We Americans—and by extension—all humans have found ourselves in a metaphorical deep dark pit here and now on Earth. I would point to two specifics: the degraded physical environment (which includes the conditions that allow the spread of a deadly disease among humans) and the rise of fundamentalism and authoritarianism which threaten not only the environment but also freedoms of all kinds.
It is, of course, a pit of our own digging. Our frailties as humans were the shovels:
- arrogance and self-aggrandizement,
- greed and exploitation of others (including of both other humans and Nature),
- desire (sometimes mad desire) for control,
- forgetting our true nature as interconnected sparks of one whole: Many leaves, one tree.
How did this situation start? Here’s an analogy.
If you’ve ever walked through a house when it was at the framing stage or ever seen a picture of the steel girders of a big building as it was going up, you know that there is an interior structure which is ultimately covered up with walls. We live in the walls and forget that the structure is there. It’s the same with our structure of thinking, often called our paradigm of thought.
So how did we humans dig this deep dark pit we find ourselves in now?
The simple answer is that a framework of human thinking arose in various cultures which was based in false notions of separation from true self and Nature, false ideas about the predominance of mental logic over the wisdom of the heart, and inadequate interpretations about humanity’s role on Earth.
I call it the paradigm of domination, control, and superiority. Everything we see going on: All of the gross environmental travesties, economic justifications, and inadequate political vision—not to mention lies—are the predictable outcomes of that framework of thought.
And, it’s personal, too. Every horror that many people experience in their own personal lives (maybe you?) is the playing out of false notions of separation from true self and Nature, false ideas about the predominance of mental logic over the wisdom of the heart, and inadequate interpretations about your role on Earth. (Yes, I know I just said that.) But this time, it’s operating through YOUR PERSONAL CONSCIOUSNESS. In other words, each of us have —in varying degrees—bought into the paradigm of domination, control and superiority.
How do we as humanity and as individuals climb out of this pit? I don’t know exactly, but I have some ideas.
I am seeing the first signs of an UPSHIFT of thinking. And this is very encouragement to me.
I saw this post in the news: A Trump Supported called C-Span in tears to ask if her president had lied to her.
She WANTED the truth. The first sign of an UPSHIFT OF THINKING is WANTING the truth. The first big step is WANTING the truth.
I am not talking about whatever is true itself. Rather, the first sign of raising ones consciousness is the DESIRE for truth. And it all begins with WANTING the truth so much that you are willing to set aside your ego, your "rightness", and your desire to control.
We Americans have been lied to by various master manipulators for the last 4+ years at least… and we humans have been lied to for much longer by other self-serving manipulators in all of the big cultural structures: government, religion, business, education, and others. Not all people or leaders are self-serving manipulators, but there have been plenty in human history.
Here’s my bottom line on the whole thing: If someone repeats the same lie LOUD enough and LONG enough, then GULLIBLE PEOPLE will believe it.
Let me say that another way. The very definition of GULLIBLE people is that they are easily fooled, tricked, or cheated. GULLIBLE people will take some else’s word for something rather than doing a bit of research.
But here’s the REAL PROBLEM: GULLIBLE people have lost the inner connection to their own inner wisdom.
They’ve had childhood training in— and have bought hook-line-and-sinker— that false and damaging but predominant cultural framework of thought about their separation from true self and Nature, about the superiority of logic over intuition, and about what they are here on Earth to do.
And that leads to many people (maybe you?) questioning your own intuitive insights. Many people have become chronically disabled because the culture has taught them not to trust their intuitive insights and inner messages.
Intuition is your human birthright. It’s the way half of your brain really operates. Intuition is that part of you that simply knows what’s right and what is true.
Dr. Jim and I see this all of the time in the classes we have taught for 18 years: Many of our students don’t believe that they can see/hear/feel/know what the living consciousness of Nature Beings is trying so hard to communicate to them through their intuition, inner hearing/seeing/knowing/feeling.
In other words, most people don’t believe that they can “talk to a tree” and gain some information, insight, or some measure of wisdom. But communing with Nature is a human birthright; our own distant ancestors did it naturally, in order to survive within the fabric of Nature.
So, I say that much of current humanity has an invisible and chronic disability which prevents them from KNOWING truth.
And I say that un-concealing the DESIRE for truth is the first BIG step toward solving all problems—environmental, cultural, and personal.
WANTING THE TRUTH doesn’t mean hammering away at some legal recourse or putting people in jail to satisfy one’s arrogance (although finding the truth may come to taking appropriate legal measures.)
Being patient and being open to the unexpected is key in seeking truth.
WANTING THE TRUTH means beginning with
- being quiet,
- going within,
- connecting with Spirit in some way and telling Spirit that you will trust Its responses.
- Reaching for neutrality,
- and asking in humility for insight about a situation. Write down what you get.
- Then repeat these steps until you are calm enough, trust enough, and can listen deeply and hear Spirit's indication.
Why ask again? Because sometimes the first ‘answer’ we hear is tainted with the power of the lies we have heard.
Here’s a piece of advice: If there is anger, righteousness, arrogance, or tightness in your body, that’s not it. You'll need to calm down and go through the steps written above again.
When a truth about some situation comes, it will probably not be something you already know or what others have told you.
It may be contrary to dearly held beliefs.
It may feel like a discovery.
Look for that flash of insight like a lightening bolt to the heart.
Or it may feel like a sunrise lifting your spirits, or the pieces of a puzzle coming together.
And it all begins with WANTING the truth so much that you are willing to set aside your ego, your "rightness", and your desire to control.
And that's how both you (and humanity) can get out of the deep, dark pit and awaken to the LIGHT of whatever is the NEXT RIGHT THING for you.
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