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Time for Us to Allow New Perspectives to Emerge — a Whole People Discipline

April 28, 2010 //
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Today we look at Stewart Brand’s recent book “Whole Earth Discipline”, PBS’s Frontline series episode “Vaccine War” and how our evolution is calling for us to allow new perspectives to emerge.  We hold beliefs and opinions dearly.  We think we know what is right and can point at others and say they are “wrong”.  Today, I’m asking us if we can all hold our own opinion a little more lightly, allow in the cherished beliefs of others that might disagree with us, and by bringing the viewpoints together allow new wisdom to emerge?

Whole Earth Discipline

I recently read Stewart Brand’s new book “Whole Earth Discipline”.  Two things drew me to it.  First, I have always been a big fan of Stewart.  He was the originator of the Whole Earth Catalog series and their magazines, Co-evolution Quarterly which later became Whole Earth Review.  Second, the book was about his changing his beliefs on certain ecological viewpoints in a manner that differed from my current beliefs.  I wanted to understand why.

I came to his catalogs later than most folks, discovering them with the publication of the “Next Whole Earth Catalog” in 1980. I can honestly say that this book was one of the top 10 that changed my life.  At the time I was living in the South, young, married with kids, feeling like a fish out of water as I looked around at the beliefs and visions of many of my coworkers and friends.  I knew my life was about something more that the options life was presenting to me, but I didn’t know what.  This book pointed me in a new direction.  I resonated with the viewpoints of the editors of the catalog–they were lifelong learners and so was I.  The life they pointed to with their tools and resources was the life I felt I was seeking.  Some of the books they recommended, such as “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, became some of my other life changers.  The move of my family from the south to Colorado was in some small part due to the influence of Brand’s Whole Earth Catalogs and magazines.

The recommendations of Stewart and his editors became my source of knowledge to pursue before the Internet became available.  They were my Internet in a sense, as those catalogs were a way to hyperlink between topics that were connected so that your interest in one topic would naturally lead you to related areas.  Their embrace of online bulletin boards and the Internet were some of my first introductions to the online environment.  Ironically, one of my first PCs was marketed under the name “Whole Earth”.  As I recall, they had an agreement with Stewart’s Point Foundation.  Also ironically, the availability of online information easily searchable made the Whole Earth Catalogs less essential.

Brand’s new book is about the current climate crisis and his call for us to embrace certain technologies as being “Green” which previously had not been considered that way.  He makes a strong case citing scientific studies as to why the move of populations from rural areas to urban areas, nuclear power and genetically engineered food should all be embraced by the environmental movement.  I’ll be honest, as someone who consider themselves green, I did not previously consider these as “green” options.  Yet if Brand changed his mind on these areas, and as I’ve frequently written about, we all need to get out of our comfort zones and listen to the viewpoints of others who differ from us, then I certainly owed the book a read.

No matter what your viewpoint on the topics, I would highly recommend this book.  I won’t say he changed my mind totally on all the issues he presents, but he did open me to viewing the issues differently.  If I had any criticism of the book, it would be that Brand overly relies on a materialistic scientific viewpoint and sometimes appears to be negating other’s opinions when they are not based on what he deems to be “scientific facts”.  Those who emotionally feel that we are not served well by nuclear energy or GMO food, who believe there is something inherently wrong in our pursuing these technologies, are totally discounted by Brand.

Vaccine War

Last night, my wife and I caught the last half of the Frontline episode which looked at the current debate surrounding the use of vaccines routinely on our children. We found it to be a well-balanced report offering all perspectives.  Briefly, one side of the issue is that vaccines have been shown to eradicate illness, hence there is a public welfare need for all of us to receive our recommended vaccines.  The other side of the issue concerns a large number of parents whose children became ill immediately after receiving their vaccines.  For example, there are a number of children who developed autism after receiving one particular combination vaccine.

The show reports on a number of epidemiological studies which show that the vaccine in question and Thimerosal (a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines) have not led to increased instances of autism.  Predictably, the studies have been pointed to by the scientific community to negate the concerns of the anti-vaccine proponents while those not in favor of vaccines disagree with the conclusions.  They still emotionally point to the large number of children who have developed autism and ask “why?”.

The show also raises questions about the power of the Internet.  Some in the medical establishment question the value of online information that they feel is inaccurate yet informs their patients.  They feel that their medical efforts are being undermined by misleading and false information readily available to all.  Others see great value in the Internet and its ability to empower people to take charge of their own health and to connect with others who have experienced negative outcomes so as to compare stories and detect trends.

A quick check today of some online blogs shows that one’s opinion of the Frontline show was easily based on their pre-existing viewpoint.  Proponents of vaccines thought the show vindicated the scientific community.  Opponents of vaccines felt it unfairly negated what they still see as legitimate concerns.

Allowing a New Perspective to Emerge

In a sense, both Brand’s book and the PBS episode point to the same debate.  That is, are the current levels of our scientific understanding of issues such as genetically modified food, the growth of cities, nuclear power or our use of vaccines sufficient for us to rely totally on the available data to make such important decisions?  There’s probably other debates where our current level of scientific understanding says one thing while a substantial number of people emotionally and strongly disagree.  Should we always side with science’s current understanding over such deep-seated opposition?

Let me be clear here, I’m not knocking rational thought and scientific knowledge.  I’m a big proponent of science.  Science has improved the human condition drastically.  What I’m asking us to consider are the limits of current science and our being open to gaining wisdom from other sources.

Integral theorist Ken Wilber says that truth certainly comes from empirical measurement of the outer world but that there are vast areas of knowledge that are fed by pursuing inner wisdom.  He charts the sources of our knowledge into quadrants, with one side (2 quadrants) coming from data gleaned from introspection and other inward techniques while the other side of the quadrants comes from our study of the outer world.

Could it be that where humanity is headed is towards a world where we integrate all areas of our wisdom?  I believe this to be the case.  The bottom line is that neither side of those in the debates described hold all the truth.  It is pure hubris if you believe that you do.  To simply point at what you see as either scientific data or your personal emotional data and to say “this is the final answer and I’m not open to changing” limits our evolutionary path.

So how can you move forward?  Well, as I suggested at the beginning, the answer is in holding our own opinion a little more lightly, allowing into our consideration the cherished beliefs of others who might disagree with us, and by bringing the viewpoints together allowing new wisdom to emerge.  Don’t immediately argue with or negate the beliefs of others.  Seek to understand them and allow them to inform you.  To yourself, clearly state your own belief, clearly state the other’s belief, and then ask yourself “what greater possibility is seeking to emerge?”  See things not as either or, but as “and” …. say,  “this plus that takes us where?”

Should we see the growth of cities, nuclear power, GMO food or the complete vaccination of all children as things to be embraced for the good of our planet?  Maybe.  There is scientific evidence to support such positions.  But there is also a strong inner response by a substantial number of people who disagree (as well as some empirical concerns as well).  Can both sides be informed by the other and then allow solutions to emerge which honors us all?  I am optimistic that we can forge this new path and find new and greater possibilities than we could ever imagine waiting in the wings seeking to emerge into expression.

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Culture, Featured Article, Politics, Science and Spirit

Science and Spirituality Inch Closer Together?

April 6, 2010 //
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I have written here many times about how one aspect of our ultimate evolution involves bringing together science and spirituality.  We see the bridging of these fields in the cutting-edge philosophy of integral theory which shows the legitimacy of both inner ways of knowing as well as external.  The scientific theory of Spiral Dynamics which outlines a sequence of worldviews through which humanity evolves, points to the melding of these disciplines in its higher turns.  If one looks for it, then one can see growing evidence that we are moving in that direction.

Even the backlash by atheist scientists such as Richard Dawkins and others can be viewed as proof of humanity’s bridging science and spirituality.  Why do they work so hard to argue against God and religion?  On the one hand, we can see that their actions to tell us that believing in God is a delusion is a pushback towards the traditional view of God– the old man in the sky– and religions who cause wars and abuse children.  Their efforts can be seen as moving as away from a traditional worldview and towards a modern scientific worldview.  Yet the world is evolving beyond their modern worldview into a postmodern and ultimately integral worldview for science and spirituality come together.  One might consider the atheist’s protests against God as an attempt to stop this evolution.  In this light it’s easy to see these scientists as clinging to their fundamentalist scientific beliefs (i.e. science is the only way to knowledge) just as religious fundamentalists cling to their limited religious beliefs.

Humanity continues to inch closer to bringing science and spirituality together.  On March 25, the John Templeton Foundation awarded their annual prize given to honor a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.  Their prize laureate went to scientist Francisco Ayala, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, who started his career as an ordained priest before moving into his current field where he is known for his research into the evolutionary history of the parasite.  Yet, his $1.42 million award came for his contributions towards bringing science and spirituality together.

In accepting his award,  Ayala forcefully denied that science contradicts religion. “If they are properly understood,” he said, “they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters, and each is essential to human understanding.” He went on to refer to the world of art and specifically Picasso’s Guernica, where he noted that while science can assess the painting’s massive dimensions and pigments, only a spiritual view imparts the horror of the subject matter. He added that we must bring the 2 ways of knowing together in order to fully appreciate  the totality of the masterpiece.

There is much more information about Ayala on the Templeton Prize website….including a set of short videos (scroll down to heading for “Big Questions”)  where he outlines his view point on how science and spirituality work in harmony.  Here is the link: Templeton Prize Website.

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Categories Science and Spirit, Spirituality

It’s Time to Stop Look and Listen… Really Listen

March 24, 2010 //
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Can you stop, look and listen?

Did you ever have a day where you kept getting the same message over and over?  Yesterday was one of those days for me.  The message was to listen… to deeply listen.

Twitter, Chopra and Nightline

I found myself on Twitter late in the morning.  I was composing “my tweet” to post for others to read.  My timeline of tweets (messages) coming in from people I “follow” was streaming by in the background.  It’s easier to talk on twitter than to listen.  Aware of the fact that most of the tweets I receive I don’t read, I’m always surprised when someone replies to or re-tweets one of my messages.  I do try to pick up on messages that intrigue me and reply to them.  Occasionally, someone replies to my reply.  As Harry Nielsen, sang years ago “Everybody’s talking at me, I don’t hear a word they’re saying…”

One tweet that caught my eye yesterday gave a link to a website with a Nightline video where Deepak Chopra, Jean Houston, Sam Harris and Michael Shermer were debating the future of God.  I clicked the link and started watching the video.  Most Internet videos I stop after a minute or two if they don’t really really immediately catch my interest.  There’s just way too much stuff coming at us, we have to be selective.  I think I’m developing that “short little span of attention” that Paul Simon sang about.

I stayed with the Nightline video to the end… it was worth the hour and a half that I devoted to it.  The subject matter of bringing together science and spirituality for our positive future is one of my main interests.  If you’re interested, here’s the link to the video: Nightline debate.

It was truly a spirited debate, everyone getting a little feisty with perhaps the exception of Jean Houston.  Everyone had their opinion and really wanted to get it heard.  I’m not going to go into details of the discussion here other than to say that there were plenty of examples of where the panel did not totally “hear” what the other person said… or did not understand it… and selectively picked out words or parts of comments to strongly disagree with.  Once again, more talking without totally listening.

Later, I did a search of Twitter tweets for any comments on the debate.  Happily, there were a fair number of people simply thankful that the conversation was being held.  Yet there were a large number of comments by people who were so entrenched in their beliefs, one side or the other, that it was apparent they had not actually “heard” the other position.  In my opinion, this is one of the biggest problems facing our country… the inability to hear and honor a viewpoint that differs from ours.

Listening to My Wife, Listening to Jimmy Carter

Last night my wife and I were watching a movie… Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.”  She kept having comments about the movie.  Each time I would pause the movie so we wouldn’t miss anything.  This cycle of watching, pausing, her talking, then continuing the movie went on a number of times.

At first, I did not mind.  I like listening to her comments.  However as the interruptions continued, I began getting antsy.  Towards the end of the movie during one long break, every time she paused talking I would go to un-pause the movie.  Finally she said, “don’t worry, honey, I won’t talk anymore.”  That hit me!  What was more important… finishing the movie on “my time” or listening intently to the thoughts of someone I love so deeply?

How many times do we all get caught in that trap?  We get it in our minds that we are doing something, saying something, got to finish something… we get this selfish tunnel vision that things have to be done our way and on our time schedule… it becomes so much about me that there’s no time for you… heaven forbid, someone try to talk to us and interrupt what we’re doing or saying.  Have you ever talked to someone who was staring at a computer screen, and did not bother to look up at you?  Have you ever been the one who kept staring at the screen when someone was trying to talk to you?

Suffice it to say, I stopped the movie and really listened to my wife.  Her observations about the film were so deep, and most likely I’ll write about them soon.

Later when the movie was over, we played one of the extras on the DVD.  It was the complete speech by Jimmy Carter from 1979 where he spoke to the American public about the need to sacrifice.  Moore had used one clip in the movie, I would encourage you to listen to Carter’s full speech sometime.  He gives us a warning about our becoming so self absorbed in ourselves and in our obtaining things that he fears we will lose what is truly great about America and all of us as people.  It’s hard not to listen the Carter and realize we did not heed the warning.

Truly Listening

It’s not too late.  We can still listen to each other.  It begins with each one of us.  Yes, we have a lot to say and a lot to do.  We also have a lot to learn and a lot to give.  One of the best gifts we can give is to listen to others.

Life is not about you or me individually… life is about us, collectively.  There’s nothing wrong with expressing ourselves and our unique creativity in the world.  But, we must keep in mind that that’s only one side of the equation.  We must also be the listeners to others as they express their unique selves.

One of the most important things you can do each day is to take time to listen to others.  Deeply listen.  Stop what you’re doing and focus upon them… hear what they’re saying… not thinking about what you’re going to say… attempting to truly know where they are coming from… that kind of listening.

Spirit speaks to us every day but our ego frequently keeps us from listening.  It’s time to listen to Spirit.

Spirit speaks directly to everyone.  Listen to your intuition as Spirit speaks to you.  Take time each day to go within and to listen.  As you do, I believe you will gain insights that will deeply grow your life.  I believe going within will give you a deeper sense of connection to everything and everyone.

Spirit speaks through everyone.  Take time each day to listen, to truly listen to other people.  Take time to understand alternate viewpoints.  Take time to give the gift of your attention to someone else.  As you do, I believe you will gain insights that will deeply grow your life.  I believe that listening to Spirit as it speaks through others will give you a deeper sense of connection to the Spirit within you.

It’s time for you to stop… to look… and to listen… to deeply, deeply listen.  What do you hear?

Mark

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Categories Bridge Building, Consciousness, Science and Spirit

The Umpteenth Secret of “The Secret”: Align Your Rider and Elephant

March 17, 2010 //
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Who is in control?

Or, I thought about calling this “Beyond the Valley of the Secret”… so much as been written about “The Secret” and the “real way” to use it that I hesitated to reference The Secret in the title, but then I thought, “What the heck?  This really is about using the Law of Attraction in a more effective manner.”

So today we look at one of the big reasons why the Law of Attraction seems not to work for people when they are first introduced to it and then link it to some of the major points made in the new book “”Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.”  Along the way, I trust you will gain some insights you can use.

Just Change Your Thinking?

Of course, the Secret or the  Law of Attraction is about the power of our thoughts… that what we think and believe we tend to manifest in our lives… our outward reality is a reflection of our inner consciousness.  Sounds pretty simple, and the movie and book “The Secret” did tend to oversimplify it.  Hence it seems, that a  whole cottage industry has sprung up around trying to explain it better.

Although I believe there are several key aspects to the Law of Attraction that were not adequately addressed by the movie, we are simply going to look at one of them today….that is, the misbelief that all I have to do is to change my conscious thoughts and my outer world will immediately change as well.  This is usually stated as “change your thinking, change your life.”  That statement is actually true, but we really need to define the word “thinking”.

What is “Thinking”?

Philosopher Christian de Quincy in his recent book, “Consciousness from Zombies to Angels” pondered why so many wise and insightful people proclaim that “thought creates reality or experience of reality.”  Ultimately he determined that when many people use the word “thought”, they are using it as a catchall for what otherwise they mean by “consciousness”.

de Quincy points out that not all consciousness is captured in our concept of “thought”, that a great deal of thought goes on “beyond the inquisitive eye of the ego.”  In other words, a lot of our consciousness is unconscious.  He says that other aspects of consciousness include feeling, intuition, intention and volition.  Therefore, if we only change our conscious thoughts without truly changing the subconscious aspects of our consciousness, then we truly didn’t “change our thinking.”  I can go around affirming all day in my conscious thoughts that I am changing some aspect of my life, but if in my gut I don’t truly believe it, I’m not going to see any outer change.

So if we truly want to “change our thinking” then we must really “change our consciousness.”  According to de Quincy, the two core elements of consciousness are “knowing” (consisting of our experience and awareness) and “choice” (consisting of our intention and volition).  He says, “knowing or experience guides and informs our action; choice or intention, initiates and transforms it”.

Mystic Ernest Holmes said much the same thing when he described thought as “the movement of consciousness.”  He went on to define consciousness as consisting of both an objective mental awareness and a subjective consciousness, which contained the creative ability or law.  Hence when he said “change your thinking” , he was telling us to redirect the total movement or consciousness, both our conscious thoughts as well as our feelings and emotions.  The greater degree to which we could “feel” the power of our thoughts, the more powerful they were.

The Rider and the Elephant

Chip Heath and Dan Heath in their book “Switch” provide some great insights on how to effectuate change.  Although the book doesn’t reference the Law of Attraction per se, as both really are about “change”, we can see some correlations.

Borrowing a concept created by Jonathan Haidt, in his book “The Happiness Hypothesis”, the Heaths advise us that one of the most important things we can do to implement change is to align our “Rider” and our “Elephant”.  Our Rider is our rational conscious mind, our intellect.  Our Elephant is our emotions and feelings.

They tell us, “perched atop the Elephant, the Rider holds the reins and seems to be the leader.  The Rider’s control is precarious, because the Rider is so small relative to the  Elephant.  Any time the 6-ton Elephant and the Rider disagree about which direction to go, the  Rider is going to lose.”

We can have our intellect and conscious mind convince ourselves that we are going to make a change, but if our emotions are truly not on board with the change, then they have a tendency to derail it.  The Heaths tell us that to truly change things, we must appeal both to our Rider and our Elephant… if we only appeal to our Rider, we will have direction without motivation.  They tell us that “once you break through to feeling, though, things change.”

Bottom Line

The key point, I hope you get from this discussion is that to truly effectuate change in your life.. to effectively use The Secret or the  Law of Attraction….when you hear the phrase “change your thinking”… you need to change your entire consciousness, which consist of both your conscious thoughts and your subconscious feelings and emotions….  You need to align both the head and the heart… both your Rider and your Elephant need to be going in the same direction. 

And it can’t be stressed too much, once you align your thoughts and feelings you also need to act in alignment with that intention.  You need to set about in the outer world, doing whatever you can that takes you in the direction of your intentions.  This relates to the Heath’s third key concept of change, which they call “shape the path” which we will look at later.

Over the next few days, I intend to review some of the Heaths’ advice on how to change things especially as it relates to our bridging us to a future that works for everyone.  In that review, we will also look at some techniques on how we can bring our head and heart together.

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit, Spirituality

Is There Sex in Heaven?

March 11, 2010 //
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So what is "heaven"? (most of us agree on what sex is!)

That’s the provocative title of a book written by a friend of mine a back in 1998.  I’ve never met Lee Eric Smith in person, but somehow we became Internet friends 10 years ago.  At the moment I don’t exactly recall how we connected, but somehow I ended up buying his book and corresponding with him via e-mail.  I’ll come back to his provocative title question in a moment.

The Power of Questions

The power in Lee’s book is that it asks questions that make us think without giving us any “answers”.  After a brief introduction, he simply poses 175 questions designed to make us think about our spiritual and religious beliefs.  For a short while after he published his book, Lee coordinated a weekly e-mail discussion to which I routinely contributed.  Those of us on the distribution list would get a new question each week to ponder along with a summary of the thoughts from people who answered the previous week’s question.  His process was unique at the time, but seems now commonplace in the world of blog communications.

For me there was great power in pondering the questions.  I gained great personal insights by digging deep within to consider what I really thought about the question being posed.  There were many times that I felt that my answers came from somewhere beyond me.  The process of contemplation and allowing wisdom to flow through me has since become one of my deepest spiritual practices.  I thank Lee for opening the door to this insight.  In time, his weekly e-mails stopped along with our communication.  I’ve often wondered where he is.

The power of questions continued to unfold in my life.  A number of years ago I met Gregg Levoy, author of the book “Callings”, with whom I remain friends to this day.  I attended a couple of Gregg’s workshops from which I was reminded of the immense power that can come from pondering a deep question.  Gregg has an interesting style of breaking up his lecture and stories with periods where he asks questions such as “if you came to a crossroads with signs pointing in two different directions, what words would be on the signs?”  He gives you a few moments to think about the question and write down a brief response before going on to his next question.  As I found this process so powerful, I have borrowed Greg’s technique and developed similar questions for some of my own classes.

More recently, another friend of mine, Norm Bouchard, has published a book entitled “29 Questions for the  Ordinary Life.”  Once again, we are invited into the power of asking ourselves deep questions.  Norm’s book causes us to consider such questions as “what would I do today if I were brave?”  or “how can I show gratitude in my life?”  After offering us a question, Norm gives us a brief story to draw us deeper into contemplation.  It’s an effective technique, and I recommend his book.

Therefore tomorrow, we will delve deeper into the powerful technique used by Lee, Gregg, Norm, myself as well as many others… I will offer you some questions for your own contemplation….10 questions to further your personal evolution.

So, is There Sex in Heaven?

So back to Lee Eric Smith’s question… although I don’t recall if Lee ever asked this question as part of his weekly e-mail, if he had, I probably would’ve said something along the lines of “Heaven is not a place we go to, Heaven is a state of mind in each human, how we choose to live right now determines whether we are in “heaven” or not… and sex is simply part of the wonderful glorious aspects of living right now as a human.”

Re-pondering his question 10 years later, my answer expands a bit.  I would have to say now “it depends”.  It depends upon your worldview.  If you hold a traditional worldview, where heaven is a place you go to after death when you’ve been good here during this lifetime, then most likely you would say there is no sex in heaven because you have transcended your earthly state and no longer have the need for it.  If you hold the modern materialistic worldview, then most likely you would say that heaven is an illusion, a part of an old myth that is not real, hence the question makes no real sense — something real like sex cannot exist in some imaginary place like heaven.  If you hold a postmodern worldview, and perhaps have expanded your sense of God or spirit to be a power or force that exists in everything, then most likely you would answer the question similar to how I would have 10 years ago.

So how is my answer different?  10 years ago, I would have been adamant that my answer was correct and yours was wrong.  Now I see how all the answers are correct, depending upon how you look at life.  I see how all the answers and all our truths serve us on our path.  None is better than the other.  Our answers expand as our worldviews expand and as we evolve.  And when we can move to a place that gives space to all the views and sees the correctness in all the answers, we move to a place where we are growing in Unity and Oneness.

And by the way, I found my friend Lee Eric Smith on Facebook and sent him a friend request.

We are truly connected.

Mark

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Categories Science and Spirit, Spirituality

Does the Word “God” Bug You?

March 5, 2010 //
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What is "God" to you?

I’ll confess, it used to bug me. I used to run from the word God. I realize now that I was running from an old definition of the word God that no longer seemed true.

My Story

I grew up in the southern part of the United States amidst fundamentalist Christian faiths. I attended church up until I entered high school. The God that I was exposed to as a child was seen as this old man who sat upon his throne somewhere in heaven with Jesus and angels by his side. This God somehow caused the Bible to be written, and we were supposed to do what it said. I was told that all of us were born evil and we’re doomed to a fiery hell after death unless we “accepted Jesus” as our Savior, in which case, we went to heaven.

Over time, there were a number of things that made me question all of this. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the story I had been fed was a myth. Fueled by this disillusionment, I ran away from any organized religion which propagated this story. As I moved through college, marriage, children and career, my focus turned outward to worldly success and accomplishments. Off and on I found myself drawn to reading and studying other spiritual texts and spiritual practices such as meditation. As I grew older, these pulls became stronger. I came to the realization that material success was not the meaning of life. At that point, I moved more deeply on to my spiritual path. This led me to seeing God again, but not the old God that I ran from, but rather a God that was sensed as a power and presence that permeated everything.

At first, I avoided using the word God to describe this power. I used many other terms such as Spirit, Divine Intelligence, Infinite Love, etc. Ultimately, I healed the negative baggage that I held concerning the word God. Now when I use the word God, if I sense that my listener may be applying the traditional definition that I learned as a youth, then I will clarify my meaning. I also came to see the value in the Christian teachings of my youth even if they no longer worked for me. I now see how they have served and continue to serve humanity and honor those who feel called to that path.

Recently I wrote about “The Evolution of Consciousness, God and Prayer“. In that article I discussed how God doesn’t evolve, but that our view of God does. Numerous sources (such as Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory) point to the same reality. Humanity grows through worldviews (see the other article for details). I can see in my life a movement through the traditional view in my youth into the modern view in much of my adulthood and then on into a postmodern view and integral view as I have aged and hopefully grown wiser.

Change God’s Name?

Today I received my weekly e-mail newsletter from Bishop John Shelby Spong. Each week, he answers a question from one of his readers. This week, the question was in essence should we come up with a new name for God? The writer pointed out that the name God continues to hold a lot of old baggage, that it continues to be constantly misunderstood, and it appears so easy for us to drift back into the old language and the old images. He suggested we consider words such as “Love”, “Energy”, or “Life”.

In his reply Spong outlines essentially the same evolutionary process I described last week. If you’d like to sign up to receive his emails, here’s the link. He also points out as I did that our definition of the word God has evolved through time and continues to evolve.

He adds:

“I do not believe that in the last analysis any human being can actually define or redefine God, whether we call God the Holy, the Sense of Transcendence or anything else, but I do believe we can experience this presence and I do believe it is real. When we experience this presence I know of no other way to describe it except as “God.” History teaches us that the word God is never static; it is always in flux and ever changing. I suggest that we not be frightened and allow that process to continue.”

So I ask you, does the word God bug you? If it does not, then I simply ask you to be clear on what the word means to you. If it does bug you, then I invite you to become more familiar with this expanding evolutionary process. Ask yourself why the word may hold any baggage for you, to explore those emotions, to work through them and to heal them. This is the evolutionary force playing out in your life right now.

Mark

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Categories Science and Spirit, Spirituality

How to Multiply Your Consciousness

March 2, 2010 //
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We are all change agents!

Most people want to make the world a better place. I suspect that you do. Would it not be wonderful to live in a world where there is peace and prosperity for all… everyone has the opportunity to succeed… where everyone honors everyone else and their beliefs… a world that works for everyone?

So how do we get that world? As I know, you know, it begins with each and everyone of us. It begins with our own thoughts, our words, our deeds. It begins in our own consciousness as we shift how we look at the world. We let go of focusing our awareness on where the world is less than what we want turning from those conditions, and focusing on the positive. We give our mental energy to that which we desire to expand. As each and every one of us shifts our consciousness to the highest possibilities of what our lives, our country, and our planet can be, we grow the world in that direction.

So how do we get more people to shift their consciousness in that direction? So how do you multiply your consciousness? I recognize that question can be taken a couple ways.

Expand your Consciousness

On the one hand, you might see multiplying your consciousness as meaning expanding your consciousness to higher levels of awareness. How do you expand your consciousness? Of course, it begins with the intent to do so. But beyond that, it involves a regular spiritual practice being woven into your life. It means spending time each day, communing with the Divine, with God. It means expanding your awareness through this process of recognizing and sensing at the deepest level of your being that you are one with everyone and everything. As that awareness expands, your love expands outward from you in all directions encompassing all that is. With this love comes compassion and a desire to serve.

Expand your Service

It is in this concept of service that we see a path to the second way of multiplying your consciousness. We look out on life and recognize that the consciousness that is within us is also in every other person. We carry our sense of uniqueness and individuality that senses that the consciousness within us is “ours”. This same sense points at other people and sees their internal awareness as “theirs”. As we grow in our awareness of Oneness, we begin to hold an interesting dichotomy. We continue to recognize our individuality, yet also become aware that each and every personal consciousness is part of one Mind. Our personal consciousness was already “multiplied” all the time, we just didn’t know it.

This awareness coupled with a desire to serve frequently opens us to the questions of “how can I make a difference?” and “how can I grow the consciousness of the planet in a positive direction?” In other words, how can I from the level of my new awareness assist others in releasing thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve them or the world, to recognize our interconnectedness and to turn their focus to our highest possibilities?

Be the Change

We must always remember that we cannot “control” or “change” other people. The only person we have control over is ourselves. So in our call to service, we begin with ourselves and our own thinking and our own actions. We begin in our own “sphere of influence.” As we change ourselves we serve as a model for others. Our actions open others to creating their own change. In this way, we actually do in a certain sense “multiply consciousness”.

What I invite you to see is that how you show up in life creates this ripple effect in others. You actually do have the ability to multiply consciousness. You do it all the time, often without your awareness. The question now becomes “in what direction do you want it to grow?”

We are all change agents, whether we like it or not. We all have a responsibility for our collective growth, whether we consciously accept it or not. It’s time for all of us to become conscious change agents for a world that works for everyone.

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit

You are Part of a Bigger Story than You Can Imagine!

February 26, 2010 //
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We Glimpse Our Oneness

Yesterday, we considered that who we are is not the story we tell ourselves….we may think that  ”We are Little Pockets of Consciousness! ” …but who we really are is something greater and bigger.  You may want to go back and read that article if you haven’t. 

In fact, you are part of something so big that most of us have a hard time wrapping our mind or imagination around it! 

Our Mind is a Part of the Mind of Spirit 

Previously,  we considered that the cells in our body have an intelligence or mind that directs their activities but at their level of awareness they cannot sense the level of mind/consciousness/awareness that we carry around in our human existence each day.  A drop of blood has no concept of our collective awareness of our entirety as a human.  

Similarly, we have a hard time limiting our perception to what it might be like to be a drop of blood.  It’s been said that our brains really work like a screening tool filtering out of our awareness all of the sensory input that is available.  Most of the business of our bodies are carried out automatically without our conscious awareness.  Yet it has been shown that we can exert conscious control over those functions with training.  Our human consciousness is tied to the consciousness of lower bodily functioning. Similarly, our brains also limit the flow of external sensory data into our awareness.  We only hear and see small sliver of the spectrums of sound and light.  Can you imagine what your consciousness would be like if you had in your awareness all of the awareness of all of your internal cells as well as all of the flow of external sensory input around us?  Neither can I. 

But just as you are made up of smaller aspects of consciousness,  your consciousness and your experiences actually feed the knowledge and intelligence of  a still higher awareness.  Many suggest that this higher awareness might exist in intermediate levels such as “the collective consciousness of all humans” or Gaia (the consciousness of the planet Earth).  But ultimately most mystics tell us that  our  awareness feeds and is connected to the collective experiences of Spirit at the highest level….the  totality of all that is.  

Multiplicity in the Unity 

So this experience by Spirit or God of our lives at the collective level  is what is meant by “multiplicity in the unity”.   There is unity at the highest level, but it is experienced as multiplicity as we humans ”knock around in life” telling ourselves that we are unique and apart from everything. 

Consider this….if you were God or Spirit and could experience everything completely….then to have the greatest experience possible, you might have to take your awareness and “divide it up” into parts that were not aware that they were part of the whole….and you might have to take these individual aspects of yourself that had forgotten and  ”stretch them out” so that they experience time and space….and you might have to give them  the ability to make “free will choices” so that you wouldn’t already have predetermined the experience as they play around in time and space.  By doing this….you wouldn’t know exactly what was going to happen per se…..and you would have an infinitely more varied experience than if you had not created this scenario. 

Of course, even though Spirit allowed the flow of consciousness to “forget” that it is a part of Spirit…..Spirit did keep itself as the ultimate “sensor” of all experiences….Spirit gets the collective experiences of everything everywhere while we are in a state of forgetfulness.  But all is not lost!  We are also in a state of re-minding….of coming back….of returning….as we evolve in complexity and deepness of consciousness, we begin awakening to the Truth of our connectedness….we remember from where we came….and through the force of love…drawing us out and sensing our connectedness to things and people and events outside of us…we deepen in our sense of Oneness with everything….andwe go back to Spirit. 

Our Goal 

So, as we walk around each day, we may tell ourselves stories about who and what we are. When we come from our lower levels of awareness, our stories are mired in the world of effects and separation. When we come from our higher levels, our stories shift towards unity. Let us lift our heads upwards towards “heaven”, that is a sense of Oneness, and live our lives seeing our Truth, our Beauty, our Perfection, our Oneness. That is our charge each day, to move our attention to the higher levels of our consciousness. It is our goal.  It is our calling. 

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit

We are Little Pockets of Consciousness!

February 25, 2010 //
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We may appear separate, but are we?

Imagine that!  We are all little pockets of consciousness….and we are walking around with our stories of who we are and what we are….we have this past with our parents, our friends, our schooling, our culture….and the sum total is our life story that we cling to…I have my story….you have your story….we bump into each other and interact….adjusting our story with the new experience…. 

What’s your story?  But are you this individual and separate consciousness that you tell yourself you are….. or are you part of a “collective consciousness”? 

Ah, here’s the real truth…..consciousness is more than all the people walking around telling themselves their story!  Consciousness is not simply a by-product of the firing of neurons in the brain.  Consciousness is not simply that inner world of your thoughts and emotions that you sense. 

Considering Consciousness Differently 

I want you to consider consciousness differently.  I want you to see it as an “intelligent energy” that is imbedded in and flows through everything everywhere…. this energy is in every atom, every molecule, everything…..then I invite you to consider that consciousness ( or “mind” or “energy”) builds up in complexity as it is grows from being imbedded in the smallest things to  those smaller things joining together to form the largest things (with humans somewhere in the middle of this chain!) 

So think on this….as stuff grows in complexity (from atoms and molecules to plants and animals to planets and stars), it contains more and more (and deeper) consciousness.  This process of growing in complexity we know by the name of evolution.  Rocks have consciousness but as they are not very complex, neither is the level of its “mind”. Hence, their intelligence is very limited as compared with higher forms. Plants have higher degrees of complexity and hence higher levels of consciousness, animals even higher….and then humanity even higher. 

At some point, as the entity’s complexity gets great enough, the depth of the consciousness crosses the threshold into a state of self-awareness….and then “it knows that it knows”  as in humanity.  Maybe other species have crossed this threshold as well, such as dolphins. Perhaps the buildup of complexity on other planets has allowed other species in the universe to do the same. That fact seems extremely reasonable to me. We will discuss that another time.  

Consciousness is Linked in One Unity 

But even though all of the stuff of the universe is imbedded with consciousness, we must not lose sight of the fact that all of this intelligence is linked in one unity.  At some level above us….and growing in awareness within humanity….there is an awareness of the interconnectedness of everything. This awareness springs from the interconnectedness of consciousness and is fueled by the evolutionary force of love. 

Think about the level of awareness of the cells within our bodies. They have consciousness but not to the degree that the whole consciousness that your “collective you” has. Your individual cells cannot comprehend the unity of your body as you do. Imagine that you are those cells and that above you is a greater awareness and interconnectedness that you are not privy to. If you had the higher awareness, you would be aware of the greater unity. 

Tomorrow we will explore this “higher level” of collective consciousness.  For now,  just remember that as you walk around thinking that you are just this  individual little pocket of consciousness with its story it tells itself about “who it is”…..”who it really is” is a sum total of the consciousness imbedded in it and that our “individual collective consciousness” is part of some greater whole of which we only occasionally glimpse.  That’s a much bigger story and a much bigger pocket of consciousness than we generally think we are! 

Mark

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Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit
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