Prologue

  We are on the verge of a very rude awakening. It will be hard and stressful and involve a lot of suffering that many of us will not survive. It is also what needs to happen if we are to evolve as a species on this planet we call home. Our vast numbers combined with a profound ignorance of our intimate connection to the natural world has produced a situation so out of balance that we can no longer hope to avoid the dire consequences that await us, just around the corner. Most of these consequences, including famine, pestilence and disease, will arise out of our destruction of the ecosystems we depend on for our very survival, and the rest will be self-inflicted as we fight each other over ever dwindling resources. Since we have not been able to take care of the earth, the earth will do what is required to bring things back into balance. And there is nobody to blame for any of this, it is simply what is required if we are to evolve as a species to the next level where life ceases being just about experiencing the Universe and becomes a means by which we transcend this illusion of separateness into which we are born.

  But first there is this healing crisis with which we are confronted. And, for most of us, the tendency is to avoid looking too closely at a deteriorating situation for fear of what may be found there, including the real likelihood that our lives will be irrevocably altered in response to a new reality. And those of us who do look find ourselves confronted with obstacles so immense and complicated that we despair of ever being able to bring about any significant change. What little we can do in our own lives seems piteously inadequate. It is as if we have found ourselves on a ship that we know is sinking, but those around us can neither see nor accept the possibility of this reality. We are simply given a bucket and told to start bailing and that everything will be alright.

  And it will be alright because it’s actually all perfect and unfolding exactly as it should. But in the midst of all this darkness and suffering, it is difficult to understand how this could be true. Times of awakening have always been this way because we are being forced to reexamine things that we believed were true and sacrosanct, things that are now putting our very survival on this planet in question.

 And not all of us are ready to awaken to this new reality but doing so is a requirement if we are to continue to evolve as a species. Some are not ready because their mind cannot comprehend any other reality than the one in which their happiness is connected to, and dependent on, being able to consume the material world around them. They cannot be forced to see what is beyond their vision or understand what is beyond their understanding. And they take refuge in religions that would have them believe that this life is simply a place where we must behave in a manner defined by dogma so that we can enter into a heavenly afterlife, and its existence we must take on faith. And while they cannot be blamed for being who they are, the perspective on life that they represent cannot be allowed to persist if we are to survive on this planet and continue to evolve.

  There is a hexagram in the I Ching called Chun/Difficulty at the Beginning that describes the situation in which we find ourselves at this point in time. “The situation points to teeming, chaotic profusion, thunder and rain fill the air.” It is a time when the old must give way so that the new can emerge and the old will resist this change to the very end because it knows there is no place for it in this new reality. Dealing with this resistance will, of necessity, consume some of our time and energy but it is not the important thing. Once this resistance is overcome through our own efforts and the planetary forces being brought into play, there will be need for enough of us left with the ability to connect the dots and create new perspectives to rebuild this world into a place where balance is restored. A place where the inner journey that will define the second half of our evolution as a species can become the predominant paradigm. And so we are left with the only directive we’ve ever had, and that is to continue the work we do on ourselves to realize whatever potential we were born with to awaken from this illusion of separateness.