Archives for category: Positive Evolution
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Is Your Wagon Hitched to a Star?

October 13, 2010 //
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Here is your decoder ring information – “wagon” means your daily activities, “star” means your highest vision of the future.

Believe it or not, today I want follow all the advice of expert bloggers and be brief.  I realize I don’t generally follow that advice!  Besides, I wrote extensively on today’s topic earlier this year in a lengthy article for Integral Leadership Review.  You might go read that if the following whets your interest.

Recently, I have bumped into a number of people who seemed to be so absorbed into the details of their “doingness” that they appeared to have lost sight of why they’re “doing” what they “do”.  Their head has been down, their nose has been to the grindstone, they haven’t looked up enough recently to link what they’re doing to the vision of where they’re wanting to go.  Can you relate?  It’s an easy trap that we all fall into.

Here’s some guidance from the Bible that you have probably heard: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  (Proverbs 29:18, King James translation).  In some versions, the word “perish” is translated as “unrestrained” or “scattered”.  To me, all of these words point to a state of consciousness where we are unfocused, where we have lost sight of what’s important.  When we enter this state of consciousness, we may feel that we are treading water with our life, that we are trying to “get by”, that we “live for the weekend”. Ever been there?

What then does it mean to “keepeth the law” so as to be happy?  To me, that is suggesting that we align our thoughts, words and deeds with our vision.  It’s recognizing the power of our thoughts and actions and ensuring that their creative power is focused consciously towards where we want to go.  When we shift our attention and see how what we are doing each day is working towards our vision, then we feel that we are “making a difference”, then our lives have greater meaning, work and play meld into just one big blob of “living life” and we can truly exclaim “life is good!”

So what is your vision?  Do you have a personal vision for your life?  Do you work in an organization that has a vision for the future?  Have you considered your vision of the most positive future for humanity?  What do these visions look like?  How is what you are doing today – in what you think, say and do – in alignment with that vision?

The truth is no matter where you are in life or what you feel called to do – from being a student to a retiree and everywhere in between – each day you have an opportunity to create that vision.  Hitch your wagon to that star, baby, and giddy up!

Mark Gilbert

www.consciousbridge.com

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Me And the Apple Tree – Finding Our Growing Edge

October 5, 2010 //
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I’ve been spending a lot of time the past couple of months with the apple tree out in my front yard.  This wasn’t my conscious choice.  I think the tree planned it.  I’m beginning to realize it’s a pretty smart tree. “What? “  you say.  How can a tree think and plan?

Consider this – my apple tree appears to act as a “whole”.  Somewhere within it, it instinctually knows to grow its roots so as to hold itself up and absorb water; to grow its limbs and leaves in such a way to maximize its absorption of sunlight, take in carbon dioxide, and expel oxygen; and, grow and distribute its apples with its seeds implanted so as to propagate itself.  This is a lot of coordinated activity.

Where does the direction for all this activity come from?  A very strict materialist scientific viewpoint says that there is a coding in the DNA of the plant that has been developed by trial and error over millions of years that directs the trees activity towards survival and reproduction.  Any activity of the tree that seems to imply that it is “thinking” is simply a projection by us and our thoughts.  They say the DNA is like a computer code.  If the tree’s sensory input says that more sunlight is coming from the south, then the code directs the tree to grow its limbs and leaves in that direction.  The coordination of the tree’s functions is simply its parts following the DNA coding.

Yes, the tree is taking in sensory input, processing it and reacting with movement.  In comparison to our degree of mobility, the tree appears pretty stable.  Yet, we know from time lapse photography that the tree (and all plants) are moving with intention.  It’s growing edge is its reaction to the environment.  But is that reaction simply oriented for self survival and reproduction?  I’ve become more and more aware that the tree is “acting” in a way which coordinates itself with a greater whole of which it is a part, ways that transcend but include simply self survival and reproduction.

My tree has produced a lot of fruit this year, seems like more than ever.  Squirrels, birds, worms and insects have benefited from the nourishment.  So have I.  So have friends and neighbors to whom I have distributed apples.  I’ve been able to pick much of the fruit that I can reach with a ladder.  But I’ve thrown a lot more apples away.

One part of my tree hangs over the driveway.  Apples fall, we drive over them.  It’s messy.  Twice a day for the past month or two, I pick up fallen apples and toss them in a garbage pail.  Once a week, I roll a pail or two out to the street for the garbage men to haul away.  The tremendous amount of the tree’s output has been driven away by humans to distant locations.  This action occurs right under the apple tree.

It’s as if the tree conspired to have squirrels, birds and humans distribute its seeds as far and wide as possible.  The massive amount of fruit produced this year could be a “coincidence”.  It could be the tree “decided” that this was the year to extend its reach.

I know some of you are thinking that I am simply projecting human motivations on the tree.  Maybe you’re right.  Yet I can’t help sensing that the tree consciously realized how to train me to distribute its fruit.

Does the growing edge of the tree only extend to its physical boundaries?  Is its growth only a direction in its twists and turns of its limbs, leaves and roots as well as its production of fruit programmed by its DNA with no consideration of its impact upon its neighbors and a greater whole?  Or, does the tree perceive at a greater level how it is interacting with something bigger than itself?  Does it realize how its efforts are benefiting the surrounding environment?

We could ask the same questions of our self.  Are the motivations of our life limited to hardwired DNA instructions pushing us towards survival and reproduction?  Do we see our growing edge limited solely to where we interact with the world and no further?  Or, do we perceive at a greater level how we are interacting with something bigger than ourselves?  Do we realize how our efforts are benefiting this more inclusive world?

You may think it’s an unfair comparison.  After all, human consciousness has greater depth and has crossed the threshold to self-awareness.  With such awareness comes the ability to not only meet basic survival and reproductive needs, but also to contemplate greater needs…ones that transcend our sense of limited self.  You may be right, I really don’t know what a tree’s consciousness is like.  Maybe it is all mechanistic, but I don’t think so.

It simply my perception, but I believe the tree has motivations that extend beyond its physical boundaries.  The squirrels, birds and I may have helped the tree distribute its seeds, but the tree nourished us.  It extended its circle of care and concern beyond its physical boundaries and it “cared for us”.  It’s as if the tree through its fruit showed its love for us.  You don’t have to believe it, but you can stop for a moment and consider it.

But beyond that, what message does the apple tree hold for us and our evolution?  So where is your growing edge?  Is it limited to your physical self or does it extend beyond the boundaries of what you call “you”?  Can you see your boundaries extending to greater and greater levels beyond your physical self as you envelop others with your care and concern?  Can through the fruit of your labors, no matter how they show up in the world, be a way for you to show your love? 

Something to consider….next year, I’m going to get one of those extension poles with a basket on it that picks higher apples.  I’m going to extend my reach beyond the “low hanging fruit”.  The tree’s growth calls me to grow.

Blessings.

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Chicken Little Takes Responsibility!

September 15, 2010 //
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Today we walk a strange twisted path through the land of Chicken Little, Thomas Friedman, American education and politics…leading us to the land of personal responsibility.  Are you game?

Do You Remember Chicken Little?

Here’s the briefest telling of the children’s story – Chicken Little gets hit on the head by an acorn and proclaims the sky is falling.  He sets off to tell the King and along the way meets various other animals who buy into his tale of doom and gloom and join him on his trek.  Along the way they meet a sly fox who leads them to its den.  That’s the end of the story although we can all imagine what happened to Chicken Little and his friends.

Depending upon the variation of the story, its moral can be either we need to investigate things fully and not make assumptions, don’t believe everything you hear, beware of gossip and hysteria or something else along these lines.  After all, if Chicken Little and friends had stopped to use the power of rational thought they would have determined that one acorn falling does not equate to the sky is falling.

For some strange reason I was thinking of the story recently and thought maybe it’s also about taking responsibility.  Chicken Little allowed the events “out there” in life to drive what he thought was true.  His friends allowed the proclamation of Chicken Little to become their truth.  How would the story have changed it Chicken Little and friends had acknowledged these external events but then said “even if this is evidence the sky is falling, I can take responsibility for changing that outcome”?

We’re Number 11?

A few days ago Thomas Friedman wrote an op Ed piece in the New York Times where he talks about Newsweek magazine’s recent ranking of the United States as the 11th best country in the world.  He goes on to point at a column in the Washington Post which Friedman believes gives evidence as to why we might be number 11.  The Post article discusses why we have spent so much money on our educational system and have seemingly so little to show for it.  One reason they suggest (which is seldom listed by politicians and educational leaders) has to do with the lack of student motivation.  The point is we can spend all kinds of effort on the educational system but if parents have not instilled in their children a desire to learn it’s not going to make much difference.

My wife’s a schoolteacher – middle school, bless her heart.  She cares deeply about the education of “her kids”.  To hear her talk about her kids, you know she cares about each and every one.  She works very hard and does a good job, but she and her fellow teachers have their frustrations.  A room full of attentive children eager to learn can be sidetracked by a small minority of children eager to disrupt.  Listening to her stories of how she and the school try to deal with these situations brings home for me the point that the responsibility for a good education lies not only with the schools and teachers but also with the parents and students.

Friedman goes on to see this lack of personal responsibility in our educational system as being a microcosm of a larger issue impacting the country’s current recession.  He says we have had a values breakdown, “a national epidemic of get-rich-quickism and something-for-nothingism”.  Friedman points out that the “Greatest Generation” who fought World War II were not afraid of sacrifice for the greater good but our current baby boomer generation does not share that value.  Hence, our leaders are fearful of asking us to sacrifice in any way – they tell us and we believe that we can have both tax cuts and increased government spending!  Our political debates spend more time seeking blame than focusing on realistic solutions as they might call for us to defer something we want now.  Friedman offers that other countries are passing over America not only because of cheap labor, free markets, technological advances and other external things but because they have maintained internal values that are focused on the future and not simply short-term gratification.  In other words, they are taking responsibility.

Taking Personal Responsibility

We are all Chicken Little and his friends.  Acorns are falling all around us.  Science says that global warming is taking us to an uninhabitable planet if we don’t take action.  The population of the planet continues to rise.  The world continues to be stuck in a recession.  America’s educational system continues to have problems.  Our politicians continue to argue rather than seek trans-partisan solutions.  Our media frequently seeks to divide us on issues rather than focus on our common bonds. Americans appear to be afraid of personal sacrifice now for the greater good later.  Newsweek says America is number 11.

What are we going to do?  If we follow Chicken Little’s example, then we proclaim “the sky is falling” and proceed to tell anyone who will listen about it.  If we follow Chicken Little’s friends’ example, then we will buy into all the proclamations that the sky is falling.  And, we all know what happened to Chicken Little and his friends.

There is another way.  It starts by our acknowledging that these acorns exist.  Yes, we have some challenges facing us but the sky doesn’t have to fall.  Yes, we have some opportunities to take responsibility and rewrite our story.

Can we envision a happy ending?  What would that happy ending look like?  For me, a happy ending is always a new beginning.  I can imagine a world where we solve global warming, create a sustainable population level, create economic conditions that provide for all, enhance our educational system, our politicians work together, our media seeks to unite us, and we all embody personal values that are focused on the greatest good for all over personal self-interest.  America is number one!  Earth is number one!

How do we move to our happy ending – new beginning?  It begins with each one of us.  Just like Chicken Little and his friends, each of us must choose our response to the acorns in our lives.  Whether they are real or imagined, we can turn away from seeing them as evidence of an inescapable negative future.  Rather, we can see them as reminders that there is a better path we can choose.

We can refrain from joining the chorus of naysayers.  We can create our own chorus singing our own song of a positive future.  We don’t look for someone to blame for the acorn.  We don’t look for others to “keep the sky from falling” on us.  Rather each one of us takes responsibility for our own corner of the sky.

Let’s help Chicken Little rewrite the story.

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Seeing the Perfection in an Imperfect World

August 12, 2010 //
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Things in the world show up based on the way we look at them.  The more we look at the imperfections of the world, the more imperfections we see.  The more we see things as perfect, the more the world shows us its state of perfection.

Our Challenge

One of the most difficult tasks for all of us is to turn our attention away from all the problems we see out in the external world and to focus our attention on our dreams of what we know is possible.  This is not a call to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that issues don’t exist.  Yes, the world may currently exist in its manifest form in ways that are less than what we desire.  Our goal is to use those conditions to give us guidance on what we don’t want so that we can turn our attention towards what we do.

Each of us must learn to spend less time whining about what we currently see that we don’t like, and spend more of our time on the perfection we know is possible.  If we were to perform an “energy audit” on our thoughts and actions, where might we find our energy flowing?  Let’s close the negative energy leaks and be more positive energy efficient.  Can we move to seeing the perfection in an imperfect world?

What is Perfection?

The Wikipedia article on perfection shows that the term encompasses a number of concepts including — that which is complete containing all its parts, or that which is good so that nothing of the kind could be better, or that which has attained its purpose.  Can we see the world in this light?  Does the world contain all of its parts?  Is it so good that it could not be better?  Has it attained its purpose?  What do you think?

Metaphysical traditions such as the Science of Mind and Spirit state that each of us as well as the world is already “perfect, whole and complete”.  Newcomers to the philosophy often struggle with this concept as they mentally compare the state of their lives and the state of the world against a vision of what is truly possible.  The gap between what currently exists and the vision of our potential makes it hard to see the perfection.

Yet the perfection that the Science of Mind claims already exists is not necessarily a description of the current condition.  As its founder, mystic Ernest Holmes described the concept of perfection, he used words such as “the real state of being” and “the divine attribute of complete excellence”.  He advised us to “see only perfection… regardless of appearances”.  In other words, he was pointing us to focus our attention into the realm of the divine beyond the realm of what might be right in front of us.

Behind the world of the “seen” is the world of the unseen.  Here is a reality that metaphysics frequently claims is “more real” than the external world demanding our sensory attention.  Here is the world of our consciousness, of energy, of thoughts and visions, of our dreams of what is possible.  Here is the world that creates our mental picture of perfection that we use in comparison with the material world and its seeming imperfections.  Here is the world in which our free will exists to move our thoughts in the direction of our desires.  Here is the world in which all of our collective consciousness joins together in one divine consciousness where our highest dreams combine to know at the deepest level of our soul what is truly possible.  This is where real perfection exists and serves to call us towards it.  Our seeking this perfection is truly a motivating force in our lives and on our planet.

Similarly, philosophers have long pointed to a paradox is contained within the human concept of perfection.  If the world were totally perfect, then there would be no room for improvement and therefore be imperfect.  This paradox claims that true perfection depends on the ability to grow, evolve and make progress.  Ironically, true perfection involves our movement towards that perfection.

Quick Summary

  • There exist in our inner realm of consciousness a vision of what perfection is.
  • As we look at the world, things appear to be less than perfect.
  • Our judgment of imperfection comes from noticing the gap between our inner sense of our highest potential and our outer experience.
  • We are at choice as to whether we focus on the vision of perfection or the worldly imperfections.
  • That which we focus on tends to grow in our outer experience.
  • Regardless of where we direct our attention or any imperfect conditions, there always exists the state of true perfection.
  • True perfection is a force that is calling us towards it.
  • The process of our moving towards this true perfection is part of the true perfection.

Our Charge

So what does this means for our lives? Armed with this knowledge, let us all:

  • Be aware of our vision of the highest state of perfection for humanity.
  • Turn our attention more and more towards this perfection.
  • Experience the perfection of our vision as more real than the outer world.
  • Recognize the perfection in the process of our evolution from the imperfect outer world towards this greater inner true perfection.
  • Allow that true perfection to be a force that calls us to learn, grow and evolve.

So how can you actually apply this in your life? I’ll be sharing some ideas in the near future, but would love your thoughts!

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution, Spirituality

Casting a Wide Net Versus Going Deep

July 23, 2010 //
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cast a wide netWhenever someone tells you that things have to be either one way or another, it’s best to question that assumption.  Although we naturally gravitate to black and white thinking, drawing comfort from its certainty, more often than not things aren’t “either or” — there is usually an option that incorporates both ways simultaneously… it’s one way “and” another.

I have a weakness for books.  Generally I buy more than I can read in the time I have available.  My bookshelves and nightstand are filled with volumes graced with my good intentions of being read at some point during this life.  I might meet that goal if I stop buying books for about the next 10 years.  That’s not going to happen.

Now when I start a new book, I have to consider this: am I going to read it thoroughly or skim it?  Am I going to stay with the book and go deep with its content versus am I going to get the gist of it and then move on rapidly to another book?  Going deep allows me to better comprehend the author’s message.  Skimming many books allows me to cast a wide net around a lot of content even if the detail and nuances remain untouched.  Each way has its value.

I’ve heard prosperity author and speaker Bob Proctor several times.  Every time I’ve heard him speak he extols the virtues of going deep with a book.  He says that he can keep a volume open on his desk to the same page for weeks at a time reading and rereading the same passage until he embodies its deep meaning.  Although I’ve never done this, I can attest to the value of reading slowly and digesting mentally the words, rereading and contemplating key passages that speak to me — and in some cases allowing a period of time to pass and then rereading the book with fresh eyes and new perspective.  Going deep has great value.

Yet the more time I spend going deep with one book or subject the less time I spend being well informed on a wide variety of subjects.  I’m stuck with the choice of either having depth of knowledge or breadth of knowledge.  A recent book by Nicholas Carr entitled “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” makes the case that the recent trend towards googling information and following hyperlinks is training us to continuously cast a wide net at the expense of going deep.  Well, to be honest, I think it makes this case — I haven’t had time to read the book but I did skim a couple reviews and clicked on the “look inside” button on the Amazon book listing!

In any case, I think we can all agree that the Internet is a great tool for allowing us to quickly scan a vast quantity of information.  My friends and I have discussed how seductive Internet surfing can be, quickly losing hours of time as we move from site to site.  Most of us cast a wide Internet, rarely spending the time to go deep.

So is this an “either or”?  How can we make this an “and”?

It reminds me of many of the hiring decisions that I made as a government executive for many years.  Whenever I filled a position, I considered the knowledge and skills needed in the candidate.  In some cases, I needed a specialist — someone with very detailed specific skills.  That is, they needed to have gone “deep” in an area with the development of their expertise.  In other cases, I needed more of a generalist — someone who had good skills in a wide number of areas.  That is, they needed to have “cast a wide net” in the development of their expertise.

In most cases, unless I really needed someone immediately with specific experience, I would advertise a job in a way that cast a wide net to get the best possible candidate available at that time.  In some cases, that would be a generalist.  In other cases, that would be a specialist.  Over time, it would even out and our team would be a healthy mixture of generalists and specialists leading to a high performing unit.  We were able to cast a wide net and go deep.

The reality is the same with my reading and comprehending.  There are currently several subjects on which I am reading and studying in great depth.  And, at the same time, I continued to scan the Internet and skim books that add to my breadth of knowledge.  You can have it both ways.

One of the hallmarks of higher-level thinking according to evolutionary models such as Spiral Dynamics or Integral Theory is that we expand our way of looking at things so that we can hold simultaneously in our awareness what appears at first blush to be totally opposite viewpoints.  We can balance these opposing ideas in our mind and be okay with it.

So where in your life do you tell yourself or you are being told that it must be one way or another?  Where have you been convinced that things are purely black and white and that you must choose one?  Question that assumption.

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

How Can We Love Everybody?

July 20, 2010 //
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love love loveMy vision for a positive future is a world that works for everyone.  This means at a minimum that everyone has the opportunity to live their lives expressing their unique creative abilities, to have a basic standard of living, to live in freedom, and to have the chance to strive for personal success.  One should always have the opportunity to express life so long as it does not infringe on the rights of others to express their life.

Of course, this world is not our current world.  As we look out at the state of the planet in 2010 we see war, violence, hunger and starvation, humans in slavery, people lacking clean drinking water and sufficient food, populations without access to adequate education or healthcare, and a prevalent mindset that seeks competitive advantage at the expense of others.  The question then becomes: how do we move from our current conditions to our highest possibilities?

Three Simple Steps

Learn from the past — notice the conditions in life that are less than what we want.  Draw lessons from these conditions so that we can contrast them with what we do want.  Notice the positive conditions in life that are indicative of what we desire.  Build on those conditions.

Set the highest intention — the past allows us to create a vision for our highest future.  Create that vision in your consciousness and every day both affirm its truth for humanity and look for evidence of its manifestation.  Seek to meld this conscious vision with a high degree of positive emotion so that it excites you as you see this world arriving.

Expand your circle of care and concern — who you love and care about?  Contemplate that.  See that group growing and expanding.  Seek to love everyone.

Love Everyone?

I recognize that’s a loaded suggestion.  It’s easy to conjure up in our minds a list of people who have wronged us in the past or currently upset us in some way.  Many of us have had experience with people who in expressing their lives have inappropriately crossed boundaries and infringed on our lives or the lives of our loved ones.

We must seek to understand and forgive these people in our hearts.  This is not to condone their behavior.  This doesn’t mean seek them out and personally “forgive them”, although there can often be great healing in doing that.  Our forgiving others in our heart really is about us expanding our sense of love.  It’s not necessarily about the other person.

Anyone we have difficulty accepting in our hearts ultimately harms us more than it harms them.  If we can step back and see the other person as a spiritual being or a fellow human walking their path as best they can, then it opens us to this place of love.  There’s an old expression “there but for the grace of God, go I.”  One might consider that except for a soul choice made at the moment of birth, you could’ve been walking in their shoes throughout their life.  You might’ve had the same experiences, learned the same lessons, and made the same choices.  The limitations you judge in them could have been yours. Seeing how “you might have been them” opens you to releasing your judgment about them.

If we are truly going to bring about a world that works for everyone, then we must all work to grow our hearts and expand our love.  We must exercise our heart muscles just as we exercise our bodies.  There will be those people and groups to whom the expansion of our love to include them will be relatively easy.  So start there to gain an easy victory.  But don’t stop there.  Continue to grow and expand your circle of love to envelop even those you have difficulty accepting.  A better world awaits us all by moving to that space.  Don’t wait for others to do it first.  Be the change you want to see.

How can you love everybody?  What are your thoughts?

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Featured Article, Positive Evolution, Spirituality

Some Possible Answers Along the Evolutionary Path

July 10, 2010 //
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answers along our pathA week ago I offered for your contemplation four questions posed by Deepak Chopra as part of a EnlightenNext Magazine web article (questions repeated in bold below).  I thought I might give you my thoughts on them as of today.  One caveat — these answers are subject to change as I grow and change! 

1. What kind of world do you want to live in and what kind of world you want your children and grandchildren to live in?

I’ve answered this question a number of times in the context that humanity needs to set a vision of its highest possibilities that the vast majority of us can buy into and then collectively work towards it.  However instead of repeating a full positive vision for humanity’s future, here is a short version — I want to live in a world where everyone honors and respects everyone else, a world where everyone has an opportunity to express their gifts and to succeed.

2. What is your role in bringing this about?

I see my role as a teacher.  To the degree that I have any ability to bring clarity to others through either the written or spoken word, I hope to inspire them to work in their sphere of influence towards a world that works for everyone.

3. Regarding the organizations that you’re part of, what kind of team do you want to have and what kind of relationship do you want to have with this team?

Obviously, all teams of which I’m a part must work in a manner that respects all members and helps each to reach their highest potential.

4. What do you see as the primary need in our current cultural moment?

Our greatest need is to foster a shift in consciousness such that humanity no longer defines success primarily by one individual or group gaining at the expense of others.  The greatest good for all must be our greatest motivator for all.

So these are my current thoughts… how would you answer the questions?

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Driving On the Left Hand Side of the Road

June 30, 2010 //
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London driving on left side of roadI recently spent a week driving on the left hand side of the road in Ireland and England.  I have to admit I was a little nervous about it.  Not only do you have to overcome your years of conditioning to stay to the right on the road, you sit behind the wheel on the left hand side, your gearshift is on the right and all of your mirrors are at different angles.  I’m happy to say that all went well — after a short transition period I felt very comfortable.

As I talked to friends of mine about the experience, I find it funny that Americans unconsciously refer to driving on the left hand side as “driving on the wrong side of the road”.  Most people who say that aren’t even aware they are using the word “wrong”.  Of course, intellectually we know that driving on the left is simply different from driving on the right — there is no right or wrong way.

It is interesting to note that the opposite of the word “right” can be either “left” or “wrong” depending upon connotation.  It’s also interesting to note that some people tend to lump “rightness” as meaning “correctness” without allowing the possibility for other alternatives.  Ask a left-handed person and many will tell you that they faced some pressure as a child to become right-handed.

This experience highlighted for me how well conditioned we are to accept things as right simply because they are the way we do them.  We never stop to consider that alternatives are just as valid.  If we are truly growing and moving forward on our evolutionary path, then we need to push ourselves into questioning our assumptions about right and wrong.  Yes, there are certain ethical decisions that most of us would agree are either right or wrong.  Beyond that, we need to be open to seeing alternative approaches to life as simply different without judgment.

I loved the variety of expressing life that I experienced in my travels.  Whereas Americans point towards an “exit”, the French say “sortie” and the English say “way out”.  That variety of expression is wonderful.  It shows that humanity is joyously playing with multiple approaches while underneath we remain one people.

Where are your assumptions about “rightness” where you’ve never considered alternatives that may be just as valid?  Opening yourself to the glorious multiplicity of options of expressing life while maintaining an inner awareness that we are all one is part of our evolutionary journey.

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Culture, Featured Article, Positive Evolution

Our Role in the Future Evolution of Life

June 23, 2010 //
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evolutions arrow our future is upward

Today we briefly look at John Stewart’s “Evolutionary Manifesto”…..no, it’s not a comedy routine by the Jon Stewart on Comedy Central….it is a blueprint for  change offerred by the other John Stewart, author of “Evolution’s Arrow”.

I wrote about John and referenced his book in my article published a few weeks ago in the Integral Leadership Review.  I have been pleased by the positive responses I have received from a number of people on that piece. 

If you read the article, then you might recall that I was encouraging us to be aware of our personal and organizational visions that drive our future oriented actions and then to move into seeing how those visions (and our resulting actions) might support our collective global vision.  Of course, we don’t have a consensus on a collective global vision, but in the article I pulled from a number of sources to offer a potential vision for humanity and a call for us to move towards it.

I want to thank one person who wrote and reminded me that John Stewart (who I had cited in my article) had come to the same conclusion on what we needed and had created his Evolutionary Manifesto.  This statement, which I had read a year or two ago, is his call for humanity to move into being aware of the evolutionary process and to consciously use it.  He offers suggestions for how humanity can move forward and how this direction can provide  meaning to our lives.

To move forward, Stewart calls for us to transcend our past….meaning the hardwiring of biology and to use the power of our consciousness via our intentions to move into the levels of cooperation needed to overcome our individual selfish needs.  As he points out, evolution up to this point has used the competition created by an external force to move us into internal cooperation.  Cells banded together into larger and larger organisms seeing that internal group cooperation had an evolutionary advantage.  Humans banded together in tribes and cooperated to fend off the threat of other tribes, again offering an evolutionary survival advantage.  The groups with whom humans have cooperated have grown in size to countries or large multi-national corporations due to the competition with even larger external “others”. 

Stewart points out that to make the leap to cooperate with the entire family of humanity on planet Earth, we cannot rely on an external “other” threat (barring invasion by aliens).  We are moving to a point where the only force we can use to overcome our selfish needs is an awareness of both the evolutionary process and our advantages in cooperation even without an external threat.  Of course, we could consider that the forces of the Earth as they react to the mistakes of humanity (global warming, oil spills, over population, etc.) may give us the competitive motivation to move into cooperation.  Some argue that the opposite effect might occur, reversing us into smaller groups as we break into greater competition to fight for limited resources.

Yet, Stewart is an optimist in my opinion.  At the least, he is offering to us a new way of looking at life and evolution and how we can take control of it for our positive future, a topic quite familiar to readers of this blog.  Afterall, ”the Bridge” and its articles are all designed to get you thinking and acting in a manner that is in alignment with the highest possible future for humanity and the planet…to consciously using the power of our thoughts to bridge us to our highest future.

Stewart is pointing us there as well….check out his web site:  Evolutionary Manifesto

Let me know what you think.  Can we move to a place of planetwide cooperation?  What will move us there?

Mark Gilbert

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Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Positive Evolution
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