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.

Ac Tah's Mayan "Messages of Light"

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

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

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"

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

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

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.