Today my spirituality is taking me down a political road. A Human Bill of Rights and Responsibilities has been rolling around in my mind the past few days – a spiritually-based statement that acknowledges the importance of basic human needs and our personal role in ensuring their availability for everyone. But before we get to that list of rights and responsibilities below, let’s consider other attempts to outline our “rights”….. Read the rest of this entry »
Evolution to Oneness
Archives for category: Conscious Bridge Website
I am excited to be heading to New Orleans this weekend as part of the annual Spiritual Living Conference. It’s an exciting time and an historic moment as the two organizations that teach the Ernest Holmes’ Science of Mind and Spirit philosophy take the next major step in their integration. Last year they voted to reunite after over 50 years of being apart. When do you ever hear about groups splitting apart and then coming back together?
This week, the two groups become one. During the past year much has been done to create the structure of the organization—pulling from each of the current groups the best ideas, the best processes, to create a new way of being together. I have been honored to have been involved with a lot of this. When we leave Louisiana, we will have Read the rest of this entry »
You say it’s your re-birthday, well, it’s my re-birthday too, yeah! (The Beatles, sort of)
“He who is not busy being born is busy dying” (Bob Dylan)
It’s only natural that “Conscious Bridge”, a website which is about the evolution of our consciousness, would itself evolve. Today, I am making a couple of major changes.
As a web site, we’ve been around almost 2 years, but for the last 2 months I have not posted any articles. It’s not because I haven’t been writing! I have been working on a book which deals with a lot of the themes covered on the “bridge”, but more on that at another time. I will only say that my writing focus has been ”the book” and not the web site. But the first draft of ”the book” is done as of a week ago and as I move into the editing process with it…..so today, the web site returns!….but it’s evolving… just as you and I are every day.
The first change—a new simple look—minimalist in appearance. This will be easier for y’all to read. This will be easier for me to post content. Take a look, let me know what you think…I’m still playing with it… Read the rest of this entry »
Today is the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Today my heart and prayers are with those who lost friends and family members on that tragic day.
Much has changed in our world since that day….there are aspects of life where humanity has come together in its love and concern for one another……and, there are many things that we may not have chosen to experience as a part of modern 21st century life ….but even in those experiences we can affirm Read the rest of this entry »
Today—the metaphor of the map, how we seek their guidance and a very basic metaphysical map of the Science of Mind and Spirit.
I love maps. When I’m in a new city, one of the first things I do is pull out a map and orient myself to the layout of my new locale. Online mapping websites and the map app on my iPhone are my frequent friends. I know I’m not alone in my desire to understand where I am, where I want to go and the best route to get there.
Seems like we humans have always had an innate desire to map our surroundings. Where we now employ talking GPS’s in our cars, I can still remember back in the day pulling into the gas station to look at the big map they had on the wall or buying the local foldout map that never quite seemed to have the ability to fold back up in its original condition. I still find it amazing that early settlers of the American west set out in covered wagons with only minimal maps to guide them. Yet they did have some maps – the rough approximations sketched out by those who first traversed the wilderness. And what about those early ocean explorers from the middle of the last millennium? Is it any wonder that one of their main tasks was mapping what they saw Read the rest of this entry »
Like what? Bowl of cherries… the optimistic refrain from an early 20th-century song? A box of chocolates… as Forrest Gump proclaimed? What is life like to you?
Recently, we offered that many people currently believe that life is like a school – where you learn the lessons exactly like you’re supposed to and get judged at the end to see how well you did – or that life is like a game – we’re competing against one another to see who can get the most power and material wealth. These worldviews drive these peoples life choices. Both viewpoints contain the commonality that every person is separate and apart from every other person and that that belief drives many of the problems of the modern world.
If we saw everything as interconnected and interdependent – everything that appears to be separate is known to be part of a whole – and we truly lived our lives from that viewpoint, then there would be little place in this world for war, poverty and suffering. There is no “other” – there is only this one of which I have my experience of uniqueness and individuality.
So what we need is a new metaphor – a new shortcut for looking at life that supports a worldview of oneness and interconnectedness. We need to replace the bowl of cherries, the box of chocolate, the school and the game with a new catchphrase.
What’s it going to be for you? One common metaphor for our “multiplicity within the unity” – that is, our uniqueness within the oneness – is of the ocean. We often hear the description that we are like drops of water or waves within the ocean. The essence that is the ocean is embedded in us but we are not the entire ocean. As that drop of water or that wave, we express ourselves in our own unique way while still remaining connected to the whole. I’ve always liked this metaphor.
Here’s a strange one that came to me recently – consciousness, spirit, mind, the one – whatever name you wish to give to that underlying essence – is like a stretchy rubber blanket of which we are all a part. (Yes, I know, there’s a joke somewhere here about bedwetting or insane asylums. You can play with that analogy if you want.) The point is – we are connected to everything as a part of that stretchy fabric but that at certain points we all push up through it and take on a form that appears different from it. We look out and see others who have pushed up and out and taken on their own shape and appear to be separate from us. We are all part of the rubber blanket, but all we see and experience are the shapes that each of us have taken on in our unique expression of that underlying oneness. We’ve become so wrapped up in the fabric of the experience of life, that we have forgotten the fabric that binds us.
Play with that visual for a few minutes – imagine every person and object as poking up through a rubber blanket so far that there are all these shapes and forms moving about with a sense of being separate. When we transition from this life, we released our shape and return back level with the blanket. Can you picture it? This visual helps me grasp the concept that “consciousness is the ground of all being” a point frequently made by quantum physicist Amit Goswami and others. That is, consciousness is embedded in everything.
How does this metaphor works for you? Do you have one you use not mentioned here that you have found useful for reminding yourself of our underlying unity? If so, post a comment or send me an e-mail – I would love to hear what you use to remember our oneness.
Peace and blessings.
Mark Gilbert
Today, the topic is love. Given our title, you probably know where I’m going – all we need is love, what the world needs now is love sweet love, can’t we all just love one another – that kind of thing – and ultimately you’re right but I would, uh, “love it” if you would play along!
Valentine’s Day Is Here!
But do you ever stop to wonder where it came from? Here are some basic facts from Wikipedia – the day was created and named after an early Christian martyr named Saint Valentine around 500 CE. There are questions as to whether this name represents one person or many martyrs. One of these martyrs named Valentine died on February 14, hence our celebration on this date.
Ironically, the early honoring of Valentine had nothing to do with romantic love – the earliest records of linking love to Valentine’s Day is found in the writings Chaucer in the late 1300s. Some historians believe the link derived from ancient Roman fertility celebrations that went on around the same time. Over the centuries, many people were called to strengthen this connection between love and holiday – and in the 19th century, the tradition of writing notes to one another grew into the 20th and 21st century big business of the greeting card companies!
What were your earliest memories of Valentine’s Day? For me, I can still see my elementary school room where we had taped up decorated bags with our names on them to the chalk trays under the room’s blackboards. The night before at home I had prepared all my Valentine cards to be delivered to my classmates. This was a big deal to me. At my mother’s urging, I prepared a card for everyone in my class. The choicest cards from the box my mother had bought me were selected for the prettiest girls. The absolute best card generally went to the girl that I had a secret crush on! This was my one time of the year that I could safely profess my love, even if in a very subtle way.
At the chosen moment, our teacher would have us go around and deliver our Valentines into the other kid’s bags. Later we retrieved our little mailboxes, retreated to our desk and opened our love notes. I carefully read the cards from the pretty girls, especially “that one girl”, to decipher any clues that my affection was returned. I carefully noted who in the class had not given me a card. My worth, my lovable-ness, all being determined by the count cards and the subtle messages they contained. Oh how these early messages became ingrained in us and gave us fodder for healing later!
As I grew up, Valentine’s Day got locked into a day to get gifts for my one girlfriend and eventually my wife. Cards, flowers, candy and meals out were all purchased with the intention to say “I love you”. At least, we hope that that intention is there! I’ve talked to a lot of men where it sounded that their actions were more out of obligation than an intention of expressing love. I have no doubt I probably slipped into this trap somewhere earlier in life, too.
What Is Love?
What exactly is this thing love which we claim to be professing? So much has been said, written and sung about this topic – it has captivated us as long as there has been an “us”. But I’m going to keep it simple here.
Most of us equate love with a human emotion somehow linked to desire for some person, thing or experience. Most of us recognize there are different “levels” to our love. I may love hot Apple pie, walking around Paris or a good movie. Yet somehow that love is different than the love I feel for my dog, Harmony; my wife, Mary; my grown children – Melanie, Julie, Matthew, Glen, and Christian; or my grandchildren – Amelie, Cayla and Zoe.
I thought at the time that I loved that pretty little girl in my elementary school class. I remember my first serious girlfriend and that intense out of control sense of love. Along the path of life, I have felt “love” for many people. That feeling has tended to mature a bit along the way. The “life or death” intensity of “I love you, please love me or I am heartbroken” has shifted into a deeper care and concern over your happiness and the quality of your life. I may still “want you to love” me, but I’m not going to die if you don’t and I can still care about you. Bottom line is our sense of the experience of love shifts for most of us as we walk life’s path—it “evolves”.
Every once in a while, I bump into these people who exude a warmth and love that seems to extend from them out to everyone. When I encounter these people, I want to be around them! In fact, something in me wants to feel and exude the love that they do. Something calls me to expand my feeling of love to more and more people. Their experience of love seems to be the next step in how the maturing of my experience of it is moving. Somehow love itself is calling me to love everyone.
Expanding Our Circle
I’ve written about this before – the natural progression of expanding our circle of care and concern to a broader number of people – moving from being egocentric (caring only about myself) to ethnocentric (caring about a widening circle of people who are like me – family, friends, share the same religion, share the same ethnicity, share the same country) to world centric (caring about everyone everywhere). This is our evolutionary path ultimately. We can deny it. We can fight it. We can avoid claiming it in this lifetime. Yet I’m convinced this is where humanity is ultimately headed.
I’m not alone in that belief. Many mystics and individuals who have combined spirituality and evolution have seen that truth including Ernest Holmes, Sri Aurobindo and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. This path is also frequently referenced by philosopher Ken Wilber and integral theory.
One of my favorite quotes by de Chardin is “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” If you’ve read Conscious Bridge for very long, you have probably heard me reference this quote before.
Upon first reading it, we may think that he is saying that if we could somehow hook electrodes up to humans and capture this power source called love, then we could somehow break our dependence on foreign oil and bring down our CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. But that’s not exactly what he means.
In my opinion, de Chardin is reaching back into our past when humanity crossed a critical threshold in its evolution. When we discovered fire is also when we discovered our ability to think and reason – we recognized that we were thinking – and with that ability came the power to manipulate the physical world. We’ve been getting better at that ever sense as we “master the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity”. Now we’re ready to kick it up a notch.
By turning inward, and harnessing this emotion that we call love, de Chardin is pointing us towards our next great leap in our collective evolution. If somehow we can consciously direct our love rather than see it as an emotion which controls us, then we are “harnessing it”. And, de Chardin reminds us we are harnessing this power “for God”– but please keep in mind that the God he describes is not the old myth of a bearded man sitting on a throne in the sky which is still fairly prevalent in our consciousness, but rather a God that is an energy, a power, a vast intelligence –”God” is in everything and everything is a part of “God”.
As we consciously choose to direct our love more and more, we let go of our sense of separation from one another and begin experiencing our unity, our oneness – in other words by our “harnessing our love” we expand our awareness of the fact that we are all part of “God”. The more we can grow in that consciousness, the more we will be like those loving people I keep bumping into – if I can see beyond the veil of your story of your humanness from your time here on planet Earth and into your truth that you are this spiritual consciousness evolving in the same flowing ocean that I am, then how can I not love you! In spite of outward appearances and our different earthly stories, we are the same!
Harnessing the Evolutionary Force of Love
Ultimately love at its highest level is not this emotion we feel, but an evolutionary force driving us to our highest potential. De Chardin said, “Love alone can unite living beings so as to complete and fulfill them… for it alone joins them by what is deepest in themselves. All we need is to imagine our ability to love developing until it embraces the totality of men and the earth.”
Ernest Holmes said that love “is the great transforming Power, which brings everything into harmony. It is the unifying Principle, the creative element, the motivating Power of all that is fine and noble in life.” Aurobindo wrote, ” Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation.” In were we not taught as kids that “God is love”?
So somehow each of us is called to journey in our awareness from an early learned sense of love being an emotion that simply arises inside us that is outside our personal control – to a new sense of love being a power that we can harness as we evolve, a power returns us into unity with spirit or God. So how do we make that shift? Here are some simple, but not necessarily easy steps:
- Recognize that giving love is not dependent on receiving love. I can still choose to love the little girl in my elementary class whether she gives me a card or not. I can choose to love you no matter who you are and what you believe. I don’t have to condone your behavior nor allow you to walk all over me, I can have healthy boundaries and disagree with your actions but still love you.
- Recognize that I can always create an intention to love, it’s within my conscious choice. Why are you and I giving those Valentine’s Day gifts? The energy behind an intention of obligation tends to foster separation, an intention to express love moves us into unity.
- Recognize that not only can I expand my circle of love to include more and more people – something inside me pushes me in that direction. Most people regardless of their political or religious beliefs feel something in their hearts open towards people much different from themselves at certain moments. Consider the Indian Ocean tsunami of a few years ago, the Haitian earthquake last year or the shooting in Arizona last month. Much of the world’s attention has been focused on the events in Egypt these past couple of weeks. Something inside of us connected the passion and excitement of Egyptians as they took steps to create a government that is responsive to their needs. Our hearts opened as we watched their happiness unfold and celebrations erupt on the streets. Forget politics for a moment – focus on that feeling within you that connected you with the Egyptians excitement. That feeling can be controlled and expanded. It is an evolutionary force connecting you with others!
So on this Valentine’s Day, make each of us be reminded to shift a little bit in our perception of love. May we see the gift that this emotion has given us throughout our lives, how we may gain conscious control of this emotion and harness it for our personal growth, and how we may expand our love to encompass all – may we see the world as our Valentine.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Be Love!
Mark Gilbert
Maybe there’s a trend away from negative confrontational sources for our news. Wouldn’t that be great?
Here some interesting facts I came across recently – first, TV commentator Keith Olbermann recently parted ways with MSNBC. I personally have nothing against Keith, but the reports surrounding the end of his TV program reference the potential that the network was moving towards a “new civility” in political discourse. Additionally, there were reports of a 20% decline in his ratings. Maybe its a ratings/money decision—but then, if less of us are watching what we think is potentially polarizing…..
On the other end of the political spectrum, on Fox news, Glenn Beck has seen an even more dramatic decline in his ratings, losing close to two thirds of his viewers in the last 12 months. Furthermore, Public Policy Polling recently announced that Fox news has seen a decline in the percentage of Americans who trust them as a news source – from 49% down to 42% in the past year. This year’s most trusted TV news source? PBS. Interesting.
Could all of this be indicative that Americans are getting tired of news that is slanted in one political direction which appears to foster divisiveness? One can hope.
As a sort of capstone on 2010, the other day I gave you some of my favorite books I discovered during the year. Today, I want to follow-up with some other resources I discovered this past year which I found helpful, interesting, insightful or just in general contributed to my personal evolution these past 12 months. So here we go in no particular order…
IPhone 4
I keep getting blown away on how extremely useful this device is! Quick example – recently Mary and I were headed into bed when the phone rang with a reverse 911 call. I can’t say that I’ve ever gotten one of these before. The message said that police were attempting to apprehend a “shooter” in our neighborhood and that we should go down into our basement for safety until we received another call. As you can imagine, this freaked us out a bit but we did as instructed. As we sat in one room away from any windows waiting for the all clear call, we wondered how far this “shooter” was from our house. Then it occurred to me that I had downloaded a police scanner app on my iPhone. Running this app we were able to discover that the police had the shooter surrounded and the address. While continuing to listen to their progress in capturing the man, we were able to pull up a map of the address on our phone and determine that we were far from harm’s way. (Fortunately, early this morning the police apprehended this man and all involved in the incident were okay.) I could go on and on with examples of how this phone assists me but I think you get the picture. I’ve heard from friends who are big fans of the other smart phones – I don’t really have any experience with them – but whether it’s the iPhone or one of these others, I highly recommend you checking into them if you haven’t already.
Dragon Naturally Speaking Software
I started with version 10 and recently upgraded to version 11. This program is great! You talk – it types! The more you use it, the better it gets at understanding your voice. Start up your word processing program and Dragon, put on your microphone and begin dictating. There is a small percentage of misunderstood words when you begin, but over time that small percentage shrinks and shrinks. You can do punctuation and formatting with specialized commands. I do most of my writing now with Dragon.
Film: What in the World Are They Spraying?
I mention this movie as I suspect many of you have never heard of it. Although I certainly would not consider myself some type of “conspiracy nut”, Mary and I do like to challenge ourselves by reviewing media outside the mainstream with alternate viewpoints on what’s going on in the world. There is a whole genre of films we call “movies that p*** you off” – films like “the Corporation”, “Food Inc.”, “The Future of Food” and so on that you can watch and feel called to investigate further and if appropriate take personal action. This film is in that category. The topic is chemtrails, chemical discharges from airplanes which leave long vapor trails in the sky that dissipate slowly. Most jet vapor trails (called contrails) disappear within a minute or two. This film has made me more aware of the high number of jet trails that linger in the sky crisscrossing one another. The film suggests (and offers some evidence) that these trails are part of a surreptitious geo-engineering effort. It’s easy to dismiss such theories and the people who offer them as part of some “lunatic fringe” aspect of society. Before you do that, I simply invite you to watch this film.
EnlightenNext Magazine
I’ve been reading Andrew Cohen’s excellent magazine for a number of years – from back when it was called “What Is Enlightenment?” Recently they changed their name to EnlightenNext to reflect their emphasis upon evolutionary spirituality. It’s as if as they explored the concept of spirituality and enlightenment, they realized that our spirituality is part of our personal and collective evolution, so much so that evolution became a critical aspect of its content. Their tagline is now “the magazine for evolutionaries”. This change took a really good magazine and made it outstanding in my opinion. If you’re focus is on where humanity is evolving, especially in consciousness and spirituality, then this magazine is must reading.
Rick Steves
Mary and I went to Europe this past year and Rick was our guide. Funny how I had never really paid attention to him before but then as we focused on our trip planning, everywhere I looked was stuff by Rick. Videos, guidebooks, web site, a PBS show, and a whole slew of things to support your travel experience. After looking at a number of travel sources, I decided that Rick’s approach met my intentions. I followed a bunch of Rick’s advice and our trip was fantastic! I even jokingly point out that I traveled to Europe with a Rick Steve’s travel bag!
Netflix
I was already a member of the DVD by mail program. I got tired of Blockbuster never having the esoteric movies I wanted to see—Netflix has almost every film I want to view! Yet, in the past year their whole effort to move to streaming video has been in tune with my desires. Funny how I can have 500 channels on cable, 3 DVDs from Netflix, on demand—-and still “nothing is on” you want to watch. Now, Netflix has opened up this vast library of TV programs and movies that you can stream on demand to your TV (through our Wii no less!) or on to my Iphone! Way cool. Now I can usually find something to watch when I am in the mood.
Some Favorite Mainstream Movies
OK, here without commentary are some movies from this past year that if you haven’t seen are worth your time….all are “thumbs up! in my humble opinion! Go check them out and if they sound interesting, give them a view! Most are fairly mainstream….a few are a bit off the beaten path.
- The Ghost Writer
- The Kids are All Right
- The Kings Speech
- Toy Story 3
- Inception
- When You’re Strange
- The Botany of Desire
- Shutter Island
- One Peace at a Time
- Leap Year
- Morning Glory
Now….Your Favorites!
I would love to hear about any books, web sites, movies, technology or anything in general that you have found made life more interesting, exciting or inspiring! Leave a post or drop me a note.
I did ask folks on several social media sites I frequent for the books that inspired them this past year. As of this writing, here is what I have received….I am going to check out the ones I’m not familiar with myself!–
- The Bhagavad Gita
- The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion by Leonard Sweet
- The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews
- The Tao of Pooh
- Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr
- The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist
- A Course in Miracles
Ok….give me your thoughts on these and others!
Happy 2011.
Mark
Follow us on Facebook!
