Archive for the ‘Conscious Evolution’ Category

This question has been asked since mankind reached consciousness and it has certainly driven me forward in my life quest, in searching for meaning in life.   I think many people, regardless of religious tradition or beliefs, will generally agree that our basic goals should be to make a difference in this world and to contribute to others.

Or, in loftier terms, as I suggested in the post “Searching for Nirvana” - to find peace and love, to live in harmony, to create a better world for our children and to surpass the limits of the form we were born into, to evolve the human spirit to new heights…

But while my underlying commitment is about living my life to achieve these ideals, I find that I often fall short of them in my everyday life.  The daily grind, the limits of our human bodies, the endless chatter of our mind, the upsets and frustration we all experience (not to mention the way business and society dictate our behaviours) not only get in the way but often derail us.  So, I sometimes find myself in conflict with people (which always depresses me) and not always exuding the warmth and balance that I strive to demonstrate to others.  This, in turn, can lead to a desire to escape, to be alone, to avoid too much contact or intimacy with the other humans on the planet, lest I misbehave further… hardly an enlightened approach.

One overriding lesson I’ve learned is that it is very difficult for an unhappy, depressed, or angry person to exude warmth and love, to create a space to truly contribute to others, or as Oprah has so eloquently put it: “to be the change you want to see in the world”.  So, our number one priority must be to take care of ourselves.  Consider that if you are ‘happy’ then you are more able to be with people such that they will feel better in your presence. (The old analogy of the airline’s safety rule stating that you must put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others holds true.)  I believe the enlightened individuals on our planet, those we look up to and strive to emulate, understand this, continuing to do the work on themselves while accomplishing monumental tasks for the planet.   They have a deeper sense of their soul’s purpose.

Speaking of giants, I came across Oprah’s Soul Series on XM Radio yesterday.  She was interviewing Brian Weiss which was a great ‘coincidence’ as I had recently read his first book ” Many Lives Many Masters: The True Story Of A Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient & The Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives”, as well as a book called “Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life between Lives” by Michael Newton, PhD.  If you haven’t read them and are open-minded (or perhaps, especially, if you are not), then I highly recommend both authors.  They are both professional therapists who have worked in the field of past-life regression for decades.  They both have a great many documented case studies of patients who have recounted stories about past lives, and even more interesting to me, the soul’s journey between lives.

The original question that I posed – “why are we here?” takes on a much deeper dimension when you consider this viewpoint.  If the heartaches and challenges and struggles of your life were actually selected especially for you (possibly by you), as lessons that you must learn, obstacles that you must overcome, on your soul’s journey, does this change your perspective?  Face them now or you’ll just come back and do it all over again.   Do the work on yourself now.  Be the best person you can be.  Contribute to the people around you with your whole heart.

Another thought-provoking angle is the idea of soul groups which means that many people closest to you have been part of your existence for many lives and beyond.  If you believe this then you can more easily accept their passing and your own when the time comes.  It also puts new meaning, for me, to the concept of contributing to others in this lifetime.  Some advanced souls may only be here for a short visit, to touch our lives, to steer us towards our life lessons.

I believe that everyone is here for a reason and that everybody begins life with something special.   To rise above our life circumstances, to be our best selves and recognize what those gifts are, is part of our quest, our life’s greater purpose.  Some are born rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, brilliant or dull, physically superior or handicapped.  Most of us are somewhere in the middle of these extremes but, regardless of our physical and situational traits, our deeper being has something more to offer in this life.  We all have a unique ability or vision to share with others that can make a difference and allow us to live a fulfilling life, to advance our soul’s journey.

Within your ordinary, everyday surroundings, there is hidden magic, mystery and beauty. 

Be present and you will find it, see it and you will feel more connected to the divine life force that is part of everyone.

I’ve discovered magic on Silver Creek, among the beautiful stream and woods that are behind my weekend retreat in Collingwood.  What I once took for granted, I can no longer ignore.  Now that I’ve found this treasure trove, I am drawn to spend time outside, with my camera, to capture and share what I find there using this visual medium, which holds a new fascination for me.

If you look very closely – in your own backyard, in your own home, at the people in your life – can you see it too?

Start by focusing on the detailed, microscopic level to some aspect of the world that surrounds you.  Let it be the sole occupant of your consciousness.  Let everything else, all the noise, thoughts, the other objects around you… let them all drift away so you can be one with the object of your focus.

It might be something as simple as what you are walking on or mowing down.  It might be that endearing freckle on your spouse’s nose.

You may see it all the time without really seeing, without being conscious.  And so you never really look.  You never stop to be present, to recognize the absolute perfection, the depth, the simplicity, and the beauty right in front of you.

For me, that’s the magic that the wizards of Silver Creek helped me find.

Does that sound crazy?  Of course it does.  My kids wonder if their mother has gone batty when I take my wizards and other creatures with me on my walks through the woods.

But whatever leads us on this journey to be one with our planet, to find peace and great beauty, is exactly as it should be so I know this is good.  In this first blog on the magic I’ve found on Silver Creek, I would like to introduce you to two of my wizards, named for the moment, Pointy and Dru.  I expect they (and some of their ‘friends’) will be inspirational for future stories.

As humans, we are on a collective journey to find peace and love, to live in harmony, to create a better world for our children and to surpass the limits of the form we were born into, to evolve the human spirit to new heights.  Some may call it a search for nirvana (not the 90′s grunge band!). 

Yet, why over the course of human history, and even today, is there so much violence and suffering?  Why do so many of us contribute to the discord and suffering in our daily lives and interactions with our fellow humans?  Eckhart Tolle in his truly inspiring video called “Finding Your Life’s Purpose” provides a clear, concise recipe for stopping the insanity and reaching a pure state of consciousness where we will find that collective peace and can begin to create transformation in our world.

Everything that Tolle has produced (books, DVD’s, CD’s, lectures) leads you on this path to the ultimate state of being, living in the now, present to the collective spirit and power of humanity.  If you’re not already a fan, check out his web site at www.eckharttolle.com to see everything that he has to offer.

Today I want to share some key lessons from Tolle’s DVD that struck a chord with me.

Our ‘mental noise’ distracts us from our true purpose, from reaching these heights.  Our endless thoughts, largely based on our illusions about the past, are constantly churning and often repetitive.  Most of them you have thought many, many times, and the negative ones can have more power and be more frequent than the positive ones.  We do not need to be dragged along by the mental noise, by every thought that arises. 

Instead we must be present in the now.  It is all that truly exists.  The future is an illusion, doesn’t exist except as a thought, it is a conceptual thing.   Be aware, present, find the aliveness within by putting attention on your body, on breathing in and out, on the stillness between thoughts.  Use awareness of your breathing as an anchor for being present…

The essence of our thinking mind is that it is usually thinking about the past or the future and it is conditioned by our illusions and judgements about what happened in the past.  But can you find the dimension within yourself that exists outside the thinking mind?

Our primary purpose in life does not involve time yet we find it hard to believe in a purpose that does not require expectations about the ‘future’.  My primary purpose right now is to sit in my chair, hands on the keyboard, breathe in and out and share the wonderful lessons that Tolle has given to the world.  The universe has put me here, right now, and this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.

What you are doing, wherever you are, right now, you are fulfilling your life’s purpose yet your mind doesn’t think that makes sense…  if you’re already here, how can that be your purpose?

So to be here fully, you must align yourself with this moment in eternity, and know that wherever you are, is exactly where you’re supposed to be but this is hard because the mind will expect that everything you “do” must just be a means to an “end”.  As the “end” is in the future, which is really just a thought/concept in your mind, we can become ‘frustrated’ causing us to live in constant discontent or fear.  Being present means every moment that you are ‘doing’ or being, can be joyous and fulfilling. 

Remember, our primary purpose is to be aligned with the NOW which we cannot do if we are always trapped in our minds, living only for the next thing to happen..

So, we must stop living in the phantom world of the mind, constantly judging and labelling and reviewing everything that happens and everyone we encounter (this is the insanity, the dysfunction of our existence), and believing our own stories about who we are.

Instead, be present to the other dimension of your being, to the formless presence that exists in the stillness, between thoughts, that is your very essence.  You will only find it in the NOW before consciousness becomes thought, a sense perception, your interpretation, your stories about the past, etc., etc…

Sadly, if you read our history books or watch the news, you will be reminded that the collective human ego has wreaked havoc and human suffering for millenia.  If there is no shift in our consciousness then the madness will continue.  How can our species survive unless there’s a change in our collective spirit, our consciousness?  The only way that we can affect such as a transformation is by working on our own individual consciousness.

So, from the point of view of a truly present, enlightened being, you will be able to feel the sacredness of the world around you, of our universe, the sky, the garden, the people around you but when your mind takes everything down to a conceptual state, using judgement and thought, this can deaden the beauty around you.

There is a vast power in the inner stillness of this formless dimension of consciousness.  

Achieving this state, right now, in this moment, is our ultimate life purpose..

I recommend that you get Tolle’s DVD and listen to it yourself.

Love and Peace to all…

I’ve just finished viewing the Evolutionary Leaders’ “A Call to Conscious Evolution, Our Moment of Choice”.  This was a special evening held at UCLA on August 31st.  They had some technical challenges with those of us who signed up to watch the evening event live online so this weekend was our opportunity to view the program with the sound issues resolved.

The roster of speakers at this event were a long list of the “Who’s Who” in the evolutionary, quantum consciousness, personal transformation world of thought leaders (see list).  The common message was that we are all living at a unique moment in time, facing global crises.  In this pivotal time, we must consciously evolve or face the danger of extinction.   Gregg Braden gave an impassioned talk and referenced Scientific America’s recent cover: “A World of Crisis, Crossroads for Planet Earth…. will we choose to create the best of all possible worlds?”

Deepak was the opening speaker.  He must be one of the most prolific authors/speakers in this area today.  With over 50 books, a radio show, and connections or partnerships with countless, it seems like I’m hearing something from him everyday – whether it’s an email, a tweet, his radio show or something I’ve found on youtube.

A couple of Deepak’s significant points were that the only way to transform the world is to transform yourself and that even well-meaning ‘activism’ is coming from a place of ‘outrage’ rather than creative consciousness.   Conscious evolution calls for more creative powers.   A couple of hours ago, en route to the Home Depot to pick up paint supplies, I turned on my XM radio and guess who I heard?  Deepak chatting with his pal Stuart Hameroff about Consciousness.  Yippee, my favourite topic!  They were comparing the Vedic concept of pure consciousness being before ‘perception and thought’ with Hameroff’s “proto-consciousness” and how this relates to the quantum super-position idea where observation of a particle collapses it down to one place (just like conscious thought collapses us down to a specific reality).

Sorry, I digress!  Back to the Evolutionary Leaders’ event..

Jean Houston gave an energetic view of the evolution of the universe, our planet, life on earth, and humanity, with special emphasis on the “jumps” that caused significant transformation.  She said we need to be the ‘creative wellspring’ to trigger our new evolutionary path.

Bruce Lipton talked about the collapse and rebirth of various civilizations and reiterated that we now face crises at the global level unlike ever before.  He reviewed four ‘Myth Perceptions’ that we must overcome to build the foundation for the next civilization where we live in harmony and balance with the universe, with nature.  To give you an idea of his four myth perceptions, he talked about our current understanding that our biological processes employ quantum physics (not classical), that our perceptions can control our biology, overcoming genetic, that rather than the survival of the fittest which says our evolution is driven by competition, it can be driven by cooperation, and that evolution is not just random but adaptive.

There were so many fabulous speakers and the messages all coalesced.  I was thrilled to see Lynn McTaggart of “The Field” and “Intention Experiment” fame talk about the power of intentions and how we must be committed to an “enormous paradigm shift” together, in order to overcome the world’s challenges.  I think it was Barbara Marx Hubbard who talked about the physical emergence of a co-created world and introduced a video talk by Marianne Williamson whose message on our evolutionary potential and the danger of a species who has become maladaptive to its environment (yikes, that’s us!) was very powerful.

For more information on this organization, the evening event and the conference they are planning for 11/1/11, go to the Evolutionary Leaders web site.

I’m inspired by this event as I continue to discover how best to contribute and consciously evolve – along with these transformational leaders.

Maybe I’ll see you there in 2011.

Excerpt from “The Joinings“:

As we were born into new bodies and new capabilities, we walked upright and surveyed our world.  Our instincts and intellect drove us forward.  We built tools and fire.  We mastered the planet and its creatures.  We became self-aware and questioning.  We formed tribes and worked together to build homes and families.  We hunted together, collectively sensing the mystical forces at play in the universe.  Our early cultures honoured our elders, worshipped the beasts that we killed, developed cunning and resourcefulness, as well as a spiritual sense to help us not only survive but thrive in an untamed world.

But as our populations grew and agriculture led us to create permanent homes and settlements, our aggressive tendencies turned us away from our instinctive, spiritual natures and instead forged warriors and conquerors.  We built empires and dominated those that were weaker physically.  Groups that remained in the more primitive, mystical world of the past became easy targets for slavery and slaughter, oppression and cruelty.  Individual power became an ambition of man, overcoming the clan lifestyle.  The value of human life was low if it stood in the way of progress and domination.  Instead of honouring the natural world and the creatures that sustained us, we created new gods, powerful ones that would lead us forward in our quest for domination.

Ultimately, we awoke to a more sophisticated age and began to move away from the barbarianism of the past.  We formed governments and religion.  We created classes and rulers.  Laws governed our behaviour in society; religious leaders dictated morality.  The human consciousness imagined exultant possibilities and followed the new orders without question.

But our curious minds would always lead us to new territory. While authority and discipline, piety and unquestioning belief in a higher power may have been necessary at a particular stage to drive us forward, eventually, it became oppressive.  Despite the answers to life and creation offered by religion, we dug deeper.  Science and astronomy, philosophy and art triggered a renaissance of new ideas and new abilities.  We discovered ways to manipulate our planet’s resources, asked new questions about our existence, and uncovered previously unimagined answers.  Humanity’s progress could not be stopped.  Prosperity and technological advances transformed our way of life at an increasingly rapid pace.  Empire-building again became a focus but we discovered that war was not the only way to dominate other cultures.

At each stage in the development of our culture and our consciousness, the life conditions of previous stages influenced our direction, in some cases as a negative force.  We reacted to that which seemed wrong instead of out of pure creation and conscious choice.  Not all areas of the world progressed at the same pace and within regions one might find evidence of past and present cultures.  Yet, overall, our progress was steady.

A natural next stage was a revolutionary worldview, an understanding that many of our advances were endangering our planet.  For peoples who had been born and bred in a prosperous environment free of war and struggles, many grew more sensitive to less fortunate citizens of the world.  They understood the effect that man’s rapid progress was having on our natural resources.  They fought to bring harmony and spirituality, a return to more primitive principles when the earth was worshipped for sustaining us – not destroyed and used without concern.  This led to a philosophical merging of all great wisdoms, religion, and spirituality and a natural disdain for past structures that still sought to dominate the planet.

But a power struggle remained and for those cultures left out of the prosperity and advancement curve, still rooted in past cultural stages, resentment and violence brewed – particularly towards those who dominated the world stage. 

And it came to pass that with so many disparate cultures and worldviews, with violence and unhappiness rampant in some areas of the world, that a relatively small percentage of the human population were able to instigate unprecedented death and destruction upon the entire planet.

Copyright © Eden Remme Watt 2010

I just signed up for a six week virtual course, called “The Evolutionary’s Guide to Changing the World”. 

The synopsis of the course from http://www.evolutionaryworldview.com/course is:

“This is the first course ever offered by the EnlightenNext magazine team. Based on 18 years of spiritual and philosophical investigation in the pages of the magazine, the aim of the course is to provide you with a cutting-edge evolutionary worldview and the skills to apply that perspective so that you can become a 21st-century agent of change.”

Topics range from the evolution of the interior dimension or consciousness to historical perspectives on culture and spiral dynamics to spiritual development and creating a new culture for the future.  I am very intrigued with the material, the course leaders and their backgrounds, and the people that I will be exchanging ideas with over this six week period. 

I hope to share more perspective on this when I have completed the course.

Consciousness and Evolution, these two concepts together can stimulate great discussion.  Type them into your favourite search engine and you’ll find a rich assortment of groups and books and information. 

When I was researching and writing “Vision Speak”, I was first struck by Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and Campbell’s writings and dialogs on the topic, especially with respect to spirituality and mythology.  I imagined that if we could relate at the same level of consciousness where dreams are possible but in a waking state, enabling us to connect to the vision source, we would be poised to evolve to truly spiritual and connected life forms.  Ultimately, it could lead to a new era for humanity.

I’ve since uncovered more fascinating ideas involving the marriage of science and spirituality, how we are all connected in a quantum field of energy and the possibility of proving the existence of soul.  So many wise writers and teachers, scientists like Hameroff and Penrose are responsible for influencing us all in these exciting new areas.  Deepak Chopra, Lynn McTaggart, James Redfield, Gregg Braden, Eckhart Tolle, IONS, EnlightenNext…. just to name a few of the groups and thought leaders that are taking us on a new journey of consciousness.

So, I wonder – will we naturally evolve to a new consciousness as a people (if only we can live in peace) or do we need to first be conscious, present, aware and committed to moving to that next state?  In other words, is it really conscious evolution that we must seek?

On the topic of “Conscious Evolution”, I recently read “The Celestine Prophecy” (over a decade late.  I was too busy with kids and career at the time to even notice).  I’m still musing over the Nine Insights that James Redfield unveiled to the world in his spiritual adventure. Whether or not one buys into these exact insights or progression isn’t essential.  There’s good reason why this book caused such a sensation in the 90′s.   Redfield’s Celestine books raised awareness for mysterious coincidences, human prayer-energy, channelling thoughts into a collective, dynamic force, and evolving towards a spiritual culture on Earth.

Notably, today, the work of “spiritual leader and cultural visionary” Andrew Cohen and his organization (Enlightennext) are all about consciously evolving.  Check out them out at http://www.enlightennext.org/about/ I took their Evolutionary Wordview course.  It was both educational and inspiring.