We’re in a period, in terms of history, of the end of national and tribal consciousness. The only consciousness that is proper to contemporary life is global. Nevertheless, all popular thinking is in terms of loyalties to the local communities to which all are members. Such thinking is now out of date.
Joseph Campbell, Myth And Meaning
I’ve always thought that the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that’s why I gave it to my people, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it’s the truth.
Andrei Sakharov, 1975 Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Do not focus too much on the east,
And forget the west.
And do not ignore the south,
To speak for the north.
What happens in the east
Has effects in the north,
As the west has on the south.
And do not focus on one species,
And ignore another.
Or love your father,
But ignore your mother.
Or love your sister,
But ignore your brother.
Do not forget each other.
We are all part of each other.
We are all one.
Suzy Kassem, The World Citizen
Current affairs have this week prompted the following reflections on the out-of-date thinking cited above by Joseph Campbell.
Wanton warfare ravages vast areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, with hundreds of daily casualties, billions of dollars spent on the machinery of destruction, with famine, — that silent killer of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged, — following in its wake.
Then we have the challenges of climate change. Reports just published by respected scientific bodies point towards the acceleration of global warming, the inevitable dire consequences of this trend, and the necessity of immediate and decisive action to head off disaster. These findings get much less attention in the media than the often dramatic yet superficial daily updates from the various front lines of military conflict.
Courageous activists such as Alexei Navalny and many lesser-known individuals are murdered, seemingly with impunity, by despots. Marauding gangs of young men roam the streets of Haiti, murdering and raping at will. This type of news tends to hit the headlines for two or three days, then disappears.
There is a haunting feeling of déjà vu in the air. Many of us who witnessed the frigid period of the Cold War, a terrifying period of negation of all things noble, characterised by the stockpiling of nuclear weapons, the Iron Curtain across our entire continent, and the courageous resistance of people like Andrei Sakharov, his wife Yelena Bonner, and many others are finding it difficult, in the light of current developments, to believe that, as a species, we have made any real progress towards overcoming the challenges we face.
Yet the challenges are mounting up and have become ever more threatening. Several factors have emerged in the mix of human endeavour and possibility since the 1970’s. The first is our direct widespread experience of the irrefutable evidence of climate change, of the impact of human behaviour in endangering the very basis of life for many species, including our own.
We may not yet know exactly how this will play out and there is still some debate about timelines (when, not if); however, we do sense that this is a perilous moment in the history of humanity. The response by the parochial, regionally fragmented political community, while sometimes recognisable as genuine attempts to avert the danger, has often been akin to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.
The strategy of the relentless global media machine, as the guardian of vested interests in the status quo, is predictable. Attention is deflected and red flags ignored, as if we had a second planet in the cupboard, which can be called upon when the current trajectory of collective human insanity has run its course.
Joseph Campbell wrote over fifty years ago: What we face is a challenge to recognize one community on this earth, and what we find in the face of this challenge is everybody pulling back into his own in-group. I don’t want to name the in-groups, but we all know pretty well what they are. In our country we call them pressure groups. They are racial groups, class groups, religious groups, economic groups, and they are all tangling with each other.
The second major innovation in the mix is the advent of the internet and the possibilities and dangers this poses to the development of our consciousness, both individual and collective. When it comes to pitting one group against the other, as the pressure groups are wont to do to preserve their exclusive, short-term interests, technology can be a deadly weapon. We see it in the (ab)use of Social Media to spread misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories.
Hatred against immigrants is whipped up to Make America Great Again (MAGA). Russia rewrites history to claim that the Ukraine has always been at its core, thus justifying reoccupation by force, and over 50% of Republican voters on Super Tuesday last week said they did not believe that Biden had legitimately won the presidency in 2020. When the Social Media platforms are free, we become the product. In that scenario, there is lots of money to be made and political capital to be gained.
I belong to the last generation that grew up without PCs, without email, without the internet. It was a very different world, and adapting to world of great possibilities presented by the digital revolution has been both exciting and challenging.
Without it, I would not be sitting here at home in the Rheinland, writing in the knowledge that this essay will, in theory, become accessible to millions of readers when my publishing deadline of Tuesday, 9pm CET is met. There is something very powerful about such possibility. How do we maximise it in the service of the greater good?
The answer lies in a willingness of each one of us to relinquish our separation from our true selves, each other, and the rest of Creation. This concept is not new. Buddha said as much over 2,500 years ago. Yet, in our default programme there is a script which will take us down the path of separation, of alienation, especially when our fear-fuelled Saboteurs signal danger and tell us we should strike back.
In the words of Chuck C. an early pioneer of the Twelve Step recovery movement which emerged in the United States in the 1930s and has now established itself as a beacon of healing around the world, we get to choose between being a part of or apart from. To make this shift we must learn to handle these fear-fuelled Saboteurs so that we can move from their grip to the higher energies present in every human being. In the Sikh tradition these energies are collectively referred to as the Spark of the Divine.
Like many, I believe in the oneness of humanity. This is the belief that all humans are equal because we were all created by an overriding Power, which the Sikhs have given the name Waheguru. I use the term Great Spirit and believe that this Great Spirit is immanent in all forms of life. I find the same inspiring message in the teachings of Christ and other great teachers throughout the ages.
For me, this means that all forms of creation should be treated respectfully, with the same respect we would wish to experience from others. This meta-egalitarianism, when manifested in our daily thoughts, feelings, and actions, will eventually bring about a society in which peace and loving-kindness prevail.
How do we make this shift from the lower energies of the survival instincts (ego) to those of the Spark of the Divine?
The Positive Intelligence (PQ) Mental Fitness modality which I have enthusiastically adopted, — practicing every day since January 2022, and in which I have now qualified as a Certified Coach, — is a simple approach which shows us how to train three key mental muscles: The Saboteur Interceptor, the Mind Command Muscle, and the Sage Enhancer.
The Sage Powers (Empathise, Explore, Innovate, Navigate, and Activate), — paired with the Sage Perspective which states that there is a gift and opportunity in every circumstance — make up that Spark of the Divine within. Only when we access these powers can we overcome the challenges wrought by our personal maladaptive response to the experience of childhood adversity, and the cumulative effect of countless previous generations operating primarily in fear-fuelled Saboteur mode.
The Mind Command piece is pivotal. When we recognise that the Saboteurs have become active, we use brief powerful body-based exercises to bring us back into the present moment. These produce the effect of circuit-breakers in our stinking thinking, so that, in this new placid awareness, we can consciously switch from Saboteur to Sage, and thereupon determine our next move.
For a more detailed description of PQ mental Fitness, see: https://soberoasis.org/positive-intelligence-pq-mental-fitness/
As Marianne Williamson points out in her commentary on A Course In Miracles: A miracle is a shift from fear to love.
We need to shift out of fear to find a way of overcoming our fear-induced dilemmas, individually and collectively. Einstein pointed out that we cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it. In other words, we need to switch from Saboteur to Sage as a prerequisite to finding an effective solution. We cannot think our way out of Saboteur mode. The bridge of bodily sensations must be re-discovered and crossed.
The PQ solution is accessible and, thanks to the App-supported materials and exercises, very feasible. Progress can be tracked over time and new fitness goals set, as appropriate. An 8-week foundational introduction is highly recommended. In this initial phase it is sufficient to set aside 30 minutes per day to become familiar with the concepts and commence a daily practice regime. This includes time spent with the PQ Coach (face to face or online).
As with any transformation challenge, the split of effort is 20% to cover the insights and 80% practice. Initially reversed as the concepts are gradually introduced, that 80/20 distribution can be quickly achieved, after which the focus remains on the actual daily PQ practice, the simple exercises that make up the mental fitness training.
Just as in the case of physical fitness, we need a certain level of continuous daily practice to maintain the newly established mental fitness or a little more if we wish to continue to grow in strength. My own experience, and that of many clients, is increased mental fitness has led to more harmonious relationships, clarity of purpose, greater alignment of values and behaviours, reduction of stress, improved performance (individual and in teams), better health outcomes, a greater degree of freedom, and more frequently experienced peace of mind.
We take back our sense of agency from the Saboteurs who have normalised living in fear. We can’t change the world out there by simply trying to change the system, in the subject-object sense. We can change ourselves and by changing our own nature, the system changes.
Working bottom up in a non-judgemental and inclusive manner, from our individual self dialogue, through our behaviour in relationships, families, workplaces, organisations, and communities, we can become part of the solution to humanity’s current challenges rather than simply watching them pile up or even exacerbating them.
Allowing others to partake in our own recovery and growth and helping them develop the necessary skills to do so themselves, are further important contributions to raising collective consciousness.
We owe this to ourselves and to our children, indeed to life itself! In taking this path, using, in part, newly developed resources unknown to our grandparents, we also honour those who have gone before us, those people who did the best they could with the resources they had at their disposal.
Exclusivity is a byproduct of the fear-driven ego. It attempts do divide the indivisible. In the words of Joseph Campbell: The new thing that is very difficult for people to realize is that our society is the human race. And our little suburb is the globe. Spaceship Earth.
Photo Credit: NASA, 1968
