beyond duality

For the last three weeks I have been deep in the heart of right and wrong. A strange world of almost total fantasy created by the most amazing misconceptions and perpetuated by habits long since unnecessary but deeply persistent. Let us begin.

Firstly, to understand the strange world of right and wrong we must gaze at it from elsewhere. And that elsewhere is the land of everything is connected. Many see this as the imaginary land. but of course it isn't. This is the real thing - the true nature of reality. We are connected through all the sub-atomic waves/particles that morph and change and move and carry our energy round and round. We are connected through the water that makes up 55% of us and 65% of the planet. We are connected through the neurons in our brains, our genes, our species, our history, our shared experiences, the internet, telephones, communities, schools and ultimately the one planet on which we all live. Despite our apparent fascination with us and them its just plain wrong. We are all connected to each other and as with any closed system, each part contributes their views, beliefs, attitudes, opinions, time and effort to the whole and then experiences this whole as their version of life on earth. And that is basic systems theory and there is NO escape from that.

When the system needs to change we have to change ourselves, our lives and our world. And this is where going beyond duality really pays off.

WHY?

Comforting Habits
We are prepared to be good or bad, right or wrong, in or out, from birth. Starting from yes and no and the praise for good stair climbing created in early childhood all the way up to the graded papers and well argued persuasive essays of A-levels and beyond. Its no wonder our ability to be right, to be factually correct and to take a side is so well developed. Our entire early childhood is based on it and not much else. And from then on we use it - regardless of whether it is useful, conflict seeking, helpful or results driven. It often stands in the way of our connection to ourselves and blocks us from being who we are. HOW can we be who we are when we are busy conforming to what is "right", regardless of its intrinsic value to our journey?

In groups and out groups
Ahh. the pleasure of an in-group and the pain of the out-group. Observe it in your next social or community gathering. Free fuel for the church of one size fits all and so easy - to find the outlier, the odd one out. To brand them wrong, to exclude, to count them out, talk behind their back, treat them unjustly. Do we even have the skills or know how to deal with them and their "not us" ways. So much easier to brand them and send them on their way. Our societies, communities, groups, companies and governments all thrive on in-groups and yet this group think has devastating consequences not just for the people who aren't "in" but moreso for the people who lose the benefit of diversity in their midst surely more important now than ever before.

the blame game
We hone our ability to argue our side - some with years of training and practice. We find our group or groups (in or out!) in which to happily exist. And then we play the blame game with everyone else. Its our ultimate protection, our armour against vulnerability and our safety in numbers. The game has many variations - including sarcasm and condescension. Blame means not me - not my department - not my concern - I didn't do it, say it, mean it. Whether we say it out loud or just think it inside, the most powerful survival tactic kicks in from the moment the possibility that we are wrong, out or vulnerable emerges. Which keeps us safe, warm and "in" and free of conflict, the need to care and the possibility of transformation.

Who cares what happens in the real world so long as we are right, defend our turf, compete and triumph in our tiny worlds, no matter what? The result? an impasse of the highest order. which keeps the system working and only stops when the cogs in the wheel stop to question it and themselves.

Which is exactly what we need to do to get somewhere else. We need to stop. Because when we do we can start to see what we are doing. And then individually and together we can start to cultivate the humility to be wrong and the courage to be inclusive and with all of us, our ideas, our opinions and our plans - individually and together - in small groups - and bigger partnerships - we can go beyond right and wrong to a land where we are vulnerable, and flaw filled and different and all part of one interdependent, connected, global system called planet earth.

And the best news of all? Its been there waiting for us all along.

New Earth Rising

I can clearly see the birth of the new earth now and it is a magnificent vision and difficult to keep to myself. I want to talk about it all the time and am secretly searching everywhere for anyone who has enough of grounding to discuss the practicalities of the birth and early childhood of this exciting moment.

At the neurological level there are now brains on the earth that for a number of reasons are significantly different from other brains. Keeping in mind that the brain is remarkably fast at restructuring itself, generating neural connections and new synapses relatively quickly, this is not a particularly bizarre concept. Think of the amazing capabilities of the brain to sort itself out after brain injuries and strokes. Sometimes, when parts of the brain that govern certain things are damaged, the brain just moves that functioning somewhere else. The brain is like a parallel processing computer with 90% of its capacity still free. So that some brains will have run ahead of others is not a crazy concept. And the more that run ahead with connections to others the more the others will eventually run ahead too.

From the point of view of every aspect of all living things on earth, EVERYTHING is a connected. Its all just loads of little networks, ant hills, communities, eco-systems, solar systems and internets connecting to bigger and bigger ones.

Anyway - so back to these brains. People who regularly think big picture and then minute details. People who spend time in nature. People - who pursue deeply spiritual practices like meditation and retreat. Farmers. Artists. Musicians. who must engage their small motor skills for their craft whilst creating or connecting to the divine inspiration or direction of the universe. These people have all become neurological seeds for the new universe.

They are the mutants. The innovators. The initial seeds. And their increased consciousness is contagious. So by now they have spread their increased consciousness to many people in many ways. Their corpus callosum is thickened as the transmissions between left and right brain have increased in size and velocity. They are like cell phone towers for the new earth. Receiving from the universe and broadcasting at a phenomenal rate.

And all this broadcasting is not random. Because these mother seeds and their connections to each other and then to new generations of seeds are connecting and spreading and helping each other at a phenomenal rate. And this network that started in a very sparse and fragile way is now getting stronger and stronger. And the benefits of this higher consciousness are becoming manifest physically in many diverse and fascinating ways - alternative lives, new structures, cool products, creative solutions - all early contributions to a tiny emerging network of initiatives, projects and ideas that will ultimately, from the bottom up - as life emerged from the primordial soup - bubble and squeak and connect its way to the new earth.

Meanwhile, and not randomly, things back at the old earth are not going so well. More and more people are waking up to the injustice, irrelevance, inequality, lack of love and unsustainability of the old world. But in order to ensure a smooth transition the old world and its less conscious participants will continue to hold the space whilst the new model is put in place. and they will make a lot of noise in the process. But even this will eventually just become a dull roar as the multi-tonal symphony of many individuallly meaningful and globally connected lives begin coming together.

And just as the transition from typewriters to computers, analog to digital, records to CDS and now to MP3s, one day - the new system reaches a tipping point and suddenly just takes off with energy and quite smoothly transitions in whilst the old one just fizzles out.

Its just a matter of numbers now. How many people will feel it, be moved by others, open their eyes and see the need to make this evolutionary step and begin to take it. Everyone has a role to play. Are you part of the old world struggling to hold the pyramid in place as its foundations literally crumble. Or are you in the new one, harnessing your talents and unique capabilities and using them to occupy an important part in the chain of events that will lead us to the new earth and a better and more sustainable way of living for everyone?

Trust

Go inside yourself. Find your voice. Listen to it. It will take you deep into the deep. Trust yourself. Go there.

Later you can look just a little bit behind yourself. And find your perfect life unravelling just behind you. Fall in love. But don't get distracted. Face forward. The road is long. Keep going. Watch out for sharp rocks.