Before the Fall

These unsettling times call for a fundamental paradigm shift.

Deep within ourselves, we are aware of the truth of things. We know what’s going on in and around us. We know, for example, that the world is in a strange waiting state right now, like a ball thrown into the air that hovers ambiguously before it falls. We know that this is a time of significant uncertainty and indirection. We know that there’s social unrest about us, and that much of our race seems to be, presently, in a particularly unwholesome and alienated state.

And yet all deep knowledge in us is usually so filtered through ego — through layers of conditioning and identification —- that we often doubt or deny what we basically know. We may consider the shifting alienation and uncertainty that we sense personal rather than collective. We may think that what we feel is all in our heads, or try to ignore or distract ourselves from it. We may shelter ourselves from this broader awareness in bubbles of comfort and good feelings. We may convince ourselves that progress is “moving forward,” as it always does, with some bumps in the road on which we shouldn’t dwell. The unsettling spirit of this time can feel too uncomfortable to let ourselves fully acknowledge or regularly notice.

But it’s okay. There is space within us to hold this discomfort. We are all, ultimately, so much more profoundly abundant and rooted than we may know. It will not do us any good to attempt to ignore or downplay the strange situation in which we find ourselves, currently, as a race. We have created so many incredible technologies, and yet we are observing a deterioration of quality of life for many as wealth inequality expands. In some of the wealthiest parts of the world, we see bubbles of almost unfeeling, cyclical production and consumption, propelling unsustainable growth. Many of the human “advances” we see around us now seem tone deaf. We see new luxury technologies and records broken that somehow lack the exciting, communal ring of meaningful human achievement. We see a brave new world of quantity and expansionism alongside an environmental crisis so deep that our collective efforts to address it thus far seem cursory and insincere.

A significant shift is needed. It is a shift we can muster, but we have to recognize and accept the futility and dysfunction of our current state in order to move beyond it. We need to see that so many of the social structures and focuses around us are not reaching the root of the issues causing climate change and discontent. We need to let go of a fixation on material progress — even technological and scientific progress — and look deeper. We need to look within ourselves, let go of attachment to the order we know, and imagine new, meaningful possibility. We need to disengage from all that seems senseless, and discover in ourselves the root of that discerning awareness. We need to awaken.

For the first time in history, the survival of our species depends upon spiritual realization. As material progress and technological sophistication have amplified our collective power, they have also amplified the state of dysfunction in which we live as humans. The increasing power of our tools shows us more jarringly the confusion of our carpentry — the optical illusions of consciousness, as Einstein called them, that separate us from ourselves and bring us into conflict with each other and with nature. As the power of our technologies continues to increase, so do the alienating effects of our inward division. We can no longer afford to be out of touch with ourselves.

This, then, is a time when spirituality is not a luxury, but a necessity. More pressing than the need for further development is the need for a conscientious, human hand guiding such development meaningfully — not just reasonably, but soulfully. Presently, it is quite easy to see that this ship seems to be steering itself. Where are we, all of us, when meaningful direction depends on each of us? Can we not awaken, accepting the challenge before us, profound as it is? I know that we can, because I know that such depth is in us. But we have to choose it, looking inward and opening to drastic change and possibility even where it seems absurd.

What is asked of us collectively now is not essentially different from what is asked of an addict in a recovery group. We are presently consequentially and destructively addicted to material: to gain (physical or conceptual; financial or scientific), growth, achievement, comfort, pleasure, and quantitative productivity. This is not to denounce an “evil” of our time — we don’t need to condemn, judge or combat it — but we do need to recognize it, and see that things can be different. There is more to us as humans than we now realize, and only a radical disengagement from our current paradigm and trajectory can bring us into new possibilities of health and hope.

What would it be to stop pressing forward, and be present? Can we get in touch with depth of qualitative experience, learning to appreciate the beauty of the natural world and the simplicity of being? Can we look gently inward, feeling our bodies, breaths, and the intangible aliveness that we are, and slough off this blazing skin of external metrics and gargantuan growth? Isn’t there something softer, deeper and kinder within us?

This shift can happen in each of us, as we step out of the social currents around us and get in touch with ourselves. As we reflect, meditate, or practice simply being, sensing rather than thinking, we bring an openness into this world. The simple act of presence — of being and feeling vividly what we are in this moment, and letting go of rigid paradigms; of coming into ourselves — is the most radical action we can take. Only through realizing more deeply the conscious presence that we are do we create the space for meaningful, soulful change around us. When we reflect and deepen, regardless of the social norms and pressures around us, we make space for others to do the same. We ask new questions, have new conversations, and bring new insights to our circles. Little by little, the shift in each of us is reflected in the minds and hearts around us, and there is space for new collective inspiration and life.

So let’s make presence and connectedness our priority. Let’s relegate forward motion and development to a secondary place, and be part of a global shift towards inward and present awareness. Let’s let ourselves be moved by a sense of meaning or inspiration, rather than push ourselves onward as victims of our own momentum. Let’s renounce all that feels false, and notice patiently in ourselves the flowering of the soul, and the world that may come. After all, the greatest of global change is born through each of us, and the same spiritual ground is among us all. It’s a radical notion, but we really can do it.

Please feel free to get in touch for meditation classes or spiritual counseling over video.

You can also find me at my website, Facebook page or Instagram account (I’m now up with the times).

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