The Emergence Project

2013 is the new 2012: Looking Back and Looking Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 13:03:00 +0000

After the year 2012, many of us had to take stock of our belief systems about the shift. No surprise there, expectations in a matter this "earth-shaking" are not usually the same as the reality that unfolds. Like many others I went through the necessary process of adjusting my core beliefs and expectations. Here is short list of the key beliefs I came away with:

1. The shift continues to take place. Big time. December 21, 2012 was a gateway into the acceleration of the shift and 2013 is beginning to look more like what many of us expected to happen in the year 2012. A difference of a year is not surprising when the time spans we are talking about involve 5000 years or possibly much more.

2. We continue to be in the midst of a planetary crisis that will take all of our collective wisdom and effort to address. A kind of slow-motion eco-catastrophe is well underway. A profound awakening and awareness is needed to grasp its significance and recognize the need for change although many will continue to cling fiercely to the the old patterns that provide an unsustainable and illusory sense of comfort.

3. Solar activity has been increasing and will continue to increase in 2013. Solar flares and CMEs are having profound effects on human consciousness and accelerating many earth changes. The two are inextricably linked.

4. As the Emergence Project has been emphasizing since we began offering conferences back in 2008, daily spiritual practice and meditation continue to be very important as a means to manage the chaos and instability continuing throughout the shift.

5. No one knows exactly what's going to happen in the next few years. For all their wisdom on such matters, not even the ancient Mayans knew exactly how this process would unfold. Channelings and other sources of wisdom still remain as fallible and subject to intepretation as any other human activity and, as always, heavy doses of discernment need to be applied. It's helpful to triangulate sources. In the last analysis, judge for yourself what's true, resonant, untrue or subtly deceptive.

6. Humanity's ultimate fate is in humanity's hands and not subject to any other external forces that can determine its outcome. This is simply the law of free will applied on a large scale. We have the technology and the tools to solve many of the problems currently facing us. The obstacles lie within our own mass consciousness -- the "mind-forged manacles" as William Blake called them -- that collectively and individually keep us from acting mindfully and creating the kind of world that most of us in our heart of hearts wish to live in.

7. We are experiencing the shift on many levels. At the level of inner being, the changes are profound. But in the outer world, sometimes it seems, disturbingly, that business as usual predominates. This sense of a kind of mundane and banal momentum of old patterns is in part fostered by the mainstream media which seems intent on offering the perspective that our cultural environment is still surpassingly "normal".Getting beyond this cognitive dissonance tests our faith in the deep spiritual realities now being experienced.

8. Take heart, many unique and positive changes are taking place on a planetary scale. However, much of it remains hidden beneath the multiplying layers of confusion and turmoil that characterize contemporary life.

In the Aftermath of December 21st

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Happy 2013 and best wishes to followers of this blog! I'd like to share a few thoughts I had in the wake of December 21 and the vacuum that it seems to have left in the minds of some whose expectations have revolved around some sort of visible and widespread manifestation.

Projection is a well-known phenomenon is psychology where we take the darker aspects of self and project them onto to others as if they were the threat and not something inside our own psyche. Projection can also happen on a mass cultural level as well. I suspect that is what might be in play with the widespread notion of a 2012 apocalypse event that some believed would occur on December 21st. There is a good case to be made that this idea was based on a Western line of thinking that was culturally projected onto the Mayan calendar information resulting in a huge distortion.

But the phenomenon of projection may go even further. It may be that we are collectively projecting images of catastrophe and eco-catastrophe (which is in fact a real threat but a “slow-motion” one, unlike Armageddon) while at the same time not facing up to the fact that we ourselves are responsible for much of it. The threat then becomes transformed in the mind as a single event on a particular day, something much easier to comprehend than a slow motion catastrophe playing out over decades. This speaks to the limited capacity of Western human perception to look beyond more immediate time frames and take the “long view” that the ancient wisdom traditions and many indigenous peoples were well versed in.

Therapeutically speaking, at the individual level, projecting often involves an inability to accept responsibility for an outcome or a situation. In this case, the mass projection I’m suggesting here involves the notion of some external force whether God or some other agency as the cause. Putting mass spiritual enlightenment aside for the moment (something that Ken Wilber says is not likely to happen), the mass awakening that the Emergence Project has talked about for many years may at its essence be a simple recognition by large masses of people that a) there is a major threat to our planetary ecosystem b) humankind is responsible for much of it (leaving aside the complex issue of anthropogenic climate change) and c) we can take steps to deal with it if we individually and collectively acknowledge responsibility for it as opposed to the magical thinking that it’s someone else’s problem to take care of. This in and of itself would be an incredible shift in collective consciousness and it's gratifying to see that it already seems to be taking place. In my opinion, the question of outcome and the fate of the earth hinges upon whether it will take place quickly enough. What transpires over the next few years will be crucial.

Pondering December 21 and Its Myriad Implications

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:29:00 +0000

As December 21 approaches, the time for speculation is over. I believe it's a time for our best summations and whatever commitment we feel we can make to building a New Earth. After four years of work on the Emergence Project I wish I could say that I have figured it all out but in truth my thoughts of late tend to echo the Billy Joel lyrics that "the more I find out the less that I know".

At the same time the rock solid certainty of so much 2012 commentary simply does not resonate for me. There are so many theories and beliefs floating around now regarding the complexities of this time but the outcome and direction of our planetary predicament is still very much uncertain. Although not an easy fact to deal with, it’s possible that we may not know the full truth of either the meaning or outcome of this extraordinary time in our own lifetimes. If these kinds of speculations make me a kind of "shift agnostic" then so be it. The complexities of this living mystery are massive in scope and lie well beyond our ability to easily summarize them.

I wish I could offer some simple and comforting advice. As we approach December 21, I have a sense of undifferentiated intensity and a powerful gathering of energetic forces that I suspect few of us understand. There is also a very good chance that our expectations concerning what has happened and will happen will be far from what actually transpires. As at least one observer has pointed out, this time may be unique in human history. It would be wonderful if all of our positive expectations were met but we have to be prepared to separate what we think or hope will happen and our attachment to those thoughts from the reality that unfolds. Fortunately there is some excellent guidance available out there.

Superstorm Sandy can be seen both practically and symbolically as a manifestation of the power of the earth changes. Some have even commented on the eerie similarity to the movie 2012. The Emergence Project has always tried to emphasize the positive implications of the Shift as an opportunity for awakening so in a sense we have to view the myriad earth changes as a kind of distraction even though they represent an unsettling kind of validation. At the same time there are many positive things taking place behind the scenes. Two things are able to exist in parallel. And so it goes, a 2012 moment. Nature plays the last hand, something our ancient forebears knew very well and we collectively and inconveniently seem to have forgotten.

I have two final observations. The first has to do with our personal response to the suffering that many are experiencing right now. The need for spiritual love is frequently invoked in the context of the Shift. It’s a good start. But as Buddhist commentator Brad Warner has pointed out, compassion is even more important. I would suggest that this is especially true given the magnitude of suffering experienced by many as we move through this time. The second observation is that we need to be careful not to place too much emphasis on the December 21st date itself. Just to set expectations a bit, it’s possible that this date will pass without easily identifiable external mega events of some sort. This would of course provide an opportunity for skeptics to further try to marginalize 2012 and the Shift as woo-woo spirituality. But there is no doubt that these changes will continue for many years. We are simply standing at the doorway even with all that’s happened so far. Sandra Walker puts it nicely: “Ascension is not about leaving the planet, getting rescued by off-world brethren or flying up into heaven. It is not about watching the Shift unfold online, or waiting for the external world to provide evidence of inner change. Ascension is a conscious choice to engage in evolution.” While I dislike the term “ascension” for a number of reasons, I thought she provides a great feet-on-the-ground summation of this amazing window of spiritual opportunity. Inner guidance and sense of community provide the compass. Stay tuned and best wishes.

"Everything You Know Is Wrong."

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Some of you might remember that as the title of a Firesign Theatre album, a comedy act from the 70's and 80's. I'm a research analyst and a futurist by profession. My experience with the 2012 material has led me to formulate and evaluate theories about what is happening. At this point I’ve thrown a lot of them out the window. This is not something that lends itself to rational analysis. At one point I simply gave up like the exhausted Zen student who has burned out his neural circuitry trying to solve a koan logically. In my opinion, one thing that is happening now is that the Pandora’s box of human experience good, bad, and extreme has been opened. We are now awash in an impossible to fathom array of choices, ideas, and experiences long forgotten. As just one example, quantum physics is busy throwing decades of accepted wisdom and long held theories about the nature of reality and matter. In addition, there are more theories in 2012 lore about what's happening cosmically and energetically than one can count. There are no easy answers and while many spiritual teachers have puzzle pieces, in my opinion, there is no single source of wisdom and knowledge that I’m aware of that can serve as an infallible guide. We all need to figure out the mystery of 2012 for ourselves. If this makes me a "2012 agnostic" then so be it. In any event, “the more I find out, the less I know” as Billy Joel sings in one of his songs. I suspect this may be true for all of us.

The Perils of Extreme Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:36:00 +0000

Well what is there to say? We just have to look around. So far in 2012 we are collectively facing a collapsing global economy, tremendous technology acceleration, government meltdowns, the Occupy movement, unprecedented government austerity measures, the Arab spring, severe earth and climate changes including a possible pole shift, disruptions in food and oil supplies, and a possible war in the Middle East. And of course there’s more to add to the list. When you add all these disruptive changes up, it means that a crisis point has indeed arrived and we seem to have arrived at it relatively quickly. Remarkably in the midst of this chaos the mainstream media and many in our society are carrying on with the same routines, as if none of this was happening. As the French like to say “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In any event, it seems clear that we’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.

I am very grateful to have my Buddhist and Taoist background to fall back on at this time which emphasizes staying grounded and not getting swept up by the extremes of spiritual experience or any other kind of experience for that matter. I do believe that we are in a time of incredible social, political, and cultural change perhaps unlike anything else in history. There’s a lot of emphasis about staying in the heart at this time and I think that’s really important. But I also think that it’s equally important not to let our thinking get warped or distorted by what I call extreme thinking.

When I use the term extreme thinking, I would put quite a few things into that bucket. Certainly we can see it in politics where the discourse has become quite incendiary. The energetic phenomenon we are all experiencing causes confusion in areas that aren’t normally confused . We see for example a lot of emotion being injected into politics. This is normally not the case and in my opinion doesn’t make for good governance. Reason can’t do the job of emotion but neither can emotion do the job of reason. Mind and heart need to work together. If one predominates, there is a lack of balance.

Extreme thinking also shows up in the spiritual community as well. One way it shows up is in the form of conspiracy theories. I like to call some of these cosmic rumors. Now I’m not going to say the one thing or another is true or not true. That’s not the point. Each of us has to decide for ourselves. But I think one thing that has happened is that the Internet has allowed many of these ideas to become amplified and passed around to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s true and what’s not. As the shift intensifies, we will be tempted to buy into more and more extreme thinking especially because some amazing things will and already have happened. Now is the time to use discernment to decide what we should and should not align with.

Dualistic Thinking: Are We Addicted to Certainty?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Would it be fair to say that humankind is addicted to certainty? It's worth considering because the universe we live in is quite mysterious. In many ways we don't know as much as we think we know and what we do know keeps changing. Nevertheless, there is a compelling need to make sense of a universe that's filled with both rational and irrational events and situations by arriving at what we call "truths". Some are indeed universal truths as Carl Jung explored with his notion of archetypes embedded in the collective unconscious. The studies of sacred geometry and morphic resonance point towards timeless structural dynamics that can be discovered during the sacred journey. Other more everyday "truths", however, are often socially negotiated and mediated even as they tend to be accepted with unquestioning certainty. This is what we might describe as "consensus reality".

Thomas Kuhn who wrote on the workings of the scientific method helped shed light on how Western science has fluid aspects tied to social conditioning. This is why scientific "truths" themselves can change and be overturned. Witness the current "God particle" discussions where certain subatomic particles have been observed moving faster than the speed of light, which, if verified, threatens to overturn Einstein's General Relativity Theory. This raises the question as to whether science actually discovers anything in the objective realm or is simply another function of the evolution of consciousness and our understanding of it.

Life seems so much simpler when we have certainty. This is one reason for the popularity and persistence of organized religions in which someone else has arrived at a set of "truths" that its adherents adopt. But finding our own spiritual path is much harder work. I've also come to realize lately the connection between certitude and dualistic thinking. They go together hand in hand. So to move away from dualistic thinking, it seems we have to abandon at least some of our need for certitude and recognize that in terms of the Shift, no one has all the answers and no one knows the outcome, the popularity of various channelings notwithstanding. This can be challenging to accept. I've personally struggled with it a lot. But being open to our universe as a work in progress and to this amazing sequence of changes we are witnessing means being willing to be open to living with a living mystery. ~ Tom Valovic

The Importance of "Being in Your Body" During the Shift

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:19:00 +0000

"To open to God you have to open to life. You have to live, love, enjoy, and share. Spirituality is based on the value that you express in the physical world." - Swami Rudrananda

I have always thought of the spiritual path as a difficult balancing act. The roots of my spiritual practice are in Buddhism and Taoism. In these practices, I learned not to view what is spiritual as separate from the rest of our lives, our bodies, and the material world. I've also learned that this seems to be a good check against one of the spiritual traps of compartmentalizing one's practice by wanting to only live in realm of "love and light" without paying necessary homage to our human physicality. To me, thinking otherwise can get us a little too close to the roots of dualism and perhaps even unhealthy attitudes towards the physical side of life that have crept into some of the mainstream religions.

There's another side to this as well. Honoring the body means that spiritual practice doesn't just stay in the realm of mind and heart (although practice in both areas is obviously very important, especially the latter.) Positive spiritual intent needs to get translated and incarnated into action in the minutia of ordinary living. This keeps us grounded which is really important as we work through the powerful activation points we've passed through such as the recent 11:11:11 gateway. Treating co-workers, friends and family with respect and consideration, helping those in need, helping to transform our frayed cultural paradigms in big and small ways: these are all the currency of the Shift and a safeguard against grandiose thinking. Earlier this year, we hosted an excellent teacher, Dr. Christine Page, for a three-part teleseminar series. One of Christine's comments that really resonated for me was "This is a time to be in your body".

"Being in the body" simply means keying into body awareness. But it also means addressing the real needs of the physical world with action. In the context of sacred activism where intent meets action, it's very heartening to see the Occupy Movement gaining momentum globally. Yes it could go awry and the relatively small number of violent incidents are unfortunate. But in my opinion, you won't find a better example of awakening in action given the fact that this is truly a global movement which leaderless, highly cooperative in nature, democratic, peaceful and inclusive in its principles.

This is a time to fiercely hold on to the most fundamental of human values that are under now widely under attack and we hope you will feel the urgency of the need to participate in some way. Please feel free to post your thoughts about this here or send me an email at tom@theemergenceproject.net. Thank you.

Carl Calleman and the October 28, 2011 End Date

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Carl Calleman's first teleconference raised a host of important issues regarding the Mayan Calendar and what we can expect during the next several months leading up to the end of the Mayan Calendar on October 28, at least in his view. If the current economic implosion and continuing earth changes are any indication, it's going to be a most interesting and significantly challenging time. Dr. Calleman was very emphatic in his closing remarks about the urgency of what's bearing down upon us and the need to prepare ourselves as much as possible.

Speaking to the virtually assembled group from Paris, Dr. Calleman explained his view on why the October 28 date was so important. Although in my own talks given with Annette in various locations throughout the New England area I've tended to be a bit skeptical about the many disagreements surfacing about the "correct" date labeling them as "theological disputes", I must admit I found his arguments to be persuasive.

In general the Emergence Project has been emphasizing the idea that it's more important to recognize the reality of the shift than to become excessively concerned or bogged down in what seems to be hairsplitting about end dates. The idea here is to think of the Shift more as a process than an event and one that has been going on for quite some time (remember the Harmonic Convergence in 1987?) Many contemporary Mayan Elders talk about what happens in the years after 2012 and Ac Tah, the contemporary Mayan teacher who we hosted in Boston back in May, has also reinforced the notion that the date itself is not all that important. But the more I thought about the idea of the Mayan Calendar as a tool that can be used track specific phases of the evolution of consciousness at this time, the more Carl's arguments made sense as well as the importance of the date itself. (I continue to explore these ideas as openly as possible and welcome yours at tom@theemergenceproject.net)

Another part of Carl's talk challenged another of my core assumptions. This was related to a question I asked him during the talk based on what I perceived to be a kind of determinism in his teachings on the Mayan Calendar. More specifically in his book The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness he made reference to humans as "puppets" in the evolving divine plan being knocked about by forces much larger than ourselves and more or less beyond our control. In response to my question he confessed that he "did not have much clarity on this subject but doubted that anyone else had. " But he also said that he thought we could influence these events "somewhat" but not significantly. I appreciated his refreshing candor and to those who admit they don't always have the answers to everything I always afford my deepest respect.

I think this is an observation well worth considering. In the philosophy classes I took in college (but which USA Today informs us are rapidly falling out of favor in secondary and collegiate education), the notion of free will vs. determinism was regarded as a fundamental human dilemma and was debated endlessly. It's a common idea among those of us who follow the Shift and 2012 that we are co-creators and can create whatever future we would like. In fact, it's been my tendency to believe that this is indeed is the case. I remember a phrase from Stewart Brand of Whole Earth Catalog fame to the effect that "We are as gods and might as well get good at it."

Heady stuff. This could be either a very potent and transforming idea or else just another very subtle and seductive example of human hubris and rationalization of the collective ego. So Carl's talk prompted me to reassess my own thinking that the Shift is mainly focused on our collective human endeavors. More likely it is indeed about something much larger than our well magnified human concerns and much more encompassing than the meanderings of our species on this little pea patch we call Earth, a speck in a universe vast beyond our wildest imaginings.

The law of attraction line of thinking assures us that we can manifest any reality we want at this time. It's also reflected in slightly different form in the thinking of Gregg Braden and others who refer to this time as a "choice point" when the eschatological outcome will be collectively determined by the intent of humanity at large. But Carl Calleman with his patient and thoughtful wisdom seems to be suggesting that,like it or not, we might simply be at the mercy of these much larger galactic forces. He may well be right. And it may be that the perspective that it's humanity that will determine the outcome is a mindset that somewhat egocentrically puts us at the center of the universe almost like our forbears who mistakenly imagined that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Time may give us the answers to this conundrum and soon enough.

Solar Activity and the Shift

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 12:52:00 +0000

The Shift is a natural phenomenon. This means that it operates according to natural laws and can be understood in the context of our own scientific models. The Mayan information is essentially scientific and empirical in its very nature since the Mayans were astute observers of the natural world and the cosmos. Some might not feel totally comfortable with their science as opposed to our own because there are points of contradiction (just as there can be varying theories and models within Western science.) But the validity of their observations about the changing nature of the universe now seems well established.

The phenomenal earth changes we have witnessed over the last several years have borne this out. There's a long list including Hurricane Katrina, the Japan earthquake and tsunami, severe flooding in Australia, the midwestern US and other areas, droughts in Texas and Arizona, and increased volcanic activity including the Icelandic eruption which grounded air traffic in Europe for several days.

According to Mayan teachers such as Ac Tah many of these changes are the result of solar activity which is one of the major influences on the Shift. We're now in a period of increasing solar activity after a long lull known as a solar minimum. This activity correlates with increased numbers of sunspots. When the sun is more active it creates solar flares and coronal mass ejections sending huge amounts of electromagnetic radiation into space in the form of plasma which can take several days to reach earth. The most powerful flare ever observed was the Solar storm of 1859 called the "Carrington event" which was so strong it set a number of telegraph systems on fire.

According to Mitch Battros who studies space weather, this solar activity affects the earth's magnetic field which results in the extreme weather patterns we've been seeing. In addition the sun may also affect human evolution and the change of consciousness we associate with the Shift either directly or indirectly. Some interpreters such as Maurice Cotterell believe that this happens because of its effects on the human chakra system which is also electromagnetic in nature. This of course certainly seems plausible in terms of both physical and biological science.

Interestingly western science is still debating the connection between climate change and solar activity but the understanding of that seems to be changing. A recent study in Great Britain looked at the role of the sun in global warming in addition to anthropogenic factors and so-called "natural causes". The study, published in the Institute of Physics Journal, found a "correlation between the amount of activity on the Sun and the temperatures on Earth...during the winter." This research was said to link activity on the Sun with weather on Earth. Is science ready to agree that space weather changes can profoundly affect human activity as well? This may be the next shoe to drop.

Mayan Teacher Ac Tah's Visit to Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:36:00 +0000

On the weekend of May 13-15, spiritual teacher and direct descendant Maya Ac Tah traveled to Boston from his home base in the Yucatan for a series of events in the Boston area. The events were sponsored by the Emergence Project and partners Boston Evolver, the Heartbeat Collective, and the Angel Room. Ac Tah was joined by James and Mai Needham who organized Ac Tah's US tour and friends Pepe and Becky. The theme of these events was "The Time has Come" -- Returning to the Ancient Wisdom.

Ac Tah's talks were fascinating and free ranging. He is well versed in contemporary neuroscience, astronomy, and quantum physics and has a unique capability to speak about the ancient Mayan wisdom in these frameworks when necessary to get a point across. (Interestingly, he's also well versed in the use of social media and carries a Blackberry.) One of his core messages is that "we need both the wisdom of ancestors and modern intelligence."

Another important message related to vibrational frequency. Ac Tah talked about ancient Mayan technologies for maintaining those vibrations on a mass scale (such as the pyramids) as well as the need for all of us to keep our vibrational energy as positive as possible during the time of the Shift. The ultimate goal of this personal spiritual work is to achieve a peaceful state of being on a planetary scale to guide us through the complications and disruptions taking place during the Shift by helping give birth to what Eckhart Tolle calls " a new earth". It's the equivalent on a spiritual level of "many hands make light work".

The Boston leg of the tour began on Friday evening. Ac Tah gave a talk at the Unity Church of God in Somerville, MA. The following day he gave a workshop at the same location. In that session, he taught a special Mayan exercise movement similar to Qigong or the movements found in Carlos Casteneda's Magical Passes.

On Saturday evening we gathered at the Heartbeat Collective in Jamaica Plain. For those unfamiliar, this group, led by Jason Cohen, is involved in many excellent transformational projects. One of these is an event called Forestdance, an annual sacred fire circle experience for reconnecting to the natural world. On Sunday, Ac Tah spoke in Marston Mills, Cape Cod courtesy of our partner Nicki Garner at the Angel Room. The weekend then concluded with a fundraising dinner at Cantina La Mexicana in Somerville.

This work is ongoing and we hope that you will feel empowered in your own way to engage in it by carrying Ac Tah's "messages of light" forward to others and integrating them into your own life.

A Case of Mayan Misinterpretation: Our Letter to the Boston Globe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:52:00 +0000

In matters related to the Shift, sensationalism still rules the mainstream media. It was quite interesting to see how much publicity was given over to Harold Camping’s May 21 apocalypse prediction while, at the same, the nuanced and thematically complex messages concerning the Mayan calendar are largely glossed over. A case in point was an editorial appearing in the Boston Globe about Camping’s prediction. Here’s what the Globe editorial, written on May 20, said in part: “And if tomorrow proves anticlimactic for Camping’s followers, well, there are other opportunities: The Mayan doomsday arrives, by some calculations, in December of next year." The phrase “Mayan doomsday” of course is inaccurate and misleading. We felt it necessary to send a letter to the Globe in reference to the editorial as follows:

We would like to correct an error appearing in the editorial in last Friday’s Globe referencing a “Mayan doomsday” event. We represent a nonprofit group working in the Boston area and engaged in ongoing research on Mayan culture and history. The idea that the Mayan Calendar predicts some sort of doomsday on December 21, 2012 is a common notion but quite incorrect according to sources within contemporary Mayan culture as well as well-respected scholars who have done significant research on the topic such as John Major Jenkins and Carl Calleman.

Contemporary Mayan interpreters such as Ac Tah (who we recently hosted in Boston) and the Mayan Council of Elders believe, as do many environmental scientists, that our current planetary way of life is unsustainable and threatens to create severe disruptions in an ecosystem that we have unfortunately come to take for granted. They do not believe that it's a foregone conclusion that there will be an event or series of events causing apocalyptic destruction of our planet. Rather they point out that, as a result of becoming out of balance with natural cycles and resources, we find ourselves in a time of crisis and great change requiring an intelligent and coordinated response.

This rather simple empirical observation is borne out by any number of research studies arriving at the same conclusion by scientific means. For example, the work of Lester Brown’s Earthwatch Institute as featured in the movie “Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization” draws very similar conclusions. (Brown’s work was recently highlighted in a PBS special.) We sincerely hope that the Boston Globe will help its readers understand the gravity of our current ecological crisis and the need to seek and find permanent and lasting solutions to it.

The Globe published the letter and an edited version can be seen here. We also were happy to receive a supportive email from Mayan scholar John Major Jenkins noting: “That was a clear and cogent correction…Unfortunately, the avalanche of media misinformation is increasing unabated [making it] virtually impossible to present and rationally discuss the recent breakthroughs in understanding what the ancient Maya believed about 2012.”

The Mayan Ninth Wave: The Japan Disaster and Coming Earth Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:26:00 +0000

So here we are in the Ninth Wave. The acceleration is palpable. Many shift-sensitives are reporting that they feel these energies affecting them deeply at both physical and/or cognitive levels. I like the metaphor that Barbara Hand Clow uses -- that of feeling like you're in a linear particle accelerator going at full tilt. It's a very apt description.

These effects aren't surprising as these energetic and electromagnetic changes are quite powerful. While they put human civilization's fragilities in perspective because of their scope and scale, all living things in what the Elizabethans used to call the Great Chain of Being are also affected. This includes my little daschund Maggie who for the last few weeks has been acting quite strangely on certain days. She knows something's up.

The disaster in Japan has made the earth changes discussed for so long more dramatically "real" -- even for those of us who have been studying and talking about the cycles of world ages for a long time. But talking about the changes is one thing. Seeing them unfold is quite another.

Some have commented on the eerie feeling of recognition that ensued after seeing scenes of destruction in Japan and then summoning up from memory scenes from the movie 2012. The terrible toll of human suffering which requires our deep compassion and action is, to say the least, a deep shock.

So is seeing what we thought were well-designed technology systems shatter in a relative instant. In my opinion, one of our deeply embedded beliefs i.e. the Western illusion of indomitable technological control and mastery has now been shattered. And hopefully the quasi-Promethean attraction to technologies we don't fully understand will now start to be reexamined. Germany, a technological leader among nations, has already decided to phase out nuclear power in the next decade or so and there is massive public support for doing so. Like it or not, Japan is about learning deep collective karmic lessons.

The Japan disaster seems also to have established a tipping point away from widespread denial and towards an awakening that something huge and important is happening on a planetary scale. The mainstream media, for example, may be starting to connect the dots and tune in to the importance of multiple earth changes that are all connected. A recent Newsweek cover story, for example, was "Apocalypse Now" citing the Japan quake and other events. In that same issue, editor-in-chief Tina Brown, asks: "Is the world going crazy?" By contrast, the New York Times (the "paper of record") was still positioning the Japan quake as a "once-in-a-lifetime event."

Mayan wisdom-keepers like Ac Tah tell us that these changes will continue to accelerate. Staying calm and centered is essential. But somehow we have to figure how to hold the amazing promise of this time together in our minds with the devastating events we're witnessing. It's a tall order. It's all part of what "mindful preparation for the Shift" is all about and what the Emergence Project hopes to assist with during this amazing but thoroughly challenging journey through the Ninth Wave.

Towards a Transformation Movement Agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:02:00 +0000

In the course of our work, we think a lot about the Great Work: what needs to be done as the Shift intensifies as we head into the Ninth Wave, the final aspect of transformation. (Fasten your seat belts as they say.) Those of us involved in the transformation movement in some way, shape, or form can contribute in many different ways. We might even call these "roles". In thinking this through a little more, the beginnings of a kind of "transformation agenda" can be seen taking shape. We'd like to share it with you and get your feedback and opinions.

*Work on Oneself. Everything starts and ends here. As Paramahansa Yogananda has said, change yourself and you will change 1000 people. Sacred activism begins with intent and alignment with our highest purpose for the good of humanity during this time of radical transformation.

*The Work of Imaginative Restructuring. If we’re going to build what Eckhart Tolle calls a “New Earth”, we need to first imagine its contours, directions, and substance. Not abstractly but concretely. If the veil between thought and action is thinning, then the work of the imagination becomes all the more important and not just the province of poets but "activists". What kind of world would you like to build today?

*Compassionate Aid. It’s a bit troubling to still find discussions of the Ascension that imply and reinforce the dualistic notion of the elect and saved and those who “will not make it”. Inclusiveness is the antidote to dualism. Amid high-flying discussions of multidimensional transformation, a kind of almost Buddhist grounding needs to take place so that basic compassion is continually extended to those whose lives are severely disrupted by the Shift and radical earth changes (e.g. Haiti and the recent earthquake in Japan.)

*Transitioning to Sacred Space. This is the amazing and beautiful work that many lightworkers are doing to hold the vibration of planetary energy grids as described by Mayan interpreters such as Drunvalo Melchizedek and Mayan teachers such as Ac Tah. (There are volumes that could be said about this but I am not the right person to do it.)

*Being a Wayshower. All of us are at different places in our spiritual journey. To the extent we can help others better understand the daunting complexity of the Shift in big and small ways, we're helping transformation to take place. As Daniel Pinchbeck has said, this isn't a time to withdraw from the world and savor spiritual solitude. There's simply too much to be done.

Dimensional and Syncretistic Translation. Pick up a copy of Barbara Hand Clow’s amazing book The Alchemy of Nine Dimensions and you'll see a fascinating breakdown of cosmic and metaphysical reality in terms of nine dimensions. Pick up a book on Taoist philosophy and you’ll see something that appears to be very different. But is the content really very similar? Yes! Imagine that content as being expressed by different languages: talking about the very same thing but understood only when both are decoded and fully translated. This too is a special kind of work that also needs to be done and an aspect of what we do at The Emergence Project.

Those are just a few thoughts that I wanted to put out there. Please feel free to mention others. Thank you.

2012 and the Internet: The Evolution of Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:24:00 +0000

In my last blog I talked about how what a challenging time this is for all of us with the acceleration of change now upon us. But the workings of cosmic divine order is a complex and mysterious process. I believe that amid extraordinary climate change, widespread economic turmoil,and possible food shortages along with other disruptions of the Shift, we’ve been given compensating gifts to deal with the inevitable chaos of the Shift.

The spiritual advice that this conjures up for me is “Where spirit guides, spirit provides”. Humanity has been guided towards this inflection point in the grand arc of history. This is a process governed by natural law and the evolutionary emergence of the Cosmos. We feel like we’re “in the soup” – deep in a torrent of change that we have no control over. But at the same time, we’ve been given gifts to deal with this mind blowing complexity and staggering sense of time acceleration.

Some of these gifts are what I’ll call internal and some of them external even though it’s a somewhat arbitrary distinction. The internal ones relate to changes in our human capabilities already taking place, not only in consciousness but in our physical bodies. Lightworkers such as Lisa Renee and Lauren Gorgo have provided rather amazing descriptions of multidimensional DNA transformation and the repatterning of the planetary energy grid. Other commentators have noted some unusual capabilities observed in children being born over the last 20 years or so.

Another more “external” gift is the power of technology which is being radically accelerated by the use of the computer. Technology itself is a double edged sword of course as are most tools. It can be used for beneficent or less than enlightened purposes. It’s our cultural inability to bypass technologies that are in the latter category that causes problems and the unthinking assumption that all technology applications must be good and useful. As a side note, it also seems clear from the work of Mayan interpreters Jose Arguelles (“Time and the Technosphere”) and Carl Calleman that technology is playing a major role in the acceleration process that we associate with the Shift.

Among gifts technological is of course the Internet which as I wrote about in Digital Mythologies is a powerful change agent in the evolution of mind. To name just a few of its effects, the Internet is allowing communities of interest to form that would not otherwise be possible and its role in the Egyptian revolution is obvious. The gathering of indigenous elders worldwide to come forth and share their ancient wisdom as it relates to the Shift (as is happening with Ac Tah’s work) would not be possible without this gift. So when things seem particularly bleak in terms of the unfolding of disruptive world events, I like to try to think a bit the about how these capabilities and others are available to us. There are many if we take the time look for them. What are some the the gifts you have seen in your journey?

The Challenges of the Shift: Gifts Have Been Given

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:17:00 +0000

2010 gave us a glimpse of what earth changes may have in store. New York, Moscow and much of Europe were paralyzed by winter storms. Australia was ravaged by unprecedented flooding, covering an area the size of France and Germany combined. As reported by Brad Johnson: "2010 is entering the history books as the hottest year on record." I’m still sorting through where bird and fish kills might fit into the picture but at least one credible source has suggested that the bird kills might be related to a pole shift.

Many are becoming more aware of these earth changes and seeing the patterns despite the mainstream media downplaying their significance. The trouble is that there can be a “180 degrees in the other direction” effect where the realization is a relatively sudden one. Then it becomes very easy to go into fear and panic. In this context, those who see 2012 strictly in apocalyptic terms will likely become all the more entrenched in their thinking. On the other hand, Mayan teacher Ac Tah has suggested that for many who have been in denial, acknowledging the reality of these events might be an important first step towards awakening.

With the accelerated intensity of events ratcheting up and not likely to diminish, keeping a balanced perspective can be a challenge. It is important to acknowledge the enormity of earth changes without obsessively dwelling on them. There’s a Chinese proverb that applies: “That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change. But that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” At the same time, it’s important to be compassionately attuned to the human suffering that earth changes inflict, do what we can to help those affected, and at the same time recognize the positive opportunity for growth and awakening that we are being gifted with.

I don’t know if this is Emerson’s law of compensation in action or not but I do believe that as dire as circumstances might seem at times, we as individuals are given compensatory gifts to deal with these challenges. The aphorism “where spirit guides, spirit provides” has a lot of resonance in this context. But I’d like to suggest that this applies to humanity in the aggregate as well as to our own individual journeys. In the next blog, I’ll talk a little more about what these gifts might be.

Ac Tah's Mayan "Messages of Light"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Back in August, we were contacted by James and Mai Needham who live in Mexico and work with a Mayan spiritual teacher, wisdom keeper and direct descendant Maya, Ac Tah. He has been traveling throughout Mexico -- literally walking from village to village -- to share the indigenous wisdom from his ancestors and create community in preparation for the Great Awakening now underway.

We had a number of enjoyable in-depth several conversations with James and Mai and they forwarded a copy of Ac Tah's book The Night of the Last Katun. It's a modestly produced book but full of insights and deep spiritual wisdom. We found ourselves inspired and moved by the authenticity, generosity, and expansiveness of Ac Tah's "messages of light", the revisiting of the ancient wisdom of the Mayan people for this time. Because this resonated with our own spiritual explorations on the nature and meaning of this amazing phenomenon we call Shift, we're now working with James and Mai to help bring Ac Tah's message to a wider global audience.

The return of the ancient wisdom is one of the most important aspects of the Shift. Mayan elders such as Carlos Barrios and Hunbatz Men have stepped forth to share their wisdom but Ac Tah is the first Mayan messenger we are aware of to bring forth this wisdom directly to audiences in the US with a speaking tour. The inclusiveness of this message is very appealing and heartening. Ac Tah intends to do a 13 city US tour in early 2011 and we're honored to be a part of that effort. In his book Ac Tah begins to reveal the secrets of his Mayan wisdom with a gentle but clear sense of urgency often missing in some discussions about the Shift. Most importantly, he talks about how, using encoded Maya technology, we can activate our DNA and rise to a higher frequency in the process of awakening.

On December 7, we were honored to offer a special teleconference with Ac Tah called "The Sun: The Change of Consciousness and the Wisdom of the Maya" In it, Ac Tah shared his insights and wisdom. He talked about earth changes, noting that the center of the earth has been changing and the sun has started behaving in a different way specially over the last 20 years. He talked about changes in the magnetic field that protects us from the solar wind. He described the essence of the augmenting role of the pyramids in changing harmonic frequencies and the rebuilding effort now underway in Mexico. Finally he urged staying in alignment with higher human values and joy. He said our state of being is more important than knowledge but cautioned that "we need both the wisdom of ancestors and modern intelligence."

Another Argument for Syncretism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:38:00 +0000

During the Shift, syncretism – the idea of appreciating the value of and commonality between many different spiritual traditions -- will become increasingly important especially as it relates to the idea of moving away from dualistic thinking. But sometimes syncretism is seen as a kind of spiritual mush, a feel-good amalgam of different spiritual traditions that radiates the idea that “it’s all good” but fails to make useful distinctions. Also sometimes we see critiques of its close cousin, so-called “cafeteria spirituality” which some see as either a kind of indulgence, a symptom of the inability to commit, or a kind of butterfly-hopping faddism.

But where can true syncretism take us? We’ve done a lot of work on this topic at the Emergence Project and Annette and I have studied and experimented with many different spiritual paths. One of my litmus tests for a worthy spiritual teacher has always been the degree to which they were willing to acknowledge the importance of other paths. The first guru I was associated with, Sri Chinmoy, had a strong message of syncretism and stressed the importance of honoring different paths. Paramahansa Yogananda is another great teacher falling into this category.

My own path started out with a practice involving Sri Chinmoy and Swami Rudrananda, the path of devotion and surrender and heart-practice. In a different phase of life, I began to study Buddhism through the work of the Tibetan master Chogyam Trungpa. Then as I began to take up the body-centered practice of Tai Chi, the focus shifted to Taoism. Today all three of these still remain very important aspects of my spiritual path. I think of them as three pillars in support of the unification of body (Taoism) heart (the Vedic tradition) and mind (Buddhism). I feel my spiritual practice would be greatly diminished if any one of them were not present.

The New Normal: Not in Kansas Anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 12:12:00 +0000

We had a great event with spiritual teacher and sound healer Zacciah Blackburn back in July. Zacciah combined talks about 2012 emergence with deep guided meditations including one he calls Three Hearts Practice. Zacciah describes this as an alignment between ourselves, the Heart of the Cosmos, and the Heart of the Earth.

One of the passages in his talk particularly resonated for me. He is clear and straightforward about the nature of the changes that are taking place and the need to disengage from energies and life patterns that "no longer serve us". And he pointed out that this change must be embraced and accepted as the "new normal".

Going further, Zacciah observed that this change often doesn't feel normal at all. In other words, we're not in Kansas anymore. As he puts it: "Our reality is about to shift in ways most of us do not comprehend. Even many who think they know and tell us much about the new age and awakening do not yet understand the depth of what is occurring. Few of us truly get it. 'Normal' has left us and we shall not see it again"...

When this sinks in, it's easy to go into fear. But it's a bit like that first dive on a rollercoaster. The mind has a near-simultaneous double-edged response. One second it's thinking something like "what have I gotten myself into?" And the next, it segues into "hey this is quite an interesting experience." Recognizing that we're privileged to participate in the Great Awakening at this unique time in human history seems like a good thing to reflect on and feel. Looking at the disruptive events in our lives and on the world stage with a clear eye (i.e. not going into denial about the full human impact of what's happening with events like the Gulf Oil spill) and (somehow!) at the same time staying out of fear is one of the hardest but most important things to do in this journey.

The "Mechanization of Culture"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:23:00 +0000

James O' Dea is the former president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and we were fortunate to have him give a keynote presentation at our conference last year. In his talk, James spoke of the "mechanization of culture" , a term that immediately resonated with me. It's a great way of describing a kind of trap we've fallen into in terms of giving away bits and pieces of our lives.Part of this mechanization refers to deep cultural patterns related to Cartesian and Newtonian views of the universe as a mechanism. This is the foundation for a more sophisticated form of materialism that pervades the cultural and educational landscape today. But another aspect relates to the idea of living our lives mechanically, even robotically.

We see this today in an unfortunate tendency to outsource bits and pieces of simple tasks and life activities that used to be an integral, joyful part of life. We are increasingly tempted to function as mini-corporations, hiring people to take care of simple life tasks because we're too busy focusing on other things to do them. Prepared foods and a boom in takeout restaurant dining for example has become a huge business discouraging people from mindfully preparing their own food. Got a pet? Don't bother cleaning up the mess, outsource it to a "pet waste technician" (Yes there are companies that do this). The list goes on.

Reconnecting to the earth means a lot of things: walks in nature, supporting green energy and conservation and recycling. There is of course a large list. But it also means reconnecting with "earthiness". Taoism and Zen Buddhism offer us wonderful perspectives focused on enjoying the simplest tasks and appreciating their restorative power. When we reconnect with the simpler aspects of our physical existence, we also reconnect with nature in a very fundamental way.

The Shift: Remembering and Forgetting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:34:00 +0000

Collective human cultural amnesia is the way of the world. We already know everything we need to know -- we’ve just forgotten much of it. In this extraordinary time, much of the rush of contemporary life seems to be also stampeding us into a kind of forgetfulness even as the incredible expansion of human knowledge continues. Perhaps the purpose of this emptying is to make way for a deeper, more lasting type of knowledge. Let's hope so.

In terms of our own personal spiritual journeys, the Russian mystic Gurdjieff often spoke of remembering as one of the most important aspects of the path to greater awareness. From that we can extrapolate a bit to our collective life from both a cultural and civilizational perspective. This process of remembering and going deep into the collective psyche becomes critically important in times of great stress and chaos such as what we are living through now.

As the information about the Shift surfaces in our collective consciousness from any number of sources (some surprising),this knowledge is coming into focus to help us through this extraordinary and at times extraordinarily difficult time. It represents a resurfacing of forgotten perennial wisdom at its deepest levels. This ancient wisdom is the most practical advice we can have to enhance the spiritual journey at this time.

Thoughts on the Gulf Oil Spill

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 21:07:00 +0000

The enormity and tragedy of the Gulf oil spill takes a while to sink in. I know it did with me. The array of emotions was palpable: sadness, disgust, anger, shock, among them. Heeding the advice of Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy, I let the intensity of the feelings work through and did not shy away from allowing myself to really feel what was going on in mind and heart. Macy says that it’s important to feel the great tragedy of the destruction of our home planet in all its ramifications to avoid the danger of becoming numb.

And it’s so easy to become numb. I was watching a popular PBS political talk show called the McLaughlin Group recently and listening to the speakers rattle on about the spill as if it was something that didn’t really affect them, as if it was something outside themselves. They seemed only interested in calculating the political effects of this great human and environmental tragedy. What’s wrong with this picture?

The shift in consciousness will take place only when all of us “get it” and allow the enormity of earth changes to break through our carefully constructed wall of consensus reality. This means letting the import of these events seep through our natural psychological self defenses and barriers. Admittedly, this is not easy. Reflexively, we want everything to be “all right” and if it isn’t in the external world,there’s a tendency to try to make it so in our minds by denial or various forms of cognitive filtering(which are,in essence, lesser forms of denial).

All in all, the Gulf tragedy is a powerful metaphor for what we have already been doing to the planet for hundreds of years. It’s almost as if that process has been speeded up for us to see in dramatic fashion as the Shift intensifies, a form of karmic reckoning. It is also a strong message about the limits of technology and messing with things we don’t fully understand. The Icelandic Volcano, Hurricane Katrina, Nashville, Haiti, and now the Gulf spill are all potent but deeply saddening examples of shifting earth energies of the prophecies and underscore in dramatic fashion the need to change our view of our planetary home and the cosmos.

Returning to the Great Stillness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:15:00 +0000

My new dachshund puppy is teaching me a lot about silence. Not that she's silent. Anything but. But I live in a rural area about an hour from Boston. There are at least six horse farms in the area, and a quintessential new England common with three white steepled churches that was once filmed in a movie to provide the backdrop for....well, a quintessential New England common. By most standards it would qualify as rural or quasi-rural. But as it turns out little black and tan Maggie is super-sensitive to noises and if she's out in the yard and hears a plane or a leaf blower, she freaks. This has in turn made me more sensitive to the noises she hears and has been a bit of a revelation. What surprises me is how much of it I hear in this supposedly rural realm. I call this ambient background noise that we are all immersed in The Great Noise. Some may want to include the ever present media barrage as a part of this as well.

I'm not sure exactly why there is so much noise in our lives these days. When did this happen? It seems to be a product of the hyper-accelerated times we're now living in and the tendency in our culture to engage in the business of busyness. Certainly fostering a 24/7 world has fostered the elimination of many sacred spaces in our lives or even just time to pause, reflect, or appreciate. But as the Shift progresses, the transparency of all this busyness which has become the ambient white noise of our lives becomes more obvious. We may be called to find what poet T.S. Eliot called the "still center of the turning world" and one of my own teachers, Taoist master Bruce Frantzis, calls the "great stillness". This is not just a personal endeavor however. Our society and culture also needs to return to the special places and spaces that marked a time for spirit to renew and soul to reconnect. In time I believe this will happen but in a pluralistic society such as ours, it becomes a more complicated process. In finding that sweet spot of stillness, we can remember who we are and what we are called to do in this special time.

Deep Cultural Transformation: Education

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:46:00 +0000

In the last few blogs I talked a little bit about the need for sacred activism in a 2012 context and how that practice might lend itself to many areas of life including education, health care, technology, and environmental development. In terms of education, the chaos currently pervading our institutions all the way from K-12 to the university level is well known and documented.

No amount of top down “programs”and testing approaches are going to provide some sort of quick fix for this. As in health care and other areas, a deep cultural transformation is needed. A precursor to this is a forthright admission of failure and recognition that the way we are doing things now is unbalanced and not a path that resonates with the spirit of New Earth. And after this, there is process of discovery that needs to take place to identify more specifically what needs to change.

In this context, I ran across an excellent article called Seven Sins of Our System of Forced Education written by Peter Gray, a Research Professor of Psychology at Boston College, published in his blog on the Psychology Today web site. It’s a great list of things that have not worked in our educational system. Here are the main points:

1. Denial of liberty on the basis of age.
2. Fostering of shame, on the one hand, and hubris, on the other.
3. Interference with the development of cooperation and nurturance.
4. Interference with the development of personal responsibility and self-direction.
5. Linking of learning with fear, loathing, and drudgery.
6. Inhibition of critical thinking.
7. Reduction in diversity of skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking.

Deep Cultural Transformation: Getting There from Here

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:34:00 +0000

Our educational institutions seem to be putting less emphasis these days on right brain activity. Art and music are getting sidelined and math and science elevated. But as we head into the new paradigm, creativity and imagination will become increasingly important. If there is a "New Earth" to be built, as Eckhart Tolle describes it, positive intent will be extremely important. But so will digging in and doing the work. Every area of life will beckon us towards a new way of thinking and being. As eco-poet Gary Snyder puts it: "Find your place on the planet, dig in and, take responsibility from there."

This is where sacred activism as described by teachers such as Andrew Harvey come into play. It could involve helping those caught in the dire exigencies of transition and economic dislocation. It could involve discernment, interpretation, teaching or truthtelling. It could also center on helping to create the new social and cultural modalities needed to support the New Earth paradigm. There are many other areas needing our collective and individual attention. Everyone has a role to play and something to contribute.

Cultural Transformation: Health Care

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:55:00 +0000

I’m old enough to remember when going to see a doctor was a simple person to person transaction. After a visit you would get a bill in the mail and pay it. Health care is a deeply personal issue and when I look at the heath care mess today it seems that we’ve moved from the notion of a simple person to person human transaction to a complex, technocratically constituted system. What’s wrong with this picture? An array of “middle men” now have assumed as much importance in this scheme (or in some cases more) than that of healer and patient.

Intervening between you and your doctor is a whole infobureaucracy of insurers, pharmaceutical industry minions, paper-pushers, and second guessers. In my book Digital Mythologies, I wrote about this larger social and cultural phenomenon a bit in an essay that described the rise of technologically-fostered mediated relationships. Author James O’Dea who spoke at our conference last year describes this state of affairs as “the mechanization of culture”. Its mind-bending complexity is not only rendering the very process of getting care dysfunctional, it makes the ability to establish holistic and healing relationships difficult. As the Shift dissolves energies that support it, there will be great opportunities for alternative and holistic practitioners to step in and help restore balance of human dignity and direct, caring relationships in health care settings. Cutting edge technology will still be an important capability but will need to assume a much less obtrusive role in the healing process.