This is a time of profound global and personal transformation. Both spirit and science agree on a unified ground of being; the understanding of Oneness is percolating through the pores of organisms and the fabric of society.
While the death throes of the old paradigm appear on the surface as acts of insanity, Consciousness is arising in millions of people around the world whose hearts and minds are open. Open to an expanded, enlightened vision of what it means to be human in the 21st century. Open to dedicating time, energy and resources as an expression of an evolved humanity. Open to experiencing themselves as a conscious part of the One. Open to the Evolution Revolution.
What most don’t know is that there are millions more like them. Millions who are participating in organized humanitarian services without an agenda. Millions more who quietly do good works in their own community or beyond without the need for recognition. And many millions more with kindness in their hearts who would do something to alleviate the suffering of others but don’t know how. All are part of the Evolution Revolution.
The understanding is arising - the Evolution Revolution is revealing itself to those with the eyes to see. It is time to go beyond all barriers that divide in any way and demonstrate our Oneness.
It is time to stand up and be counted - time for the individuals who make up the multitude to know they are not alone:
Think kindly of yourself and others.
Monitor your thoughts and cease to engage in those that are unsupportive.
Practice kindness in your speaking with every interaction.
Mean what you say and practice what you preach.
Cease entirely all complaint, criticism and judgment.*
Act in a way that promotes the feeling of lovingkindness within and without. Understand that whatsoever you do to or for another you are only doing to and for your OWN SELF.
These three little steps, far from being simplistic, are the ABC’s of an evolved human-beingness which will make a profound difference in your life and in the world. Their practice will nourish the sprouts of lovingkindness within, and lead to the realization that you are actually an embodiment of the Evolution Revolution: an embodiment of Love. Once you experience yourself as lovingkindness, you will begin to recognize the lovingkindness in others. You will see the Evolution Revolution occurring everywhere and understand how personal change is precipitating global change. Before very long we will reach critical mass and see the results of these changes everywhere. Start now. Embrace the Evolution Revolution.
*Practice of this alone for one week will change your life in a way that will astonish you.
25 December 2003/San Miguel D’Allende
Everywhere Christianity has imposed itself, there is celebration to day: the annual spate of giving – like a purge after a twelvemonth of self-serving – programmed by manufacturers and the media.
And I sit alone, unlonely, in the mountains of Mexico, warming myself (and thankful of it) by the open oven door. Many today have not this with which to comfort themselves.
I am calling, unheard, from my mountain aerie. I am calling with the voice of Love and Compassion, with the voice of yearning Hearts everywhere – who may not even know the object of their yearning. For after the opening of presents (missing My Presence) and the feasting and filling of that which can never be filled by food or fantasy, the emptiness and longing return – the search is resumes, the real treasure sought often unknown even to the seeker.
Still, I am calling. I am calling with the voice of the whale beaching itself upon the shores of unconsciousness. I am calling with the voice of the Mother, herself – prodded and poked, depleted, polluted, despairing. I am calling with the echoes of the voices of species no longer heard, and with the faint whisper of those threatened with extinction.
I am calling. Who hears?
I am calling with the voice of those who have always been and attempt yet to be connected to Me, the Sacred – those who have been decimated, missionaried, bullied, starved and enslaved into the mechanistic life that the majority have been brainwashed to believe they want to lead. For that is what it has come to: the population that calls itself humanity is barely human now.
Humanity need not fear a world taken over by robots – they have become the robots they ought justifiably to fear: plugged into their computers, their televisions, their cellphones – merely maintainers of the machines that run their lives – implicitly, unconsciously obeying the party line.
Through all this I am calling. Calling with the voice of the Cosmos. Calling with the voice of the stars and galaxies, with the voice of untold universes that will continue to exist for aeons after all six billion of you are no longer even a memory. I am calling. With a still, small voice I am calling.
Will you hear me? You are sleeping – sleep-walking through your Life. I am calling through an eternity of unconsciousness. Awake, awake! Arise and slough off the web of illusion you are bound in. Open your eyes. Be still. Take a breath and feel the Life throbbing within you. Look around you at the natural world and feel the Life throbbing there, too. It is the same Life that sustains you both.
I am calling. Turn off your machines so you can hear me. I am calling. From within and without I am calling. I am calling with each beat of your Heart. I am calling with the scent of a rose. I am calling with the coo of a dove. I am calling with the light of the moon. I am calling with the sigh of the wind. I am calling. Can anyone hear?
In 1994 I was struck homeless in the same way Ramdass/Richard Alpert considers he was ‘stroked’ – by an intangible force. One day I was relocating from a northern state to a more desirable clime, a week later I was sleeping in my car, realizing my life would never be the same.
Nothing and everything in the previous forty-seven years of my existence had prepared me for the experience that ensued. And while I recognized the spiritual aspect of what was happening, that knowledge didn’t ameliorate the consequences, and I often wondered what I had done to deserve such a fate. My experience since then has demonstrated quite clearly that we do not have the control we think we have over our destiny, and begs the question “What is it that actually moves us through this life?”
The query often posed by well-meaning acquaintances, “Why don’t you just get a job?” could not be answered. I worked whenever possible, as a photographer, freelance writing for a local newspaper, in the shop of a newly acquired friend when she needed help; and at the same time I knew that this situation was not about ‘getting a job’ - it was both a testing and an education: quite an extraordinary education in acceptance, non-judgment, trust and compassion – a curriculum unfortunately not available in our institutions of academe.
I learned, for instance, that however much there was, there was always enough to share – that the amount of food I thought I needed to satisfy my own hunger, when divided to provide sustenance for another, was somehow able to satisfy the hunger of both. Perhaps the act of sharing magically intensified the qualitative value of the food, or perhaps by sharing we precipitate love. Lovers, as everyone knows, can live on air…
The friendships I made supported me and the kindness of strangers sustained me. I was particularly blown away by the deli manager in a supermarket who, when I’d have only thirty-two cents or some equally paltry amount to my name and request that amount of a particular foodstuff, would then give me a huge portion of that item and proceed to ring up whatever the amount I had mentioned. And I will never forget one fellow in a similar boat to mine who, when once I asked if he could spare a couple of dollars for lunch, took out and looked at the five singles his wallet contained and proceeded to give me three of them.
If we understand that humans are not only expressions of but conduits for the Divine, we understand that although fear might attempt to tell us otherwise, we are not limited by what we either possess or lack. The practice of tithing by those of faith has shown that increase is precipitated by giving a portion of one’s income with compassion in the same way a tree produces more branches when pruned, or a bush more flowers when they are picked.
So if you consider yourself among the evolutionally advanced, walk the talk. ‘Think globally, act locally’ is not just a catchy phrase.
Be an open channel for the energy of compassion to flow though you – on its way it will enhance the Love in your heart and create moments of wonder and awe at events which arise.
Be non-judgmental. If we take the position that need exists in some to awaken compassion in others and open our hearts, we will be the ones who benefit the most. Trust me on this – I am speaking from experience:
For the past twelve years of ‘homelessness’ I have been the witness to, recipient of and instrument in acts of wonder and mystery that defy explanation. Over and over and over the trust I was drilled in proved itself profoundly, with the situations occurring and bounty extended ofttimes overwhelming in their breadth and depth of wonder-fullness.
And while I don’t expect anyone else to willingly embrace the deprivation and suffering I have endured on my own journey - not a position one may volunteer for at any rate - I can honestly say that I don’t regret a moment and have been transformed in ways both simple and profound.
The fact is, whether our lives are a series of cause and effect events or simply a storyline we meander through, the outcome is the same. And whether we are able to manipulate or cajole others to achieve our ends is always a crapshoot. The upshot being: when we lie on our deathbeds what will have been our greatest achievement – the things we have accumulated or the hearts we have touched?
One road leaves us tragically empty, the other filled in an incomparable way. I know the acts of kindness shown me have been light years more meaningful than all the expensive stuff I’ve acquired that has slipped through my fingers like grains of sand.
If we are not evolving into a civilization that understands and meets the needs of all its members as any enlightened family does, we are degenerating into a civilization that is self-righteous and (albeit apparently successful) self-destructive, and will ultimately render itself extinct. Who cares?
Ulupalakua
July 2006
If America would counter the image of ‘Great Satan’ fostered by the extremists who wish her ill, Americans must clearly demonstrate another face to the world. We can no longer allow power-crazed smoke-and-mirrors government forces to hold us hostage to ill-conceived policies.
While the government chooses to play sheriff’s posse on the world stage, we the people can show another facet of our national character. Rather than the perceived attitude of entitlement, bigoted contempt or self-centered lack of concern, a display of profound practical compassion would not only change the perception of those who might condemn us, but could actually inspire a quantum transformative shift in the way humanity conducts itself in the 21st century.
There is no question that the USA has been a leader in opportunity and possibility in modern history, with increasing prosperity a result. But what have we modeled for the rest of the world in the last few decades beyond behavior akin to spoiled adolescents? In spite of the pinhole outlook of the present administration, we the people have an opportunity to do something worthy of our privileged place.
After all, Americans are essentially decent people and not ill-intentioned. We are, perhaps, self-centered. Some may also be ignorant and/or lazy. Collectively we have been well-programmed to indulge and consume and desire more, more and more - way beyond our needs. But we are not ill-intentioned. The problem is that we have been brainwashed to believe in style over substance. It need not be so.
The past few decades have accorded a power unheard of in history to a particular segment of our population: the entertainment industry has become a behemoth of wealth and influence, and its members the idols and envy of the enthralled masses. Yet for the most part the adulation and remuneration so abundantly accorded is used merely for self-aggrandizement, and even when charity is considered, it often becomes simply another vehicle for self-promotion.
But what if the members of this privileged group decided to influence the world - not with Part III of a formulaic script starring Ego Rampant and his leading lady Ima Celebrity - but by deciding to live on perhaps 50% of the obscene income generated by a society bewitched by ‘glamour’ and use the other 50% to re-create the world as we know it? (Kudos to A. Jolie for a decent beginning.)
What if the majority of those who have been rewarded light years beyond their actual value woke up one morning and realized that a life of meaningless indulgence and pseudo-power is tragically empty and profoundly unsatisfying?
Just look at what the Gates Foundation is doing and imagine what a similar amount of money - backed by the faces and energy of those who have been placed on pedestals of popularity - could do not only to improve the quality of life on the planet, but to still the voices that criticize and condemn us. For you who have received so much it is time to give back. Start using your celebrity for the greater good.
In the 22nd century very few of our entertainers will be either remembered or respected for their work - but can you imagine the honor bestown upon a coalition of the same who, recognizing the influence they could wield collectively, sacrificed grotesque luxury and dedicated a substantial portion of their time and resources to transform the world as we know it? That would truly be the role of a lifetime. And by modeling such selflessness, millions would be inspired to participate in a movement unprecedented in history and unequalled in impact.
Attention Hollywood and the Music Industry: Stop being models of self-involvement and self-indulgence. Wake up!!! Look around. Get over yourself. Unite. Do something of real value.
All the money in the world will not protect you if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if the planet becomes a hostage to terror, your millions will be small comfort.
As Americans we have been gifted with the best of everything this world has to offer. Let us now show the world our true greatness by giving.
Ulupalakua
July 2006