“The times, they are a changin’…” sang Bob Dylan. Yet the truth of the matter is, change has been a constant, for life itself requires it. Yet, we humans, who are a part of life, have difficulty coping with change. Some paradox. What Bob really means is, these times are changing a lot. My grandmother (now in spirit) told me how she went from riding in a horse and buggy to watching a man walk on the moon. These past decades have seen change unprecedented in recorded history. Change occurs over time, and the length of the time intervals affects what kind of changes occur. From day to night takes a few hours, from leaves falling to flowers blooming takes a few months. Recently we have been introduced to time intervals much larger, measured in tens of thousands of years. For example, we’ve been aware for some time that we are moving from what is called the Age of Picses to the Age of Aquarius. Most notably for our current work, we hear a lot about the Galactice Convergence (books), which some claim also mark the change of “Ages.” We can contemplate what kind of changes take 26,000 years! The changes represented by the movements of the stars are beyond our own personal responsibility. We didn’t cause them. They are just happening, although we will have to adapt. There are other kinds of changes for which we can look to ourselves as somehow involved in the challenging changes that confront us. A comprehensive perspective on consciousness and its growth (Spiral Dynamics; McIntosh, Integral Spirituality) proposes that every stage of consciousness inherently has its own shadow side, its blind spot. This shadow consciousness creates problems. It’s a matter of unintended consequences. These problems confound consciousness, because these problems cannot be solved within the same stage of consciousness that created them. Thus, the problems serve as a stimulant to a growth in consciousness, becoming a source for the evolution of consciousness, to the next stage, and then the cycle will repeat. It is kind of like when the devil is referred to as Lucifer, the light bringer. The devil creates problems that shed light upon the limitations of our current consciousness. At another level we might see the analogy of the statement, “when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade,” meaning that our consciousness has the opportunity to grow from learning from misfortune. Today we hear a lot about a world in crisis that is essentially the birth pangs of a new beginning. The changes for which we are implicated are these: 1) Globalization (The Flat Earth, by Thomas Friedman), which is making our planet smaller, more interconnected. Technological advances in transportation and communication are the main sources of this change. Job losses, displacements in cultures, invasions of competing worldviews threatening traditional values, etc. 2) Global warming (many books), in which the technology applied has had the unintended consequence of carbon dioxide in the air, etc. etc. 3) The resource pressure, oil prices going up, water shortages, food shortages, the dying off of bees, things which threaten our physical existence. These changes are not speculative, but are real, and are compounding one another. They stimulate solutions: telecommuting, going green, etc., but many scientists wonder if these efforts will be enough soon enough. Thus we have several sources of pressure creating profound changes, or the potential for profound changes, and we have to adapt. The adaptation is along the lines of a change in consciousness. Such a change, often called a “shift,” perhaps in response to the earlier notion of a “pole shift,” speaking of an event on planet earth, or, in Jungian terms, an antidromia, or a change of heart, a shift in consciousness. Falling in with the idea of a “tipping point,” (book) there is the idea that as enough people begin to make these changes in consciousness, there will come a tipping point where even more people will make the change and things, the outer world, reality, will correspondingly shift. So there are two aspects then of change: the forces for change, and the resulting response to change, which is itself a change. Considering now the stage of consciousness that is responsible for the three global pressures referred to above, what shall we refer to? We might first look at the history of consciousness as a guide. We can look at it either in terms of the history of humanity or the biography of an individual human (phylogeny reflect biogency?) The origins and history of consciousness (von Neumann) asserts two major stages, one when we were identified with our surroundings, living in a merged consciousness with the environment, and then a shift to the awareness of a separate, autonomous self. Some might refer to the Enlightenment and Descartes, and the idea of a duality, an inner subjectivity and an outer objectivity. Later thinkers, such as Ken Wilber, have divided up the stages in more steps, and we learn about the move from a matriarchial consciousness to a patriarchal consciousness. In many respects, the two systems are analogous, as the feminine has more of a merger feeling, and the masculine more of a separate, autonomous feeling. Another aspect of consciousness that is being blamed as the creator of our problems and the light bringer of our evolution has been the materialistic consciousness, that the physical is real, the mental is not. Whether dualism, materialism, partrarchy, is the consciousness culprit, they seem to have similar unintended consequences and we can look ahead to how these will be superceded in the next step of evolution. Tiearda de Chardin )(Future of Manking) may be one of the first to put forth the notion that consciousness evolves, and he had a future vision of where it was headed. Barbara Marx Hubbard (Emergenc) is also someone noted for sounding the note of evolution before contemporary problems made evolution more on our minds, kind of like a Noah’s ark, that we must evolve or die. One of the things that Hubbard stressed was that unlike previous aspects of evolution, that somehow happened by the mechanical process of “survival of the fittest,” the contemporary change is more like “the survival of the wisest,” in that evolution is in our hands, is up to us, depends upon our choices, and has stimulated a lot of education, outreach, teaching, prosylatizing, as if we knew that unless we could inspire many, many folks to change their consciousness, the necessary tipping point would not be reached. How are we to change? Transform? That is, what is the direction of this evolution? What will the future human be like? Where would we go to find the answer to that question, what models do we have? For example, there is the Christian model of “being saved in Jesus,” so that when the “rapture” comes, you’ll be taken to Heaven. We can look to “evolved” individuals, who usually were great teachers, and examine their consciousness. Richard Bucke did this years ago in his book, Cosmic Consciousness. We can look to psychological studies of human growth and actualization, studying especially how gifted people achieve even greater consciousness, or how special techniques have brought out special characteristics in consciousness, such as the study of the long-term effects of meditation. We can look to studies of anomalous experiences, such as UFO encounters and near death experiences, to see what “forces” outside our normal perception may be contributing to a direction for growth in consciousness. As we examine each of these lines of study, of prophecy, etc. we can also reflect upon our own lives. What events in our own lives have led to growth? How have we learned to adapt to change? Each of us has a different growing tip, leading edge, and like Columbus and his destractors, we may long to cross the great waters, yet fear that we’ll fall off the edge of the planet and drop into the realm of monsters. But the idea here is that although we may contemplate processes, forces, and cycles that are way beyond the scope of a lifetime, these are also mirrored in the little events of our own growth and life story. Thus as we begin to gain a holistic, comprehensive understanding of all that is in play, we can begin to find analogies in our own lives, and can begin to assume responsibility for aligning ourselves with the forces of evolution, both to learn how to transform gracefully, and also to help others do so. In such a way, we become prophets, using our intuition and foretaste to guide us into a path that is constructive and congruent with the growing reality. To use an analogy to better express what I mean by the value of collating this information into as compact a vision as possible, to better guide us in our efforts, suppose the factors at work pressing us for evolution are like a force trying to push a square peg through a round hole. Clearly the square peg won’t fit. It must transform itself into a roundness in order to go through. If we were to use this simple image to organize our information, we’d want to understand the nature of the force pushing on the square peg, what makes a square peg a square, why a square can’t go through a round hole, what is the nature of roundness, and how can a square become round. In other words, then, taking it personally, what are your corners? What keeps them intact? How can you become more round? If I could take all the lines of thought, speculation, channeling, tradition, research and such, regarding these evolutionary factors, and express all of that with the simplicity of the square peg round hole analogy, I think it would be a lot easier for us to connect with what’s happening and initiate the needed adjustments. Of course, we’d still be faced with the question of how can we motivate the square peg and facilitate its transformation into something round. Our response to the call to change remains critical. We’ve looked at some of the forces at work, such as globalization, climate change, and galactic cycles. We’ve glanced at some of the corners of the square, such as dualism and materialism. And we’ve listed the many sources of information about the nature of the round thing that will emerge on the other side of the hole. There are so many expressions and aspects to the roundness that it is difficult to find a way in to them so as to organize them in as succinct an image as possible. I’ve maintained that it is necessary to consider many, many sources of information and guidance about the eventual roundness, and now let me share a little about why I think it is so. We might begin with looking at historical, almost archetypal, traditional propositions about the nature of the idealized (future) consciousness. Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Moslem, etc. each have their teachings on what is the “goal” or “higher consciousness,” or enlightenment, that might characterize the nature of the roundness on the other side of the hole. For convenience, however, we might turn to Aldous Huxley and his research on what he called “The Perennial Philosophy.” That refers to what all the spiritual traditions have in common, what is there essential sameness. He concluded that this common essence can be expressed in three words, “Thou art That.” There are many ways of “unpacking” the meaning condensed in those three words. Here are a couple of equivalent expressions: The “you” that you experience as being “inside” and the “world” you experience as being “outside” are the same thing. Oneness. Perhaps you can think of others. Each alternative perhaps emphasizes a different aspect of this statement. From this essential principle comes the “prime directive,” which we are familiar with as “The Golden Rule.” Treat others as yourself. Let’s look at this prescription for a moment. Suppose everyone in the world were to suddenly follow the Golden Rule. Would that solve the problem? Would earthly resources become more evenly distributed? Would global warming cease? Would the galactic alignment cease to be relevant? I don’t think that an immediate answer, either yes or no, is justified, but is worth thinking about more deeply, for I suspect that if everyone were to follow the Golden Rule tomorrow, it certainly would help things, crime rates would go down, and wars would cease, but we’d still have the challenge of the distribution of resources and how to deal with climate change. Perhaps, if we had enough time, following the Golden Rule could eventually make for a sustainable life on the planet. If we all loved one another as ourselves, certainly we would be enacting the behavioral pattern that would be similar to what we might expect from a “Messiah” coming and creating peace upon the earth. One of the issues involved in this imaginary scenario has to do with the question of whether or not, or to what extent, you can change your consciousness by acting as if your consciousness were changed. In other words, if you were to deliberately treat everyone as yourself, would you over time become psychic for everyone, have the mystical experience of oneness with all life? “Fake it until you make it” is a phrase I’ve associated with my experience in Alcoholics Anonymous, but I also find this same principle in the Edgar Cayce readings. He suggests that certain attitudes and emotions are more healthy and more spiritually harmonious, and that if you can’t feel that way now, behave as if you do feel that way, and soon those behaviors will pull in the feelings and the raw, direct experience, i.e., the desired attitudes and emotions. I’ve worked with an aspect of this idea to gain entrance into a more mystical or direct experience of the spiritual axiom of “everything is perfect and happening just as is meant to happen,” an awareness that Richard Bucke found common among people who had experienced what he called “Cosmic Consciousness.” The implication of this axiom is a feeling of gratitude for all that one experiences. A now in spirit Edgar Cayce practitioner, Everett Irion, used to counsel those who asked to write out forty times a day, “Thank you, Father.” I used to think the idea was somewhat authoritarian, like a slave who was allowed only obedience and obsequiousness. However, over the years, I have found that the practice of engendering gratitude for all my experiences has proven to be a wonderful elixir and a gateway to greater depth of understanding. I am now much enamored of William Blake’s statement, “Gratitude is Heaven itself.” I could go on about this equation, and I think I’ve expounded on it in my book, The Intuitive Heart. Suffice it to say that although I do not go around with a smile on my face and an open heart, but I have found that the direct application of the formula does have at least a temporary effect upon my consciousness that reinforces my use of it. So, I do know that it is, in some instances, possible to fake it until you make it. But how long does it take? Some have pointed out that the difference between primary spirituality and religion, is that the former is based upon direct experience while the latter is an attempt to create patterns of behavior that are explainable and teachable to the average person who has not had the direct experience, but which would guide that average person toward a lifestyle that was congruent or harmonious with the direct experience, with the expectation that the person would become more available to the experience, or at least not engage in behaviors that would block having the direct experience. Those with the direct experience need no rules, or religion, because acting spontaneously from the direct experience their behaviors are consistent with that experience—it is only natural. I suspect, then, that following behavioral guidelines, such as the Golden Rule, even though it is an expression of the state of consciousness toward which we may be headed, will be insufficient. We need remedial experiences to help us change our perception of reality. Well, one such methodology has been around for a long, long time: meditation. OK, let’s look at meditation for a moment. We’ve seen from the Marjarishi effect, that if enough people are meditating in a city, the crime rate goes down. Many studies on that. OK, so let’s get more and more people meditating. No more crime, wars cease. Again, will that be sufficient to ease the square peg into a roundness, or will the forces at work crush that peg before it can dissolve its corners through meditation? Again, the words of PMH Atwater come to mind, that we should not be lazy in our thinking but realize the immensity of the forces at work and the challenge falling upon us. Let’s not, in the name of the “Law of Attraction” ignore the perils out of fear that paying attention to them will draw them to us. Not that I can’t see the merits of that law. Let me share with you an actual experience that shows how I put that law into a balanced perspective. I was taking a course in “tracking,” a process derived from the study of indigenous peoples. In one phase, we were told about how a person could “disappear” in the environment, not being detected by those hunting for the person, through an act of consciousness. I had an intuition as to this possibility and on one of our field excursions during this training, I managed to leave the group undetected, went around and ahead of the group’s path, and then laid myself down on the ground less than six feet from the path. I then began to meditate, and did so especially with regard to simply relaxing and doing nothing to “hide” or even acknowledge the upcoming presence of the folks in the group. The best way I can explain that is to suggest that you imagine what it must be like to attempt to sit in front of a group of people who are staring at you, close your eyes, and allow yourself to fall asleep in front of them. To do so you have to become totally indifferent to their presence. And sure enough, as I lay there on the ground in that frame of mind, they all walked past me without seeing me at all. I’ve also had dreams where I was fearing someone coming after me, and I sensed in the dream how my fear of that someone drew that person to me. So I’m familiar with the underlying feelings that give rise to the Law of Attraction. However, I think there is a difference between dwelling upon or fearing the coming changes, on the one hand, and being mindful of the changes as a motivation for action. “All we have to fear is fear itself,” has a lot of truth in this arena, but it is not saying to ignore the challenges, just not to fear them, as the fear will paralyse us and in that way keep us in the path of what we fear. Studies of those who survive or don’t survive catastrophes support this type of thinking (did I send you folks the link to the recent Time Magazine cover story on how to survive a catastrophe? It makes the same point). So I believe we do better by being fully aware of the gravity of the situation, in all its details, but being aware in away that informs us to the nature of the forces so as to guide us into the kind of changes these forces are pushing us toward. Enough said on that subject. Now let’s return to the task of finding our way through all the different aspects of the :”roundness” that seems to be the outcome of this period of transformation. How can we organize, simplify, coalesce, or otherwise shrink down to a maneagable essence of the goal without oversimplifying or getting into the complacency that simply following a single principle like the Golden Rule will solve the problem. One approach to this puzzle comes from the study of “memes.” Wikipedia is a good source for some overview information, and I learned that memes, rhymes with genes (which was the idea behind the name) is informational DNA. Now in biology, DNA determines what happens, it’s a blueprint with the ability to direct the action. Memes are informational equivalents, ideas that spread, ideas that direct action, ideas that shape how we experience things. Of course, archetypes are behind the memes. We’ve looked at the archetype of the apocalypse, and now, to consider memes that this archetype creates, here’s one good example: “love is letting go of fear.” This is an idea that is spreading. It is an idea that affects how we see things and how we behave. It is an idea that has apocalyptic aspects, as in transformation. In other words, we are moving from a fear based consciousness to a love based consciousness and it is quite an upsetting revolution. Anyway, as I explored the idea of memes, it led me to the work of Clare Graves. Like Maslow, who developed the “hierarchy of needs,” from eating to self-transcendence, Graves developed a hierarchical scheme regarding evolution of human consciousness. His basic idea is that humans work out a solution to one set of problems facing existence, arriving at a new level, discovering a new set of problems, solves them, moves to a new level, new challenges, etc. You can see what he is talking about in today’s news: technology has solved a lot of problems for us, but now we realize it has created its own problems and we are trying to solve them, requiring us to grow in consciousness. Graves’ levels of existence (published in 1970) begin with six subsistence levels: the physical survival mode of consciousness, which he calls the “automatic” level of existence. The “tribalistic” level provides some safety to existence. The third level is ego-centric, having to do with when we developed self-awareness. The fourth is the “saintly” level, where we achieve everlasting peace of mind… most of us have not achieved that level yet. The fifth level is the “materialistic” level, where we have finally conquered the physical universe so that no one has to want for anything. We’re working on that. The sixth subsistence level he calls the “sociocentric” or learning how to get along with one another. Then, the first “being” level, beyond subsistence, he calls the “cognitive” level, where we restore “viability to a disordered world.” The seventh level, of which he says we’ve not yet seen many examples, he calls the “experientialistic” which involves “accepting existential dichotomies.” That kind of consciousness would be a real quantum leap from what we typically experience today. I suspect that nothing less than an actual transformation of consciousness, one where the strategy of perception and the organizing of experiential data are completely different from what they are now. Research on long time meditators show that their brains react differently to stimuli than new or non meditators. Perhaps this fact is a clue to what’s ahead in these changing times.