Archives for posts with tag: Spiral Dynamics
« Older Entries

Metaphysical Maps

August 17, 2011 //
3

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 »

Tags , , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Conscious Bridge Website, Featured Article, Positive Evolution, Spirituality

Transcending the Third Dimension — Part Three

August 7, 2010 //
0

transcending the third dimension-loveToday, we conclude our self dialogue in exploring our evolution through the third dimension and our opportunity to transcend it….. Click here to read part one in which we explored what we mean by the third dimension, how we came to be in and our evolution through it. Click here to read part two in which we discussed why it is imperative for each of us to consciously take control of our personal evolution and what that means. Today, we finish our discussion considering our collective evolution and transcendence.

So, as our personal evolution unfolds and we become more aware of our interrelationship to everyone, how does that relate to the collective evolution of humanity?

As mentioned previously, as we as individuals evolve or grow in consciousness or become enlightened… however you wish to describe it… we become more aware and truly embody the reality that we are all interconnected — that we are all part of some grand “oneness”. As that occurs, it is inevitable that we will grow in our sense of love and concern for all our fellow beings. This is one area where religions have served us. There is a common thread in all faiths that teach the Golden Rule — do unto others as you would have them do onto you. This call to ethical behavior served us early in our evolutionary process as we banded together in tribes and cities and countries. The more we all cooperated within “our group”, the more our group flourished. Yet the Golden Rule’ s guidance was never limited to any one group. As we expand our sense of the “other” to greater and greater degrees, soon it envelops all humanity, all life, the planet, and ultimately the universe in total. What would it mean to treat every person on the planet as we would wish to be treated? What would it mean if we treated the planet and the universe as we would wish to be treated?

There is certainly plenty of evidence that we do not treat one another nor the planet as we would like to be treated. What do you think it would be like if we did?

I suspect most of us could agree on many of the characteristics of such a world, but there is obviously no consensus. I have my vision of what such a world might look like. First, each person would have access to the basic rights as outlined by the United Nations–for adequate water, food, education, to be treated with dignity and respect, to be able to live with certain freedoms. Yet beyond that, each person would have a reverence for all life — as we look outward, we would see ourselves in other people, in animals, in plants — we would sense our connectedness. Yes, we would continue to seek to meet our basic needs for our own lives. Yet, there would be greater awareness where our continued efforts to meet our needs crossed over into the territory of meeting “wants and desires” (stuff we exert effort towards attaining that in the big picture we don’t really “need”). There is nothing wrong with meeting wants and desires, experiencing the fullness of life in the third dimension as previously mentioned is one of the gifts of being here. Our full experience of the infinite variety of life here is one of the main purposes that we were placed here — through us spirit or infinite consciousness experiences the richness of this physical domain. However, our expanded awareness of meeting wants and desires would bring knowledge of when our efforts crossed into harming others. There is goodness in our meeting our needs, wants and desires so long as they express life. When our efforts cause harm, they no longer express life.

Could you give some specific examples of when our meeting wants and desires cause harm and no longer express life?

Sure. First, here are some larger global examples. Consider Wall Street where their desire for greater profits for their company caused harm to individual homeowners as well as our collective economy. Consider the Gulf oil spill where the combination of our government’s desire to increase domestic oil production as well as the oil company’s desire to maximize profits led to cutting corners and our ultimate ecological disaster. Consider the ongoing violence in the Middle East tied to the self-interest of particular countries or religions. In each of these cases, some group is attempting to meet its wants and desires that are beyond the level of basic needs. And, in each case such effort crossed over into harming other people or the environment — at this point they are no longer “expressing life” in its greatest expression. If the individual decision-makers in each of these cases stopped to ask themselves something like “what action can we take here that will serve the greatest number?” or “what can we do here to meet our needs that will cause no harm?”, then would they have made the choices they did? If they were truly treating others as they wish to be treated, I believe different choices would have been made. To be clear, my point here with these examples is not to debate any specific government or corporation political decision. Rather I am simply suggesting that in a possible world where all humanity lives by the Golden Rule, where the “other” they are “doing onto” is everyone and everything, there would have been other decisions, actions and outcomes.

Yet to get to that world, doesn’t it start with each one of us?

Absolutely. Each of us can examine our own lives to find examples where we are not living the Golden Rule. Do you ever cut someone off on the highway because you’re in a hurry to get where you want to go? Do you ever gossip or bad mouth someone because they don’t think or act like you want them to? Do you ever ignore someone’s request for help because for some reason you’re mad at them? Do you ever forward on some viral but untruthful e-mail because it makes a political statement you happen to favor? Do you ever judge others negatively because they’re different from you — different race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.? The point is, every day we are at choice. Are our choices in alignment with doing onto others as we would wish to be treated? As each of us grow in our personal awareness, we will sense and know how we are each stewards of this planet in the third dimension as well as caretakers and teachers for those continuing to struggle. It does not serve the collective good for us to stay mired in the third dimension, but rather it serves the greater good for us to grow and become enlightened. The more of us who move into that place in our consciousness, the greater the collective evolution of humanity.

In what ways are we “collectively evolving”?

We are growing collectively inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly, we are evolving at both a cultural level as well as in our collective consciousness. Outwardly, we might consider that our global systems — the outward expression of society such as our technology and ability to tap the collective “global brain” is also evolving.

How are we evolving culturally?

This is where I find a model of Spiral Dynamics so helpful. The data that supports this theory shows that humanity is evolving through a series of worldviews. As we make a level of needed one worldview, we evolve into a higher view of looking at life and the planet. Humanity’s earliest worldviews were centered around meeting base needs similar to Maslow’s theory we looked at previously — safety and survival, banding together in tribes, etc. Current predominate worldviews on the planet include a traditional view superseded by a modern view followed by a postmodern viewpoint. Descriptions of these levels can be found with a little research or by reading some of my other articles on the subject. Ultimately, Spiral Dynamics as well as other similar models point to our evolving to even higher levels of individual and group awareness where we are able to recognize and value the interplay of all the other levels. Interestingly, some of the characteristics at these higher levels of awareness include such factors as the melding of science and spirituality, recognizing the interconnectedness and systems interplay of everything on the planet, of an awareness of a greater unity of all. Characteristics that mystics often sy come at higher levels of awareness. Although Spiral Dynamics data shows that much of humanity are at earlier worldviews, the theory points the way towards our evolutionary future and shows that growing numbers of people are headed towards these higher worldviews.

So what do you mean by “collective consciousness” and how is it evolving?

Just as we have an individual consciousness, all of our individual consciousnesses feed one group consciousness for all of humanity. Carl Jung wrote extensively about this. What many have realized is that not only does our individual consciousness provide input into humanity’s collective consciousness but that this greater consciousness is tapped into by each of our subconscious providing silent input into our thoughts and choices. The group mind, in a sense, serves to limit us and what we see as possible. As each of us grow individually, we feed a greater level of potential for all humanity into this group consciousness raising the bar on what is considered possible for all of us.

And what about outward evidence of our evolution?

In spite of all the challenges our planet currently faces, there is plenty of evidence that we are moving into a world where humanity senses at a greater level our interconnectedness and our related expanded sense of care and concern for each other. The Internet and related phenomenon such as the rise of social media sites connects us with each other globally and immediately. There is a rising trend in corporations to be considered successful by the combination of profits and social responsibility. There is an increased tendency by individuals later in life to release careers that brought material success and move into “work” that feeds their soul. There is a rise in the number of nonprofit groups whose mission is to enhance life conditions for everyone around the planet. The United Nations continues to promote the meeting of certain basic human needs as a “right” through such efforts as their Millennium Development Goals designed to end poverty and hunger around the planet. These and similar examples point to a trend in our evolution.

So what is our role in contributing to such evolution?

Hopefully by now it’s clear. The collective consciousness of humanity evolves by our personal evolution. Humanity’s cultural and societal evolution moves forward by our personal growth. Each of us has a responsibility to answer that inner call that asks us to transcend our limits and grow to the greatest levels of possibility for our lives. Our growth occurs in our consciousness inwardly and in our actions outwardly. We previously mentioned that each of us should set our intention towards our highest possibility for our lives, to create a vision of what that looks like and then to act in alignment with that vision. We also mentioned using logic and intuition to create our individual plan as well as some components the plan should contain. Considering our collective evolution, we must add one additional aspect to our plan — service to others. There are so many issues facing our planet at this time that it’s easy to get overwhelmed and do nothing. Let go of that feeling. Pick one issue that you are passionate about and then act to do something to address it no matter how small. Add this service action to all your other personal aspects to your plan for growth. The combination of our individual actions coupled with their igniting cascading change through the “butterfly effect” will truly make a difference. Hold firm in the knowledge that to the degree that we all grow individually to transcend the third dimension, that growth supports the collective growth of all.

We sort of assume here that we wish to transcend the third dimension. Is this true?

That’s an individual decision for each of us to make based on experience and our own free will choice. I believe that ultimately more and more of us will become enlightened and realize the importance of transcending this school and playground of space and time. There may always be some who will choose to move through the third dimension, but in the vast expanse of time as experienced in the third dimension, I believe those numbers will diminish.

Any final thoughts?

Yes. One aspect of being human is that we learn and grow by the dual gifts of our intellect and our intuition. We listen to our heads and to our hearts. On the one hand, the thoughts expressed here were hopefully presented in a logical and easy to understand manner that fed your intellect. But beyond that, I hope that as your intellect resonated with the ideas presented here, it also opened your heart. French philosopher, paleontologist and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote about the evolution of humanity and our path as we move upward in consciousness. He described the melding of individual human minds into one global mind called the noosphere. As our consciousness grew beyond that, he pointed to what he called the “Omega point” — some point in the future that is pulling all creation towards it. So let us consider this: Spirit or Ultimate Consciousness divided itself up in awareness and embedded itself in all of life so that we could experience individuality and free will choice as we simultaneously moved upward followed the laws of evolution. This evolutionary track involved smaller pockets of consciousness coming together in greater pockets of consciousness until in humanity here on earth (and perhaps elsewhere) such consciousness crossed a threshold into self-awareness. Our personal individual pocket of consciousness is now being pulled by the process of evolution to combine with others at an even higher level of awareness that we can only imagine. What is this Omega point that is pulling us upward and onward so that we might ultimately transcend the third dimension? What force can we imagine that seeks to pull us out from our sense of separation from one another and desires to connect us in our awareness with others? What force could that be? Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “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.” That force is love. Spirit embedded in us consciousness and love. It was love that placed us here in the third dimension. It is love that is calling us home.
————————-

So let’s turn the question around — what you think? What is your experience of the third dimension and our evolution? Do you believe we are called to transcend it or not… and why? I would love to hear your thoughts and your beliefs.  Thank you for reading mine.

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , , , , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Spirituality, Uniting Nations

You Can Never Go Back, But You Can Regress

June 3, 2010 //
0

moving forward rather than regressing backwardHave you ever had that wild thought of what it would be like to go back to some point in your past with your present day wisdom? I know I have had that fantasy from time to time.

Oftentimes this daydream relates to some choices we made where we would like to go back and make a different choice. The reality of course, is that we made the perfect choice originally so that we could experience the learning that path gave us. The wisdom we have now is a result of having made that choice.

Taking Our Country Back?

There’s an interesting phenomenon going on right now with a vocal minority within the United States. One of the chants of this group is that we need to “take our country back”. What do they mean by this?

On one hand, taking something back implies that someone else ended up with something that belonged to you. You see they have what you want and you want them to return it. I believe this is the connotation most of these people imply by the use of this phrase. Yet our country belongs to all of us, not just this group to whom the media gives so much attention. Our country does not exist for any minority to “take back”. I’m sure they see their statement as a type of rallying call to get like-minded people to join them so as to become the majority.

However when I hear them say “take our country back”, two concerns come to me. The first is the implication that somehow their country was “taken from them” and some sort of radical action is needed to get it back. It wasn’t taken from them. As always, our leadership is always a product of our electoral process. It was the majority of our country who voted in the current political leadership. As always, if we are displeased with our current leadership, we can always work forward towards the next election and vote in a change. Which brings me to my second concern, whenever we do vote in new leadership, let’s hope it is “taking us forward” rather than “taking us back”.

This phrase carries this double meaning — it can be seen as a desire to go backwards, to go back in time. It’s my opinion that many of the people who shout that they want to take our country back hold as part of their motivation a desire (perhaps even subconsciously) to return to an earlier time and era. Yet if we’re honest with ourselves, then we would admit that for most people this past was not that great a place as compared to today. These nostalgia seekers are wearing rose-colored glasses. Most people have many more rights and freedoms now than they did years ago.

So why the desire to return to the past? I believe it’s caused by today’s pace of life. Who among us doesn’t feel that the United States and the world are in the midst of massive evolutionary change occurring with great rapidity? Everywhere we look, we see change. All of us are impacted by it. And we all have a choice in how we respond to it.

The Past Was a Necessary Prerequisite for the Present

Just as we cannot go back in our personal lives to those choice points in order to choose differently, neither can the world. The events and experiences of our collective history were a necessary experience for humanity’s growth into our present day situation. The direction of our evolution is always forward, never backward. We can never go back to the past because we have learned, changed and grown in who we are.

It’s just like the old saying “you can never go home”. When you go back home, although home may appear to be the same (of course it’s changed too) — you are not the same. There is no way to re-create the experiences of our nostalgic memory given the intervening growth we have experienced.

We Can Regress

Even though we can never go back, we might want to retreat. Psychologists tell us that when humans are faced with overwhelming change, they frequently seek to regress back to a place where they felt more in control. There is a self test and I’m sure most of you have taken — one where you score how much change you had in your life in the past year (death, divorce, loss or change of job, celebrate holiday, family get-together, etc.). The more change equals a higher score, representing a higher possibility for stress. World events of the past few years probably qualify most of us to score high on the test.

Both Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as well as Clare Graves’ Spiral Dynamics model point to the fact that if we experience a crisis in our life, we can regress. In Maslow’s model, our motivations are driven by ensuring that our basic needs are met first before we moved into attempting to meet higher needs (such as self-actualization or self transcendence). If we are working on a higher needs but lose our meeting of lower needs, then we regress back to that lower level. In Graves’ model we evolve through a series of worldviews which structure how we look at life. His data indicated that even if we had transcended more basic worldviews such that we now saw life at a “higher level”, a crisis could cause our regression to an earlier way of perceiving life.

Is this what is happening now with those who want to “take our country back”? Has the stress of massive sea change caused some people to regress to lower-level needs or more basic worldviews? It is a possibility in some. What do you think?

Take Our Country Forward

As stated, we all are at choice in how to respond to the stress induced by 21st century levels of change. Are we going to regress into the past seeking an illusory sense of security from how we perceived life was “back in the day”? We can daydream about going to the past with current day wisdom, but we all know we can’t walk that path. Evolution is moving humanity forward continuously.

We must resist the temptation to seek safety by going backwards. Rather we must use the knowledge and wisdom with which our evolutionary path has gifted us and use it proactively for our highest choice as we move forward. Next time someone says to you we need to “take our country back”, tell them you’d rather take it forward.

Mark Gilbert

Tags , , , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Featured Article, Uniting U.S.

What Is Our Vision for the Future of Humanity?

April 30, 2010 //
1

It would be naïve to consider that we have consensus on what our collective future should be.  In fact we can make a good case that many of the current conflicts on the planet are because of differing opinions as to where we should be going and on how to get there.  Yet there are a few sources that we can look to for a potential collective vision.

First let’s look at the United States (writing as an American) and the United Nations.  Do either of these entities have a vision statement? 

The United States does not have a formal vision statement.  Wikipedia’s article on mission statements does point to the preamble to our constitution as being a perfect example of one: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”  That statement does outline the purpose behind the creation of and the ongoing actions of our government.  But as far as a statement saying this is where we as an American people are headed towards collectively, neither this statement nor any other than I can find outlines such a path. 

The United Nations does spell out what could be considered a mission and vision statement in the preamble to its charter.  Here is the beginning which might be considered their “mission”:

“We the peoples of the United Nations determined: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and; to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and; to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom…”

And then the following words which might be seen as their vision statement:

” And for these ends: to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and; to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and; to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and; to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims.”

(Taken from United Nations website)

We could consider that the essence of this “vision statement” is — to work towards a peaceful world where all people have economic and social advancement.  Elsewhere I have read the UN’s vision statement is simply the word “peace”.  Either way, these words give us a noble statement and cause, although it might benefit from the UN creating what business writer an researcher Jim Collins terms a ”big hairy audacious goal” to make it more inspiring. (To be fair, there are a number of goals that the UN has established in specific programmatic areas. Yet, none that I see that are very specific and inspiring.)

Next let’s look at Spiral Dynamics.  Simply stated, the theory of Spiral Dynamics comes from the data gathered by social scientist Clare Graves in the late 20th century and further supported by  ongoing data gathered by researchers such as Don Beck and others.    Individuals values were measured on a number of social instruments over a period of time and then charted.  What arose from the data was that we tend to have a set of values through which we look at life called worldviews or “value memes” (often written “v-memes” or I have shortened here to memes).

Spiral Dynamics paints an outline of worldviews through which humanity has evolved.  As we met the challenges of world conditions at one level of existence, we moved into a higher worldview where we faced new life conditions.  Through this evolutionary model we can see both humanity’s past, present and to some degree our immediate future.  Although it does not offer us a “vision statement”, the data does offer us suggestions as to where we appear to be headed by looking at the values held by those at the spiral’s higher levels.

At these levels, moving into what Graves called “second tier”, individuals are able to see all of the worldviews and how they are interacting.  Although at first they might use this knowledge for their own personal gain, at some point their motivation swings to working towards the health of the entire spiral (i.e., everyone).  They see themselves as part of a larger whole — a conscious, spiritual whole.  The blending of science and spirituality is a natural process.  They seek to express their personal freedom in a manner that causes no harm to others.  They begin to develop competencies and expanded use of the powers of the brain or mind.  They let go of the need to accumulate  material obsessions and see that having less is really having more.  They see everything as an integrated system  of Oneness.

If we were to consider boiling down these values at the spiral’s higher levels in order to distill a description for our future, then we might see a vision statement that includes words like “a world where there is a melding of science and spirituality, where in meeting individual needs there is alignment with meeting collective needs, where there is an expansion of consciousness to sense the oneness of everything”.

One of the great connections I have always sensed in Spiral Dynamics is the alignment of many mystics’ descriptions of the ultimate purpose of life and the higher turns of the spiral at yellow, turquoise, and what we imagine coral worldviews to be.

Many mystics and spiritual teachers have gathered “inner data” via meditation and other spiritual practices on the nature of human and spiritual existence.  The fascinating fact is that there has been much agreement on what they see as our “ultimate truth”.  Most have pointed out that after we release this material world and embrace the spiritual world, we must come back to the material world and integrate it into our spiritual world. They tell us that we have some inner urge that calls to be expressed “in the world”. This urge has a unique creative expression that varies from person to person. This urge includes a component of service which takes us outside ourselves and connects us with others. And through our expression of our unique creative desires we grow in our sense of interconnectedness to everything.

Ultimately, these spiritual teachers tell us that this urge is simultaneously one force pushing our growth from within to be creative while pulling us externally towards our return to wholeness and oneness.  For example, Ernest Holmes (Holmes, 1938) called it “the divine urge” and even described its unfoldment as being like a never-ending spiral.  Similarly, Teilhard de Chardin  termed it  ”the Omega point” which exerted both a force pulling us towards it as well as an internal push to grow to it.  He described evolution as “an ascent towards consciousness” culminating in some sort of “supreme consciousness”.  It is a direction in which he said every one of us cooperating and participating.

In fact, cooperation between individuals and groups is a key component as we move down this evolutionary path.  For example, evolutionary writer John Stewart detailed that the direction of evolution and the future of humanity included both higher levels of cooperation and the development of our ability to consciously use the evolutionary process. Interestingly, mystics agree. For example, Ernest Holmes put it this way, “The whole process of evolution is to produce a being who can consciously co-operate with the Evolutionary Principle, which is Pure Spirit.”

Yet this statement of Holmes describes another characteristic mystics say is our evolutionary future. They tell us that the ultimate goal of evolution is to return us “back home” to the source from which we came.  Evolution is seen as the time and process of our awakening to our truth, the development of our consciousness, the unfolding of our awareness, our return to Oneness. 

Although there are other sources from which I could’ve drawn that offer visions for our planetary future, I believe we have enough here already to draw some conclusions.  Here are some potential components of a vision for our positive future:

  • We live in peace.
  • We all have access to economic and social advancement.
  • We experience a melding of science and spirituality.
  • We have the freedom to individually express our unique creative abilities.
  • We live recognizing the interconnectedness of everything.
  • We purposefully use the power of our consciousness.
  • We meet our individual needs while meeting the needs of the greater whole.
  • We recognize we are evolving and consciously cooperate with the process.
  • We recognize we are on a spiritual path to be reunited with our source.

So does that resonate with you?  Does that sound like a positive future?  If so, then the question becomes—how are you going to move towards that vision?

[This article was extracted and edited from a longer piece submitted to the Integral Leadership Review.]

Tags , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution

Can You Feel the Global Heart?

March 19, 2010 //
0

A positive vision for the future...

Yesterday, we considered that humanity may never agree on exactly what our highest vision for the future might be.  There will always be a variety of opinions and worldviews, each leading to a variety of opinions on potential futures.

Higher Turns of the Spiral

Spiral Dynamics, which we’ve discussed previously, outlines a series of worldviews through which humanity moves.  One might point to that model and logically suggest that in some distant future our consciousness may have evolved such that the vast majority of us are at the “higher” stages of development.  Would there not then be the possibility that we would evolve to one common worldview?  Perhaps. 

But let’s remember, Spiral Dynamics also points out that when we are born on the planet we start at square one — at the lowest meme or worldview — and progress upwards until we settle into the one that generally is our culture’s predominant view.  So if this model is valid, then we will always have the potential for people to be at different stages.

Yet I can envision a time when humanity might have come together enough to work towards a common vision, even if we disagree on details.  In my dreams, our higher degrees of cooperation lead us to a future where every person’s needs are met, where self-actualization and self transcendence are the norm, and where we ultimately reach the higher turns of the spiral.

One Vision

You can go out on the Internet and locate a lot of different visions of the future.  Not all of them are positive, yet many of them are.  One positive vision for the future that resonates with me is the Centers for Spiritual Living’s” Global Heart Vision”.  This vision is one of the key reasons that I became licensed as a minister in this organization. 

When I first heard this vision statement, it spoke to me so deeply that I felt called to assist in its manifestation on the planet.  I believe so deeply in the necessity of humanity coming together and consciously taking charge of our collective evolution that it has become my personal goal.  It is obviously the intention of this website as well.

So here is the global heart vision, verbatim.

Global Heart Vision Statement

Whereas in this information age the “global brain” has become an operative reality, we envision the emergence of the Global Heart to balance and guide the further evolution of humanity as stewards of our planet and all its inhabitants.

We see a world free of homelessness, violence, war, hunger, separation and disenfranchisement.

We see a world in which there is generous and continuous sharing of heart and resources.

We envision a world in which forgiveness, whether for errors, injustices, or debts, is the norm.

We see a world in which borders are irrelevant.

We see a world which has renewed its emphasis on beauty, nature, and love through the resurgence of creativity, art, and aesthetics.

We see a world in which fellowship with all life prospers and connects through the guidance of spiritual wisdom and experience.

We envision a world in which we live and grow as One Global Family that respects and honors the interconnectedness of all life.

We envision United Centers for Spiritual Living as a bridge across the illness and illusion of separation thereby dynamically empowering the vision of Global Heart.

We envision United Centers for Spiritual Living as united and actuated by this compelling vision of a healthy world (a world experience of Global Heart) and is ardently committed to bringing this vision forth through its ministries and its transformative teaching.

We see the United Centers for Spiritual Living as a global community of inspired individuals caring for and about each other and the entire planetary family, thereby bringing the gift of active compassion and kindness to the world. Our local ministries and communities become “points of inspiration and influence” effectively advancing the vision of the Global Heart to benefit all expressions of life.

Conclusion

I hope you read that vision statement you feel as inspired as I did.  You may feel a desire to tweak it a bit… maybe some minor additions or deletions.  Yet, I hope that overall, it resonates with you.

Probably two questions come to mind… one being specific details that might be included in each statement… the other in how we can implement it now.  That’s where were going tomorrow.

To be continued…

Mark

Tags , , ,
Categories Bridge Building, Consciousness, Uniting Nations

The Evolution of Consciousness, God, and Prayer

February 23, 2010 //
13

Moving up the spiral of life....our view of God and prayer changes

The title sure sounds pretty heavy.  Don’t let it scare you away.  First, a brief reminder… the underlying theme of all the articles I write here is that there is a direction to life… that things are evolving and that evolution has a positive direction… that within evolution’s “arrow” there is free will choice which leads to an infinite variety of experiences…some of these experiences, we label positive, others negative, but the general direction of evolution is ever upward and higher… therefore, my continuous hope is that you take from these writings the reminder that you live in this upward evolutionary spiral of life, that you see the interconnectedness and value of all levels of this spiral, and you understand the role you play through your thoughts, words and deeds to move your self and the collective in a positive direction towards our return to our realization of oneness.  Whew!

So here’s the connection I want to make today… as humanity evolved in its consciousness, so did its picture of what God or Spirit is.  Then, as our concept of God or Spirit evolved, so did our form of prayer… prayer being our way of communicating and experiencing the divine.  This is not necessarily a new concept, of course, but an interesting connection for me is that if we step back and see the complete unfoldment, it shows us the direction we are heading as we continue to evolve.

Let’s quickly look at the evolutionary path of humanity using Spiral Dynamics memes as the underpinnings.  (As always, more detail about Spiral Dynamics is available in other articles or links on the website.)  When early humanity crossed the threshold in consciousness  to the level of becoming self-aware, our ancestors lived off the land and sought basic survival (beige meme).  In time they began to see the value in living together in clans (purple meme).  At this level of consciousness, our ancestors were in tune with the passing of seasons and their interconnectedness to nature.  Their view of God was one of magical powers rising out of a nature world.  Their prayers came in the form of seasonal rituals, full of music, rhythm and dance.

As humanity evolved, individuals developed strong personal egos and sought power.  This gave rise to the survival of the fittest, kings with their servants, tribal leaders with their followers, the haves and the have-nots (red meme).  At this level of consciousness, our understanding of God grew out of “gods in nature” to the gods that were behind nature to a pantheon of gods ruled by one God (such as Zeus).  Our new view of God brought a new way to honor him… temples and monuments, gifts and offerings, sacrifices.

The sense of inequity at the tribal level led to a new level of consciousness where humanity sought order and structure and rules.  Here we sought meaning and purpose in living and attributed a divine plan that was beyond our comprehension to explain life (blue meme).  Our new view of God shifted from one powerful God who ruled other gods to simply being one God.  This God communicated to us through tablets with rules, sacred texts with laws, through others who claimed to be our intermediary.  We prayed to this God through prayers of petition, asking for favors and intervention in our lives.

The Enlightenment brought the rise of science and rational thought.  Humanity shifted its view of the world to sensing it as a machine that we could learn to control for our own benefit.  Competition, technology and material abundance (orange meme) brought with it a sense that the old man God in the sky was a myth we needed to release.  God is dead.  Prayer is an outdated superstition.

Material wealth did not satisfy us and we sought meaning in community and relationships.  We began to explore consciousness itself, turning inward to find meaning.  We believed that everyone was equal, and the earth was here for all of us to share (green meme).  We released dogma and sought to become spiritual but not religious.  God was resurrected but not as an external being.  God became a “unity”, a unified field of energy, and underlying intelligent force that pervaded everything.  How do you communicate with an intelligent field of energy?  You direct its flow as it moves through you.  You see the power in your thoughts and consciousness and consciously work to direct that power.  As your development had just come through the level of science and reason, you attempt to apply logic to your prayers to convince yourself and shift your belief.  Prayer is now an affirmative statement of truth placed into the infinite field of possibilities, collapsing the quantum uncertainties in the desired direction.

People new to New Thought teachings such as the Science of Mind generally resonate with applying logic and reason through a predefined five-step prayer process.  Ernest Holmes called it “argumentative” prayer, as we argue with our own minds to convince it of the truth.  The five steps take us from identification with the external world of matter to an inward world where we sense the interconnectedness of everything, the power embedded in it, and our ability to direct that power.  Through connecting with Spirit, stating our truth, sensing gratitude and releasing our awareness “into the flow”, we convince our logical minds of the truth and power of our prayer.  Our emotional certainty is seen as a critical factor in directing this flow.

By now you’ve probably stopped and considered where you are in this evolutionary process.  In 21st-century America, most of us fall in one of three general categories, in our belief of God and prayer.  Either (1) God is an external being to whom we pray; (2) God is a myth and prayer is superstition; or (3) God is an intelligent power that we can tap via our consciousness.

Robert Wright outlined in great detail how our view of God has changed in his recent bestseller, “The Evolution of God.”  There were several key points that he made that are worth listing here…. God doesn’t evolve, we do; our perception of God changes as our cultural needs change; and there is a continuous direction towards positive change over time.

In fact, Wright sees this positive trend as potential evidence of a divine power when he says: “If history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral truth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe — conceivably — the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.”

So where then is this evolution taking us?  How is our perception of God continuing to evolve?  How is our method of communication with the divine growing?  Both mystics and Spiral Dynamics point in the same direction.

Joel Goldsmith, founder of “The Infinite Way”, gave a lecture in 1959 where he outlined this evolution of prayer we have been discussing.  He said, “Most in orthodox religion still use pagan forms of prayer, which came to them when their churches were first founded, and their own forms of prayer had not developed: they used the prayer of petition… these ancient paganistic forms of prayer were the only forms of prayer the church had to work with… there is nothing wrong with these forms of prayer, anymore than there is anything wrong with our form of treatment… it isn’t a question of right or wrong, it is a question of the degree of consciousness.  Because we are in a human state of consciousness at the moment, it is necessary that we start our prayer work with words and thoughts.  In the metaphysical world these are called treatments; in the mystical world they’re called realizations.  The attainment of harmony is never accomplished by words or thoughts… they are but the introductions, the aids, given to bring us into an atmosphere where words and thoughts are no longer necessary to lift us to an inner communion through which God’s grace reaches us.”

Ernest Holmes also spoke of this evolutionary process.  He advised us that “God comes to us as we come to him” meaning that how we see God and communicate with God depends upon our consciousness. “God is not a becoming God.  God is not an evolving God.  God is that which was, is, and will remain perfect, complete, happy and harmonious.”  Again, God is not evolving — humanity and its perception of God is evolving.

As stated, Holmes taught an argumentative style of prayer designed to shift our consciousness.  In other words, he gave us a method to meet us where we were in our awareness (desiring logic and reason and applied science).  He also taught another method called “realization”.  In this method, you did not need convincing, you went straight to the truth.  He defined realization as turning “to that Living Presence within… recognize It as the  One and Only Power in the Universe, unify with it.”  He added, “there is a point in the supreme moment of realization, where the individual merges with the Universe, but not to the loss of his individuality; where a sense of the Oneness of all Life so enters their being that there is no sense of otherness.”

Spiral Dynamics tells us that humanity is making a great leap in consciousness.  As we step into the second tier of awareness, we are able to see the entire spiral below us and value each level and stage as being necessary for our perfect unfoldment.  We see the interconnectedness of all of nature, we understand its natural systems and flows (yellow and turquoise memes).  We begin to see our individual self is part of a greater Self… the conscious, spiritual whole… where everything is part of one great living system… where we value all religions and all spiritual paths, seeing their necessity to bringing us to this point on our journey… where we live and wonder, awe, unity, harmony and love.

My wish is that as you have read through this, you have stepped outside our evolutionary path for a moment in your awareness and witnessed it from a higher level where you can see its beauty and perfection and view where you are along the road.  Hopefully, you have glimpsed both the path you have walked spiritually and the road that lies ahead.  Evolution’s arrow is returning us all back home.  Our consciousness is evolving back to unity with the divine.  Your next step calls you.  Surrender to your evolution.

Mark

Tags , , , , , , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit, Spirituality

Does this Worldview Make Me Look Arrogant?

February 19, 2010 //
2

Can we really see ourselves?

Did you ever notice that we are more concerned about whether our clothes make us look fat than if our worldview makes us look arrogant?  Now you might think that’s a dumb question, after all people look at us and judge us based on our appearance, right?  Assuming that’s true, then our appearance is more than just our clothes and our weight, it also includes our actions and how we show up in the world.

Now I want to be very clear, I’m not advocating that we need to live our lives overly concerned about other’s opinions of us.  In fact, I believe that all too often we limit being are truly authentic selves due to our concerns of what others think.  I feel that we all need to follow our heart and follow our passions even if it requires us to push through the sense of being judged.

What I’m calling us to consider here is that almost all of us carry some concern about the persona we project to the world.   I also want you to consider that one aspect of that persona is a worldview of life that quietly sits in your consciousness and directs much of your thinking and how you see things “out there” in the physical world.  And, as this worldview (also called your value system) directs your thinking it drives your actions.

So where does arrogance come in?  It’s been my experience that if a person believes that their way of seeing the world is “the right way” and “the only way”, they tend dismiss out of hand another person’s belief that arises from a different worldview.  This dismissal causes them to appear arrogant.  I suspect all of us have judged someone as being arrogant when they were acting from a  worldview that was different from ours.  Yet, have we considered when we might have been projecting the same arrogance to others?

This thought came up for me recently as I was watching an episode of PBS’s “Frontline” series, entitled “The Warning.”  The show was about a woman named Brooksley Born, a member of the Clinton administration who tried to institute controls on the buying and selling of derivatives by banks and other financial institutions.  She warned that the lack of regulation in this area had the potential to bring down our financial system.  The program details how Born bumped heads with Alan Greenspan and his disciples.  Greenspan, who had developed his beliefs from author Ayn Rand, believed that the best government was the one that governed the least.  He felt that the marketplace could police itself without governmental interference.  Greenspan used his power to block Born from instituting any regulations that might’ve controlled the “black box” trading of derivatives.  His arrogance based on his worldview precluded him from seeing any value in Born’s opinions.  At the conclusion of the PBS program, Greenspan is shown being questioned by Congress after the recent financial meltdown.  He acknowledges that these events have led him to change his “view” on the ability of marketplaces to police themselves.  We are all continuing to pay due to the arrogance of Greenspan and those he influenced.

Social scientists have measured and labeled a series of common worldviews through which humans grow before each of us finally settle into a predominant one.  Although we may have moved through “lower” ways of looking at life before settling into the lens which drives our thinking, we frequently do not acknowledge these other viewpoints exist.  Nor do we acknowledge the existence of levels of thinking that may be “above” our level.  Our inability to recognize that there are other valid ways of looking at life frequently leads to our appearing arrogant.

There are three predominant value systems playing out in the United States today.  One level is frequently called the “mythic” or “traditional” worldview.  In Spiral Dynamics, this is the blue meme.  This level is characterized by a desire to bring order and stability to everything, black-and-white moralistic thinking, controlling impulses, sacrificing now for a reward later, etc.  We see this level in fundamentalist Christians and in people with an attitude of  “America — love it or leave it”.  The next level is called “rational” or “modern”.  In Spiral Dynamics this is the orange meme.  This level is characterized by an emphasis on worldly success and material abundance, science and technology as the answer to life, playing to win and enjoying the competition, etc.  We see this level in materialistic scientists and Wall Street bankers.  The third level is called “pluralistic” or “postmodern”.  In Spiral Dynamics, this is the green meme.  This level is characterized by an emphasis on an exploration of our inner being, seeking a sense of community, reaching decisions through consensus, etc.  We see this in New Age thinkers, and Greenpeace advocates.

Now I have over simplified these levels for the sake of brevity, so if you wish to explore it more there are a number of links and other articles on the Conscious Bridge website which can take you to a more in-depth discussion.  One thing that all of these models point out is that when you’re thinking out of one of these value systems, you can’t even acknowledge the other levels exist.  You simply can’t understand why people think like they do.  Yet all of these models point to the existence of a “higher” level where you begin to see and acknowledge that these multiple viewpoints not only exist, they each have validity.  In Spiral Dynamics, this is called this the leap from “tier 1″ thinking to “tier 2″ thinking.

We bump into the arrogance of tier 1 thinking all the time.  Alan Greenspan appears to have been locked in tier 1 orange meme thinking.  Although I enjoy the writings of scientist Richard Dawkins, his overly materialistic way of seeing the world and denying the existence of God shows him locked in tier 1 orange meme thinking and makes him frequently come across as arrogant.  The so-called “skeptics” who go to great lengths to debunk any scientific evidence that supports the reality of paranormal phenomena also appear to be caught in the arrogance of their worldview.

Many of us have felt the judgmental arrogance of fundamentalist Christians, who in their zeal to “save us” have ended up condemning us when we didn’t convert to their way of seeing life.  David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons in their recent book “UnChristian” seek to advise other Christians that the tactics they use to convert others actually can serve to turn them off.  They use statistical data and stories to try and convince their fellow believers to change their approach in how to seek converts.  What was significant to me about this book was that the authors could see that the traditional Christian worldview was leading them be perceived as arrogant by others.

There are plenty of examples where postmodern green meme, thinking leads to arrogance as well.  I’ve heard ecologists who have belittled the thinking of others who denied the existence of global warming .  I’ve heard “spiritual people” ignorantly express arrogant statements about Christian believers and their faith.  The point is, none of us are immune from arrogance arising out of our value system.

The key is to become conscious of the impact of our worldview on our thinking.  We must move into seeing the world integrally with second tier consciousness.  We must come to value all of the worldviews and see the truth and gifts they have given us.  Each level of thinking exist for a purpose.  Individually, each of us has moved or will move through every level, either in this life time or in some future existence.  When in our lives we experience arrogance from others who believe differently from us, we need to try to take their perspective and understand why they think like they think.  We don’t have to agree with them, we simply need to seek to understand them.  And, ultimately we need to see their arrogance as a mirror being held up to us so that we can see and release any arrogance we may exhibit.  The more each of us can heal our arrogance, the more compassion we can display for others and the more we can create a a world that works for everyone.

So today as we present our persona to the world, as we check ourselves in our metaphysical mirror, let’s make sure we’re not wearing clothes that make us look arrogant.

Mark

Tags ,
Categories Consciousness, Positive Evolution

Spiral Dynamics and Science of Mind (Part 3)

January 28, 2010 //
0

[This is part 3 of a 3 part article on the basics of Spiral Dynamics and their relationship to the Science of Mind.  An edited version of this article appeared in Science of Mind magazine's April 2008 issue.  Please read the previous posts to put the following in context.]

Ironically, Beck says that this second tier emerges in response to the chaotic life conditions of a modern world where all these “competing” worldviews battle for control.  With a higher awareness, we recognize that the solution to moving humanity up the evolutionary spiral is to help people meet the needs of their current life conditions.  We can only do this with an awareness of where they are on the spiral of life. Their meeting their current needs allows the natural evolutionary process to bring the necessary emergence into their lives of the next level of the spiral.  

Interestingly, it is in these second tier levels of existence (yellow, turquoise, and the continuous development of still higher ones) that Spiral Dynamics’ research finds human values emerging that are very much in alignment with the teachings of Science of Mind.

Spiral Dynamics shows that at these higher levels of consciousness we begin to understand the big-picture view of living systems and the evolutionary flow of life where chaos and change are a natural part of life. We begin to see the role that we each play in our own evolution.

At these higher levels, we begin to honor and respect others beliefs and worldviews without necessarily agreeing with them.  We acknowledge the connection between spirituality and physics.  We focus on and see the good in all living entities.  We expand our use of brain and mind tools for developing consciousness.  We see the individual self as part of a larger, conscious, spiritual whole that also serves the self.  And, we value the spiritual beliefs of all the other levels as we stand in awe of the overall cosmic order.

Spiral Dynamics shows us that as man evolves, so does his view of the divine.  The spirits that we saw in all of nature was a proper view for our purple mythic worldview.  The “old man God in the sky” who judged us on our death met the needs of a blue worldview desiring a life of control and rules.  Even the denying that God exists which frequently comes with a fundamental scientific worldview serves our needs at that level of understanding. God presents God to us in a manner that our level of consciousness can understand.   This is part of the natural process.  For as Holmes says, “Evolution is the awakening of the soul to a recognition of its unity with the Whole.” This is where both Science of Mind and Spiral Dynamics says our consciousness is evolving.

Using Spiral Dynamics in connection with Science of Mind gives me hope.  They both  affirm for me that there is a natural direction in which our collective consciousness is ultimately evolving.  And they both affirm for me that we will ever be evolving.  For as Holmes said,  “What we must avoid, however, is the confusion which arises from a belief in final revelations, from the belief that all truth is at last discovered, or that some one person or some one system of thought has delivered the last word.  There are no finalities in any science, any philosophy, or any religion.  Through the continual emergence of the creative Principle any last finality proves to be but the beginning of a new creative series.  This eternal spiral, finding its base in the everlasting Reality, will never cease to emerge.”

Tags , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit

Spiral Dynamics and Science of Mind (Part 2)

January 27, 2010 //
0

[This is part 2 of a 3 part article on the basics of Spiral Dynamics and their relationship to the Science of Mind.  An edited version of this article appeared in Science of Mind magazine's April 2008 issue.  Please read the previous posts to put the following in context.]

We do not all have the same life conditions, therefore we don’t all have the same worldview.  Ultimately, this is the crux of our differences.  By looking at the differing level of needs of individuals, groups, organizations, cultures or countries, we can see that they are often operating with different views of what is important.  This unfortunately is usually invisible to us.  For as Graves stated the error most people make  “is that they assume the nature of man is fixed and there is a single set of human values by which he should live.” 

Beck and Cowan suggested that these levels of existence are DNA-like codes called “value-memes” or “v-memes” which reside in the mind or brain.  They stated that their potential lies available to all of us and that they are “awakened” as life conditions outside us interact with these latent systems within us.  In Science of Mind terms we might consider that these v-meme codes are a part of the One Mind which is subjectively available to all of us.  Holmes reminds us that, “This Mind contains everything that was ever thought or perceived.  From it flow all ideas that are now inherent within it.  Any demand made upon it creates a new idea.”  Hence, the demands of new life conditions brings forth from within our subjective minds the creation of the new inherent worldview to deal with them.  This is part of our evolutionary nature.

So what are these Spiral Dynamic levels of existence and how do they show we have and are continuing to evolve?  Let’s look at them briefly.

First, early man was faced with life conditions of basic survival.  This “beige” level of existence gave rise to a worldview related to purely meeting biological needs. We became aware that we were distinct selves, began to sense cause and effect in the outer world, and developed heightened sensory abilities to best survive in that world.  As we began to meet these needs, we sensed a desire to foster group effort to support meeting our challenges.  Hence, there arose the second or “purple” level of existence wherein we formed tribes to create safety and stability.  Here,  there emerged the belief in mystical spirits in nature, a seasonal sense of time, and the development of myth and tradition.  However as needs were met at this level, the security of the tribe was disrupted eventually by the emergence of the personal ego and the sense that the self was more powerful than the tribe.

The third or “red” level of existence brought forth our power impulses; “might is right”; a  spontaneous, guilt-free, daring nature; desire for immediate gratification, and a lack of concern for consequences.   Historically, these were the powerful warlords creating a system of those in power and those who submitted to the powerful.  Yet as our needs were met at this level we began to reflect upon the unfairness of the system of haves and the have nots.  This gave search to our belief that there are forces guiding our destiny and a need to understand the underlying rules of life giving rise to the fourth or “blue” level of existence.  Here we find a desire for meaning and purpose, a sacrifice now for rewards later, order and rules, and a need to control impulses causing our newly found guilt.  Historically, this level gave rise to our major religions and our systems of laws.  However, as the needs of this level were met, we began to question the cost we paid in our loss of individual freedom due to absolutistic rules.

In the fifth or “orange” level of existence we begin to question these rules, authority and the delayed gratification of our needs.   We began to strive to conquer the world, unlock its secrets, and achieve personal material success.   We sought pleasure in life now, not in the future.  This level saw the rise of goal oriented planning, economic competition and the pursuit of scientific truths.  But alas, our material success did not give us true happiness and we began to turn inward to find our truth.  The sixth or “green” level of existence saw us begin to seek consensus for decisions, pursue humanitarian efforts and display a tolerance of personal differences.  We sought harmony through belonging, acceptance, community, unity, and understanding our inner nature.

These six “first tier” levels are characterized by the fact that if you look at life through one of them, you don’t recognize that there are other valid ways of looking at life.   We can see this playing out in the world today as the various religious fundamentalists (blue) have conflict with one another over whose “truth”, order and God is the “right” one.  We begin to understand why popular books written by scientists (orange) are driven to deny that God (or more accurately the God as defined by the blue level) exists.  We start to understand why often well intentioned humanitarian efforts (green) to assist the conditions in certain third world countries often are confiscated by the local leaders (red) who have not developed the conscience and rules that only come in the higher blue system.  

When we start using the map offered by Spiral Dynamics, we begin to see why people often don’t understand one another.   We recognize why the solutions developed at one level of thinking do not always work when they imposed onto the life conditions that exist at another level.  And you can’t just tell people to think differently because their thinking is generally appropriate for them given their experiences.  As Don Beck often says, “you can’t say don’t think that way, because they do think that way”.

So how do we begin to heal these differences?  It is only with what Graves called the “momentous leap” into “second tier” consciousness where you begin to see the validity of these different worldviews.  You come to understand not only that each person has the right to believe what they want, but that there is a good reason for why they believe as they do.  Their beliefs are serving to assist them with their current life conditions.  To put this in Science of Mind terms, we begin to see perfection and wholeness in all of life as it plays out before us.  Everything is in right and divine order even if it is not what we may personally choose.

[Concluded tomorrow]

Tags , , ,
Categories Consciousness, Science and Spirit
« Older Entries