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

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.