The Emergence Project

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

2011-12-11T06:19:00.000-08:00

"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

2011-08-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-24T05:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-25T11:36:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-11T04:02:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-18T06:24:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

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"

2010-12-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-09-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

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"

2010-08-17T07:23:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-18T14:34:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-14T09:15:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-17T09:34:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

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.

Understanding the Earth Changes

2010-04-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s a posting from Annette about that appeared in our recent newsletter:

“I remember my mother exclaiming that she could feel the weather in her bones whenever a storm was coming our way. She would shiver and sigh and sure enough like a living barometer and without listening to any weather forecast, the rains would start shortly after. I reflect on this as the earth changes seem to be escalating and notice how I seem to have become a walking breathing monitor and barometer for each impending earth change, storm or affliction upon the earth, sensing each shift, turn, bump and sway as if I have taken on the consciousness and the body of the earth during her transition. This experience brings to mind the spiritual truth "As above so below." Indigenous elder and 2012 interpreter Barbara Hand Clow suggests that this is a time to deepen our soul connections: "These great earth changes are awakening our connections to divine levels because our highest levels of emotions are spiritual; we need to be in touch with our souls during these challenging times." As we accelerate towards the 2012 window, earth energetic activity seems to have gone into overdrive ranging from devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile to landslides and cyclones in Europe, to odd weather patterns here in the US. It seems that not a day goes by when we don't hear about some violent earth happening. Are we awakening to our intuitive connection just as the earth is making this huge
change into the new earth energy?

No one is immune to what is going on. Everyone is feeling this shift on some level. But what is all this activity pointing to and what can we do individually and collectively to lessen the suffering and effects that these changes bring about? Haiti is a powerful example of ways in which to respond proactively with compassion and concrete help. But what is our energetic response? Are we acting as transducers and transformers for these changes and can we use our collective intent of love and peace to help the earth manage these pangs as she births a new earth? The challenge is to hold the space of intent for the highest possible outcome in our hearts and minds as the earth changes and the Shift continues. - Annette Farrington

(To receive our monthly newsletter, send an email to info@theemergenceproject.net)

Is 2012 Moving into the Mainstream?

2010-03-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in a year. When the Emergence Project first started out working on our Boston conference and a number of special events, 2012 seemed to still be considered exotic territory, even in many groups involved in alternative spirituality . We found much unwarranted skepticism as many (thanks in part to media sensationalism) more or less automatically associated anything to do with 2012 with a kind of apocalyptic extremism. Fortunately, over time, it seems that understandings about the Shift have both accelerated and moderated a bit. Many are now curious and reasonably open to finding out more and good information is getting out there even if there’s a flood of disinformation that inevitably attaches to it.

Evidence of the Shift moving into the mainstream can be seen on a number of fronts. No less august an institution as National Geographic ran a televised special on 2012 some months ago (sorry NG, we were not impressed). In addition, a professional organization for archaeologists, the Archaeological Institute of America, ran an article on 2012 in their house publication, Archaeology called Apocalypse Soon? (although the piece offered a decidedly skeptical perspective ). More recently, Scientific-American took on the complexities of the Shift with an article enitled End of Days Danger (March 2010) which weaves together the Copenhagen Summit, 2012, and a controversial tweet from Sarah Palin. All in all, we’re encouraged by the fact that mainstream publications and organizations are beginning to think about a megatrend that will affect us all, profoundly, and soon.

Are We in the Age of the Kali Yuga?

2010-03-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

In Vedic science, there are four world ages or Yugas: the Satya Yuga, the Treta Yuga, the Dwapara Yuga and the Kali Yuga. Each of the four Yugas is characterized by the state of what might be called the quality of human knowledge. During the Kali Yuga, which is the darkest period, knowledge is occluded, muddied. Everything seems haywire, topsy turvy, like bizarro world in the old Superman comic books.

There is considerable debate about whether we are living in the age of the Kali Yuga currently. John Major Jenkins and Jay Weidner believe that this is the case. Sri Yukteswar, Yogananda’s teacher and guru, has been one of the more visible dissenters as outlined in his book the Holy Science. Yukteswar believes that the current age is the Dwapara Yuga also known as the Bronze age, a time characterized by mixed bag of positives and negatives.

While sometimes I tend to view these debates as “2012 theology”, it seems clear that, Kali Yuga or not, the current time – especially the last ten years – has been characterized by elements associated with this Yuga: surreal inversions of good and evil and the need to legislate morality and even at times basic human decency. The Vedic texts themselves say things like: “Rulers will no longer see it as their duty… to protect their subjects.. men will openly display animosity towards each other…cowards will have a reputation for bravery, and the brave will be enervated cowards.” This last item is reminiscent of a line in the Yeats poem “The Second Coming”: “the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity”

Whether or not what’s happening now is related to the Kali Yuga, at times of transition things can seem dire indeed. The old energies are manifesting still in powerful ways, a last final burst of expression, but the new energies have not fully manifested. The saying that “it’s always darkest before the dawn” springs to mind. In my own experience I find that thinking about this is one helpful way to stay out of fear during the chaos of transition.

2012: Living with Uncertainty

2010-02-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

At a recent meeting, many people had definitive and passionately held opinions about what will happen in 2012. While it is easier in some ways to hold on to a pre-established belief, I believe that when it comes to matters 2012, we are well-advised to keep an open mind and a “high threshold for ambiguity”. Since intention and co-creation are very definitely in the mix, this is new and unprecedented territory. My opinion is that no one really knows what will happen on 12.21.12 (if that is indeed the date). And as Annette and I have pointed out in our talks and articles, the more important emphasis is that the Shift is happening now. The sage spiritual advice about living your life one day at a time seems to be more important than ever.

In terms of the challenge of living with uncertainty, I really like what Daniel Pinchbeck blogged on his Evolver site: “Recently, I have taken as my personal mantra the not very transcendent phrase, "I don't know." The list of things I feel unsure about seems to be steadily increasing… Something seems to be happening that is beyond my capacity to understand or articulate. I can only assume other people are feeling this way as well. We are witnessing the collapse of the old, rigidified structures, while the new hasn't come into realization yet -- that is, if there is going to be a new anything. A change seems to be happening at the level of logic, which is becoming less dualistic, less "either-or," and more binary, "both-and."

Multi-tasking and Meditation

2010-02-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

"How can you be in two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?" This was a goofy line from a very excellent Firesign Theater album back in the day. Yet it reminds me of a conundrum I’ve been trying to solve for some time. In my book Digital Mythologies I wrote about what might be called the spiritual implications of multi-tasking.

When I look at distracted multitaskers, not fully giving their attention to either one thing or the other, rightly or wrongly it always reminds me of the precise opposite of Zen mindfulness. In the book I talked about a Sprint commercial that urged us to “Be There Now” through the use of the Internet. The great irony of course is that phrase was ripped off and negatively transmuted from a well known Ram Dass book called “Be Here Now”.

I don’t claim to have the ultimate answer here just a lot of questions. For example, John Selby talks about how if you try and follow your breath during meditation, you get a certain result. But he also says (and I’ve tried this and concur) that if you focus on another element (it could be anything in the process), you effectively short circuit the mind and generating thoughts are close to impossible. How does this “two for one” activity compare to multitasking? Is multitasking somehow a function of a newer kind of consciousness or does it represent a step away from the mindfulness that’s necessary in these difficult times?

A Big Tent: 2012 and The Shift

2010-02-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

One of the guiding principles of 2012 discernment is the notion of inclusiveness. With reference to other spiritual traditions, the Shift can serve as a unifying principle and a big tent that embrace the commonalities in what might be perceived as disparate spiritual practices rather than emphasizing the differences. In addition, we're seeing interesting trends developing where practitioners of traditional religions are combining them with other spiritual ideas and practices.

This trend has been around for a long time and is commonly known as "cafeteria style spirituality". But what's interesting, as reported in USA Today, is that the trend is accelerating. For example, "Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year...35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations."

This is called syncretism, defined as the "the combination of different forms of belief or practice". Syncretism is very consistent with the 2012/Shift mindset since it becomes important to respect the rich variety of spiritual sources that point to this unique time in history. There's a long list but they include Hopi and other indigenous prophecies, Mayan, Taoist, Tibetan Buddhist , Vedic, Christian, and Islamic traditions.

It's really a beautiful idea to think that so many spiritual paths are converging on the transformation of the Shift as common ground but there's still a lot of work to do to start seeing different spiritual practices as "many roads" instead of many walls. One of the changes that needs to take place, as Mayan interpreter Carl Johan Calleman points out, is to move beyond dualistic thinking. This means breaking down the artificial barriers between spiritual traditions that create disharmonies and in its most extreme expression hatred and intolerance. Our challenge now is to come to some consensus on the underlying basic truths and principles that run through many spiritual practices to get closer to the goal of acting in unity and as one voice for this truth to be manifest creatively in our inner and outer worlds.

Looking Back at 2009

2009-12-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

It's been an exciting time for the Emergence Project as we've moved ahead with a series of regular events and teleseminars covering themes such as the Divine Feminine, Sound Healing with Zacciah Blackburn, EFT as a healing modality with Dominic Mogavero, monthly Peace Teleseminars and a host of other topics. The central theme of this work is the integration of mindful practice with the realities of the Shift. We've also been speaking on "Ten Things You Should Know About the Shift" at various events in the New England area including one for Daniel Pinchbeck's Boston Evolver Group.

On another front, we've developed a separate initiative in the health care area working with some great partners. The first partnership is with Dr. Aihan Kuhn, physician, founder of New England Tai Chi, and author of several books on Tai Chi and Qi Gong. This work involves bringing these energy arts into greater visibility within the allopathic medical community. The second is a partnership with the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Center in Lancaster, MA, working with its president Lothar Pirc. This is a similar effort involving educating both traditional and alternative health care providers about the value of Ayurvedic approaches and treatments.

We've also had some interesting successes in increasing awareness for these projects. We were recently interviewed by French TV journalist Olivier Ponthus along with Daniel Pinchbeck for the Canal Plus program "The Butterfly Effect". Other media activities include an article in the December issue of Wisdom magazine by the Emergence Project, titled "Understanding the 2012 Phenomenon". Internet radio host Jeff Ferrannini wrote an article on our June conference that appeared in the Sept/Oct issue of 11:11 magazine. In addition, the editing work for a conference video was recently completed and the video is now available.

In September, we had a fundraising event with former Institute of Noetic Sciences President James O'Dea at the First Parish in Bedford Unitarian Church which greatly helped our efforts along with a generous donation from one of our major sponsors. We're planning another major conference in 2011 as well as smaller workshops and conferences throughout 2010. The Shift is taking place and awareness is rising but the need for practical and balanced information on this complex topic is greater than ever.

Annette and I are very grateful to all of those who have supported our work this year including attendees, sponsors, volunteers, and partners. Thank you for your support and Happy New Year.

Emergence Project Activities: Update

2009-12-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

The Shift: Staying Out of Fear

2009-12-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here’s an excerpt from an article by the Emergence Project that was recently published in the December issue of Wisdom magazine:

The many misconceptions about 2012 and the Shift serve to create confusion and foster skepticism. One of the most common is the idea that 2012 is all about “the end of the world” or various apocalyptic scenarios. While it’s true that the choices that humanity collectively makes over the next few years will determine the extent to which these energies are tapped for positive transformation, we believe that excessively focusing on the negative can deflect attention from the important notion that this time in human destiny is a window of enormous opportunity.

One of the most important messages that we like to stress is the need to stay out of fear. Fear-based thinking is easy to slip into during this time of great social and economic turmoil, but easily becomes a millstone that weighs down the awakening process.

However the Shift is indeed surfacing darker aspects and energies that are being presented for what spiritual teachers and lightworkers call transmutation i.e. working through the dark matter of accumulated karma. Carl Jung calls this embracing or confronting the shadow self in order to heal the whole. We are doing this now on a collective scale. And it’s part of the process of the Shift. Although theses confrontations and shadows may be difficult to deal with, these “instant replays” of past events and stuck emotional energy are gifts and opportunities for spiritual growth.

The full article is entitled “Understanding the 2012 Phenomenon” and is available online at http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx/1404/

Perspective on the Movie "2012"

2009-12-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

This is an editorial that recently appeared in the Boston Globe on the subject of the movie “2012”:

"The disaster flick “2012’’ swamped all competitors when it opened last weekend with ticket sales of $65 million domestically and $225 million worldwide, proving once again what soothsayers, prophets, and various other con men have always known - that doomsday does boffo at the box office. The premise of director Roland Emmerich’s computer-graphic action picture is that the end of a long cycle in the Mayan calendar, on Dec. 21, 2012, will usher in volcanoes, tidal waves, and a general freak-out by Mother Nature. So many folks take seriously this sort of apocalyptic paranoia that NASA felt compelled to post assurances on its website that the world will last awhile longer. Even so, some dire trends demand attention right away: Glaciers and the Greenland ice cap are melting, the permafrost in Siberia is thawing, and rainforests are vanishing from the map. Yet the leaders of nations go on dawdling about climate change. Perhaps they should spend more time at the multiplex. They are not paranoid enough about the fragility of life on earth.”

Here’s a letter that we sent to the Boston Globe in response:

To the Editor:

Your recent editorial (11/20) is rightly critical of the 2012 movie which purports to represent the notion of what the 2012 phenomenon is all about. We agree with your assessment that an apocalyptic view is not a useful or accurate framing. However, we feel it’s important to distinguish between a Hollywood oversimplification of complex material and the deeper research and explorations that underlie the popular idea. Mayan historical information represents an interpretative challenge that needs to be approached with balanced thinking and an open mind.

The 2012 phenomenon, which our nonprofit is working to provide greater clarity and balance about, is now getting increased mainstream attention including a recent television program from National Geographic and an article in Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. But because 2012 research is complex and highly nuanced, it will invariably lend itself to misinterpretations, the most common of which is the notion that the 2012 end-date is about the end of the world or an apocalyptic reckoning of some sort. There are, of course, some interpreters who offer this view but many others -- including contemporary Mayan elders, well-regarded scholars like John Major Jenkins, and our own organization the Emergence Project -- view this time as a major window of opportunity for an extraordinary and positive transformation in human culture.

2012: Does The Date Matter?

2009-11-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

Much has been made of the exact date at which the Shift will have reached its greatest point of intensity or will have completed, depending on the interpretation. But placing too much emphasis on the date itself can be a distraction. The Shift is already taking place and the parameters of the cycle -- when it started and when it will end in the scheme of things -- needs to be placed into perspective.

What’s most important is aligning with the new energies in ways that each of us feels is right for ourselves in the here and now. There’s no formula, no magic calculator . Worrying about this or that date in some ways almost amounts to a kind of New Age theology (which is as good an oxymoron as any....remember medieval theologians debating about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin?)

None of this is to take away from the work of many very worthy interpreters of the Mayan information such as John Major Jenkins and Carl Johan Calleman. This deep and mindful scholarship is a necesssary part of the process of trying to understand and explicate interpretations of this sacred wisdom and the living mystery of 2012. But Annette and I have noticed that for many who are newly familiar to the background behind the Shift or are skeptical about it in general, the notion of a specific end date is often a kind of stumbling block to further exploration. Focusing too much on the date and "Shift as event" can also be a distraction from mindful preparation for a deep transformation that's already well underway.

2012, the Movie: Exploring Alternative Perspectives

2009-11-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Daniel Pinchbeck was one of the keynote speakers at our June 6th conference in Boston. He’s a keen observer about the social and cultural nuances of the Shift and the expressive meme dance that gets played out in the mediasphere as the process of emergence continues. Daniel founded an organization called Evolver which is working on a number of fronts for positive social change in the larger context of the Shift.

There are Evolver groups in many major US cities including Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Boston. But it’s a worldwide reach with groups in Athens, Stockholm, Vancouver and other cities internationally. I’ve attended a number of Evolver Boston meetings ably guided by Joe Moore. Monthly topics are synced up nationally. To date the discussions have been intriguing and wide ranging and have included health care, permaculture, innovative approaches to currency and finance, relocalization, sustainable agriculture, and others.

On November 21 in Boston, The Emergence Project will be partnering with both the Disinformation Company and Evolver to host an event in Boston on 2012 and the Shift. The timing and theme is keyed to the release of Sony Pictures movie “2012”. As Daniel explains it:

“Considering that nobody knows what’s going to happen in 2012, the end of the Mayan Calendar functions as a tremendously intriguing meme upon which we can project our hopes and fears, dreams and desires. Hollywood has now offered up a massive collective shadow projection in the form of a $250 million disaster epic that takes the aesthetics of annihilation to a new pitch of perfection. Paradoxically, this doom-riddled blockbuster could create a great opening to offer an alternative vision of what 2012 could be for our planet. Potentially, 2012 could represent the coming-to-consciousness of the human species, in which we take responsibility for our role as agents of conscious evolution. “

Annette Farrington, our Executive Director, and I will be speaking at this event on "Ten Things You Should Know about 2012”. We hope to see you there.

"Evolutionary Triggers" for a New Consciousness

2009-10-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

One of the most amazing books I’ve read on the subject of human spiritual evolution is “Unknown Man: Birth of a New Species” by Yatri. It’s an improbable book that I bought back in the early 90’s offered by mainstream publisher Simon and Shuster. The book has almost a coffee table presentation feel and format to it and is full of razor-sharp insights. I’ve held onto it for years though a number of house moves and other zigs and zags.

According to Amazon, the book is still available although if you want a new copy you’ll have to pony up $83.00. I pulled out my well-preserved copy the other day and I’ve been dipping into it here and there for the last few days. One particularly interesting passage caught my eye under the heading “Waking up the Evolutionary Sleepers.” The context is an “evolutionary trigger which could cause an quantum leap in consciousness.”

Yatri points out a number of possibilities and says “The most likely triggering mechanism for the species as a whole seem to be “an environmental or cultural crisis on a truly apocalyptic scale; a powerful shock to man’s view of himself and the universe in which he lives; or critical mass or sheer numbers of evolutionary pioneers who have already entered the natural state. This whole endeavor creates a vibrational resonating field or Buddha field which can trigger a chain reaction in the whole population.”

In general, this idea of resonance pops up in many different contexts. Transcendental Meditation is one of them. The TM community talked years ago about trying to achieve the goal of having some small but effective percentage of meditators established in a targeted city effect a change in the crime rate. Given the Maharishi’s scientific bent, there were fairly precise numbers available. In other contexts, group meditations create resonance within the group and the effects benefit others as well. Many commentators on the Shift point to the process of how a wave of harmonization could help trigger a larger state change such as what Yatri is describing.

Equally intriguing is the notion of a “a powerful shock to man’s view of himself and the universe in which he lives.” What might such a shock consist of? Back in the day Galileo’s discovery would qualify. But now, what might that be? Discovery and confirmation of alien intelliegences and civilization? Verification of the crop circle phenomenon as certifiably unexplainable? With respect to crop circles, perhaps, but as along as there’s room for interpretation, there seems to be little chance of a “shock” occurring. Or some sort of mind-bending scientific discovery? To speculate on what such a shock might be is in itself a worthy thought experiment. Stay tuned.

The Emergence Project's Future Direction

2009-10-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here are Annette’s prepared remarks from the James O’Dea event:

"Tom and I met back in 2008 and forged a common goal to bring attention to and awareness of the consciousness shift that has been and is taking place in this pivotal time in human history. As an organization we seek to hold a mindful space and be a platform for the new understanding of what the shifting reality is and how it is unfolding within our awareness. As an organization we offer conferences , workshops, talks, and events on the shift and practical tools we can use to gain a deeper understanding of what is happening in our world thereby helping us to gracefully get through these rapidly changing times. It is our intent to creatively use our collective energies to bring about the highest possible outcome for ourselves and those who are open and ready for this awareness.

Some of our past events and initiatives this year include: a conference on the shift and 2012 in June at the Marriott Courtyard Boston which was very well attended and received.We have been hosting events and workshops such as the Sound Healing and Consciousness teleconference with the Center of Light's Zacciah Blackburn, a Shambhala Light Intensive with Ravindra Walsh, and a Reclaiming the Divine Feminine workshop. Tom and I have also been traveling around New England with a short presentation on “10 things You Should Know about the Shift” Our future events include guided peace meditations, holistic health workshops, and other events intended to foster mindful preparation for the shift. Long term we are looking to find a physical space to hold these events so we can continue our work of empowering and building community locally and nationally. We believe that radical responsibility and creativity are essential for sustainable, constructive and profound change."

Notes on Our First Fundraising Event

2009-09-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

First Parish in Bedford is a Unitarian Universalist church that looks as quintessentially new England as you can get. This was the site of the Emergence Project’s first benefit event involving a storytelling event with global visionary leader James O’Dea. When Annette and I first pulled up to the church and noticed a quote posted outside the church from Leslie Marmon Silko that said “You haven’t got anything if you haven’t got the stories”, it seemed to be a nicely served up validation that we were at the right place in the right time.

That evening James took attendees through an evening of myth-weaving and soul journeying following the theme of the “collective story of our time”. His approach was to keep expanding the narrative frame of reference in both space and time and then to find one’s own place in the meta-framework that evolved, in essence, to reconnect archetypal identity as a culture with that of the individual in the larger context of upheaval and evolution now underway.

The high point of the evening was James taking the group through an amazing process of engagement by exploring one of the deep mythologies of the Kalahari, an indigenous tribe from South Africa, whose territory includes, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The Kalahari were also featured in the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. The process was one of participatory mythic recreation involving the story of a prescient mantis who mission was to warn other living intelligences of the coming of the “all devourer”. All in all, a great night of experential storytelling. We also had a silent auction including a copy of Mysteries of 2012 which James contributed to; my own book Digital Mythologies; and two of Annette’s excellent paintings.

Some old friends and supporters showed up for the event including Kathleen Byrnes, who was an very instrumental in making our June conference a success, a student of Mayan wisdomkeeper Barbara Hand Clow. There were some interesting new faces as well. Jeff Ferrannini, producer and host for Planetary Spirit radio also showed up. After the event, a number of folks hung out during the rest of the evening to discuss anything and everything and have a few glasses of wine. All in all, a great night.

Thanks to Our Sponsors and Friends

2009-09-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Riding a tailwind of indeterminate origin, The Emergence Project conceived, planned, developed, promoted, and orchestrated the Boston event “Understanding the 2012 Phenomenon” in record time (about 6 months). Annette and I only managed to do this because of the stellar efforts of a large number of supporters including sponsors, volunteers, and partners. We are extremely grateful to all those who helped make the conference possible through their invaluable assistance

As we step into the next phase, we’ve been fortunate to recently receive several gifts which have really helped to boost our efforts. James O’Dea, one of our conference speakers, has offered to do a fund raising event for us on Sept 17 and we’re extremely jazzed about it. The event is Living in the Fire of Change: An Evening with James O’Dea and the venue is First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist church from 7-9 pm. Many thanks to both James and John Gibbons, senior minister at the church, for making this event possible.

Here’s the description from our flyer. If you happen to live in the Boston area, we’d love to have you attend:

Please join us for an exciting and magical evening of myth-weaving and storytelling with global visionary leader James O’Dea. Following the theme of the “collective story of our time” in an age of changing consciousness, James will explore the frontiers of our contemporary awareness using the power of myth and techniques well known to indigenous wisdom keepers. In this experiential journey, James will weave together the elements from contemporary science, psychology and spirituality that can reconnect us with our archetypal identity as a culture and as individuals in a unique time in history. He will explore how this journey can lead us to the paths and possibilities of a new visionary activism to reenchant the world and renew our culture. Don’t miss this extraordinary event which includes a reception and silent auction.

James O’Dea is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and was until recently its President. The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a non-profit membership organization founded in 1973 by astronaut Edgar Mitchell which explores the frontiers of consciousness and global paradigm change. He is also currently working with a group of 40 evolutionary leaders convened by Deepak Chopra to unify efforts in support of evolutionary changes in political, economic, ecological and health and healing arenas. He spent ten years as the Director of the Washington Office of Amnesty International, where he testified before Congress, met with two U.S. presidents and numerous foreign heads of state and government leaders, and represented Amnesty International to the State Department, the White House, and the World Conference on Human Rights.

More info on our web site http://www.theemergenceproject.net/ where you can see other upcoming events as well.

The Internet and the Evolution of Mind

2009-09-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's more from my book Digital Mythologies. I know this is tough sledding so apologies in advance:

"Merely by reflecting the chaos of postmodern reality the mediasphere resequences expectations and keeps us off balance by moving the goalposts and changing the rules of the game. Media theorist Avital Ronell refers to this process as "scrambling the master codes."
I interpret this phrase to mean a kind of resequencing of information that forces us to recontextalize old theories and assumptions about the nature of reality. These media feedback loops shape consensus reality and define the borders of alternative realities. In the last analysis they also play a strong but underappreciated role in the evolution of mind…

French philosopher Michael Foucault may be right that human nature is as malleable as clay and that we build our own ontologies in the progression of culture through history. If he is, then the mediasphere presents a massive inventory of human experience upon which the process of selection and aggregation is based. The media and the Net may then act in the fashion of a linear particle accelerator, propelling us ever faster through a range of choices that will eventually cluster around a new definition of what is human -- in short, a quantum leap in the evolution of mind. "

2009-08-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

2012: A Positive Message?

We haven’t done anything close to a “scientific” poll (not that I think polls these days are really scientific) but it’s pretty surprising how many people associate 2012 with doomsday scenarios. I’m starting to feel like a skipping CD telling folks that our message along with many other explicators of the Shift is largely a positive one of personal empowerment and co-creation in this unique time in history.

That said, shepherding our own internal resources and state of mind in a positive and mindful direction is one thing. Trying to assess the overall direction of where things are headed as one surreal news item after another jumps across our computer and/or TV screens is another and is a huge challenge to deconstruct, at least from my perspective as a former research analyst. Perhaps that’s why there are so few books available these days attempting to sum up our wandering and attention deficit laden zeitgeist from either a sociological or anthropological perspective. It’s a work in progress -- a moving target -- so who can capture it?

In this context, there seems to be a ying/yang effect going on where things – i.e. all the tangibles and intangibles that make up quality of life -- are simultaneously getting better and worse reminiscent of the classic phrase “the best of times and the worst of times”. Brought down to the personal level, the glass is either half empty or half full of course depending on how someone chooses to add things up: a net positive or net negative.

This theme surfaced at one of the Emergence Project’s recent events in Cambridge during a discussion after the showing of the film 2012 Science or Superstition? In that discussion we looked at some of the positive things that are happening globally right now that resonate with Annette’s wonderful phrase “radical creativity”. But for present purposes I came across a great example recently that I wanted to share with you: nothing less than the reinventing of the state of California.

The New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg wrote about this recently (link below). In the article he says that that state’s political process has become so hopelessly gridlocked that there is a movement afoot to scrap the whole state constitution and, in essence, start over. So California may be at that unique tipping point at which things get so bad that radical creativity is indeed brought to bear and totally new paradigms start to be considered.

Here’s Hertzberg: “California, it turns out, is ungovernable. Its public schools, once the nation’s best, are now among the worst. Its transportation and water systems are deteriorating. Its prisons are so overcrowded that it has to turn tens of thousands of felons loose. And its legislature has spent most of the year in a farcical effort to pass the annual budget, leaving little or no time for other matters, such as—well, schools, transportation, water, and prisons.” Not so good right? But he goes on to say that “Something remarkable is beginning to happen”.

Apparently this all began with an op-ed piece by Jim Wunderman in the San Francisco Chronicle asking (because of the aforementioned mess) “…are we not obligated to nullify our government and institute a new one?” Wunderman called for a “citizens’ constitutional convention” to do just that. This movement is now called Repair California. Herztberg concludes by saying “If California has the courage and imagination to become a true laboratory of democracy, the experiment will be something to see.” Indeed. And this is a great example of what a unique time we’re all living in and what positive developments can arise, Phoenix-like, out of the ashes.

Here's the link to this article:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/08/24/090824taco_talk_hertzberg

The Web and the Evolution of Mind

2009-08-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

I’ll be starting another blog that discusses themes from my book Digital Mythologies. Some of these explore the role of the Web in the evolution of mind. Here’s a passage from the book that I wanted to share here:

In the best case scenario, the Internet could foster a deeper understanding of cross-cultural values which has so far been an elusive goal. With this might come a more nuanced understanding of the more arbitrary qualities of the human condition. In addition, it might reinforce the notion that we create our own individual realities (while society mass produces them) and the notion that separate realities of equal value ands validity can and do coexist. The Net may have at least the potential to become vehicle for reconciling the postmodern Pandora’s box of jarringly subjective truths in so far as they can be reconciled. Or, alternatively, perhaps such an option is a pleasant chimera that lead us towards an impossible to manage cultural entropy.

Demystifying The Shift

2009-08-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Emergence Project has a number of events planned over the next few months. One of our hopes is to try to demystify 2012 and the Shift and correct some of the many misinterpretations that seem to be out there (although we fully expect that when the mainstream media gets its hooks into this topic, further distortions will inevitably creep in.)

In some of these talks, we’ve been speaking a bit about the concept of world ages, a good starting point for understanding the 2012 phenomenon. World ages and the Zeitgeist are the province of cultural historians and anthropologists who work to discern and preserve human perspective and the complicated advance of cultural change.

In what in my opinion is a stellar work,Transformations of Man, one of our greatest cultural historians Lewis Mumford mapped and correlated the world ages. He also evoked the notion of the Hindu Yugas in reference to some of the strikingly surreal anomalies of the current age and wrote eloquently about the evolution of human thought and consciousness in the progression of world ages.

Getting more comfortable with the Shift and 2012's own complexities does require another leap in thinking beyond the academically sanctioned notion of a world age (if not a leap of faith) since the notion of prophecy and a priori knowledge of the unfolding of the shape of human affairs is introduced. World ages “work” for many people since they are viewed (and developed) in the rear review mirror of historical analysis.

But world ages as recurring cyclical phenomena with spans of time exponentially greater than several centuries are a different animal since to accept this notion tends to bolster the critique of Western knowledge as the pinnacle of human thought and its presumed scientifically sanctioned linear progression towards accuracy and suggests the suppression of indigenous wisdom has been counterproductive to the quest for authentic values, possibly even a wrong turn in history.

Hollywood's Take on 2012

2009-07-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

Disaster movies are a hallowed and longstanding Hollywood tradition. No surprise then that the 2012-related movies that have been released to date are heavily disaster-oriented. In this sense, 2012 apocalyptic thinking and Hollywood have the perfect symbiosis.

The first 2012-themed movie from a major studio I watched was "The Day the Earth Stood Still”, at the recommendation of James O’Dea, one the speakers at our recent conference “Understanding the 2012 Phenomenon”. The movie was a remake of the 1958 original. There was the mandatory disaster theming, of course, for our apocalyptic viewing pleasure but in terms of what I’ll call “enlightened content” at least the movie wasn’t objectionable and had its fair share of thought-provoking moments.

More recently, “Knowing” with Nichloas Cage, was recommended to me by Alan Dougall, my Tai Chi teacher and an avid moviegoer. It’s rife with 2012 themes and in my opinion very well crafted from the standpoint of reasonably structured narrative drama (not always the case these days as the notion of plot becomes more and more malleable.) The story line revolves around a professor of astrophysics at MIT who journeys into the (for him) strange new territory of prophecy and prediction i.e. the realm of purely intuitive knowledge. The disaster vehicle in this case is a massive solar flare that wreaks considerable earthly havoc. (Curiously, despite the role of intervening aliens, the film is being widely discussed on a number of Christian web sites.)

One important and worthy documentary that’s been done on the Shift is “2012: Science or Superstition”, a carefully crafted and well-balanced inquiry that features interviews with Daniel Pinchbeck, John Major Jenkins, and other well-regarded 2012 explicators. Annette has been in touch with one of the co-producers Ralph Bernardo and because we both think highly of the work, on Thursday August 20, The Emergence Project will host a screening of "2012 Science or Superstition" at the Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA. We hope you can attend. (http://www.theemergenceproject.net/events.htm#20090820)

Re-enchantment and the Kali Yuga

2009-07-12T07:20:00.000-07:00

Morris Berman and William Irwin Thompson are both cultural historians of amazing but also somewhat forgotten import. Much of my own background in exploring 2012 themes comes from reading both over the years, especially Thompson’s work (and, by the way, his books are not easy to find these days…which tells us...what?)

Berman wrote several groundbreaking works including the “Re-enchantment of the World” and “Coming to Our Senses” (and thanks to Howard Rheingold for pointing me towards his work). "Coming to Our Senses" is, among other things, a brilliant deconstruction of the suppression of the Divine Feminine over the course of history.

Re-enchanting the world and moving “back to the future” are both phrases that resonate for me with respect to the 2012 themes that Annette Farrington and I are exploring in our work at The Emergence Project. Life in the downwards spiral of the Kali Yuga, the last in a succession of Hindu world ages, has become decidedly grim although there are beautiful creative flashes to be found everywhere in the green shoots of the new paradigm poking through.

So at least part of the work ahead is indeed to find ways to re-enchant and restore vibrancy and creativity to our cultural life as well as a sense of magic and mystery to our appreciation of the universe vs the grey overlay of technocratic reductionalism that we’ve come to experience (and unfortunately in many cases accept) as the status quo. The current predicament reminds me of this poem from Whitman:

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the learned astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

-- Walt Whitman

Are 2012 Themes Becoming Too Broad and Losing Focus?

2009-07-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation with Mayan scholar John Major Jenkins about the notion that the meaning of 2012, as it starts to slowly feed into the mainstream, might become such a large tent that its core messaging and deeper spiritual meanings might become essentially vaporized by a double whammy of media minsinterpretation and a tendency to inadvertently lump together any number of spiritual practices and methods under its umbrella. I agree wholeheartedly with John that this is not only possible but likely.

There are already early indications. For example, self-empowerment guru Wayne Dyer now is offering his first feature film. It’s called “The Shift” but curiously appears to have little to do with 2012 and according to his web site, it was renamed from its earlier moniker "Ambition to Meaning". Also in the mix is the fact that Dyer’s publisher is Hay House who is sponsoring a number of 2012 events around the country. This is a difficult and complex issue since the trend is likely to continue and the only solution appears to be the constant application of mindfulness and discernment.

2012: "Raids on the Unspeakable"

2009-06-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

Recently The Emergence Project co-sponsored an event in Cambridge, MA with the Boston Evolver folks, a group started by Daniel Pinchbeck. The first part of the meeting was a screening of a video by mycologist Paul Stamets called "Six Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World". Fascinating stuff: Stamets talks about how they can be used to clean up oil spills and fight diseases including pox and flu viruses. Brian George, a local writer and poet, was on hand and read some of his poetry. His work harkens back a bit to the style of poets like Blake and Ginsberg, a fiery trail of Emersonian assertions delivered in rapid fire cadences.

Poetry may be what we need. There is a distinct challenge to describing what’s happening with 2012 emergence as we move through this amazing time in history. The limitations of language become evident and Thomas Merton’s great phrase about the challenges describing spiritual experience springs to mind, “Raids on the Unspeakable”. Moving away from the narrowness of much of the quasi-academic poetry commonplace these days, a latter day Blake or Milton might be up to the task or perhaps someone like Brian along with some of his contemporaries can take this on. Given the larger than life itself nature of the new energies, the scope and passion of literature has to grow and enlarge every bit as much as the frames of our everyday lives.

Understanding The 2012 Phenomenon

2009-06-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

The Boston conference was a great event. Thanks to everyone to attended and helped out. We'll be posting videos of the event soon on the web site: www.theemergenceproject.net. Our next event is on June 17, cosponsored with the Boston Evolver group. Location: Lily Pad, Cambridge MA. Hope to see you there.