Comments on: The G-20 Vision is Obsolete http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2010/07/08/the-g-8-and-the-g-20-a-matter-of-vision-and-consciousness/ From music and science to WorldShift 2012, a visionary diary of our times Sun, 13 May 2012 20:05:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hugo Penteado http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2010/07/08/the-g-8-and-the-g-20-a-matter-of-vision-and-consciousness/#comment-2671 Hugo Penteado Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:37:00 +0000 http://ervinlaszlo.com/?p=691#comment-2671 A messasge to G20: Economic Growth is “the” utopia Economic growth is “the” utopia. I strongly suggest everyone to read Nicholas Georgescu-Reogen (1906-1994). If he had been listened, most part of the global risks we are having today would be avoided. Economics is a false theory based on laws of classical mechanics or locomotion. These laws are valid until today to build a bridge, a house, etc, but it is insufficient to explain systemic reality. When economic was born as a science, they emulated classical physics and embedded in all axioms and conservation principles the rules of mechanical process to explain the economic system. Based on that, economists believe that all economic processes are reversible, predictable and neutral to the environment. We can pass a tractor on Amazon. Just give reverse gear that nothing happened. However, without the forest, we will be all dead. The technological myth empowered the wrong belief that Earth is inexhaustible. The first exhaustion is the size of territories, that are finite (water supply also is finite). If we were to give the same amount of cars to Chinese and emerging countries populations at the US proportions, we would have to cover the entire planet with those new cars. Economists do not care about that: for them the only thing that matters is flows, not the inventories, because they consider Earth inexhaustible. GDP, for instance, is a flow and nothing can be better than natural disasters and wars, which affect the inventories, without affecting the GDP and create a new flow or a GDP increase to reconstruction. But the major restriction almost invisible is the working of several ecological services that are collapsing and sustain everything around us (about the critical situation, see Millenium Ecosystem Assessment or the works of Earth Policy Institute). Keep in mind that the planet does not offer a problem as a supplier (we only escavated 1% of the crust and submarine mining is about to start). Earth offers a problem as an absorber of all human economic activities - so there are really two limitations very obvious to insist on this stupid idea of economic growth. Above all, more stupid is to believe that economic growth is the social and environmental salvation – in other words, that people are getting more employed, happier and better with economic growth. It is just the opposite, economic growth is only pursued to keep financial and fiscal systems solvent for the very wealthy people avoid losses. So, solvency is largely at risk, along with our social equilibrium, because economic growth is scientifically impossible. Grow out of our solvency problems is not our challenge. Our challenge is change those systems in a way to delink from impossible economic growth and break a move that only enriches the rich and creates the biggest wealth concentration in history (mainly in the developed world, what could be a surprise for many readers, but take a look in US situation by reading Kevin Philips, “Wealth and Concentration”. This growthmania is valid until today, although policymakers ignore that social and planetary reality. Roegen´s criticism is irrefutable and based on science. Roegen predicted decades ago what will happen to the planet before scientists brought about the evidences of a collision route between the economies and Earth. Roegen said that if the throwaway and waste economy goes further, one day we will be able to leave Earth bathed by the sun just for the bacterian life. Paleontologists are scared today with the biggest life extinction of the last 65 millions of years, caused by humankind. And they also said that it is very naive to believe this extinction will never be against the causers. Humans are totally dependent on Nature. Our hearts only beat because a living being is capable to imprison sunlight. Almost 80% of everything that enters into our mouths is water. Water only exists because exist animals and plants in the ecosystems around us: If animals and plants disappear, water would also disappear. Even our industrial food chain is jeopardized by climate change and bee disorder colonies. Human beings recklessly release huge amount of greenhouse gases daily on our tiny atmosphere with no natural regulatory system to clean the grubbiness. Global warming is not “the” problem, but one of the several problems challenging our future. Oxygen in our tiny atmosphere is released by huge amount of tiny phytoplankton in the oceans. Every single day the planet recycles through living beings and ecosystems the sources of our existence. We ignore that and we are destroying these living forces but indeed what we are destroying is our animal species. Nature is shrinking on daily basis just to satisfy an eternal economic growth based on growing unnecessary household consumption that is not aimed to satisfy human needs. Roegen showed that economic theory cannot explain reality, because of the separation myth by using mechanical laws on that field. So, economists bravely conclude until today that the economic system is totally separated from Nature. Additionally, economists really think and work as if the economies were a subsystem of the planet. They really believe that economic system can be bigger than the planet. It is an astonishing misconception, but this misconception protects corporate profits in a large scale from social and environmental externalities. Some research already proved that corporate profits would entirely disappear if were to account for those externalities. So getting profits by doing this is not a signal of our intelligence, but of our greed and stupidity. Economic growth is "the" utopia, it is today a demand of a very small group of powerful people and it has nothing to do with common people ideals and necessities and future. The economic misconception ruled economic decisions in the past and today and is behind every single economic crisis, not only the current one. It is becoming clear that economies will never go back to the past economic trajectory again without facing new and risky setbacks. This is not only a new crisis, it is "the" crisis, an ethical one, by which we continue to ignore the inequalities of economic benefits among nations and inside nations. These social inequalities along with environmental disasters are historically behind a huge disruption and capitalism will not going to be an exception. The only difference now is that this new disruption will be global and can be the end of life on this planet. It is going to be our spiritual choice: individualism and wars or social real network preservation and generosity. Given the current pressure on ecosystems, some sort of degrowth is needed to avoid a tipping point and extinction. “Décroissance” is not linked to the left or to the right, as it was said in a Financial Times article. In fact, it is linked to the highest levels of science knowledge today about what are our challenges and threats. Soviet regime, by the way, was strongly criticized by Roegen: both regimes – capitalism and the soviet – destroyed Nature cowardly, as if there was no tomorrow. Depending on our choices, this can be true. No tomorrow. Hugo Penteado Post Scriptum I took this opportunity not only to advise readers to go to Roegen´s books, but to read Ted Trainer (Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society) and Chandran Nair (Consumptionomics). A messasge to G20: Economic Growth is “the” utopia

Economic growth is “the” utopia. I strongly suggest everyone to read Nicholas Georgescu-Reogen (1906-1994). If he had been listened, most part of the global risks we are having today would be avoided. Economics is a false theory based on laws of classical mechanics or locomotion. These laws are valid until today to build a bridge, a house, etc, but it is insufficient to explain systemic reality. When economic was born as a science, they emulated classical physics and embedded in all axioms and conservation principles the rules of mechanical process to explain the economic system. Based on that, economists believe that all economic processes are reversible, predictable and neutral to the environment. We can pass a tractor on Amazon. Just give reverse gear that nothing happened. However, without the forest, we will be all dead.
The technological myth empowered the wrong belief that Earth is inexhaustible. The first exhaustion is the size of territories, that are finite (water supply also is finite). If we were to give the same amount of cars to Chinese and emerging countries populations at the US proportions, we would have to cover the entire planet with those new cars. Economists do not care about that: for them the only thing that matters is flows, not the inventories, because they consider Earth inexhaustible. GDP, for instance, is a flow and nothing can be better than natural disasters and wars, which affect the inventories, without affecting the GDP and create a new flow or a GDP increase to reconstruction. But the major restriction almost invisible is the working of several ecological services that are collapsing and sustain everything around us (about the critical situation, see Millenium Ecosystem Assessment or the works of Earth Policy Institute). Keep in mind that the planet does not offer a problem as a supplier (we only escavated 1% of the crust and submarine mining is about to start). Earth offers a problem as an absorber of all human economic activities – so there are really two limitations very obvious to insist on this stupid idea of economic growth. Above all, more stupid is to believe that economic growth is the social and environmental salvation – in other words, that people are getting more employed, happier and better with economic growth. It is just the opposite, economic growth is only pursued to keep financial and fiscal systems solvent for the very wealthy people avoid losses. So, solvency is largely at risk, along with our social equilibrium, because economic growth is scientifically impossible. Grow out of our solvency problems is not our challenge. Our challenge is change those systems in a way to delink from impossible economic growth and break a move that only enriches the rich and creates the biggest wealth concentration in history (mainly in the developed world, what could be a surprise for many readers, but take a look in US situation by reading Kevin Philips, “Wealth and Concentration”.
This growthmania is valid until today, although policymakers ignore that social and planetary reality. Roegen´s criticism is irrefutable and based on science. Roegen predicted decades ago what will happen to the planet before scientists brought about the evidences of a collision route between the economies and Earth. Roegen said that if the throwaway and waste economy goes further, one day we will be able to leave Earth bathed by the sun just for the bacterian life. Paleontologists are scared today with the biggest life extinction of the last 65 millions of years, caused by humankind. And they also said that it is very naive to believe this extinction will never be against the causers. Humans are totally dependent on Nature. Our hearts only beat because a living being is capable to imprison sunlight. Almost 80% of everything that enters into our mouths is water. Water only exists because exist animals and plants in the ecosystems around us: If animals and plants disappear, water would also disappear. Even our industrial food chain is jeopardized by climate change and bee disorder colonies. Human beings recklessly release huge amount of greenhouse gases daily on our tiny atmosphere with no natural regulatory system to clean the grubbiness. Global warming is not “the” problem, but one of the several problems challenging our future. Oxygen in our tiny atmosphere is released by huge amount of tiny phytoplankton in the oceans. Every single day the planet recycles through living beings and ecosystems the sources of our existence. We ignore that and we are destroying these living forces but indeed what we are destroying is our animal species. Nature is shrinking on daily basis just to satisfy an eternal economic growth based on growing unnecessary household consumption that is not aimed to satisfy human needs. Roegen showed that economic theory cannot explain reality, because of the separation myth by using mechanical laws on that field. So, economists bravely conclude until today that the economic system is totally separated from Nature. Additionally, economists really think and work as if the economies were a subsystem of the planet. They really believe that economic system can be bigger than the planet. It is an astonishing misconception, but this misconception protects corporate profits in a large scale from social and environmental externalities. Some research already proved that corporate profits would entirely disappear if were to account for those externalities. So getting profits by doing this is not a signal of our intelligence, but of our greed and stupidity.
Economic growth is “the” utopia, it is today a demand of a very small group of powerful people and it has nothing to do with common people ideals and necessities and future. The economic misconception ruled economic decisions in the past and today and is behind every single economic crisis, not only the current one. It is becoming clear that economies will never go back to the past economic trajectory again without facing new and risky setbacks. This is not only a new crisis, it is “the” crisis, an ethical one, by which we continue to ignore the inequalities of economic benefits among nations and inside nations. These social inequalities along with environmental disasters are historically behind a huge disruption and capitalism will not going to be an exception. The only difference now is that this new disruption will be global and can be the end of life on this planet. It is going to be our spiritual choice: individualism and wars or social real network preservation and generosity.
Given the current pressure on ecosystems, some sort of degrowth is needed to avoid a tipping point and extinction. “Décroissance” is not linked to the left or to the right, as it was said in a Financial Times article. In fact, it is linked to the highest levels of science knowledge today about what are our challenges and threats. Soviet regime, by the way, was strongly criticized by Roegen: both regimes – capitalism and the soviet – destroyed Nature cowardly, as if there was no tomorrow. Depending on our choices, this can be true. No tomorrow.
Hugo Penteado
Post Scriptum

I took this opportunity not only to advise readers to go to Roegen´s books, but to read Ted Trainer (Renewable Energy Cannot Sustain a Consumer Society) and Chandran Nair (Consumptionomics).

]]> By: Hilde Janssen http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2010/07/08/the-g-8-and-the-g-20-a-matter-of-vision-and-consciousness/#comment-1386 Hilde Janssen Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:17:27 +0000 http://ervinlaszlo.com/?p=691#comment-1386 I just wonder. Could it be possible to create a kind of "voluntary" migration of all people who would like to speak, what I call, "The language of the Heart"? Could it be possible to organize worldwide a kind of election, not an election for people, but an election between the old way of living and the new one? You have both sides ready very clearly, so, let people make a conscious choice worldwide. Than, we know clearly how many people are ready to make this shift. Than, we can already start to organize and to cooperate all together in a very conscious way. Than we all make a very conscious choice to move forward, or to stagnate in an old way of living. What choice do we have, if we can only elect people who stagnate in the old way of living. I think it's better not to elect for people anymore, but too choose in what kind of society we would like to live. Than of course the world will be divided in two parts. The old one, and the new one that still has to be created with the people who are ready for it. This probably will cause a migration on a large scale, but at least than we know what the migration is about, instead of waiting for all the disasters to come, what will cause migration on a large scale anyway. Could it be possible to protect this new community with an energetic border of very high frequencies that exclude the old energies, if they want to disturb the new creation. I believe that making a conscious choice and working all together is better than fighting against the old power and trying to force them to change. I believe, we don't have to wait for their permission, they will never give it, because they want to maintain their own power. So, we have to find a way to let their power fall down. I believe that fighting against them or trying to convince them to change, is not the right way. We have to give ourselves the permission to make that shift, to bring it very clearly in the open worldwide, so that people can make a very conscious choice and take their own responsibilities for the consequences. People who speak the "language of the Heart" will understand and support this new way of living, people who don't speak this language will resist. But it isn't a matter of who is right and who is wrong. It is a matter of making a clear and conscious choice, so we don't have to fight and manipulate each other anymore. Than, we can use our energies to move forward, instead of using our energies in fighting the old ones like this is happening in the VS. A lot of energy is wasted in that constant fight and that of course is what this old power wants. As long we agree that money rules the world, it will rule. We have to stop this power, by making another choice. But it has to be very clear for people what they can choose for. So, it is better to choose for a clear plan first, the old or the new one, and then you can choose for people who support each plan. We let both plans exist next to each other. Of course, you can always change your mind, but you have to follow the rules of the plan that you choose for. I don't know if we can make this possible, but I really would like to discuss this one. From Heart to Heart, Hilde Janssen I just wonder. Could it be possible to create a kind of “voluntary” migration of all people who would like to speak, what I call, “The language of the Heart”? Could it be possible to organize worldwide a kind of election, not an election for people, but an election between the old way of living and the new one? You have both sides ready very clearly, so, let people make a conscious choice worldwide. Than, we know clearly how many people are ready to make this shift. Than, we can already start to organize and to cooperate all together in a very conscious way. Than we all make a very conscious choice to move forward, or to stagnate in an old way of living. What choice do we have, if we can only elect people who stagnate in the old way of living. I think it’s better not to elect for people anymore, but too choose in what kind of society we would like to live. Than of course the world will be divided in two parts. The old one, and the new one that still has to be created with the people who are ready for it. This probably will cause a migration on a large scale, but at least than we know what the migration is about, instead of waiting for all the disasters to come, what will cause migration on a large scale anyway. Could it be possible to protect this new community with an energetic border of very high frequencies that exclude the old energies, if they want to disturb the new creation. I believe that making a conscious choice and working all together is better than fighting against the old power and trying to force them to change. I believe, we don’t have to wait for their permission, they will never give it, because they want to maintain their own power. So, we have to find a way to let their power fall down. I believe that fighting against them or trying to convince them to change, is not the right way. We have to give ourselves the permission to make that shift, to bring it very clearly in the open worldwide, so that people can make a very conscious choice and take their own responsibilities for the consequences. People who speak the “language of the Heart” will understand and support this new way of living, people who don’t speak this language will resist. But it isn’t a matter of who is right and who is wrong. It is a matter of making a clear and conscious choice, so we don’t have to fight and manipulate each other anymore. Than, we can use our energies to move forward, instead of using our energies in fighting the old ones like this is happening in the VS. A lot of energy is wasted in that constant fight and that of course is what this old power wants. As long we agree that money rules the world, it will rule. We have to stop this power, by making another choice. But it has to be very clear for people what they can choose for. So, it is better to choose for a clear plan first, the old or the new one, and then you can choose for people who support each plan. We let both plans exist next to each other. Of course, you can always change your mind, but you have to follow the rules of the plan that you choose for.

I don’t know if we can make this possible, but I really would like to discuss this one.

From Heart to Heart,
Hilde Janssen

]]> By: Barbara Smith Stoff http://ervinlaszlo.com/notebook/2010/07/08/the-g-8-and-the-g-20-a-matter-of-vision-and-consciousness/#comment-1272 Barbara Smith Stoff Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:22:23 +0000 http://ervinlaszlo.com/?p=691#comment-1272 (It seems that change in such a large macro pattern may be indeed be possible?) Dear Ervin, Reading this I keep thinking of Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of “punctuated equilibrium” …wherein even a small change in a micro pattern can dramatically and swiftly affect the macro pattern. This concept also seems to me to be congruent with the hopeful work of Rupert Sheldrake (Morphic Resonance), and Ilya Prigogine (1977 Nobel Prize for The Theory of Dissipative Structures). Of course I feel that their work, like that of Lyall Watson can provide a context for looking at a lot of (perhaps more mystical) terms used to denote the Akashic Field. I first encountered the term ‘punctuated equilibrium’ as I was reading Darwin’s Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life…by Charles R. Pellegrino and Jesse A. Stoff. When I came to chapter ten…I was practically electrified as I could ‘see’ this might be the principle operating in this (now famous in some circles) ‘consciousness shift.’ I will quote a few lines from that chapter: "In an attempt to lessen the tensions between genetics and geology, Niles Eldredge of the American Museum of Natural History and Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University introduced the model of punctuated equilibrium in 1972. According to this model (which has its roots in Harvard systematist Ernst Mayr’s allopathic theory, wherein new species arise in very small populations at the edges or frontiers of a species’ geographic range), punctuation, or rapid change, is typically associated with small founding populations cut off from genetic communication with their parental group. … Major evolutionary change can occur in these small peripheral populations. … Favorable traits can spread quickly among the isolates….Acting on small numbers, selection tends to be more intense, setting the stage for the formation of new species….Meanwhile, in the larger central population, favorable variations can be expected to spread very slowly (mainly because they are diluted), and many of these will be contributed by the returning descendents of pioneers…And the change occurs too quickly to be recorded in transition." [excerpted from Chapter 10, Darwin’s Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life. Charles Pellegrino and Jesse Stoff. 1986. Second Edition. TAB Books, Inc.] Charlie has taken a lot of heat for this flying in the face of the establishment…even his fossils were “confiscated”—although later studied closely by the “confiscators”….and his doctorate was finally approved and delivered to him. And now, just yesterday, as I am transcribing Sheldon’s chapter on the future and the A-field, I see that he too has been thinking of the dynamics of ‘punctuated equilibrium’…even though we are working in opposite ends of the house!:) He says I can put the draft up here in response to your essay on the obsolescence of the G-20 vision. It seems that change in such a large macro pattern may be indeed be possible? Here is (from the forthcoming AKASHA: THE HIDDEN UNIVERSE by Sheldon Stoff and Barbara Smith Stoff © 2010) … Sheldon’s chapter draft entitled “The Akashic Field and Our Future on Earth”… You will note that most of this comes through his meditations and inner listening—he has been doing this for at least fifty years: THE AKASHIC FIELD AND OUR FUTURE ON EARTH As always occurs when I sit down to write, there is a ritual I perform: a) Prayers b) Meditation c) Writing d) Confirmation So it is with this chapter. There is one difference. When seeking to understand and describe the future we find it is more difficult than when seeking the past and present. The Akashic Field does describe the future but we, and our helpers in the other dimensions find it more difficult to do so. The descriptions are accurate unless there is a major change, which very rarely happens. We therefore, write of tendencies which will have a very high probability. The Akashic Field has no reason to cling to a past outlook if, for very good reasons, it was spiritually wise to move in a different direction. This would entail a change in the consciousness of Earthlings. There seems to be an extremely small probability of this happening, however there are more and more individuals who subscribe to the ‘shift in consciousness’ theory—by whatever name they use to speak or write of this. Also, these are not daily projections. Rather, they are tendencies over centuries. With this caution, let us proceed, always keeping in mind that the Akashic Field is completely accurate in viewing the past, the present and the future. Only the future may be modified by a change in the intensity of consciousness by the able. We have been told that when perceiving the future it appears to be as real as the past or the present. An investigator can view happenings as they occur or share the consciousness with an inhabitant, and view directly. Again, we write of the future. A community, advanced in consciousness, is described to us. In a well populated country, it is a forerunner of a most progressive civilization. It is surrounded by a peaceful nation, which is not advanced to the point of joining with, but progressive enough to appreciate the level of development. You might call it an example of “punctuated equilibrium”—in the context of that evolutionary theory. This time, as in the distant past, it is at the service of humankind. As the mass of humanity was ever so slowly progressing, but essentially in equilibrium, ever evolving small communities throughout the world, were “punctuating” the status quo, and were forerunners of a higher state of consciousness. We are not writing now of tomorrow, but of a time of perhaps six to eight hundred years from now. At that time a community of mature, evolving individuals will establish a community (several will be going forward throughout the world) which will soon be self-sufficient and grounded on the highest ethical and responsible disciplines. Humankind will then be making significant peaceful ascents. These numbers will grow from the size of a small village to that of a fair-sized city. Even with size increases, caring relationships are always maintained for they are always thinking of the common good. Individual greed has long been forgotten as a discarded trait of the past. The government, small as it is, is run by a group or council, always dedicated to the advancement of the group. Individual vibrations and aura clearly indicated levels of attainment. Disagreements are rare and are quickly resolved by discussion. A large family, in complete harmony, might be a fitting description. It is true community living in every way. Telepathy is the foundation of distant discourse and more individuals are able to see that which we only imagine. Working for the common good often means relying on barter rather than a money exchange. Any exchange is reached in a win-win model. Free power is even generated by obtaining vast amounts of energy from the smallest of material sources. Our known sources today have been obsolete for centuries. Almost anything, or work, that we now consider necessary will then be seen as quaint or inefficient. With an expanded consciousness and having outgrown wars, our present conceptions of individual gain at the expense of others will be viewed with alarm and distaste. We must always conceive of the “we” and “community” in all decisions and plannings. Selfishness and manipulation are diseases long conquered. There will also be the knowledge that beings of advanced types will constantly incarnate in these progressive communities in order to help with ideas, technology, and governing. As these groups grow, they will constantly serve as models for other communities and nations so that additional programs will be made as the originals serve by examples. In time, the world will change. It will mature as individuals have matured. An ever expanding consciousness will break down barriers as all begin to understand that to individualize means to seek your essence and that essence is unity. We will acknowledge and live our oneness with nature, with people and with the cosmos. As we assume responsibility for all humankind, poverty will no longer exist. War will have long been outlawed and a new era of relationships arrived at. The concept of beauty will influence education, the arts, and the media. Sensibilities will demand beauty in perception and in the way of life. There will be a mass awakening to beauty of our evolving spirituality. It began with a base spiritual level. It needed a physical existence in order to achieve learning that only the physical existence could provide and then move forward to the many levels of spiritual reality. To become a Bodhisatva was a wonderful accomplishment, but not the final one. All existence now rests on two paths, which are actually one. The first requires that we appreciate the “Beauty Path” and dwell in the beauty of all of our surroundings, including the cosmos, nature, animals, people, our environment, and our evolving spirituality. Here, now, we have often closed our workshops with the Navajo Beauty Ceremony: In beauty we walk. With beauty to the right of us we walk. With beauty to the left of us we walk. With beauty before us we walk. With beauty behind us we walk. We are embraced by beauty. Let it be so. The second path, in a way indistinguishable from the first, emphasized the quality of all of our relations. They had to be permeated with beauty, now spelled out in ways of respect, gratitude, helpfulness, service, thoughtfulness and awareness to depths previously ignored. The deeper we look, the more wondrous it becomes. We live in wonder and magnificence and some are just beginning to realize it, just beginning to appreciate the wonder and beauty of all existence, spiritual and physical. In the future there finally comes the realization that only in the apparent I-It relationship is there distance and separation. In the reality of the I-Thou relationship we live the understanding that we are a part of the cosmos, nature and all humanity. It is a new life that we can live with joy, wonder and unity, or oneness. They, in the centuries to come, finally understand that truly we humans are the Bodhisatvas of the future. A universal oneness of brotherhood exists in these growing outposts, these outposts punctuating the equilibrium of the existing civilization. With this universal brotherhood there are also strong currents toward a universal religion with this new understanding of existent reality. Humankind is maturing from the caves of darkness into the sunlight of unity, wonder, love and compassion. With this recognition comes a new joy in bonding and oneness. Life can never be boring when there is the realization of being surrounded by love in a world designed for our evolution. Perhaps this prayer, spoken over centuries, summarizes the view of some now, and yet of many in the future: As long as space remains, As long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain, And dispel the miseries of the world. (Shantideva, 8th Century) As we have noticed, the expansion of consciousness outward, with a resulting awareness of the unity of humankind, which includes nature and the cosmos, we have also witnessed an introspection so deep that we have uncovered layers of consciousness within, connecting to layers of consciousness without. Without our consciousness, we cease to exist. Without a universal consciousness, the universe itself ceases to exist. This consciousness, growing through the centuries, affirms that the prime function and service of the universal was that of life itself. Life first, as energy, as matter, as dimly conscious, as conscious of its habitat, not only on the earth, but as part of the all, as a full citizen of the universe. That is Citizenship spelled with a capital “C.” That also summarizes the function and dynamic of our planned evolution. How can we glimpse a time so distant, perhaps 600-800 years away? First we would say, meditate on the Akashic. This is a slow but tried and true method that has been utilized in all recorded history. Second, be open. Be open to the world. I can recall walking in a wooded area and coming face-to-face with a mighty oak. As I embraced this mighty tree, its inner strength was palpable to me. It reached out, and we joined embraces. “It was Thou. I was Thou.” I felt I could touch eternity and the years gave away their secrets. I believe that we were both changed, but of that I cannot say for sure. I can only answer for myself. On that day another veil was lifted. On that day the equilibrium was punctuated! I believe that can, and does, happen more often than we might think, if we are open. We conclude this narrative with a statement from Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux. He spoke these words on Harney Peak at the close of the dialogue with Flaming Rainbow; “Something should happen today. If I have any power left, the thunder beings of the west should hear me when I send a voice, and there should be at least a little thunder and a little rain…” It was a season of drought, one of the worst in the memory of the old men. The sky remained clear until the conclusion of the ceremony. “Right over there,” said Black Elk, indicating a point of rock, “is where I stood in my vision, but the hoop of the world about me was different, for what I saw was in the spirit… “Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you, the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, the wings of the air and all green things that live. You have set the powers of the four quarters to cross each other. The good road and the road of difficulties you have made to cross; and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in and day out, forever, you are the life of things… “Therefore I am sending a voice, Great Spirit, my Grandfather, forgetting nothing you have made, the stars of the universe and the grasses of the earth… “You have said to me, when I was still young and could hope, that in difficulty I should send a voice four times, once for each quarter of the earth, and you would hear me…. “Today, I send a voice for a people in despair. “You have given me a sacred pipe, and through this I should make my offering. You see it now…. “With tears running, O Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather—with running tears I must say now that the tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, and I have fallen away and have done nothing. Here at the center of the world, where you took me when I was young and taught me; here, old, I stand and the tree is withered, Grandfather, my Grandfather! “Again, and maybe the last time on this earth, I recall the great vision you sent me. It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds. Hear me, not for myself, but for my people; I am old. Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop and find the good red road, the shielding tree.” With tears running down his cheeks, the old man raised his voice to a thin high wail, and chanted: “In sorrow I am sending a feeble voice, O Six Powers of the World. Hear me in my sorrow, for I may never call again. O make my people live!” For some minutes the old man stood silent, with face uplifted, weeping in the drizzling rain. In a little while, the sky was clear again. ****** And so it is for humankind in 2010. Some have seen the vision and it is good. Yes, there are hard times ahead, of our own making. The selfish ego is a hard thing to contain. But contain it we must. As long as we seek to expand our consciousness of heaven and earth, we will all move forward. The mountains can be climbed if we only focus our will. The sunshine is there when we climb out of the cave of darkness, greed and selfishness. Yes, that sunshine is warm and nourishing. Let us join together and walk toward the light, partners all. All of us embracing the “Thou” …waiting to be embraced. Let us close with two quotations out of ancient scriptures—the first: “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself” sums up the attitude which we will be living—the “I” will have merged into the “We”… in the community the future. The second helps to define the first: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Again, the bonds of brotherhood overcome the “I” of ego. We know that we are a distinct entity as a part of the all. A world of special energies bond together in love and appreciation. Let it be so! --Sheldon Stoff --bss (It seems that change in such a large macro pattern may be indeed be possible?)
Dear Ervin,
Reading this I keep thinking of Stephen Jay Gould’s concept of “punctuated equilibrium” …wherein even a small change in a micro pattern can dramatically and swiftly affect the macro pattern. This concept also seems to me to be congruent with the hopeful work of Rupert Sheldrake (Morphic Resonance), and Ilya Prigogine (1977 Nobel Prize for The Theory of Dissipative Structures). Of course I feel that their work, like that of Lyall Watson can provide a context for looking at a lot of (perhaps more mystical) terms used to denote the Akashic Field.

I first encountered the term ‘punctuated equilibrium’ as I was reading Darwin’s Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life…by Charles R. Pellegrino and Jesse A. Stoff. When I came to chapter ten…I was practically electrified as I could ‘see’ this might be the principle operating in this (now famous in some circles) ‘consciousness shift.’
I will quote a few lines from that chapter:
“In an attempt to lessen the tensions between genetics and geology, Niles Eldredge of the American Museum of Natural History and Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard University introduced the model of punctuated equilibrium in 1972. According to this model (which has its roots in Harvard systematist Ernst Mayr’s allopathic theory, wherein new species arise in very small populations at the edges or frontiers of a species’ geographic range), punctuation, or rapid change, is typically associated with small founding populations cut off from genetic communication with their parental group. … Major evolutionary change can occur in these small peripheral populations. … Favorable traits can spread quickly among the isolates….Acting on small numbers, selection tends to be more intense, setting the stage for the formation of new species….Meanwhile, in the larger central population, favorable variations can be expected to spread very slowly (mainly because they are diluted), and many of these will be contributed by the returning descendents of pioneers…And the change occurs too quickly to be recorded in transition.” [excerpted from Chapter 10, Darwin’s Universe: Origins and Crises in the History of Life. Charles Pellegrino and Jesse Stoff. 1986. Second Edition. TAB Books, Inc.]

Charlie has taken a lot of heat for this flying in the face of the establishment…even his fossils were “confiscated”—although later studied closely by the “confiscators”….and his doctorate was finally approved and delivered to him.

And now, just yesterday, as I am transcribing Sheldon’s chapter on the future and the A-field, I see that he too has been thinking of the dynamics of ‘punctuated equilibrium’…even though we are working in opposite ends of the house!:) He says I can put the draft up here in response to your essay on the obsolescence of the G-20 vision. It seems that change in such a large macro pattern may be indeed be possible?

Here is (from the forthcoming AKASHA: THE HIDDEN UNIVERSE by Sheldon Stoff and Barbara Smith Stoff © 2010) … Sheldon’s chapter draft entitled “The Akashic Field and Our Future on Earth”… You will note that most of this comes through his meditations and inner listening—he has been doing this for at least fifty years:

THE AKASHIC FIELD AND OUR FUTURE ON EARTH
As always occurs when I sit down to write, there is a ritual I perform:
a) Prayers
b) Meditation
c) Writing
d) Confirmation

So it is with this chapter. There is one difference. When seeking to understand and describe the future we find it is more difficult than when seeking the past and present. The Akashic Field does describe the future but we, and our helpers in the other dimensions find it more difficult to do so. The descriptions are accurate unless there is a major change, which very rarely happens. We therefore, write of tendencies which will have a very high probability. The Akashic Field has no reason to cling to a past outlook if, for very good reasons, it was spiritually wise to move in a different direction. This would entail a change in the consciousness of Earthlings. There seems to be an extremely small probability of this happening, however there are more and more individuals who subscribe to the ‘shift in consciousness’ theory—by whatever name they use to speak or write of this.

Also, these are not daily projections. Rather, they are tendencies over centuries. With this caution, let us proceed, always keeping in mind that the Akashic Field is completely accurate in viewing the past, the present and the future. Only the future may be modified by a change in the intensity of consciousness by the able.

We have been told that when perceiving the future it appears to be as real as the past or the present. An investigator can view happenings as they occur or share the consciousness with an inhabitant, and view directly. Again, we write of the future.

A community, advanced in consciousness, is described to us. In a well populated country, it is a forerunner of a most progressive civilization. It is surrounded by a peaceful nation, which is not advanced to the point of joining with, but progressive enough to appreciate the level of development. You might call it an example of “punctuated equilibrium”—in the context of that evolutionary theory. This time, as in the distant past, it is at the service of humankind. As the mass of humanity was ever so slowly progressing, but essentially in equilibrium, ever evolving small communities throughout the world, were “punctuating” the status quo, and were forerunners of a higher state of consciousness. We are not writing now of tomorrow, but of a time of perhaps six to eight hundred years from now.

At that time a community of mature, evolving individuals will establish a community (several will be going forward throughout the world) which will soon be self-sufficient and grounded on the highest ethical and responsible disciplines. Humankind will then be making significant peaceful ascents.

These numbers will grow from the size of a small village to that of a fair-sized city. Even with size increases, caring relationships are always maintained for they are always thinking of the common good. Individual greed has long been forgotten as a discarded trait of the past.

The government, small as it is, is run by a group or council, always dedicated to the advancement of the group. Individual vibrations and aura clearly indicated levels of attainment. Disagreements are rare and are quickly resolved by discussion. A large family, in complete harmony, might be a fitting description. It is true community living in every way. Telepathy is the foundation of distant discourse and more individuals are able to see that which we only imagine.

Working for the common good often means relying on barter rather than a money exchange.
Any exchange is reached in a win-win model. Free power is even generated by obtaining vast amounts of energy from the smallest of material sources. Our known sources today have been obsolete for centuries. Almost anything, or work, that we now consider necessary will then be seen as quaint or inefficient. With an expanded consciousness and having outgrown wars, our present conceptions of individual gain at the expense of others will be viewed with alarm and distaste. We must always conceive of the “we” and “community” in all decisions and plannings. Selfishness and manipulation are diseases long conquered.

There will also be the knowledge that beings of advanced types will constantly incarnate in these progressive communities in order to help with ideas, technology, and governing. As these groups grow, they will constantly serve as models for other communities and nations so that additional programs will be made as the originals serve by examples. In time, the world will change. It will mature as individuals have matured. An ever expanding consciousness will break down barriers as all begin to understand that to individualize means to seek your essence and that essence is unity. We will acknowledge and live our oneness with nature, with people and with the cosmos. As we assume responsibility for all humankind, poverty will no longer exist. War will have long been outlawed and a new era of relationships arrived at. The concept of beauty will influence education, the arts, and the media. Sensibilities will demand beauty in
perception and in the way of life. There will be a mass awakening to beauty of our evolving spirituality. It began with a base spiritual level. It needed a physical existence in order to achieve learning that only the physical existence could provide and then move forward to the many levels of spiritual reality. To become a Bodhisatva was a wonderful accomplishment, but not the final one.

All existence now rests on two paths, which are actually one. The first requires that we appreciate the “Beauty Path” and dwell in the beauty of all of our surroundings, including the cosmos, nature, animals, people, our environment, and our evolving spirituality.

Here, now, we have often closed our workshops with the Navajo Beauty Ceremony:

In beauty we walk.
With beauty to the right of us we walk.
With beauty to the left of us we walk.
With beauty before us we walk.
With beauty behind us we walk.
We are embraced by beauty.
Let it be so.

The second path, in a way indistinguishable from the first, emphasized the quality of all of our relations. They had to be permeated with beauty, now spelled out in ways of respect, gratitude, helpfulness, service, thoughtfulness and awareness to depths previously ignored. The deeper we look, the more wondrous it becomes. We live in wonder and magnificence and some are just beginning to realize it, just beginning to appreciate the wonder and beauty of all existence, spiritual and physical.

In the future there finally comes the realization that only in the apparent I-It relationship is there distance and separation. In the reality of the I-Thou relationship we live the understanding that we are a part of the cosmos, nature and all humanity. It is a new life that we can live with joy, wonder and unity, or oneness. They, in the centuries to come, finally understand that truly we humans are the Bodhisatvas of the future.

A universal oneness of brotherhood exists in these growing outposts, these outposts punctuating the equilibrium of the existing civilization. With this universal brotherhood there are also strong currents toward a universal religion with this new understanding of existent reality. Humankind is maturing from the caves of darkness into the sunlight of unity, wonder, love and compassion.

With this recognition comes a new joy in bonding and oneness. Life can never be boring when there is the realization of being surrounded by love in a world designed for our evolution. Perhaps this prayer, spoken over centuries, summarizes the view of some now, and yet of many in the future:

As long as space remains,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And dispel the miseries of the world.
(Shantideva, 8th Century)

As we have noticed, the expansion of consciousness outward, with a resulting awareness of the unity of humankind, which includes nature and the cosmos, we have also witnessed an introspection so deep that we have uncovered layers of consciousness within, connecting to layers of consciousness without. Without our consciousness, we cease to exist. Without a universal consciousness, the universe itself ceases to exist.

This consciousness, growing through the centuries, affirms that the prime function and service of the universal was that of life itself. Life first, as energy, as matter, as dimly conscious, as conscious of its habitat, not only on the earth, but as part of the all, as a full citizen of the universe. That is Citizenship spelled with a capital “C.” That also summarizes the function and dynamic of our planned evolution.

How can we glimpse a time so distant, perhaps 600-800 years away? First we would say, meditate on the Akashic. This is a slow but tried and true method that has been utilized in all recorded history. Second, be open. Be open to the world. I can recall walking in a wooded area and coming face-to-face with a mighty oak. As I embraced this mighty tree, its inner strength was palpable to me. It reached out, and we joined embraces. “It was Thou. I was Thou.” I felt I could touch eternity and the years gave away their secrets. I believe that we were both changed, but of that I cannot say for sure. I can only answer for myself. On that day another veil was lifted. On that day the equilibrium was punctuated! I believe that can, and does, happen more often than we might think, if we are open.

We conclude this narrative with a statement from Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux. He spoke these words on Harney Peak at the close of the dialogue with Flaming Rainbow;

“Something should happen today. If I have any power left, the thunder beings of the west should hear me when I send a voice, and there should be at least a little thunder and a little rain…”

It was a season of drought, one of the worst in the memory of the old men. The sky remained clear until the conclusion of the ceremony.

“Right over there,” said Black Elk, indicating a point of rock, “is where I stood in my vision, but the hoop of the world about me was different, for what I saw was in the spirit…

“Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Hey-a-a-hey! Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you, the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, the wings of the air and all green things that live. You have set the powers of the four quarters to cross each other. The good road and the road of difficulties you have made to cross; and where they cross, the place is holy. Day in and day out, forever, you are the life of things…

“Therefore I am sending a voice, Great Spirit, my Grandfather, forgetting nothing you have made, the stars of the universe and the grasses of the earth…

“You have said to me, when I was still young and could hope, that in difficulty I should send a voice four times, once for each quarter of the earth, and you would hear me….

“Today, I send a voice for a people in despair.

“You have given me a sacred pipe, and through this I should make my offering. You see it now….

“With tears running, O Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather—with running tears I must say now that the tree has never bloomed. A pitiful old man, you see me here, and I have fallen away and have done nothing. Here at the center of the world, where you took me when I was young and taught me; here, old, I stand and the tree is withered, Grandfather, my Grandfather!

“Again, and maybe the last time on this earth, I recall the great vision you sent me. It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf and bloom and fill with singing birds. Hear me, not for myself, but for my people; I am old. Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop and find the good red road, the shielding tree.”

With tears running down his cheeks, the old man raised his voice to a thin high wail, and chanted:

“In sorrow I am sending a feeble voice, O Six Powers of the World. Hear me in my sorrow, for I may never call again. O make my people live!”

For some minutes the old man stood silent, with face uplifted, weeping in the drizzling rain.

In a little while, the sky was clear again.
******

And so it is for humankind in 2010. Some have seen the vision and it is good. Yes, there are hard times ahead, of our own making. The selfish ego is a hard thing to contain. But contain it we must. As long as we seek to expand our consciousness of heaven and earth, we will all move forward. The mountains can be climbed if we only focus our will. The sunshine is there when we climb out of the cave of darkness, greed and selfishness. Yes, that sunshine is warm and nourishing. Let us join together and walk toward the light, partners all. All of us embracing the “Thou” …waiting to be embraced.

Let us close with two quotations out of ancient scriptures—the first: “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself” sums up the attitude which we will be living—the “I” will have merged into the “We”… in the community the future. The second helps to define the first: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Again, the bonds of brotherhood overcome the “I” of ego. We know that we are a distinct entity as a part of the all. A world of special energies bond together in love and appreciation.
Let it be so!
–Sheldon Stoff
–bss

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