Now, as the light enters its most hidden phase in the Northern Hemisphere, and the end of another year is upon us, it prompts reflection of wider endings and beginnings, for us personally, for the societies of which we’re part, and for the planet itself.
For many, the end of 2020 couldn’t come quick enough. The focus eagerly switches to 2021 with all the attendant hopes that a change of year brings. However, as any new impetus evolves out of the learnt lessons of the old, it is worth pausing a while to consider what exactly is passing, and why, so we can better understand what is coming into being – and how that is shaped.
In the last few weeks, particularly since the lunar eclipse at the end of November 2020, a select portion of the internet has been abuzz with astrological updates about the times we are living through. They portend a great new beginning, with unequalled opportunity for social change and spiritual growth, the likes of which have not been seen for several hundred years.
And yet the current global picture looks unsteady at best, in turmoil at worst, as people and systems seek to orientate themselves within multiple uncertainties simultaneously. On the surface it may look like the Covid 19 pandemic is solely responsible for the disruption to ‘business as usual’. However, while the pandemic has certainly exacerbated underlying fears and exposed instabilities, we are seeing that the foundation on which personal, societal and planetary stability (and sustain-ability) has been built, is not holding under pressure.
Looking at the state of the world around us, we could be forgiven for believing that the golden age is not quite upon us. That, despite the busy efforts in every sphere of life, we are still drifting dangerously close to the edge of a precipice; one that, if we were to tip over, would signal the end of the present road and (therefore) life as we know it.
Why is the human species in this place? Why have we hesitated, relying on brinkmanship to wake us up, instead of being proactive when we had the chance? What will it take for us to head in a direction that works for all?
There are thousands of offerings to help individuals find their own steadiness and chart a more ‘successful’ course in life. There are countless initiatives and projects underway to kickstart societal regeneration. And there are untold agreements and policies being implemented in an attempt to address sustainability and climate change. As a species, we’re not short on ideas. But in general, there seems to be a lack of consistent will to tangibly build a better outcome, both individually and collectively.
Whether we think of it in these terms or not, all human beings long for fulfilment. The values and aspirations we pursue to achieve that, are diverse across the planet, as well as constantly shifting over time. The result is a multiplicity of agendas.
In our more recent history, the planet has been used as a silent resource to fund our search for fulfilment, without us ever asking ourselves whether what we are chasing is actually leading towards a better outcome. Moreover, we never asked the planet what it is capable of giving, and whether that contribution can be sustained. For the first time in the 200,000 year history of Homo Sapiens, we can no longer count on the planet’s cooperation for our agendas. We are being forced to consider what should have been considered all along – the planet’s structure, nature and function. And in doing so, we will finally come closer to understanding our own.
If we see our individual being as a microcosm of the macro iterations of the system (group, society, planet, existence), then it holds that what is enriching for us as individuals, must also apply further up the system (and that the opposite is also true). The task then is to identify what constitutes fulfilment - and how that is to be achieved.
If we can arrive at an understanding of what Life is, then we might have a chance of living it well (and enhancing, rather than depleting, the systems of which we are part).
In terms of our evolution, the picture has never been starker. Not only does our individual and collective future rest on the choices we make right now, but the remaining options open to us are now very few. In other words, there is no wiggle room for us to make a bad choice. Either we work with nature (humbly, consistently, diligently, urgently) or we face the consequences.
The word ‘nature’ conveniently applies to both human and planet. Our essential nature as human beings is directly linked the health of our planet. What is unsustainable in us causes the demise of our environment. That we have overlooked this for so long has resulted in our current imperilled state.
Many of the thoughts, feelings, words and actions we employ as human beings do not serve us, or the world around us. And yet we still allow them free rein of our being (and our environment). This kind of behaviour is unheard of in the natural world, aligned as it is to the pervasive intelligence responsible for its existence.
If we follow states of being through from their effect on individuals to their effect on the wider system, we can see the correlation (and I would argue, causation) clearly. Every thought and quality of being we hold has an effect on us, and the wider environment (although we are usually unaware of the latter, and sometimes even the former). Once we begin to see the direct connection, it can help us take responsibility for our particular ‘contribution’ to the collective state.
If we look at the arc of human evolution, the tendency towards individuality has been on the rise for 250 years, with conspicuous individuality being the norm in the last 50 years, and becoming incorporated into mainstream culture as an excessive trait over the last 30 years.
Whilst this has given us many opportunities for growth (our consciousness needed to free itself from a purely collective way of being, thinking and doing in order to examine its choices more clearly), it has also created a heightened sense of self which now finds it hard to relate back to the collective, or our deeper, shared beingness. Our insistence on our own version of self has distanced us from the very intelligence that nature still adheres to. An independent, enclosed, autonomous self may initially look like it is a ticket to freedom and getting ahead of the pack, but the reality of modern life reveals the price we pay for that paradigm.
An exclusive, and acute, focus on ‘self’ gives rise to both excessive individuality (entitlement, competitiveness, superiority) and insufficient individuality (neediness, dependence, over-consumption). Both of these categories of behaviours create a perceived reality of scarcity, which in turn makes consideration, sharing and inclusion seem like a threat to our well-being.
The toll on our mental health from having to create and maintain our own identity-based reality is immense. The mind is tasked with sorting and sifting the minutiae of our environment for signs of rightness, recognition, acceptance. The mandate is to succeed at all costs. Individually, the ‘I’ is given supremacy over all other perspectives (including the capacity of the Earth to provide whatever the ‘I’ feels it needs to secure its recognition). Societally, a culture of striving, consumption, achievement and stress is born. We have geared our values and our monetary system to play this game, so those who seem to ‘win’ are valued by society and rewarded financially. Environmentally, we appropriate materials intended for shared use to ‘resource’ our individual comfort.
When governance endorses this approach to living (because it serves the economic model of growth), the culture becomes one of serving individual, extrinsic needs rather than shared, intrinsic values. It becomes an unexamined, automatically accepted, systemic approach. And that means no-one takes responsibility and there is no accountability in the process. The individual, societal, environmental collateral is seen as regrettable but unavoidable.
Our approach to life could be the very thing which is compromising that life.
We may not be conscious of the hidden costs, but something is keeping score. Every single thing we use has to be accounted for in Earth’s log book. The spiritual, mental, emotional and physical environment of the planet is coerced into hosting and funding every single decision we make. So, surely she needs consulting about how we go about living on her? Irresponsibility doesn’t just affect us, it has far wider consequences.
When we lose touch with the foundation of life, with what gives rise to life and makes all living phenomena possible, we lose touch with reality.
Our relationship to self/life is the foundation for our experience of being here on Earth. Not just on a physical level, but across the spectrum of life including feeling, thinking and being. The same matrix of energy is giving rise to all of it. To coordinate life across all these levels, existence operates through a unified (shared) field. We access that field of information via inter-being, inter-relating, inter-connection. An experiential understanding of the innate intelligence of life puts us on a completely different footing with our being and our environment (an extension of our being). Seeing the true nature of self/life as one of benevolent intelligence, leads to trust, openness, respect, appreciation, gratitude, humility, honouring. And while we may each be finding a personal relationship with these qualities in our own life, they are not yet reflected in our wider being; our environment.
But the tide is turning (not least of which is because it has to turn in order for us to survive). Even ten years from now we will look back on this time as the ending of misguided individuality. Twenty years from now, a personal or societal perspective of selfishness will no longer be considered unsustainable, it will be unthinkable. Humankind will enshrine consideration, collaboration, co-operation, preservation as the guiding principles for interaction between peoples and planet. Fifty years from now our planet will be so transformed, as to be unrecognisable from its present state.
We can hasten that day by how we show up on this one.
Let us pledge to be, think, speak and act to the best of our conscious ability. Let us consider the impact of our being on the world we live in as much as we tend to our own well-being. Let us remember the bigger picture and our role in it.
THAT is why we came at this time.
Blessings and Love
Jeddah
For a more comprehensive view of the micro/macro effects of qualities, check out our Mapping Evolution video…
Or visit our Mapping page www.intelligent.life/mapping for an overview of the Mapping App itself.