Evolution by Intention: New Beginnings for Weary Souls

I am both moved and disturbed by the completion of yet another year, coupled with the realization that not much has really changed. As much as I would like to share with you thoughts that inspire and uplift; thoughts that give the reader a sense of comfort and hope for the unfolding future; thoughts that would be much more in alignment with the expectations of the season, they simply are not there to be expressed. What is there is a recognition that as seasonally incorrect as it may be, I cannot bring myself to ignore my own observations and pretend otherwise. I am unwilling to not see what I see, hear what I hear and know what I know.

It may well be that given what many of us already see, we have reached a point in our history where we will not be able to “OM” away the deeply disturbing trend in the evolution of our humanity and our species. Meditation, prayer, a positive attitude and a deep and abiding faith in a god that will save us all may no longer be sufficient to save us from ourselves. Not because I say so but because the reality we are creating says so. And, like it or not, we are indeed the creators of this reality – and much of it is ugly.

For all of our intensity for and commitment to the search; for all of our willingness and determination; for all of our research and exploration of the evolution of consciousness and advancement of the species, my suspicion is that our report card would not be very appealing nor compelling as evidence of our capacity to ‘get it’ in a way that allows us to engage differently. We continue to live in a world that appears mindlessly committed to its own demise. Like punching a pillow, just when we think we might have made a difference in one place, we find ourselves bearing witness to another gaping protrusion that has formed itself elsewhere. And on and on it goes, a constant stream of the same problem played out by an endless variety of players, all with the same script. Our willingness, like our hearts, may be in the right place but our ability is lagging pitifully behind.

Like myriad pieces of string rolled into a giant ball, our problems and challenges continue to accumulate and increase in their variety and size, becoming impossible for us not to see. As much as we can discern the color and texture of the threads closest to the surface – planetary upheaval as Gaia manifests her outrage, expressing through increasing density and intensity of earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, mud slides, forest fires; violence toward self and other; decay and collapse at the highest levels of our often decorated and publicly rewarded so-called leadership; political and economic erosion beyond repair; etc. – we continue to be unable to name and claim the ones much closer to the core that allow the ball to maintain its formation. We go about our lives, every cell in our body bathed in and formed by the numbing effects of generations of mindless, habituated thinking, asleep to that which crumbles around us, hoping that someone else will take care of it all. . What will it take to awaken the giants that we are from the intergenerational slumber that has now become a coma? What will it take for us to call up the courage to find out?

For several generations, we have more and more been convinced that we must rely on our intellects to solve our problems. We have surrendered the truth of our personal experiences to the so-called wisdom of the collective believing that in doing so, our needs would be better served. From this approach has come, I believe, the creation of a collective incapable of internal referencing and mindlessly compliant to sets of external directives from the forces that mold and shape who we become (i.e. parenting, education, work, etc.)

We have trained ourselves to look outside of ourselves for guidance and direction; for answers and the ‘right’ questions, in the hope that somebody, somewhere, would lead us out of the state of decline in which we find ourselves. And here we sit……not just pondering our future but wondering if we will have a future to ponder!

As I write this, I can already see the rolling eyes and hear the murmurs: “Must we do the ‘doom and gloom’ thing???? Can’t we focus on the positive and what’s working in the world???” I’m not suggesting that we should all stop meditating and/or praying and/or anything else we have chosen to do, with the hope of creating change. However, what I am suggesting is that doing so is not occurring on a scale and at a pace that will exceed the existing rate of decline and its increasing momentum. The jury is in: it’s not enough.

And I wonder inside myself – will we ever find another place to stand? I’m not suggesting that what we have done in the past, to create change, has not had an effect. I am suggesting that in order to affect the change that we now require, we must find a new way of engaging that is not an incremental shift in what we know/do but a massive leap into a new way of BEING rather than a change in how or what we’re DOING. The immensity of the problems we face, and their collective and cumulative effect, has moved far beyond our ability to resolve them, no matter how willing we may be, with what we already know and, more importantly, who we have always held ourselves to be. As Einstein has already said – the problems of today cannot be resolved at the same level of thinking that created them. It may well be that in raising our level of thinking, we will be required to discover that what must evolve is WHO we are as human beings and not HOW or WHAT we do. Continuing to run the strategies we know and engaging the behaviours that are familiar to us will only get us more of what we’ve got!

It occurs to me that we cannot give away that which does not belong to us. Having said that, I can’t let go of my misery until I claim that it’s mine to let go of, that it is my own creation, and step fully into it and discover all the genius that it offers, before I can integrate its discoveries into who I can become – so that I might create again, differently.

This is not a complaint or a plea, it’s an invitation. An invitation for us to get honest with ourselves about what works and what doesn’t. Truth be told, we already know that and often silence ourselves rather than step fully into the stark terror that comes with this realization. It is an invitation for us to consider what else is there, beyond the old familiar fallback of the intellect, that we might consider as a new approach to problems we have faced throughout the history of mankind. How else might we consider ourselves in relation to these problems such that an awakening occurs – one that allows us to reclaim and engage ourselves in different ways – giving us BOTH willingness and ability at the same time.

• Our intellects aren’t working! For how long have we relied on reason and good measure; on the rational, linear thinking way of solving our problems; and on our ability to define a problem, analyse it (which requires that we look back at the ‘facts’ which are always historical) and then, come to the only reasonable thing to do? As familiar as this approach may be, it’s not working. It is linear in nature and the problems we have and continue to create are expanding exponentially.
• Our rigor with and brutality toward the body is not working. Our long history of religious requirement to silence the body and defer to dogma is leaving us a people wracked with diseases of the body, mind and spirit. As we continue to do ‘the right thing’ and deny ourselves what is ‘right for’ us, we move more steadily into decline. Cut yourself off from your body and you cut yourself off from the truth of your own experience. This schism is essential to our continuing to do what others tell us to do rather than doing what we know is meaningful for us.
• Our willingness to rely on the underlying drive of survival of the fittest is evidence of our mindless belief in random mutation – which we have known for some time is no longer an absolute ‘truth’. Perhaps we stay so committed because we don’t know what to do instead.

I believe we stand at a threshold – a point at which we must mindfully and consciously choose who we will become or prepare ourselves to disappear. Evolution by Intention!  Not an unfolding based on our past; not an unfolding based on our research and practice and historical preferences; but an unfolding based on our having chosen to do so, in a particular way.

Evolution by Intention stands in an autopoietic framework and recognizes that there is genius in it all; that at the moment of having chosen, it was the right choice to make. The question now is NOT “How do we hold on to this creation” but becomes “What have we learned about ourselves from this creation?” and “Who do we now have the potential to become? ” It requires that in moving to levels of thinking beyond that which allowed us to create what has now become the problem, it includes a realization that it is not sufficient to change what we do; we must transform who we are.

Evolution by Intention does not just require but demands that we recognize that our body is not what we’ve been taught to believe it is – it is so much more. The human body is not a mechanical device; it is a living, organic, quantum biological processor. And what is it processing? Signals – energy/information that is there for one purpose only and that is to guide us through the process of our own evolution and take us home.

Evolution by Intention demands that we surrender the intellect to the body and let the body lead. As the signals move through the body and the body stabilizes, we come to know both the willingness and the ability to engage for transformation rather than continue to struggle for incremental change.

Evolution by Intention demands that we both recognize and claim the organic nature of the collectives of which we are already a part as well as the ones we anticipate creating. Far more powerful than our existing frameworks of command and control is the power of an awakened organic collective and its capacity for contagion. We are powerful beings –living expressions of the god-force in a physical Universe. All we need do is awaken to the truth of our own potential

As much as we are perched at a pivotal point in our own evolution, we cannot get there by brushing who we have been under the rug, along with all of its effects. Evolution by Intention requires that we stop lying to ourselves and each other; that we uncover and embrace the ugliness of many of our creations; claim them, metabolize them and from the genius they carry, become who we are destined to become.

We are running out of time. Not because such is claimed in ancient texts but because our decaying social structures, our imploding educational, corporate and religious systems; and the state of wellbeing of our own bodies tell us so. I see what I see; I hear what I hear; I know what I know – and so do you. How much longer can we defer to external references and deny the truth of our own intuitive knowing? We will not evolve by speeding up and going faster and faster, all of which takes us further and further out of and away from the experience of our own bodies. The paradox is that acceleration of consciousness – and its attending evolution – will come from slowing down, re-entering and reclaiming the territory of the body. The only thing you can trust without question is that your body will never lie to you.

As we move into the coming year, may we find within ourselves the courage and the willingness to live every day awake and aware, choosing a meaningful life over a familiar one, from one breath to the next. The time is now.