THE SHIFT – What’s really happening!
During
periods of great change and turmoil, both hope and despair seem to be
present. We hope that things will get
better, but also fear that they might get worse. We have to let go of the fear and focus on
the idea that civilization is not breaking down but breaking through to a new
kind of existence.
We certainly
seem to be facing enormous challenges with crises on many fronts – socially,
politically, economically and environmentally – and although these crises represent
huge dangers in our world, they are also opportunities for us to change our
ways. We know from our own experience
that it is through crises that we grow as human beings. Crises on a global scale are no different -
they are part and parcel of the chaos that precedes transformation.
We are in
the midst of changing from the mechanistic-reductionist/scientific-materialist
paradigm (worldview) that has been dominant in our Western culture for over 300
years. This worldview sees us as
separate from nature and from each other.
Arising from the twentieth-century discoveries in physics and biology,
the new worldview is a holistic one, where everything is seen as
connected. We are all interdependent
cells within the great super-organism that is the planet – not unlike our own
bodies where trillions of cells live and work together.
New
paradigms tend to be slow to emerge, co-existing with the old paradigm until it
takes over. For many decades now
cultural and behavioural change reflecting the new paradigm has been
growing. There is a groundswell of
people all over the world, from all walks of life, young and old, who are
committing themselves to a new way of living and being. Many people are now trying to conduct their
lives, run their businesses and interact with the world around them in less
dysfunctional ways than in the past. The
consciousness that we see emerging now in many quarters is very different –
more co-operative and collaborative, more compassionate and empathic.
We need to
look at our troubled times, not from our narrow perspective, but from a much
wider one – both historical and cosmological.
On the one hand there is this outer world with its great sweep of
thousands of years of history, across many different cultures. Different worldviews have prevailed at
different times and in different places, and many cultures have great
calendrical cycles of creation, maintenance and destruction, whether it’s the
Ancient Maya, the Aztecs, the many Native American tribes, or the Hindus or the
Buddhists. There is also the cosmic perspective – not just this universe but
others too, with their own planets and galaxies….
At the same
time we have the inner world – the world of the imagination and the soul. This inner world connects us with the Source
of life. It is here that myth, religion
(in its true sense of binding together – ‘religare’ – the individual, society,
the world and cosmos) and also psychology, particularly depth psychology, help
us to see ourselves as part of the whole, and to find meaning.
We also need
to see ourselves as part of the process of evolution itself. If we look at the history of the universe and
the evolution of life on earth over 14 billion years, crises (whether to do
with food supply or survival) always seem to precede transformation, triggering
quantum leaps in evolution. Under
pressure it seems life becomes extraordinarily inventive.
New forms of
life emerge in response to environmental upheaval, and this takes place it
seems with greater co-operation, interaction and communication.
The question
is, can we, confronted with crises of every kind, adapt and mutate
collectively? Could it be that we are
still evolving? Are we maturing as a
species and moving towards a higher order of being where instead of thinking of
our own needs we are becoming more aware and conscious of the needs of the
whole?
Beneath the
surface of the turmoil our world seems to be in, the Shift to a new kind of
existence has indeed been unfolding, a way of life which has the potential to
become more altruistic and more harmonious, benefitting all forms of life.
The Shift
has had a long genesis, with its roots deep in history. We can perhaps trace it back as far as the
Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the American War of Independence and the
ending of slavery. Certainly for the
last 50 years, growing out of the social and alternative movements of the
1960s, which dealt with civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights and
environmental issues, there has been a huge increase in the number of people
who subscribe to different values and lifestyle. This involves less consumption, more
spirituality, greater respect for others and for the planet and all life forms.
Collectively
we are now being forced to change our ways – socially, politically,
economically and environmentally (I will deal with the many examples of this in
a second article). Underlying the many changes is the whole issue of
connectivity. Through technology we have
the ability to make a new world. Social
networks can spread information to millions of people rapidly. They can empower citizens to speak freely –
everyone has been given a voice, even those who don’t necessarily have access
to the internet themselves. Networks are
changing the culture and can be a force for good, whatever the downsides.
In the final
analysis, the world will be as we make it – hope for the future rests in our
ability to transform ourselves. We have to be willing to grow and to change and
to become better human beings. Our minds
and our thoughts shape our world and we can consciously change them. We have to work at the change – it has to come
from within ourselves.
Since it
tends to be significant minorities who change history, we should take heart
that there are many individuals who are now choosing to live their lives by the
new values of compassion, co-operation and harmony. The old world with its outmoded ways will
gradually atrophy as we attune ourselves to the new consciousness that is emerging.
We can become conscious participants in our own evolution. Each of us can all make a difference. We just
have to wake up!
‘A Sleep of Prisoners’ by Christopher Fry
Dark and
cold we may be, but this
Is no winter
now. The frozen misery
Of centuries
breaks, cracks, begins to move;
The thunder
is the thunder of the floes,
The thaw,
the flood, the upstart Spring.
Thank God
our time is now when wrong
Comes up to
face us everywhere,
Never to
leave us till we take
The longest
stride of soul we ever took.
Affairs are
now soul size.
The
enterprise
Is
exploration into God.
Where are
you making for? It takes
So many
thousand years to wake,
But will you
wake for pity’s sake!
