Presently humankind is facing daunting challenges on numerous fronts; challenges that stretch our very capacity to fully grasp, let alone adequately handle. And yet, the writing is on the wall: if we fail to meet these challenges, they threaten our very existence. As such, we stand at a precipice of potential collective demise unlike any generation in the history of humankind.
Unfortunately, while we are more technologically advanced than any previous generation in history, our level of consciousness has not progressed at anywhere near the pace of our technological innovation. And, as such, that very real–but very one-dimensional–progress threatens to destroy not only our civilization, but essential elements of the encompassing biosphere right along with it.
It was Einstein who said a problem cannot be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. And that aptly applies here. Contrary to popular opinion, our problems are ultimately rooted in consciousness, not in systems or technology. And simply put, the reason why we as a collective have not been able to rise to meet the challenges we face is that they are simply beyond the capacity of our present center of gravity of consciousness.
To solve the problems we face we need to not only handle them differently, we need to see them differently. And to see them differently we must see ourselves, and our relationship to them, differently. Please don’t misunderstand me: without doubt, systemic changes are unquestionably necessary to meet the challenges manifesting before us. Why? Because it’s clear that bandages and stopgaps will simply not do – that’s far from what’s required here. But, in addition to systemic changes, for truly comprehensive and lasting change to occur, we also need to be different; and that evolution in being needs to manifest in multiple ways.
Firstly, we need to unlearn many of the limiting, distorting lessons we’ve been indoctrinated with as denizens of modern civilization, while simultaneously (re-)discovering the expansive, multi-faceted aspects of our own deepest nature. Secondly, we need to grow into people who fully actualize our innate ability to tune into the broader sphere of consciousness that surrounds us; a sphere that we are intrinsically a part of, even if in many ways functionally cut-off from. Thirdly, we also need to be with each other differently. This involves rethinking – and eventually newly embodying – how we relate to one another.
The truth is, not only are we much more connected than we’ve been taught, we’re also much more able to experience that connection than most of us have so far realized. So much so, in fact, that this relational transformation enables us to eventually fundamentally change the very way we think of “self-interest”. And once that evolves, everything else evolves right along with it. With that new embodied understanding, our spirit of innovation can then rise to meet our present challenges, and in a truly organic way at that.
The transformation described in each of these evolutions of consciousness comes about via the practice of “expanding awareness” – hence the name of this 12-week long inspirational, communal, but wholly practical course; a course that is more a workshop than a forum for conceptual wisdom. What’s ultimately being transmitted here is an embodied, realized way of being differently in the world; being differently with the world, and being differently as the world. And each of these evolutions is central to this entire initiative, which is understandably called Essence of Being.