towards changing how we view the extraordinary capacity inherent in the world around us. There is an old Chinese proverb that warns us ‘If we don’t change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed’ - and where we are headed is as much as a collective situation as it is individual. Further, it is as much of an individual psychological responsibility as it is collective. What this suggests is that how we think globally reflects the reality of the world we inhabit. And as our once familiar world begins to readapt to a new phase so must our understanding; otherwise we may find life increasingly difficult, stressful, and not only incomprehensible but outright hostile. We have to accept that it is our responsibility – our imperative – to make ourselves adaptable to a constantly evolving natural and cosmic environment. Perhaps for the first time in history conscious evolution has ceased to be a choice open to humanity and has become a necessity on which our future depends.

Conscious evolution is about acquiring evolutionary consciousness - to think in terms of the macro, of the direction our species is taking. It is our evolutionary imperative to enagage actively in conscious and intentional evolutionary transformation if we are to remain as a viable living species upon Planet Earth. We need to bring forth a new mind in order to accept a new world.

Internal Talk

'We talk to ourselves incessantly about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. And whenever we finish talking to ourselves about ourselves and our world, the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. Thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die, because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die.'

Castaneda - 'The Wheel of Time'

Human Consciousness Needs to Evolve

In periods of relative stability, the consciousness of individuals does not usually play a critical role in the behaviour of society as there is a generalized level of social consensus. However, when there are signs of cracking and chaotic moments in a society, or societies, life becomes more sensitive and responsive to the consciousness of the people. There occur fluctuations in the values, beliefs, worldviews, and aspirations of the people and, as Margaret Mead famously said: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’. It is the mindset – the consciousness – of people during transition times that will be challenged and, it is hoped, found responsive to the challenge. Human consciousness, how one perceives the world and our part in the world, needs to evolve in order to better adapt with the requirements of a changing planetary world. In what may be deemed a remarkable ‘coincidence’ (or agreement), emerging planetary change seems to be in fortuitous alignment with the date predicted by the Mayan civilization for epochal change. The Mayan calendar indicates that the ‘Age of Jaguar, the thirteenth baktun, or long period of 144,000 days, will come to an end with the fifth and final Sun on December 22^nd, 2012. That date, according to the Mayan system, will mark the ‘switch’ to a new era of planetary evolution, one that requires a radically different kind of consciousness. Although I find it difficult to prescribe to an exact date for such a radical shift, I do agree that these indications portray an upcoming – and necessary – period of transformation for all life on Planet Earth.

It is also important to remember that it is not the end. There never is an end; there is always transition and transformation. And the transformation requires that we, collectively and individually, participate through our own creative and positive energies.

Guided Evolution

It has been suggested that evolutionary progress on Earth has been a guided operation that has, so far, culminated in humankind. This process – it is conjectured[i] - has been achieved by making available at a planetary level a succession of energies, each higher in frequency than the one before. These conscious and creative energies have been ‘turned on’ sequentially in order to give rise to the entire evolutionary progression from molecule to man. The way these energies operate is by each new, higher, frequency being applied while planetary life is still struggling to adjust to the existing energetic level. Thus, each new ‘energetic stage’ is introduced long before living systems (including humankind) are fully deploying the current energy. In this way, evolutionary progression is constantly reaching for the next ‘energetic stage’[1]. However, at transition eras between energetic levels there often manifests disruption as differing energetic ‘zones’ collide, like quantum interference. At such times of interference great change is possible.

Through active awareness of these transformative times humanity is able to process higher/finer forms of energy streaming into the Earth. It can be said that sufficient numbers of ‘receptive individuals’ are needed to transmute, and transmit, certain energies; especially during these times when such energies seem to be increasingly radiating ‘our cosmic sector’. A critical mass of humanity is required to start awakening to aid the process of planetary and human evolution. It does not require a majority - for this will never be reached in time - it only requires quality. A ‘sleeping mass’ (i.e. an unaware humanity) does not transmit energy well. Such energies are thrown off into physical and emotional attachments, and distracted into other social channels. As the writer Frank Herbert so masterfully said in Dune: ‘the sleeper must awaken’.

One of the highest forces at our disposal is conscience and unconditional Love. It sometimes seems that the Earth is degenerating, or devolving, from human life lacking the receiving and transmitting of such forces and energies. This capacity needs to be provoked and stimulated within people; and it may be that the coming years will inspire renewed activation and growth, as periods of transition often ‘shock’ people out of their everyday stupor and into re-invigorated appreciation and gratitude. It is often the case that humanity is coaxed and coerced along its optimum evolutionary line by contrived situations, which involve chaos and suffering, before regeneration can occur. As Duane Elgin writes:

It is the immense suffering of millions - even billions - of precious human beings coupled with the widespread destruction of many other life-forms that will burn through our complacency and isolation. Needless suffering is the psychological and psychic fire that can awaken our compassion and fuse individuals, communities, and nations into a cohesive and consciously organized global civilization.[ii]

It is fair to say that the Earth is in ecological crisis and humanity is in spiritual crisis - and that a similar response is required for both as the two crises are fundamentally tied to the same source. Humanity needs to rapidly develop, not just physically but psychologically and spiritually as ‘time’ is both speeding up and running out simultaneously. Our lack of conscious contribution may be said to be behind much of our life dissatisfaction and disconnection. Yet we can connect: the cords are in place; we need only to ask, reach out, and to sincerely offer our intentions to do so. These unprecedented times that we now find ourselves in are ripe opportunities for personal growth, knowledge and understanding. Why? Because we are now, as a planetary species, moving through a historic civilizational shift. And during such times how we think is of paramount importance.

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[1] A good analogy of how these ‘energetic stages’ exist alongside each other can be found in Doris Lessing’s masterful novel ‘Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five’

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[i] Scott, E. (1985) The People of the Secret. London: Octagon Press.

[ii] Elgin, D. (1993) Awakening Earth: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness. New York: William Morrow & Company.

Humanity’s Evolutionary Journey

Something of importance is brewing as we stand here at a strategic crossroads in humanity’s evolutionary journey. And before this ‘sudden shift’ occurs, we might have to bear witness to some chaotic upheavals. This is because many of the old structures that society has relied on for so long are finally creaking and collapsing. And why do I believe that this shift will be sudden? Well, because that’s how evolution is set-up to function. Just like in the life of a human, on a grander scale our species life has its own particular stages; its childhood, adolescence; adulthood; and elder maturity. And at each stage

man has to abandon the secure, the trusted, and - for his present moment - the ultimate. At each stage he has to struggle with the denying force of inertia. He has to surmount a mental obstacle as once he had to surmount biological obstacles. If he succeeds, he learns more, understands more, gets closer and closer to participating. It may be that he is now required to confront - and accept - the mechanism of his own evolution.[i]

And this is where we now find ourselves, both individually and as a species: confronting a transition stage in our own evolution. Further, the choice we have to make is whether we accept – and participate – in the mechanism of our own evolution. It has been a long journey, punctuated by starts and stops; by catalysts of numerous kinds, from revolutions, wars and conflict, science and the arts, innovations and communications. In other words, for a new global-social order to emerge it is necessary to first go through a series of transformative pulses, including periods of chaos and collapse. Not only is this necessary, but it may also be welcome. After all, you can’t fill a bottle of vinegar with new wine when it is already full: first you need to empty before the new can be introduced. And the Earth too, as part of the solar family, has her own cycles that require this periodic ‘cleansing’. So within the long-tail of evolutionary time there are periods of upheaval that serve cosmic purposes (to put it simply). And most of the time these upheavals create havoc for the creatures resting upon the skin of the Earth. Only very few are those who have in times past been aware of these cyclic occurrences. To the general masses these are often seen as times of craziness when war and strife seem like everyday madness:

There are periods in the life of humanity which generally coincide with the beginning of the fall of cultures and civilizations, when the masses irretrievably lose their reason and begin to destroy everything that has been created by centuries and millenniums of culture. Such periods of mass madness, often coinciding with geological cataclysms, climatic changes, and similar phenomena of a planetary character, release a very great quantity of the matter of knowledge.[ii]

This release of knowledge that comes with upheaval can be utilized to help civilization push through to a higher level of functioning. Information is itself a catalyst for rapid evolutionary change. Evolutionary progress appears to operate through various ‘release’ and ‘gear shift’ mechanisms in that physical chaos provides the release of energy and information necessary to fuel a leap or ‘phase change’ in evolutionary development. The problem in the past has always been that these transitions sometimes leave a bit of a mess in their wake. However, to be forewarned is to be prepared. Such transition stages can be best navigated when the participants (namely ‘us’) can be conscious and aware of the coming changes. The bottom line is that there is never an end - there is always a further transformation. So the world is not coming to an end, despite what some soothsayers and doom-mongers predict. What these upcoming times foretell is a period of accelerating evolutionary change. And importantly, what the coming transformation requires is that we, as individuals, consciously participate through our own creative and positive energies.

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[i] Scott, E. (1985) The People of the Secret. London: Octagon Press.

[ii] Ouspensky, P. (1950) In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

A World in Flux

Everything around us is in flux and there are good reasons for this. The Earth is, quite literally, shaking: what has been termed as ‘earth changes’ are occurring with greater frequency, with ever increasing destructive consequences, and dangerously close to irreversible tipping points. Global human society too has accumulated such complex interdependencies that it has affectively become like a woven body – where a pain in one of the limbs will affect the whole. Further, this ‘whole body’ of global humanity has reached critical points in its equilibrium. It is at a point of dynamic critical vulnerability; and at such moments the slightest of impacts can set into motion an unpredictable chain of events. However, the opportunity also presents an incredible moment in the capacity for transformation. An intervention at the right time, and in the right manner, can bring forth accelerated change. We are thus passing through an ‘evolutionary moment’ of heightened sensitivity – a period of transition - with the possibility for unprecedented accelerated human-socio development (breakthrough); or for sudden and cataclysmic collapse (breakdown). How this epoch plays itself out will be a defining moment, either way, for the human species on this planet. It is, in all respects, a ‘trigger point’ within the evolutionary journey of humankind. And the implications stretch much wider for the evolutionary journey of life exists within a vast and complex system of impacts that are planetary, solar, galactic, and universal. It is an immeasurable Indra’s Net:

‘Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net that has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out infinitely in all directions. In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single glittering jewel in each “eye” of the net, and since the net itself is infinite in all dimensions, the jewels are infinite in number. There hang the jewels, glittering like stars of the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold. If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number. Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring...it symbolizes a cosmos where there is an infinitely repeated interrelationship among all the members of the cosmos. This relationship is said to be one of simultaneous mutual identity and mutual intercausality.’[i]

Within this ‘abode’ of mutual intercausality all things have their connection. Processes reflect each other, and so a period of development can be, to use a familiar phrase, a rising tide that lifts all boats. Other times there is no ‘trickle down’ effect, just a tornado that brings everything into the eye of a hurricane.

In these current times of ‘tornados and hurricanes’ it can be a time of immense fear and insecurity. After all, all those support structures that exist to keep everything together are now being shaken badly, or for some pulled away. Many people will have lost much of their savings; future securities thrashed; stability and order decapitated; and, importantly, perceptions and beliefs stretched to the limits of credibility. Such degree of change is plain unnerving at best and increasingly fearful in less than best situations. It has to be said that many people actually ‘fear’ change; for them it brings trouble, hassle, and the unknown. And what people can’t understand usually means it becomes a self-created specter of fear. Politicians often perform the best in this category – usually because change in the long-term is a no-voter, and short-term change involves something negative for the people. So the status quo is safe; only that there is no future for the status quo in today’s global events. Transition is upon us whether we accept it or not, and the last thing we need is to be stuck in mimicry. We need to know for ourselves what is happening, how this will affect us, and what we intend to do about it.

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[i] Cook, F. (1977) Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Humanity is Asleep

Humanity is asleep, concerned only with what is useless, living in a wrong world.

Sanai of Afghanistan, 1130 CE

The human species has entered a period of profound, fundamental, and unprecedented change. During this time of change many of us will be forced to adopt new modes of thinking, perceptions, and behaviour in order to be able to not only endure but, more importantly, to assist a world needing to undergo deep transformation. Our planet is experiencing a major transition stage and humanity, both individually and collectively, needs to understand that rapid change is both creative and destructive.

Change has always been a cyclic part of Nature; an inherent part of our cosmological story. Without change there can be no evolution, no momentum, no forward push or backward decline. As in our seasons, all processes are birthed, grow, peak, then enter renewal and regeneration. Our past great civilizations, such as the Roman and Persian Empires, have been a part of this grand story; their decline an eminent feature of today’s history books. Yet within the grander scheme of things, these cyclic renewals were of a smaller scale. They were regional, not global; they were aligned with terrestrial cycles, not cosmological ‘events’. This is why I contend that the changes confronting us in the upcoming years will be profound: our upcoming transition is a part of a grander evolutionary cycle, when terrestrial and cosmological cycles coincide. Not only is our global society approaching rapid and accelerating ‘tipping-points’ akin to the turning points of prior civilizations; but also that these events are aligned with larger solar and galactic cycles. Such times in evolutionary history are not only profound, but offer vastly increased creative energies for radical transformation.

However, periods of developmental change often require chaos and upheaval as ‘evolutionary agents’ to trigger rapid growth. In the context of what is occurring in the world today we are currently witnessing the convergence of catalytic events. Further, that this series of transformative pulses, including periods of chaos and collapse, will provide opportunities for renewal and regeneration. It is hoped that our social, cultural, and spiritual regeneration will foster a renewed ‘humanity’. It holds the promise for a new period of exterior and interior growth; a time to re-connect our species to a creative universe, and once again to our universal story. A mythological journey that requires our collective participation and continuation.

I am not alone in this assertion. For at least two decades now many of our leading thinkers, futurists, and visionaries have been warning us that the upcoming years will present an evolutionary crises to our global society. Further, that this ‘crisis period’ will involve great changes, potentially catastrophic, which will shake the foundations of our social systems and invoke great changes in people’s personal lives. I believe, as do many others, that this transformative period is a necessary requirement in our evolutionary journey. For most of our human recorded history we have no precedent for this; almost no records to help us understand the situation. We can say there exists no map nor guide to assist us at this crucial period. We are, to put it bluntly, asleep to the influences that direct our lives, and this makes us vulnerable to the situation. Quite literally we are in dire need of ‘waking up’.

Past Thinking, Future Thoughts

Recently, whilst trawling my blog, I came across this post from almost six years ago...I had forgotten I was writing such things then....so I re-post it now, considering it still relevant:

Friday, September 12, 2003

In the ensuing years there will be a rise in chaos and upheaval. These are largely the manifestations of cosmic influences and the results of a shifting planetary evolution in line with a developmental harmonic of our solar system. Although this will be largely misunderstood by our species, it will nevertheless be manifesting more openly in the next several years as planetary adjustments are made. More will be said on this later...Suffice to say that as strife increases on our planet it should be more imperative that we exercise our inner functions of balance, non-attachment to events and things, and stay away from rash judgments and decisions.

Posted at 12:12

Continuing from before: the access to greater information has consequences. One approach to this rise in conscious attunement is, in the words of Eric Chaisson, leading to the need for an ethical and global consciousness. Others have urged for process thinking rather than the Newtonian mechanical approach - synergism calls for the emergence of properties greater than the whole. This is achievable if we realise that the connectivity of people on a global scale can give rise to shared traits of altruism under reciprocally 'shared', or transferred, information.

We are all open systems that use information as energy - little do we realise that this energy can be used to fuel further much-needed self-development. Discipline is required so that this energy is not lost through wasted emotions or anger, fear, and other menial manifestations that get enlarged and exaggerated.

Remember: the negative also seeks to embolden itself - to present itself as being greater than it is. This is because there is always less negative inside us at all times in comparison to the positive - thus, it needs to pretend it's more negative than it actually is if it is to have any chance of influence over the person at all. Don't succumb to it.

With information-awareness comes responsibility. That responsibility is to oneself first, then to others, and to our earthly and cosmic environment. Don't build your house on sand, or too much information may blow one's fuse.

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A New Mind for a New World

It is necessary that we transform our own thinking in order to perceive the world differently, and to understand the nature of our integral connectedness as a global species.

The difficulty we find ourselves in at the present time is that parallel to the dramatic physical changes we are experiencing is also a mental shift underway. This is a shift in thinking as least as significant as was the Enlightenment shift from a heliocentric worldview to a humanistic one. The Cartesian view of a mechanistic universe is outdated and incompatible within an evolutionary paradigm. What is required is a total change in our human perception. For example, new findings in quantum biology inform us that in contrast to stories of evolution through competition and strength, evolution works by symbiotic relationships and co-operation. Inter-cellular communication and genes transfer is affected through co-operation in information sharing. It is necessary that the findings in the ‘new sciences’ help to push forward a thinking more in-line with natural, environmental, and universal principles. Ultimately, change begins with one's own mind-set and worldview: as the Delphic inscription instructs us to ‘Know Thyself’.

Schopenhauer famously said that ‘everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world’; if we can develop and expand the perception of our own limits we can go some way towards changing how we view the extraordinary capacity inherent in the world. There is an old Chinese proverb that warns us - ‘If we don’t change our direction, we are likely to wind up where we are headed’ - and where we are headed is as much as a collective situation as it is individual. Further, it is as much of an individual psyche responsibility as it is collective. What this suggests is that how we think globally reflects the reality of the world we inhabit. And as our once familiar world begins to readapt to a new phase so must our understanding; otherwise we may find life increasingly difficult, stressful, and not only incomprehensible but outright hostile. We have to accept that it is our responsibility – our imperative – to make ourselves adaptable to a constantly evolving natural and cosmic environment. Perhaps for the first time in history conscious evolution has ceased to be a choice open to man and has become a necessity on which our future depends.

Conscious evolution is about acquiring evolutionary consciousness - to think in terms of the macro, of the direction our species is taking. It is our evolutionary imperative to enagage actively in conscious and intentional evolutionary transformation if we are to remain as a viable living species upon Planet Earth. We need to bring forth a new mind in order to accept a new world.

The Role of the Human in the Universe Process

Twelve Principles for Understanding the Universe and the Role of the Human in the Universe Process
by Thomas Berry

1. The universe, the solar system, and the planet Earth, in themselves and in their evolutionary emergence, constitute for the human community the primary revelation of that ultimate mystery whence all things emerge into being.

2. The universe is a unity, an interacting and genetically-related community of beings bound together in an inseparable relationship in space and time. The unity of planet Earth is especially clear: each being of the planet is profoundly implicated in the existence and functioning of every other being.

3. The capacity for ordered self-development, for self-expression, and for intimate presence to other modes of being must be considered as a pervasive psychic dimension of the universe from the beginning.

4. The three basic laws of the universe at all levels of reality are differentiation, subjectivity, and communion. These laws identify the reality, the values, and the directions in which the universe is proceeding.

5. The universe has a violent as well as a harmonious aspect, but it is consistently creative in the larger are of its development.

6. The Earth, within the solar system, is a self-emergent, self-propagating, self-nourishing, self-educating, self-governing, self-healing, self-fulfilling community. All particular life-systems must integrate their being and their functioning within this larger complex of mutually dependent Earth systems.

7. The human emerges within the life systems of Earth as that being in whom the universe reflects on and celebrates itself in a special mode of conscious self-awareness. The human is genetically coded toward further cultural coding, by which specifically human qualities find expression in a remarkable diversity in the various regions of the Earth.

8. Domestication: transition to village life and greater control over the forces of nature took place in the Neolithic period, 12,000 years ago; beginnings of agriculture, domestication of animals, weaving, pottery and new stone implements.

9. The classical civilizations: progressive alienation of the human from the natural world; the rise of cities, elaborate religious expression in ritual and architecture, development of specialized social functions, increase in centralized government, the invention of writing and related technologies.

10. The scientific- technologic al- industrial phase: the violent plundering of the Earth takes place, beginning in Europe and North America. The functioning of Earth is profoundly altered in its chemical balance, its biological systems, and its geological structures. The atmosphere and water are extensively polluted, the soil eroded, and toxic waste accumulates. The mystique of the Earth vanishes from human consciousness.

11. The ecological age: a new intimacy is sought with the integral functioning of the natural world; destructive anthropocentrism is replaced with eco-centrism; transition to the primacy of the integral Earth community.

12. The newly developing ecological community needs a mystique of exaltation and finds it in the renewal of the great cosmic liturgy, which celebrates the new story of the universe and its emergence through evolutionary processes.

Original page online can be found here

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'In The Image of the Gods' - A Modern Parable

'At the birth of civilisation amidst the ancient rise of the dynasties there emerged a powerful race of beings who superseded all known life in their high intelligence and wisdom. They believed that their inheritance belonged to the stars and that they themselves were indeed a genetic offspring from deliberate breeding with alien intelligences that had arrived from the cosmos to visit their planet Earth in an earlier age : they considered themselves to be in the 'image of their gods'. To this order they built many domains of worship, and erected many centres of astrological significance to study the heavens, the knowledge of the operation of such centres being strictly limited to the higher brethren.

As a further act of worship and thanks to their creators of life, this elite passed a decree where at the ending of every month a human sacrifice would be made as a show of their continuing devotion, and in the hope that their higher ancestors would one day return to view their work. These sacrifices were taken from the regular population of humanoids, as it was the elite wise that were required for the civilisation's constant progress. The choices as to who would be sacrificed were made at random. After a period of time however, the common populace began to grow disgruntled at this state of affairs and became restless at their unvoiced position below the ruling authority. This unease quickly grew and developed into a general state of unrest that was seen by the elite as both a danger to their own positions and to the equilibrium of their society's fabric. They became anxious that a remedy be quickly and effectively found. This question as to how to solve this unrest was sent out to all the great and wise that composed the elite, and to all the most respected and knowledgeable beings.

Finally, after much raised eyebrows, there stepped forward the figure of Jesuem Moham Rosencrantz who was regarded my most to be a highly intelligent individual and a gifted practitioner of magic. He declared that he had looked into this problem deeply and his profound insight and practical knowledge had come up with the ideal solution. This consisted of hypnotising the common people into believing that they were immortal, and if they sacrificed themselves to the gods then their spirit or 'soul' as Jesuem called it ( so as to give it a mystical regal nomenclature ) would ascend to the stars to be beside the throne of their gods and they would continue to exist within eternal peace. Jesuem proposed that this hypnotic trance would lead everyone to believe that the ruling elite were thoughtful and considerate beings who strived for the mutual good of all classes of beings. To add further onto this the populace would be hypnotised into also believing that their present position was a worthy and satisfactory one and that there was no need to strive for any knowledge of awareness of one's self since there would be no need for this as their sole purpose was to live for the community and reach heaven in eternity. This proposal of Jesuem Moham Rosencrantz was welcomed with mighty approval by all the other elite beings, and was soon put into action.

The general humanoid was thus turned into a walking automation, believing in their mundane life and looking towards death as a gateway into the realms of the holy. And so this ancient civilisation remained intact and continued to prosper for many generations, producing much intelligent thought and practises that are sadly lost to the world of today ; known only to the wise few as secret knowledge. Sadly, the only remnants that have remained from this early order is their magic that has been passed through the genetic gene pools for thousands of years. The power of this initial trance state created by Jesuem was so intense that it has survived until this present day in the consciousness of virtually every human. Most people are still living within a diseased sleep, unaware of their state and their lack of knowledge. They still carry with them the idea that once dead their eternal 'soul' will ascend to the land of the gods, and so while alive they maintain this slaved duty to the social order.

It is of interest here to also note that this notion of ascending to the stars has been expanded and developed upon through the ages to incorporate its opposite - namely that if a common man throws his life against the grain of social order or strives to upset the morals of the 'elders', then that being will find their 'soul' being cast eternally into a sphere labelled as 'damnation' which is said to be torturous and an existence of constant pain. Such half-weaved tales have planted themselves into the framework of many present civilisations and the human psyche is now a torn and damaged instrument, affected by bad programming and mental shocks. There will never be a cure for this disintegration until the humanoids begin to become aware of this problem themselves.'

A Modern Parable?

Originally posted here on October 4th 2007

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Around The Corner?

These days there are just too many signs to ignore the fact that 'something' is around the corner... and the feeling that things just might get worse before it gets better. I was reminded that:

In 2007 Lord Cameron of Dillington, first head of the UK Countryside Agency, famously remarked that Britain was ‘nine meals away from anarchy.’ Britain's food supply is so totally dependent on oil - 95 per cent of the food eaten there is oil-dependent - that if the oil supply to Britain were suddenly to be cut off it would take just three full days before law and order broke down. "We rely on a particularly vulnerable system. Britain needs to invest seriously in agriculture infrastructure if we are to avoid food crisis" said the noble Lord at the time.

A commentator I sometimes read is Dmitry Orlov who has for a number of years compared the collapse of the Soviet Union (he was there), to the forthcoming collapse of the US. Yep - I said 'forthcoming'; Orlov believes it is inevitable. Not only has he been thinking/researching this for the past 2 decades, but he's been actively publishing about this online since at least 2006. At this time back then he was discussing hyperinflation in the US.

Here is a link to a talk he gave in December 2006: it's long so you may prefer to just look at the slides! See - http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259

Or, for an easier soundbite there is a 11-minute video he recently did with satellite channel Russia Today:

The bottom line of Orlov's hypothesis is that people in the West are just not prepared - for anything. And everyone believes that everything will just get better without any real trouble...

Now we have the G20 proposing that the IMF issues SDR's - Special Drawing Rights - as a reserve global currency 'should' it be required...!

Read -'The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency'



Whilst 'The Daily Reckoning' - an influential economic newsletter - had this to say about SDR's:

My brain went into some kind of weird spasm when Zhou Xiaochaun, head of the People’s Bank of China, went on record as saying that he doesn’t trust the dollar to be the world’s reserve currency anymore, and wants, instead of gold, the International Monetary Fund to expand the supply of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), which is just another stupid fiat currency, to use as the world’s reserve currency!

I can tell by the way you are not screaming in fear and frantically clawing your way to the nearest exit in a generalized panic that you do not know what a Special Drawing Right is. So prepare to scream and claw when I tell you that — according to the Economist magazine, which I cite as a source since you never believe anything I say — an SDR is “a synthetic currency created by the IMF, whose value is determined as a weighted average of the dollar, euro, yen and pound”! ...these Chinese are smart enough to reject an over-valued fiat dollar, but then being so stupid that they prefer, over gold, a basket of four fiat currencies, one of them being the damned dollar, along with their four corrupt governments, which collectively own the IMF by virtue of having funded the damned thing in the first place!

AND - At the same time the Swiss are slipping into deflation territory:

Read - 'Swiss slide into deflation signals the next chapter of this global crisis'


Something is smelling bad... and I have a gut-feeling that 2009 will not be everyone's favourite year. Question is: should we be concerned enough to do anything?

As Orlov says:

It is human nature to want to postpone making unpleasant decisions until the last moment, and we can do so with impunity, provided we leave enough options open for us to choose from. Every day that we live contentedly within the status quo, we restrict our options further and further, by making ourselves increasingly dependent on more and more systems over which we have no control, and on which we cannot rely. But there are also small, conscious steps we can take that break some of these dependencies, and create new options for ourselves. If we take enough such steps, then when the time arrives for a major, life-changing decision, we will be ready.

At least the jury is out for most people. For me - I'm an eternal optimist and I know that it will all work out in the end... YET, it's just the 'meantime' I'm concerned with... what's the point of having savings in the bank when there's either an extended bank holiday (read 'Argentina'), or hyperinflation (read 'Zimbabwe'), or tits up (read 'Soviet Union')??

These days there is too much complacency and not enough asset-building. What's really needed to secure a valuable life? Credit for HDTV 52" screens, or physical resources?

If you had 6 months advance notice of 'something' around the corner - what would you do with your time?



Maybe it's a case of 'Hope for the best - but plan for the worst'!

Then my next thought is.... perhaps we are not actually in control of our lives; only we think we are. We ´think´we are the commanders of our own actions, yet in reality we are...

In the end - things happen to us.

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The Great Work

At each stage man has to abandon the secure, the trusted, and - for his present moment - the ultimate. At each stage he has to struggle with the denying force of inertia. He has to surmount a mental obstacle as once he had to surmount biological obstacles. If he succeeds, he learns more, understands more, gets closer and closer to participating. It may be that he is now required to confront - and accept - the mechanism of his own evolution...

...History is not the equilibrant of chance and hazard. It does not just happen. The script for the long human story was written by intelligences much greater than man's own. Certain gains and goals for mankind - and for the biosphere of Earth - must be attained within certain intervals of Earth time. These gains are esential for the balance and growth of the solar system of which the Earth is a part. The solar system may itself be subject to a similar pressure in the interest of the galaxy of which it is a part...These intelligences are coercive in proportion as their material is unconscious. They are persuasive in proportion as their material is conscious. The universe is a gradient of consciousness and on this gradient the Earth occupies a low level. Its highest raw material is mankind. Mankind is collectively unconscious of the evolutionary process of which he is a part and he is subject therefore to determinism approaching a hundred per cent.

Even so, the direction imposed on mankind is only relatively coercive. Because of the high energies which are potential in him, man may not be compulsively directed. Means have to be employed which do not outrage the integrity of his potential nature. This is achieved by arranging a bias in favour of those situations which contain developmental possibilities and by limiting man's opportunities for making involuntary choices. About this line there may be marginal interplay of determinism and free will. On the "present moment" of a man or a generation of men these pressures may appear both random and hostile.

Responsibility for this process on Earth lies with an Intelligence which has been called The Hidden Directorate...Below this level, certain members of ordinary humanity, in whom qualitative changes have taken place, are in touch with the Directorate and may at intervals share its consciousness. This group of advanced human individuals is what has been referred to as the Hidden Executive. It is the reality behind all legends of 'masters' and 'initiatives' from earliest historical times to the present. There may be several Centres on earth from which the Executive operates, corresponding to the division of responsibility for humanity assigned before the Withdrawal of 12,000 years ago...

...The Executive works to implement the overall plan of the Directorate. This activity is at extra-sensory level. The Executive also operates at the level of ordinary life through a descending order of initiated subordinates. These take part in the ordinary life of nations and are almost wholly, but not quite, unsuspected. Those active within ordinary life have been known by many names at various periods of history - and pre-history...

...Side by side with action on humanity-in-the-mass, the Executive and its subordinates are concerned with local attempts to raise the conscious level of individual men exceptionally. Such specially selected ordinary individuals may aspire to qualify for participation in the work of the Executive. The process by which they may so qualify is the Magnum Opus - the 'Great Work'. This is equivalent to a vertical ascent to a higher level as opposed to a gradual rise with the evolutionary tide. Opportunities through which ordinary men who have 'begun to suspect' may qualify to enlist in The Great Work are never wholly absent at any time in history, but in terms of the Earth's time-scale, they occur irregularly. Such occasions are related to extra-terrestrial events and these events are not at the discretion even of the Directorate.

When 'the solar wind blows', a major operation of soul-making is begun by the Directorate. As a result, a relatively large number of human individuals may complete a significant part of The Great Work in a single generation. A small number may reach completion. Both categories will serve the evolutionary process of mankind thereafter, but their post-mortem situations may be different. Knowledge of such matters has never in any time of history been absent, but it has always been available in the form of alllegory, never explicitly. Many of the Greek myths are allegorical descriptions of sequences in the Magnum Opus. In recent historical times, corresponding to the development of intellect, suggestions have become increasingly explicit. They have probably never been more explicit than at the present time. This may suggest that the end of a major era is envisaged.

There are indications that an 'Occasion' is currently developing and that its possibilities are being focused chiefly in the West. It is not possible to conjecture whether this is a major or a relatively minor event. It seems safe to assert that it exists. If this is so, and if it is true that information about these matters is now explicit, it may be objected that it is hardly explicit enough to indicate a line of action to those who might be ready to respond.

It may be that matters will never be more explicit than they are and that a successful search for a Source is - and always has been - the minimum price of admission.'

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A Story for our Times?

This story was originally posted on my other blog Beautiful Traitor exactly 2 years ago today on March 22nd 2007. In occasion of the anniversay, I re-publish it here... still relevant I wonder??

Enjoy

SATAN'S MEETING

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

"We can't keep people from going to pray."

"We can't keep them from reading their holy books and knowing
the truth."

"We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship
with their GOD."

"Once they gain that connection with GOD, our power over them
is broken."

"So let them go to their prayers; let them have their covered
dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time
to develop a relationship with GOD."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil:

"Distract them from gaining hold of their GOD and maintaining
that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" his demons shouted.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent
innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the
husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they
can afford their empty lifestyles."

"Keep them from spending time with their children."

"As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no
escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that
still, small voice."

"Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever
they drive." To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going
constantly in their home and see to it that every store and
restaurant in the world plays non-religious music constantly."

"This will jam their minds and break that union with God."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers."

"Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day."

"Invade their driving moments with billboards."

"Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,
sweep stakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional
offering free products, services and false hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so
their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's
important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives."

"Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night."

"Give them headaches too!"

"If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they
will begin to look elsewhere."

"That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them distractions to distract them from teaching their
children the real meaning of life."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive."

"Have them return from their recreation exhausted."

"Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's
creation.
Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts,
and movies instead."

"Keep them busy, busy, busy!"

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in
gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled
consciences."

"Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time
to seek power from GOD."

"Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing
their health and family for the good of the cause."

"It will work!"

"It will work!"

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing people
everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and
there.

Having little time for their God or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of GOD to change
lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his
schemes???

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

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The Art of the Genuine

Often it is the small daily things that are important, that keep us all together. After all, we're not all here to save the world... are we? Are we? Okay, bear with me...Lets say we were - just for a moment of fantasy - to think we were going to change the world... how would you do it? Through grand acts of keeping bridges from falling down like superman, or the more respectable acts of donating your money into philanthropic causes... or perhaps just through (dare I say it?) - being human?

From the Wingmakers site these words from a paper titled The Art of the Genuine caught my attention:

The art of the genuine is the practice of coherence between the deeper awakening of the heart virtues within each of us, and their faithful expression in the worlds of form. Those individuals who are awakened to the frequencies of the energetic heart within and practice–to their best ability in the moment–the expression of these frequencies in their behavior and actions are practicing their highest purpose.

Allow me to stress this point: they are practicing their highest purpose. They are not seeking it. They are not wondering what it is. They are not frustrated by the enigma of their seeming elusive purpose. They are simply practicing it...

...This alignment increases the ability of the individual to achieve genuine expression of their heart virtues through their behaviors and actions.

The spiritual works of earth are cluttered with so many admonitions, rules, precepts, laws, formulaic processes, and esoteric practices that the art of the genuine may seem oddly simple, and therefore less potent. However, it is the simple acts of virtue that hold the true power of transformation and upliftment.

Which brings me right here to this story... which I think sums it up better!

Truly Important Things

Nasrudín began to chat with some friends. One of them, suddenly, asked him about his wife:

- Oh, my wife! - he said - she stays at home.

- What is her occupation? - the others asked.

Nasrudín shrugged his shoulders and said:

Insignificant activities, unimportant things, small things without any transcendence. She takes care of the work at home, takes care of our children and helps them with their homework, goes to the market, does repairs when it is needed, like painting the house and fixing whatever is broken. She takes water out of the well and waters the orchard, also takes care of her ill mother and my mother too; sometimes she visits her sister and helps her out with the children... those kind of things, small things of no importance.

- and what do you do? - someone asked

- Ah friends, I am truly important, of course! I am the one who investigates if God exists.


...Need I say more??

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