BIRTHQUAKE!

“Transformational evolutionary times make

the status quo shake and fracture.

Those wedded to the status quo shout the loudest.

It can be jarring, but it's not surprising.”

~ Jim Lockard

“If one were to crystallize twentieth-century psychology into a single problem, it would be the problem of fear in the face of overwhelming evolutionary forces in humanity as a whole.

At the end of the century we thought

we were past that problem.

We are now in the thick of it.”

~ John Campbell

I heard Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, President of AGNT, use the term “BIRTHQUAKE” a number of years ago. Being a visionary spiritual leader, he was able to see that humanity was, and continues to, heading into a period of disruptive evolutionary quickening. Jean Houston called it “JUMP TIME” – a time of great uncertainty as the tectonic plates of the old and the new ways of being rub against each other; the old trying to hang on despite fading relevance, the new trying to emerge as a series of unknown potentials.

We are living through the effects of these forces every day. They include climate change, where we are being forced to confront the effects of our ignorance of our behaviors on the environment. They include rapid technological innovation, which challenges us to keep up mentally, ethically, and economically. They include a collapse of trust in institutions – religions, governments, and others, challenging us to find our way without the traditional compasses to guide us (they no longer work). They include a falling back toward a past status quo represented by the rise of nationalistic politics in the developed world, challenging us to find a way forward and not be dragged backward toward ways of being which are inadequate to the challenges of the present and future.

All of these and other forces are combining to push us toward transformational changes in the ways of living; no aspect of human life will be untouched. As I have noted many times, these changes require us to transform, not merely to change.

Five tips for navigating these difficult evolutionary times:

1) Anchor in your spiritual center and strength;

2) Take a break from the digital barrage and take a longer evolutionary view;

3) Exercise your brain to understand what led to these crazy-making times to learn the way forward;

4) Sync with the next evolutionary impulse to balance the intuitive and rational parts of your brain;

5) Take the long view. All times have their challenges and the evolutionary impulse requires resistance to manifest.”

~ Gary Lachman

All is not lost, not yet, but we are on a collision course with evolutionary developments which will make life difficult, if not impossible, on this planet. Even if we act now in the strongest possible ways to mitigate the effects of climate disruption, we will still have great challenges, from fires to floods to increasingly powerful storms to unseasonal weather to rising sea levels around the globe. Climate disruption is only one of our major challenges. And yet, we collectively seem to be in denial about the challenges, the realities, which we face. What is required is a massive shift in human consciousness to new levels of being from which we can act with greater vision, intelligence, and compassion across nations, populations, and industries.

The good news is that we have these next levels within us, laying dormant, awaiting the opportunity to emerge. They are called forth when we are challenged as we are now but must be nurtured into being. Fear constricts our ability to invite these new levels to emerge, we must become spiritually awake and poised, preparing the soil of our consciousness for new expression.

“The great mystery is living and wanting to transcend itself through us toward greater expressions of beauty,

truth and goodness. And so evolutionary spirituality says that, for lack of a better word,

God is implicate, intrinsic to that evolutionary push.”

~ Rev. Bruce Sanguin

If we see the unfolding of Spirit in all things, then that must include the times in which we find ourselves. It’s either all God or it isn’t. The changes in our living conditions are caused by humans and are, therefore, part of the natural expression of the evolutionary process. We have the capacity to shift our experience by first changing our consciousness and then acting from that new consciousness. The great clue to when one needs a change is consciousness is that one is dissatisfied with current conditions. We either wallow in the existing conditions and suffer, or we change our mind and alter the conditions. And we do our spiritual work until our consciousness IS changed.

BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWAL OF YOUR MIND.”

~ Romans 12:2

“The transformative process is our job, so that we are not ruled by fear but love.”

~ Ram Dass

We have co-created a situation on our beloved planet where transformation (which is change turbocharged) is needed. Small changes, while part of the solution, are by themselves inadequate. Are we up to this challenge? Driving around Southern California these past weeks after being away for some time, I did not notice much difference in how people are living their lives. Fewer plastic bags and straws, yes; more Teslas on the road, yes; but still the roads are clogged with large vehicles burning fossil fuels, public transportation is barely visible, packaging clogs dumpsters, and Amazon packages fill small vans – I saw at least six such vans a day. Suburban living seems to offer few easy alternatives to the above. So again, are we up to this challenge?

“What can I do to transform this quaking mess into the mind of the true mystic?”

~ Alan Watts

Here is what I believe: I must increase my spiritual practices in order to generate within myself a consciousness which is up to the task of doing my full part in co-creating a new paradigm for humanity. If I want to contribute to a sustainable world for human beings, I need to up my consciousness. I need to fly and drive less, use little or no plastic, avoid processed foods, eat more locally (all easier in France, by the way). I also need to speak up about these issues to others and support larger projects dedicated to sustainable living. But all of that will not be enough.

We – our governments, institutions, industries – need to support and enact major shifts in how we consume, how we extract things from the earth, how we dispose of what we use, and how we treat one another in the process. At the same time, we will have to provide for millions more refugees from climate crises (and stop adding war refugees to the total), encourage green approaches to every aspect of life, and develop economic systems which do not require vast consumption and weapons sales to work.

It’s a lot. Time to get started.

Actually, it’s PAST TIME to get started, so let’s get going. Begin with one thing.

“Nothing is lost… Everything is transformed.”

~ Michael Ende, The Neverending Story