A Time of Quantum Leaping

"The world has changed, and we must change with it." --Barack Obama
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." --Proverbs 29:18, King James version

A large crystal, in the shape of the Washington Monument, lies at the bottom of the Tidal Pool, directly facing the White House. Empowered with the energy, hope, and love of many people, the crystal is alive with the vibrations of dance and song from a ritual blessing just prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama.

The crystal radiates light towards the White House, the Congress, all the huge government buildings (themselves often faced with reflective marble) that lie in alignment along the grids of the city laid out over 200 years ago.

Other crystals and stones were placed in the same pool by me, with similar intent, over a year ago; you may recall our "Lights for Leaders" project. Probably there are other objects of power in the Pool as well, supporting the focus of inspiration, open heartedness, and wondrous paradigm-shifting that is the potential of this new world!

All of us can feed those energies as often as we are willing and able to step into that other, parallel dimension that exists alongside the "normal" dimension we inhabit. It is useful to clear yourself of distractions, then visualize the crystal, or the pool, sending and surrounding them with light and intent to keep the energy of hope and change flowing!

What's very cool about parallel realities is that they are not in competition or conflict with where we are, they just exist along side us. It's what shamans mean by "stepping between worlds;" its what quantum physicists mean by the experimenter affecting the outcome of the experiment before-or after-it takes place. This mysterious work we do in parallel dimensions to shift consciousness complements and affects our pragmatic work as well.

The Pragmatic

Our brains are alive with ideas! How can we actualize and feed practical, paradigm-shifting, positive, luminous change -- in ourselves, our communities, our country?

What struck me most in Obama's inauguration speech was his urging us to put aside our "petty grievances" and our "worn out dogmas." The many worn out dogmas of both politicians and activists came to mind, then I began asking myself, what are the worn out dogmas I speak? How can I more consciously act and speak with inspiration and imagination?

Listening carefully to callers, interviews, and experts following the inauguration, I realized that it's not just "others"-the Republicans or the conservatives or the religious right or whomever has a different view than mine--who repeat old arguments. We all do it. We all have to listen to ourselves. We are challenged to find words that engage, include, invite everyone to participate. We are challenged to find actions - different ways of encouraging change -- whether we are seeking environmental preservation, a shift in resource use, resolution of conflict, social and economic sustainablity, or anything else.

This is a really big consciousness challenge! It's a lot easier to repeat what I already think to others who think the same. It is not so easy to let go of beliefs that impede, or of fears and assumptions that hold us back from truly creative actions.

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves:

--What words and metaphors do I use that need revision? ("Fighting for peace" and "fighting for change" seem good examples.)
--What "stale arguments" do I recite without thinking?
--What's the effect of my criticizing discourse, whether it's about my kids, my partner, or some policy?
--Do my excuses for non-action cover up my belief that something is not possible?
--How can I change my words and actions to reflect the world I want to live in?

I bring up words and thinking (and the energy that fuels them, of course) because that's where everything starts. And that's something we can all address.

Language has enormous power to categorize, limit, exclude, and dismiss - or empowwer. Some of you are too young to remember, but not so long ago members of the female sex (of all ages) were unconsciously referred to as "girls" while "boys" became "men" at a certain age - except for the adult black male, who was still called "boy." If you are not in the dismissed category of persons, it is hard to imagine the effects. But in just 30 years, the power of changing to "woman" and "black man" is evidenced in positions of power, economic independence, self esteem, and dreams of what is possible.

Inspiration from Example

Here are a few creative examples of making change and leaving behind worn out dogma!

* The organization Code Pink incorporates behavioral and thinking shifts (joy! humor!) to get the job done: The slogan "Yes we can-can live in peace" was proclaimed by dancing the can-can during many inauguration events in the now-famous pink boas, pink skirts, pink hats; bearing witness in inclusive ways, like the moms who made a weekly playspace for their young children so they could advocate closing a military recruiting station, or the young women who led weekly yoga during the same protest.

* Suggesting the "unthinkable" creates a space for us to change our beliefs and see new possibilities. Dennis Kuchinich's legislation to create a Department of Peace certainly worked that way for me: when I first heard about it, I thought "That's not possible in this country!" Yet the more I reflected, the more I understood the essential shifts we could support with federally-supported peace education, peace advocacy, peace leadership.

* Finding simple ways to address multiple issues - such as helping people make ends meet, changing values, and reconnecting with dirt, plants, and self-sufficiency through "abundance gardens" modeled on the victory gardens of World War II - can create an enormous consciousness shift as more and more people embrace the possibility.

* Women in Liberia, at the height of a 14-year civil war, joined together wearing white -- Muslim and Christian, educated and unlettered, rich and poor, urban and rural - to protest for peace. After months of insistence they persuaded both the president and the rebels to attend peace talks. When the peace talks got bogged down, the women surrounded the building, locked arms, and sent a note inside saying that they were taking the participants hostage until a peace agreement was signed. It worked. But it was not reported in the New York Times or the Washington Post. The film "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" documents this story (see link).

In this work it is so often true that we don't know where to begin, but somehow we are carried by our belief and our gratitude into the tasks that we trust will feed all the beauty in our world. As one of my teachers advises, "Each step is a possibility. Each breath is a possibility."

May we continue to leap together!

A few spaces are still available for the profound energetic transmissions of Munay-Ki, "seeds of homo luminous," over the course of eight months in 2009. These transmissions open portals into expanded consciousness.

Want to learn to see with your heart, explore the hidden worlds, and access the timeless wisdom known to our ancestors? Sign up for "Introduction to Shamanic Journeying." Want support in focusing and developing your own vision? Join us in "Keeping the Dream of the World Alive: Visioning and Dreaming Our Futures."

Women of Liberia organized to break down the old arguments and old divisions, insisted on a peaceful settlement, locked the male leaders in their meeting room until they made that peace.

"The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to it, and it seems likely that we could find our society experiencing it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world."

If every household in the US replaced just one box of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees! Site lists "good" brands of TP, Kleenex, & paper towels.

"I'm not going to talk about scarcity, I'm going to talk about abundance. I'm going to talk about life's ideas. I'm going to talk about life having not just one idea, but dozens of good ideas." Janine Benyus talks about the "Top Biomimicry Solutions to Environmental Crises."

You can find last month's newsletter on "Darkness Comes Singing" and read other, previous versions of Shifting Consciousness News here.

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