Pierre Teilhard De Chardin Information

(1) Science and Christ
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Science_and_Christ.pdf

(2) Appearance Of Man
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Appearance_of_Man.pdf

(3) Christianity and Evolution
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Christianity_and_Evolution.pdf

(4) Let Me Explain
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Let_Me_Explain.pdf

(5) The Phenomenon of Man
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/phenomenon-of-man.pdf

(6) The Future of Man
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Future_of_Man.pdf

(7) Toward the Future
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Toward_the_Future.pdf

(8) Heart of Matter
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Heart_of_Matter.pdf

(9) Letters to Two Friends
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Letters_to_Two_Friends.pdf

(10) The Divine Milieu
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/The_Divine_Milieu.pdf

(11) Writings in Time of War
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Writings_in_Time_of_War.pdf

(12) Letters From A Traveler
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Letters_from_a_Traveller.pdf

(13) Human Energy
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Human_Energy.pdf

(14) Hymn of the Universe
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Hymn_of_the_Universe.pdf

(15) Man's Place in Nature
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Mans_Place_in_Nature.pdf

(16) On Love and Happiness
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/on_love_happiness.pdf

(17) Vision of the Past
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Vision_of_the_Past.pdf

(18) Letters to Lucile Swan
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Letters_to_Lucile_Swan.pdf

(19) Letters to Leontine Zanta
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Letters_to_Leontine_Zanta.pdf

(20) Activation of Energy
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Activation_of_Energy.pdf

(21) The Making of a Mind
https://www.euvolution.com/pdfs/Teilhard_de_Chardin_Pierre_-_The_Making_of_a_Mind.pdf

Evolutionary Leaders: In Service to Conscious Evolution

While driving across the Richmond Bridge from Berkeley to Marin County in California I had a random 70s song list playing on iTunes.(I know I can hear my DJ son rolling his eyes).Anyway, Carly Simon came on singing an old favorite

Cause I havent got time for the painI havent got room for the painI havent the need for the painNot since Ive known you

You showed me how, how to leave myself behindHow to turn down the noise in my mind.

As I sang along, I heard the words differently.Earlier that day, on a zoom call with two colleagues who are experts in creating large scale spiritual and self-development summits I was shocked to discover that there were hundreds of thousands of people attending summits on TRAUMA.If you look up trauma summit on google, you will get 350,000 results in less than one second and if you google trauma directly, over 9 trillion results in the same amount of time.Thats A LOT of interest in trauma.

Its worth taking a moment to contemplate humanitys relationship to trauma beyond possibly our own personal experience.Since the dawn of time the human story, though filled with great achievements and development, has been one of fragmentation, separation and suffering.The evolutionary template for human existence is a design emphasizing individual development through a kind of heros or heroines journey.Our existence depends on being separate individuals learning to survive and succeed in this world.

One simple example is the split between matter and spirit we experience through our individual incarnation.We can feel trapped, lost, alone and disconnected from source. We focus on trying to stay anchored into our bodies or we meditate and try to free ourselves from the limitations of the mind and density of physical existence. The endless struggle to overcome separation defines our relationship to the earth, ourselves, our bodies and each other. And even with all the time and energy devoted to our individual healing and development, we seem to be swimming in an overwhelming amount of...

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Evolutionary Leaders: In Service to Conscious Evolution

Something good has to come out of this crisis and it begins with finding our souls – Majorca Daily Bulletin

Serge Obolensky Beddington-Behrens.05-09-2020

Dr. Serge Obolensky Beddington-Behrens, MA (Oxon.), PhD., K.S.M.L., is the first to admit that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, but once he completed his education at Oxford, he turned his back on what would have been an extremely privileged and comfortable life and embarked on his own journey which eventually led him to Majorca some seven years ago.

Serge had often visited the island since he was a little boy, but an old school friend invited him out to the island and suggested he bought a holiday home on the island, which he did in Moscari - a small finca - before moving to Pollensa three years ago. He now spends his time between England and Majorca, where he is extremely happy with his second wife.

For forty years he has conducted spiritual retreats all over the world. In the 1980s, he co-founded the Institute for the Study of Conscious Evolution in San Francisco. He is the author of Awakening the Universal Heart and has recently published Gateways to the Soul; Inner Work for the Outer World, which is enjoying huge success in the United States and has just been released in the United Kingdom.

Serge, who trained and studied all over the world and was awarded an Italian knighthood twenty years ago for services to humanity, explained to the Bulletin this week that he actually started his latest book some two years ago but that its message or teachings could not be more apt than now, as the world struggles through the Covid pandemic.

In the book I explore the connections between healing your personal wounds and healing the planet. I try to explain how embracing inner qualities such as love, friendship, joy, courage, forgiveness, and truth, as well as facing your shadow sides and confronting world evil, enables you to move through important gateways leading to the soul.

The book also offers a variety of transpersonal exercises, meditations, and guided visualisations at the end of each chapter, so its also a self-help publication. We are all going through a dreadful and dark time right now and no one really knows whats going to happen next. Will there be a vaccine soon or will the virus mutate and return even stronger? How long will this last? No one has the answers. But what is clear is that life is never going to be the same again and we need to seize this moment, make good of this crisis and change the way we live and our attitude toward others and the world in which we live.

And what is crucial to us being able to move forward in this new world we are entering into is to reconnect with our souls, rediscover who we are and repair our own wounds instead of inflicting them on others. I see a change in civilisation, we need one. The old way of doing things, be it politics, economics or simple social affairs has reached its sell-by date. Its old school - the blame game has got to end and weve got to become accustomed to being accountable for our own actions and positively influencing the actions of others.

And Ive got plenty more to learn as well. I love to create. I guess I write because Im a hopeless musician, although I love to sing and strum a few chords on my guitar. For example, Ive lived in Pollensa for some three years now and until the lockdown, Id never known my neighbours. But once the daily 7pm applause for the health service and frontline workers began, I would join in and also play a few chords and sing a few songs from my balcony. Before I knew it, I not only got to know my neighbours, but weve become good friends who met sharing a common sense of community and respect for the greater good and selfless hard work the medical fraternity was carrying out and continues to do to this day.

Humanity is in a great crisis of soul today, but there is also much goodwill around. As a species, we are challenged to start embracing a new story, one that enables us to be less greedy and materialistic and to espouse peace not war, kindness not cruelty, and heart as opposed to indifference. What we need is to bring more soul into the world.

Serge also works as consultant for large companies around the world helping them adapt to a new way of thinking, operating and recovering their souls.

My message applies to everyone from the top to the bottom, from politicians, big business, economists, international leaders and ecologists; its all interconnected. Its no longer all about making as much money and obtaining as many material items as possible at the cost of the misfortune of others. This new civilisation I see does not, is not, going to work on those bases, beliefs or attitudes. And it does not matter what colour, religion, culture or standing you have in life; those barriers have to be broken down. But to do that we have to start with ourselves.

We have to rediscover our souls, what really matters and learn to enjoy life and the company of others again, learn to laugh, love, help and share. The blame game has to stop. Individuals have to be able to be self-critical and also be held accountable. Our future, the future of the world we and our children will live in is at stake here, and if we fail to learn the lessons and wake up during this crisis then, unfortunately, its going to take an even bigger one to wake us up.

Weve become imprisoned within ourselves and we need to find the key to releasing ourselves and making a stand. If you object to the Japanese whale culling, for example, then join Greenpeace and take part in the maritime blockades to try and protect the whales. We can all make a difference in numerous ways, but now is the time for us to change.

And in the midst of the pandemic we have all these problems. There are conflicts in Belarus, the Lebanon. There are people starving, there is immigration and the Black Lives Matter issue, which is being fuelled by far-right factions not only in the United States but across the world which are intent on sparking off more problems as opposed to finding solutions; that is a human trait we have to shake off.

That said, it doesnt help by having someone like Donald Trump in charge of the most powerful country in the world. Ive never seen a more unhappy person. Ive yet to see him smile or laugh. Hes classic old school, old civilisation. He grew up indoctrinated in thinking about himself, making as much money as possible while becoming all powerful. He doesnt care about anyone else apart from himself and when things dont go his way, he simply blames everyone else.

Give him a week on one my retreats and I will make him laugh and smile again and help him heal the internal wounds he continues to inflict on everyone else. And the same can be said for many leading politicians. Theres little thought for the common good, all they think about is popularity, standings in the polls and votes, which amount to even more power. We need to remember how to listen and appreciate other peoples ideas and respect their way of thinking, its the only we can move forward as a new civilisation and in a much more civilised world."

His latest guide, which is available on Amazon, from the only newsagent in Pollensa (or as a signed copy direct by contacting him by email), is about engaging in inner work to bring change into the world. Serge reveals how the healing of our personal wounds combined with the growing of our soul life leads us directly to the addressing of world problems.

Sharing inspirational stories from his own personal journey of becoming a transpersonal psychotherapist, shaman, and activist, he shows you how, by transforming your inner world, you begin creating important positive ripples that reverberate around all areas of your outer one.

And should anyone who is suffering during this crisis feel the need for some help or guidance, Serge is offering a one-hour free session via Skype for residents here in the Balearics. All you have to do is contact him via email. Its my way of trying to help.

For more information email: infosergebb@gmail.com

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Something good has to come out of this crisis and it begins with finding our souls - Majorca Daily Bulletin

What Is Conscious Evolution? | HuffPost

For most of us, spiritual evolution does not occur simply as a result of one flash of insight or revelation. On the contrary, it usually requires inspired intention and consistent, diligent effort. And the way this is achieved is through the greatest gift that evolution has given us: the power of choice.

The power of conscious choice, or free agency, is unique to human beings as far as we know. You and I are highly evolved individuated selves who have been blessed with the extraordinary capacity for self-reflective awareness and the freedom to choose. In fact, these are the very faculties that make it possible for us to consciously evolve. Think about it: You, whoever you are, at least to some degree have the power to choose. How much do you really appreciate the significance of this extraordinary birthright? It is surprising how few people consider the deeper implications of possessing the freedom to choose. Just imagine -- without free agency, who would you be? Little more than a robot, unconsciously responding and reacting to conditioned egoic fears and desires, cultural triggers, biological impulses, and external stimuli, with no control over your own destiny. But while it is true that we are all profoundly influenced by many of these forces, both inner and outer, at the same time, it is equally true that we always have at least some measure of freedom to choose how we respond.

If you aspire to become an evolutionarily enlightened human being, your ability to do so depends upon accepting the simple fact that independent of external circumstances, you always have a measure of freedom to choose. That sounds like a simple statement, but it's amazing how many intelligent people will deny it. When you look honestly for yourself, however, you will see that it is true: you are always choosing. Sometimes your choices are conscious; sometimes they are unconscious. Sometimes they are inspired by the best parts of yourself; other times they are motivated by lower impulses and instincts. But the bottom line is that every time you act or react, at some level a choice is being made. And you, whoever you are, are the one who is making that choice. After all, who else could it be?

Conscious evolution is a simple concept to grasp, but not quite as simple to put into in practice. Our freedom to choose is not unlimited. We each have some measure of freedom. Not complete freedom, but a measure, and that measure is greater for some people than it is for others. But as long as there is some it's enough to begin. If there is a measure of freedom then there is freedom to choose.

What that means is that in relationship to the important choices you make, you are never completely unconscious. There is always some degree of awareness, however small, which gives you the freedom to choose. And the path of conscious evolution is about increasing that degree of awareness, increasing that measure of freedom, until you are living as the enlightened self that you consciously choose to be, rather than the unenlightened self you have unconsciously and habitually identified with your entire life.

I believe that it is possible to take responsibility for the entirety of who you are in such a profound way that you can consciously choose who you want to be. But that doesn't mean it will be easy. The human self is by nature a complex multidimensional process, and within that process are many factors that limit our freedom and obscure our awareness. There are powerful biological instincts that still drive us on a deep level to act in ways that challenge our higher rational inclinations. There are all the karmic consequences of our personal history, the emotional and psychological tendencies that have formed in response to our particular life experience. There are layers of cultural conditioning, values and assumptions about how things should be that color our perspectives without us even knowing it. And many people believe that within our psyches we also carry the unresolved stories of previous lifetimes. All these factors play a part in the complex web of motives and impulses that makes up your sense of self. All of this is you. And yet it is possible to take responsibility for all of these dimensions of who you are, through the transformative recognition that you are always the one who is choosing.

If you aspire to evolve, if you intend to become a conscious vehicle for the evolutionary impulse, you have to use the God-given powers of awareness and conscious choice to navigate between your new and higher spiritual aspirations, and all of the conditioned impulses and habits that are embedded in your self-system. You need to become so conscious that you can make choices that move you, consistently, in an evolutionary direction. And it is only through the wholehearted embrace of your power of choice that it becomes possible for you to do this. This is what I often call "enlightening the choosing faculty" -- bringing the light of consciousness, conscience and higher purpose to bear on the unique and extraordinary capacity within that can define your destiny.

Eventually, if you go far enough in your spiritual development, the self-generated momentum of your own evolutionary choices will become the driving force of your life, rather than the unconscious habits of the past. And that's when something very profound occurs. Your capacity to choose will become more and more aligned with the creative freedom of the evolutionary impulse, the energy and intelligence behind the initial choice to become. When free agency, the greatest gift of the evolved human, is liberated from unconscious and habitual patterns and becomes identified with a higher or cosmic will, the individual becomes a conscious agent of evolution.

When your power of choice aligns itself with the evolutionary impulse in this way, your own deepest, heart-felt, spiritual aspiration becomes one with the original cosmic intention to create the universe. That's what Evolutionary Enlightenment is pointing to. To the degree to which you make conscious and transcend those outdated biological, psychological, and cultural habits within yourself that are inhibiting your higher development, you become an ever-more-powerful agent for conscious evolution.

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What Is Conscious Evolution? | HuffPost

Conscious evolution – Wikipedia

The hypothetical ability of the human species to choose what they will become

Conscious evolution refers to the theoretical ability of human beings to be conscious participants in the evolution of their cultures, or even of the entirety of human society, based on a relatively recent combination of factors, including increasing awareness of cultural and social patterns, reaction against perceived problems with existing patterns, injustices, inequities, and other factors. The realization that cultural and social evolution can be guided through conscious decisions has been in increasing evidence since approximately the mid-19th century, when the rate of change globally began to increase dramatically. The Industrial Revolution, reactions against the effects of the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of new sciences such as psychology, anthropology, and sociology, the revolution in global communication, the interaction of diverse cultures through transportation and colonization, anti-slavery and suffrage movements, and increasing lifespan all would contribute to the growing awareness of social and cultural patterns as being potentially subject to conscious evolution.

The idea of conscious evolution is not a specific theory, but it has loose connections to integral theory, General Evolutionary Theory (also known as Evolutionary Systems Theory), Spiral Dynamics, and noosphere thought.[1] It is also sometimes connected to the theory of the global brain or collective consciousness.[1] Some have suggested conscious cultural-evolution[2] as a more accurate term, to reduce association with standard biological evolution, though this is not widely applied.

Conscious evolution suggests that now that humanity is conscious of its history and of how things evolve (evolutionary consciousness), and given the rapid pace of change in society and culture, humanity can (and should) choose advancement through co-operation, co-creation and sustainable practices over self-destruction through separateness, competition, and ecological devastation.

At the centre of the concept of conscious evolution are the approximate definitions of the terms constituent phenomena ('consciousness' and 'evolution'). However, the term implies more than these phenomena generally encompass, not least as it is often used with strong assumptions of a collective interest/ common good.

Evolution does not exclusively act upon morphological (phenotypic) variation; it can also work on a cognitive level.[3] Daniel Dennett has suggested that evolution is simply a process which uses natural selection as a basic algorithm for progression.[3] This could be applied to changes in behaviours, practices, concepts, theories and ideas (cultural evolution). In these situations the mutating replicators of evolution can be considered memes (theoretical units of cultural information)[4] rather than genes. Over the last 10,000 years humanity has become increasingly capable of influencing its own environment and cognitively adapting to these environmental changes through the use of evolving memes. Memetic (cognitive) innovation (as opposed to morphological variation) has therefore become the primary driver of humanitys evolutionary success.[3]

Humans are conscious, and are consciously manipulating the memes they use. Consciousness itself (in humans brains) can therefore be said to have agency over its own evolution, because memetic usage influences evolutionary success. Evolution is also something humans are conscious of. Consciousness (in human brains) can therefore be simultaneously conscious of evolution (working in this case upon memes) while consciously manipulating its own memetics, in order to influence its own evolution. Evolution (in the sense of its impact upon memetics) is therefore increasingly a subject of knowledge, rather than an unknown pressure operating on the world.[5]

The concept of conscious evolution is sometimes associated with certain luminaries personal evolutionary journeys.[6] The central objective is to achieve a globally sustainable future by developing the idea that humans can guide evolution, now that we are conscious of it (evolutionary consciousness).[6] Owing to the broad definition of the term, numerous writers and thinkers, from a range of fields and backgrounds have contributed ideas to the concept of conscious evolution. These include; Erich Jantsch, Teilhard de Chardin, Jonas Salk, Ervin Laszlo, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly, Bela H. Banathy, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Andrew Cohen, David Bohm, Eric Chaisson, Duane Elgin, Brian Swimme, Ken Wilber, Jorge Taborga and others.

One of the earliest uses of the phrase 'conscious evolution' may be that of Mary Parker Follett in 1918: "Conscious evolution means giving less and less place to herd instinct and more to the group imperative. We are emerging from our gregarious condition and are now to enter on the rational way of living by scanning our relations to one another, instead of bluntly feeling them, and so adjusting them that unimpeded progress on this higher plane is secured." (The New State, p.91)

Human evolution, has thus far been the consequence of billions of random events and chance interactions (as opposed to a planned endeavour).[7] Given that humans have knowledge of this evolutionary process (evolutionary consciousness) it is the task of humanity to take control of these random changes, to avoid the 'disastrous fate' (extinction) that has befallen the majority of species that have ever existed.[7] This idea that evolutionary consciousness should be used as a tool, or even an argument for self-guided evolution, is a major central theme of the concept of conscious evolution. Bela H. Banathy[5] captures this sentiment succinctly in his paper Self guided/conscious evolution: Our consciousness of evolution becomes a springboard for leaping into conscious evolution.[5] The issue then arises of how humanity can be expected to know how it should use its recently acquired evolutionary consciousness to select the best evolutionary path.[5][8] Jonas Salks[8] is optimistic that humanity is capable of merging intuition with reason in order to find the path that leads to conscious evolution: It now remains for human beings to decide the ultimate course of human evolution. By imagining ourselves inside the process of evolution and by imagining the process of evolution working inside our minds, we may discover how to deal with the opportunities that might influence the direction of evolutionary choices.[8]

Co-intelligence; a form of group intelligence that incorporates group wisdom for the benefit of humanity, is a concept Tom Atlee has stressed as an essential foundation for conscious evolution.[9] Atlee suggested that many of the factors of co-intelligence (wisdom, intentionality, choice, awareness) could be used as tools to enhance consciousness and improve shared circumstances. Eric Chaisson similarly identified knowledge and compassion as key guiding forces for the future,[10] stating in 1987 that we must act wisely, quite beyond intelligently, in order to achieve successful ethical evolution.[10] Chaissons main emphasis, however, was on ethics, which he argued was the most important focus for ensuring effective conscious evolution: if our species is to survive to enjoy the future, then we must make synonymous the words future and ethical, thus terming our next evolutionary epoch ethical evolution.[10]

Numerous aspects of both co-intelligence and ethics, in our self-guided, conscious evolution are also present in the writings of Barbara Marx Hubbard, one of the most widely published advocates of conscious evolution. Hubbard has a positive opinion of humanity and the evolutionary process.[11] She has claimed that: Every tendency in us leads us toward greater wholeness, unity, and connectedness... Integration is inherent in the process of evolution.[11] However, Hubbard has been criticised for focusing on the most hopeful evidence that conscious evolution is taking humanity in a positive direction.[12] In an otherwise positive review of her 1998 book Conscious Evolution; Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential, Scott London commented that much of the evidence provided was soft and anecdotal.[12] Despite these criticisms Hubbard, and numerous other advocates of conscious evolution, are continuing to promote the concept, with some suggesting it be included in education and government.[1]

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Conscious evolution - Wikipedia

Conscious Evolution S.O.U.L. Documentary

Conscious is defined as a deliberate and intentional act, being fully active and engaged, aware of ones self, our surroundings, and the impact we are making. Evolution is the infinite process through which the whole mass of interrelated phenomena in the universe are developing through descent, leading to new, more complex biological, social, economic, and institutional forms.

We define conscious evolution as the process by which we apply our ability to influence how, and into what we, as humans, evolve. When we awaken to the fact that we have the power to affect our evolution, we make the conscious choice to radically alter the way we think. We intentionally open ourselves to new ideas and actively consider a multitude of perspectives. We learn to recognize when our subconscious programming, self-serving ego, or fragile emotional state is driving our decisions, and access our hearts intuitive guidance instead. Our belief system, values, priorities, intentions, and behavior must all be examined to determine facets of our life where we can evolve. Recognizing that we seek harmony with the world around us, we embrace an attitude of nurturing toward all life. Engaging in conscious evolution helps us to achieve a deeper understanding of our individual place as a single cell in the super organism of humanity, our role as custodians of the Earth, and our innate connection to all things in the Universe. Conscious evolution is something we grow into that eventually becomes second nature. We apply our intelligence to gather data and make consistently improving decisions spurred on by the momentum we gain.

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Conscious Evolution S.O.U.L. Documentary

Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social …

This book is equal parts optimistic and cringeworthy, and suffers from the standard sugarcoating of the philosophy contained within (as well as the parts about the internet not ageing well).

1. The concept of becoming a cocreator means declaring yourself equal with God. This is fine with me, but I wish we could be a little more direct about what this meant.

2. Hubbard doesn't acknowledge what to do with people who refuse to evolve, including those who continue to overpopulate. She does reference t

1. The concept of becoming a cocreator means declaring yourself equal with God. This is fine with me, but I wish we could be a little more direct about what this meant.

2. Hubbard doesn't acknowledge what to do with people who refuse to evolve, including those who continue to overpopulate. She does reference them "dissolving" like old cells. Guess what this means. Again, I'm ok with it, but let's be honest.

3. I don't want to be horny for my coworkers.

4. Turns out that we chose a different meme and the internet works in the name of chaos, sorry.

5. Hubbard copped out by dying naturally at age 90 instead of when she finished her vocation.

6. I'm not saying to support the Orb Queen, but I'm not saying not to.

4/5, needs more direct references to Lucifer

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Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social ...

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CONSCIOUS

EVOLUTION

12-Part Video Interview Series hosted by Barbara Marx Hubbard with Marc Gafni.

While there are many paths up the Mountain, One Church is devoted to revealing the mountain itself

Explore the Impulse of Evolution from the first flaring forth through the atomic bomb

Meet the Foundation for Conscious Evolution Leadership Team

Introduction from Peter

Update from Director Dr. Marc Gafni(2019)

Welcome Homo Amore UniversalisBarbara and Marc's cocreated vision of what humanity is now becoming

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The Evolution of Consciousness Enables Conscious Evolution …

A key challenge for evolutionary science is to provide an account of the evolution of consciousness. While that is widely recognized, evolutionists have also been socialized from their very first moments in the field to believe that a defining feature of their approach to life is that evolution itself is not, has not been, and cannot be conscious. Taken together, this leads to an anomaly: On the one hand, evolutionists recognize and celebrate the central importance of the evolution of consciousness within the story of life, and on the other hand, most evolutionists deny its importance to the understanding of their own field.

For evolutionary science to play a role in society that takes full advantage of its enormous scientific precision, scope, and depth, this anomaly has to end. The reasons for this unfortunate clash of concepts are multiple, but they are all outdated and artificially limiting. Evolution can be, has been, and is consciousnessnot in the cartoon forms imagined by a lay public, but rather as an emergent understanding central to a multi-dimensional, and multi-level extended evolutionary synthesis.

The etymology of the word conscious points to its central quality: these are actions that occur with knowledge. Stripped to the bone, consciousness can be thought of simply as the ability to respond to oneself and the environment and the regularities within and between them. When human and nonhuman animals show a dramatic diminishment of such responding, such as during sleep or comas, they are said to be semi-conscious or even unconscious. In a similar but more incremental way, as life forms evolve increasingly elaborate ways of responding to the external and internal environment and its regularities, in such forms as sensation, perception, and learning, they are said to become more conscious of their reactions and their surroundings. An organism that cannot show habituation due to repeated stimulation is less conscious of its environment than one that can; an animal that can detect and respond to antecedent-action-consequence regularities is more conscious than one that cannot.

It is difficult to imagine a world in which consciousness, so defined, is not a phenotypic result of evolution. That is so because of this bedrock fact upon which evolution itself is constructed: No structural or behavioral phenotype is successful in all contexts and thus context sensitivity will generally be useful. Resource acquisition, resource utilization, reproduction, protection of offspring, niche construction, niche selection, predation, avoidance of predation, avoidance of illness or injury, and so on can only be understood based on the selective features of the particular environments in which particular phenotypic variations occur and are inherited through genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, cultural, and symbolic means. The selective power of environmental fit means that the evolution of greater sensitivity to relevant environmental features internally and externally is virtually assured to be a core product of evolution itself. Consciousness, as Ive defined it, will thus not only evolve; it is a key characteristic of the fitness of complex evolved systems.

Consider a life form that is better able to detect the presence of a predator due to heritable variations in its visual system. It is entirely correct to say that such a life form has evolved to be more conscious of the presence of a predator. The definition I offered earlier is fully satisfied: visually detecting a predator is based on heritable variations in response to light and its regularities, and the result is increased fitness. Other than churlish arguments over word choice, it is an empirical fact that consciousness evolved.

But was evolution itself conscious in such a case?

That is a tricky question because saying yes seems agentic. Variations are blind, or so we are told, and thus while the heritable changes in the visual system created a relative advantage in avoiding predation and as a result became more frequent, it was not purposive. The original change was blind. The visual system did not change in order to detect the predator.

This is only partially true (or I could just as easily have said that is partially false) because responding in order to produce particular visual effects is indeed part of the story behind the evolution of the visual system. Let me explain.

In the gene-centric era of evolutionary science, it would be easy to miss key features of the complex multi-dimensional and multi-level system that actually gives rise to a successful visual system. A well-adapted visual system requires more than a genetic capacityit requires properly arranged developmental processes that foster phenotypic development such as peripheral and central nervous system stimulation, growth, and coordination. If a kittens eyelids are sewn shut during key developmental periods, it will never develop a normal visual system, even if the duration of the visual deprivation is only a matter of days.1 Note that behavior itself could result in poorly arranged developmental sequences much like this if behavior linked to vision were not constrained. For example, a kitten could in principle close its eyes too much, or hide its face in its mothers underbelly for much of the day, or stare at the sun for hours on endall of which would interfere with the proper development of the visual system. A healthy kitten does not normally do so because visual development is impacted by patterns of sensory reinforcement as part of a multi-dimensional system. For example, animals will work to avoid excessively bright lights or to produce positive changes in visual stimulation by head turning, exploration, or working to remove visual obstacles.2Sensory preferences of this kind are of such importance that they enter even into animal rights conversations.3 In other words, evolution created sensory preference patterns that ensure that operant learning processes can play their small but important role in fostering healthy sensory and perceptual systems as part of a much larger system of distal and proximal sources of control over mechanisms of development.

Operant learning is purposive in a particular sense: changes in environmental contexts produced by actions in the past serve to alter the context for action now. Said in another way, operant learning is the past as the future in the present. This kind of learning affords a new kind of conscious, purposive behaviorresponding in the present in order to produce something in the future that has been produced in similar situations in the past. In other words, it is a more elaborated form of consciousness based on an ability to respond to particular contingent regularities between environment and behavior.

Operant learning impacts other evolutionary processes such as niche construction and niche selection. Indeed, a good argument can be made that the Cambrian explosion was due to the evolution of operant and classical conditioning, which made it possible for organisms to seek out or to alter characteristic environments, changing the selection pressures that lead to speciation or other phenotypic developments.4In that sense, it is fairly obvious that this form of increased consciousness altered the course of evolutionary development.

To some degree, all forms of evolved evolvability make a similar point. Bacteria that show more variation when placed in a growth medium that is missing key amino acids are showing a very limited form of consciousness that in turn will alter the course or evolutionary development.5But operant and classical conditioning are a clear leap forwardone in which the temporal and spatial features of an act in context alter how the environment impacts future actions.

If we grant that consciousness evolves and that consciousness impacts evolution, is it necessary to say that organisms evolve consciously? At least when we reach the level of consciousness represented by symbolic learning I think the answer is yes.

Human Symbolic Learning

By 12-16 months, a normally developing human infant who has learned that an object (say, a rubber duck) has a name (duckie) will orient toward the object when hearing the name, without specific training to do so. Furthermore, if the rubber duck squeaks, the infant will know that squeak is the sound duckie makes and vice versa even if the name and the sound have never been heard together.

Said in another way, an instance of one-way contingency learning (object name) leads to a robustly two-way street of symbolic meaning that is then recombinable into symbolic networks (object name).

Deriving a network of the kind I have just described is called stimulus equivalence and although it is readily shown in human infants, after decades of trying, it has not been reliably produced in non-humans.6Furthermore, we have known for more than 30 years that children who do not show stimulus equivalence do not develop normal human language.7

Stimulus equivalence marks a transition in the evolution of consciousness because it is the first example of a learning process that is relational, not associative.

Learned associations and direct acting contingencies are not robustly reversible or combinatorial. For example, in classical conditioning, providing food after a bell will lead to salivation to the bell, but not toarobust raising of ears when food is later presented. Backward conditioning is very weak and does not enter into long backward sequences when chains of events are provided (e.g., later presenting a foul odor before the bell may eventually lead to salivation at the odor, but not food avoidance based on backward associations with the odor). The reason backward conditioning is weak is that environmental regularities are not normally robustly reversible or combinatorial, and thus there is limited selection pressure to develop that open learning process. If an animal avoids predation by running to a thicket when it sees a lion, it does not mean it will avoid predation by running to a lion when it sees a thicket.

That lack of reversibility and combinatorial capacity is not true of relations. If I am certainly bigger than you, you are certainly smaller than me. The derived relation is just as robust as the known relation. The evolution of human language and cognition is based on this relational property.

From the beginning of the act of naming itself, some forms of relational learning are not limited to formal relations. In the context of a cooperative social group with some level of social referencing, joint attention, and perspective taking, regularities in naming can be made reliably reversible by paralinguistic or other cues. If this object is a duckie from the point of view of a speaker, then it can be entirely safe to assume within a given troop or band that a duckie is this object from the point of view of a listener. Relational terms like is demarcate this particular kind of cooperative regularity within a specific group.8

The human infant and toddler quickly learn to apply other reversible relations, increasingly controlled by arbitrary contextual cues. If a human infant hears an unfamiliar name it will search for an unfamiliar object in its environment and, if one is found, it will derive a two-way symbolic relation between the two.9In other words, two relations of different than (the name is different than other names; the object is different than other objects) leads to a two-way same as relation (unfamiliar name unfamiliar object). As additional relations are added (comparisons, such as more / less; opposition, such as hot/cold; contingency, such as if then; person, such as I/you; etc.), vast cognitive networks can emerge from very limited environmental inputs.

There is expansive experimental literature on this topic under the rubric of Relational Frame Theory that shows the ontogenetic histories needed to reveal these evolutionarily prepared responses.10 The claim I am making is that relational learning is the central core of human language and cognition, and evolved as an extension of cooperation.11

Evolutionists have noted that humans are particularly adept in relational learning tasks.12In non-arbitrary contexts, these are defined by the relata themselves (e.g., a nickel is larger than a dime). What happens in symbolic behavior is that particular relational responses (e.g., larger than) are abstracted and then brought under the control of social cues, not just the related events (such as being told that a nickel is smaller than a dime). That relational frame allows any event to be related in any way to any other event by social attribution, and then to enter into larger and larger derived symbolic networks. For example, a first grader can be told that a penny is smaller than a nickel and that a nickel is smaller than a dime, and derive that a dime is larger than a penny. A three-year-old could not. Relational framing is evolutionarily prepared but also learned.

Relational learning of this kind is the smoking gun the sine qua non of human language and cognition. We know that in part because children who do not show this kind of learning show only limited verbal and intellectual abilities, and whereas if they develop this kind of learning, they begin to advance more rapidly.13This suggests that the unit of symbolic learning is relational, not associative.

Impact of Human Consciousness on Evolution

Symbolic learning is another step forward in the evolution of consciousness because with this repertoire of relational responding we can respond to the past as the symbolically constructed future in the present. Only a rather small set of cognitive relations are needed to solve problems through symbolic reasoning: names of events and their features, if then relations, and comparisons. Stated more simply, human verbal problem solving involves an if/then/better relational network that alters present action so as to coordinate with the verbally constructed future. Responding of this kind is not only conscious, it allows symbolically intentional behavior.

The two-way street of human cognition transforms the present based on cognitive networks about the future. The evolving future that is presented symbolically in present moments via human language can alter the impact of the environment. Nelson Mandela can treat a prison guard kindly, for example, because that action brings a just world a little bit closer, even if the guard is a source of deprivation.

Said in another way, human cognition can change the selection criteria for human behavioral and cultural evolution. Genetic evolution depends on life and death. Human behavioral evolution does not remove that truth but supplements it with cognitively available meaning and purpose.

When people consider their future and apply evolutionary scientific concepts to actions and policy choices to alter that future, the world is consciously evolving. I believe that is a factual statement, but it is also pragmatically and politically useful to say that evolution can be conscious in that way because it provides a use for evolutionary science that will alter the receptivity of the public to this entire area of science.

Only a minority of the US population believes that human beings are as they are due to natural processes of evolution. I cant help but think that is in part because evolution has not yet been shown to matter to the average Joanne or Joe. For that to change, evolutionists themselves need to show that they can solve problems of human concern. But for applied evolutionary science to emerge as a field, it is necessary to step up to the idea that evolution can be conscious, and then to spend much more time on the role of human behavior in evolving the future. The culture at large will not attend to evolution in a major way, in my opinion, until it is clear that humanity has the capacity to evolve on purpose, culturally and within a lifetime.

Evolution begins with processes of blind variation and selective retention, but it does not stay there for the simple reason that evolvability itself evolves.14 The phrase survival of the most evolvable is far truer to the whole of evolutionary data than the hoary phrase survival of the fittest. Symbolic learning is key to human consciousness, but human consciousness can comprehend and consciously apply multi-level and multi-dimensional evolutionary models to the accomplishment of human purposes.

Behavioral variation and selection within the lifetime of individuals is not merely an expression of genes and cultural practices. Learning is a legitimate evolutionary dimension that impacts on other evolutionary dimensions at other levels and time frames. Symbolic processes led to the principles of evolutionary science itselfvariations within the relational networks of particular people were expressed and selected by accomplishment of their scientific purposes individually and culturally. If these principles then lead human beings to change their behavior in order to achieve better outcomes, and if the success of these actions maintain themas would be the case with any successful application of evolutionary science that was sustained because of its utility it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that evolution can be conscious.

Applied evolutionary science is not just the passive beneficiary of scientific understandingit is the very field in which an extended evolutionary synthesis will be fostered. We can think of applied evolutionary science as a type of fieldwork in the evolution of human behavior. No amount of laboratory knowledge is enough to be certain that the action of an organism is understoodbut if this knowledge is applied in the actual environment in which the behavior occurs and predictable changes occur, the validity and utility of evolutionary science expands.

When we have created a robust field of applied evolutionary science, evolutionary science will be relevant to the world in a way that it is not now. And if applied evolutionary science is possible, it means that evolution itself can indeed be deliberate, intentional, purposeful, calculated, planned, and volitional. These are all merely terms for actions that are regulated by the if / then / better symbolic formations of human beings. Evolutionary principles can be applied to and contained by these formulations themselves.

We have evolutionary accounts of consciousnessnow we need evolutionists to apply those accounts to their own assumptions, theories, and purposes. Understanding the evolution of consciousness provides the scaffolding for evolutionary science itself to consciously evolve, and to help human individuals and groups do so as well.15

Read the entire Conscious Evolution series:

References:

[1] Hubel, D. H. & Wiesdel, T. N. (1970). Period of susceptibility to physiological effects of unilateral eye closure in kittens. Journal of Physiology-London, 206, 419-436. Doi: 0.1113/jphysiol.1970.sp009022

[2] An example of the motivational effects of visual variety on human infants is show by Caron, R. F., Caron, A. J., & Caldwell, R. C. (1971). Satiation of visual reinforcement in young infants. Developmental Psychology, 5(2), 279-289. Doi: 10.1037/h0031417. An example of the avoidance of intense illumination is shown by Taylor, N., Prescott, N., Perry, G., Potter, M., Le Sueur, C., & Wathes, C. (2006). Preference of growing pigs for illuminance. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 96, 19-31. Doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2005.04.016.

[3].Young, R. J. (2003). Environmental enrichment for captive animals. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

[4] Ginsburg, S., & Jablonka, E. (2010). The evolution of associative learning: A factor in the Cambrian explosion. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 266(1), 11-20.

[5] Hersh, M. N., Ponder, R. G., Hastings, P. J., & Rosenberg, S. M. (2004). Adaptive mutation and amplification in Escherichia coli: two pathways of genome adaptation under stress. Research in Microbiology, 155, 353-359. Doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2004.01.020

[6] A good initial review of that literature can be found in the book on relational frame theory cited in footnote 10 below.

[7] Devany, J. M., Hayes, S. C. & Nelson, R. O. (1986). Equivalence class formation in language-able and language-disabled children. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 46, 243-257. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1986.46-243

[8] For a more extended analysis of this idea, see Hayes, S. C. & Sanford, B. (2014). Cooperation came first: Evolution and human cognition. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 101, 112-129. doi: 10.1002/jeab.64

[9] Lipkens, G., Hayes, S. C., & Hayes, L. J. (1993). Longitudinal study of derived stimulus relations in an infant. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 56, 201-239. doi: 10.1006/jecp.1993.1032

[10] Hayes, S. C., Barnes-Holmes, D., & Roche, B. (2001). Relational Frame Theory: A Post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. New York: Plenum Press.

[11] See Hayes and Sanford, 2014 in footnote viii above.

[12] Penn, D., Holyoak, K., & Povinelli, D. (2008). Darwins mistake: Explaining the discontinuity between human and nonhuman minds. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(2), 109-130. doi:10.1017/S0140525X08003543

[13] There is an extensive literature now of teaching relational framing skills to children with developmental disabilities, for example see Cassidy, S., Roche, B., & Hayes, S. C. (2011). A relational frame training intervention to raise intelligence quotients: A pilot study. The Psychological Record, 61, 173-198. These skills are known to be the bridge from simply saying a name in the presence of an object to being able to show higher levels of intelligent behavior: Belisle, J., Dixon, M. R. & Stanley, C. R. (2018). The mediating effects of derived relational responding on the relationship between verbal operant development and IQ. Behavior Analysis in Practice. Doi: 10.1007/s40617-018-0215-2

[14] Pigliucci, M. (2008). Is evolvability evolvable? Nature Reviews Genetics, 9, 7582.

[15] Rather than tie down this paper with dense referencing, I have done so fairly lightly. The following references are particularly useful in exploring the arguments I am making:

Wilson, D. S. & Hayes, S. C. (Eds.). (2018). Evolution and contextual behavioral science: An integrated framework for understanding, predicting, and influencing human behavior. Oakland, CA: Context Press / New Harbinger Publications; and Wilson, D. S., Hayes, S. C., Biglan, T., & Embry, D. (2014). Evolving the future: Toward a science of intentional change. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 34, 395-416. doi:10.1017/S0140525X13001593

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The Evolution of Consciousness Enables Conscious Evolution ...

Conscious Evolution | CONSTRUCTING A MEMOIR

Human beings construct meaning as spiders make webs.This is how we survive, our primary evolutionary business. Catherine BatesonThe stuff of which humans make meaning is experience, life.-Jack L. Seymour, Margaret Ann Crain, Joseph V. CrockettConscious evolution is the evolution of evolution,from unconscious to conscious choice. We are poised in this critical moment, facing decisions that must be made consciously if we are to avoid destroying the world as we know it.-Barbara Marx Hubbard

What kind of site is this? Its a personal story and a collective story of conscious evolution. It also is a story of hope and a resource for supporting your own journey toward a hope-filled, meaningful, and purposeful life.

Why this kind of site? As Barbara Marx Hubbard says above, today we can consciously choose to contribute to the ongoing evolution of a more peaceful, thriving Earth Community, one day at a time, right where we are. What that takes, though, is knowing who we are and the skills to show up in the world as our best self.

Currents of Change

I was helped by the book, Cultural Creatives, to begin to name for myself the story of the Currents of Change that helped shape my own conscious evolution. Ken Wilbers Integral Vision helped me find the key to understanding my place in evolutions great unfolding. Barbara Marx Hubbards Conscious Evolution further helped me see my life as part of the whole. My reflections on their insights and many more of todays thought leaders are found on the Currents of Change and My Journey tabs on the site menu above.

Finding Your Own Voice

The posts on this blog are meant to help you get started reflecting on your own growth journey. I invite you to click here to begin with a meditation and journal activity I call The River of Time. After doing so, return here to read more about the site.

The Growth Never Ends

My growth continues as my awareness evolves. I will be adding new posts as time allows. To receive email notification of these new posts, click the Follow tab on your screen. Feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions you may have. Perhaps you, too, have encountered wisdom in the writings of others not mentioned here that you would like to share. It is my hope that our mutual efforts at conscious evolution will take us all into a new future offering restored hope for coming generations of Earths Community of Life.

I am extremely grateful to all of those who took the risk to share the story of their own life experiences and their wisdom with me, whether personally or through the written word. I know my life is much the richer for it.

More Tips on Site Navigation

The About menu tababove containsmore on how this site evolved. The dropdownmenu there contains a link to tips on site navigation. To be notified by email of future posts, click the Follow tab at the bottom right of your screen.

If you have particular spiritual questions, (Who isGod?, Who are We?, Why Are We Here?)you also can read my reflectionson these in light of the Universe Story using the Spiritual Questions tab.

Lastly, if you enjoy poetry, I invite you to visit and follow my companion poetry site, Pats Harvest.

Again, welcome to the site. Lets keep the conversation, the learning, and our inner growth ongoing!

Pat Bombard

Please note: The opinions expressed on this site are my own, and do not reflectthe opinions of any of my employers or any of the organizations with which I am associated personally or professionally.

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Conscious Evolution | CONSTRUCTING A MEMOIR

Conscious Evolution TV – The Convergence of Science …

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Today we examine quantum mechanics, the existence of god, and near death experiences to see the truth of spirituality.

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In this compelling lecture by Alan Watts, we take a cosmic perspective on reality to make sense of our existence.

Soundtracks by PBO & Lockjaw

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Leo Gura, founder of Actualized.org, shows what is necessary to get the most out of life. Through discipline, self mastery, and a compelling vision, you can unleash your full potential through your life purpose.

The full speech can be found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey3x1...

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"If the universe began in the past, when that happened it was Now. And it trails off like the wake of a ship from Now and just as the wake fades out, so does the past. Things aren't explained by what happened in the past. They're explained by what happens Now"-Alan Watts

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By Rose Vaughan

Student Intern, Davie

Cooperative Extension

The trend of the agricultural industry in Davie County is looking up.

Despite the threats of farmland loss, Davie farmland is growing. North Carolina ranks number two in the top 12 states at risk for loss of farmland due to urbanization.

Davie County is resisting that trend. Before 2012, the county was losing 12 percent of its farmland. Since then, there has been a 29 percent increase in the total amount of farmland. Farmers in Davie County are beginning to gain land back and they have used it to more than double the income of the industry.

Across all farms in the county, costs are decreasing and profits are increasing. In just five years the net profits for farmers increased by 270 percent. These improvements took place despite the fact that the number of farms declined by eight percent. Theres no doubt that the strength of agriculture in Davie County has grown.

Although data shows that Davie County agriculture is becoming stronger, it is evident that some things are changing. Some crop sales have decreased substantially. The production of tobacco has gone to zero dollars in sales, which was a significant decline since 2012 when the sales were nearly $1 million. On the other hand, the value of fruit, nut and berry products has gone up by 29 percent and the value of sod, greenhouse, nursery and floriculture products is up by 17 percent.

The amount of land used to harvest forage, corn, soybeans and wheat has grown.

Even more, modern and unique forms of agriculture like agritourism have taken off. In less than a decade, revenue from agritourism has increased by 121 percent. Therefore, many crops and other forms of agriculture have been in an upward trend in terms of production and profits. Its easy to think that the loss of one crop leads to a decline in agriculture as a whole based on those numbers, but the industry is making progress in other areas.

Being ranked No. 20 in the state, one of the strongest agricultural programs in Davie County is in the production of layer hens. Layers are the breed of chickens that are produced primarily for the purpose of laying eggs, hence the name layers. Whereas pullets are the chickens that are produced to replace the layers that die. The numbers of both the layers and the pullets have been increased to more than 318,000 chickens. On top of that, the county was able to raise the profits from egg production by $782,000 in a single year; thats a lot of eggs. The growth in layer hen and egg production has coincided with a 14 percent increase in the value of animal products since 2012.

What does that mean?

While the county is experiencing loss in some areas of agriculture, its making up for those losses by making progress in other areas of production. The shift from tobacco to grains and forages, for instance, may be more profitable for farmers because it allows them to focus their efforts on the more successful crops. On top of that, Davie County is resisting the threat for loss of farmland and even gaining more farmland back.

Ultimately, the changes in the industry seem to just be redirection. As George Bernard Shaw said, Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. The changes in Davie County agriculture has produced an overwhelmingly positive result which is evidence of progress, not decline.

Farmers are supported by consumers through local sales. They have grown their sales to consumers by 21 percent in five years. The Cooperative Extension Davie County Center has made an effort to increase the connection of farmers to consumers through local farmers markets and by giving consumers access to local farm information. You can support these farmers further by visiting our Web page at https://davie.ces.ncsu.edu/davie-local-farms/ for more information on how to reach local farms.

Link:Agriculture alive and well in Davie County - Davie County Enterprise Record - Davie Enterprise Record

Posted: at 5:12 pm

If one wishes to count in decades, the 1920s was surely the greatest single decade in Irish writing in English. What other one could equal it for the sustained quality of its artistry, the immediate and lasting impact of its major works, its conviction in the value of the written word?

There is scarcely a year in the decade in which something remarkable did not occur. In 1920, George Bernard Shaws Heartbreak House premiered in New York. In 1921, WB Yeats published Michael Robartes and the Dancer, the volume that contains Easter 1916, The Second Coming and A Prayer for My Daughter. Ulysses made 1922 a watershed in modern literary history. Yeats received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923.

The Abbey Theatre produced The Shadow of a Gunman, the first work in Sean OCaseys Dublin trilogy, that year, and Shaws Saint Joan, a play about political martyrdom, was premiered in New York. In 1924, OCaseys Juno and the Paycock was staged at the Abbey; Daniel Corkerys The Hidden Ireland, probably the most significant work of cultural criticism produced in Ireland that decade, appeared too. In 1925, Shaw received the Nobel Prize and Yeats published A Vision. This was the only the decades midpoint.

In 1926, OCaseys The Plough and the Stars was staged in the Abbey, prompting riots. The year 1927 was a quiet one, though Shakespeare and Company published Joyces Pomes Pennyeach in Paris. In 1928, The Tower, one of Yeatss finest volumes, was published. Anna Liva Plurabelle, extracted from Joyces Work in Progress, was also published by Faber & Faber and the Gate staged Oscar Wildes Salom for the first time in Ireland. Elizabeth Bowens The Last September was published in 1929.

In 1930, Yeatss Words Upon the Window Pane appeared and a 24-year old Samuel Beckett, making a beginning, published Whoroscope.

Across the Atlantic, Irish-American writers made a real mark in the 1920s. Eugene ONeills The Emperor Jones was staged in New York in 1920 and established ONeills reputation as an experimental playwright. F Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby was published in 1925. In 1927, ONeills All Gods Chillun Got Wings premiered with Paul Robeson starring in New York, and in 1928 ONeill won a Pulitzer Prize for Strange Interludes, premiered in New York that year.

They dont belong to Irish writing in any direct sense, but ONeills and Fitzgeralds works mark a moment when Irish-Americans left a permanent stamp on American literature. ONeills grandparents emigrated from Kilkenny in the wake of the Famine. His Irish-born father, James, grew up in a Buffalo slum, the family cared for by his mother Mary ONeill when her husband returned to Ireland. James made a considerable fortune in American touring theatre. In two generations, the family had moved well up the class system, though Eugene ONeill never forgot his fathers terror of the famine poorhouse or his familys Irish or class origins.

The collective contribution these writers Irish and Irish-American made to the arts of modern poetry, fiction and theatre in a single decade is immense. It is worth remembering, too, that many of them engaged, some occasionally, some consistently, with public political issues.

Roy Fosters biography of Yeats relates how on February 7th, 1921, the poet gave an address to the Oxford Irish Society, declaring to a young Irish republican student, James OReilly, that he would tell his audience their kings soldiers are murderous. As good as his word, he used his oration to praise Sinn Fin justice and denounce the Prussianism of the Black and Tans.

On November 8th, 1923, he defended Joyce in Trinity College against the charge of dullness. Ulysses, Yeats responded, might be as long as Johnsons dictionary and as foul as Rabelais, but Joyce was the only Irishman who had the intensity of the great novelist.

His 1925 Senate speech challenging the Cosgrave governments anti-divorce legislation is better remembered today than these earlier contributions. Knowing his side would lose, Yeats told his listeners on that occasion that There is no use quarrelling with icebergs in warm water and that while his opponents would now carry the day when the iceberg melts [Ireland] will become an exceedingly tolerant country.

OCaseys The Plough and the Stars prompted a riot at the Abbey which still possessed an audience passionate or excitable enough to make one. Norah Hoults short story collection Poor Women! (1928) portrayed the inner consciousness of women from varied class backgrounds struggling with religion and suggested that new constituencies were starting to find their own voices. Bowens first novel launched the career of a superb stylist.

Still, if the 1920s was a glorious literary decade, changes soon to come would irrevocably alter Irish writing and literary production generally. The first Pan-African Congress met in Paris in 1920 and the Harlem Renaissance was getting into its swing in New York. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1920 and in 1922 Gandhis Non-Cooperation Movement began in India.

ONeills The Emperor Jones, in its own way a critical commentary on the 1915 US occupation of Haiti, and a work that gave a leading role to an African-American character, now looks a decidedly dated play that deploys crass stereotypes of African-Americans and Caribbean peoples. The African-American actor Charles Gilpin, who played the lead role of Brutus Jones quarrelled continuously with ONeill and throughout the production changed the n-word in the dialogue to Negro or coloured to ONeills chagrin.

As the non-white colonies of Britain and the US asserted themselves in the decades ahead, the kind of casual racism to be found in most white writing in the 1920s would be called out more and more vigorously. And as Irish society settled into conservative state consolidation, and most Irish writers failed to connect with new struggles emerging across the British Empire, much Irish writing lapsed into its own version of a post-independence insularity and would not long remain to the fore in the annals of anti-colonial struggle.

In 1925, John Logie Baird transmitted the first television image and in 1928 made the first transatlantic TV transmission from London to Hartsdale, New York. In 1929, the Academy of Motion Pictures conferred its first awards, known as the Oscars, in Los Angeles. Though the full effects would take time to impinge on Ireland, when TV and cinema created new publics locally and globally, and shaped new kinds of attention and distraction, the literary authors authority, like an iceberg in hot water maybe, slowly declined.

In the familiar narratives of the 20th century, TV and cinema threw light on a darkened autarchic Ireland and created a more open society. This seems at best partially true. They also locked Ireland even more firmly into an Anglo-American transatlantic perspective, to the point that it could sometimes seem that anything happening beyond Great Britain or the United States scarcely mattered.

In any event, as the world became media-saturated over the course of the 20th century, in western-style liberal democracies especially, fewer and fewer writers would enjoy the immense public esteem once commanded by major 19th-century writers such as Victor Hugo or mile Zola in France, Charles Dickens or George Eliot in England, or Leo Tolstoy in Russia. Yeats in Ireland and Sartre in postwar France could inspire and provoke a nation in ways few writers in any contemporary liberal democracy can do today.

It is easy to criticise in retrospect, but the writers themselves may not always have helped matters. When Yeats rejected Sean OCaseys The Silver Tassie in 1928 and OCasey left in dudgeon for London, the fallout may have damaged both. The Abbey Theatre lost its only serious left-wing political writer; OCaseys experimental works in London never had the impact of his Dublin plays . The Abbey, Irish political drama and OCasey may all have been the long-term losers.

More generally, with the advent of what was already beginning to be called mass culture (FR Leaviss Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture was published in 1930), many of the greatest writers of the time tacked in the opposite direction towards avant-garde difficulty and specialist-audience obscurity.

Joyces Work in Progress, published as Finnegans Wake in 1939, is an astonishing feat with many admirers but few avid readers. Yeatss alienation from the new Ireland to which he had tied his fortunes led to works such as On the Boiler, published by the The Cuala Press in 1939; it was a fanatic rant seething with eugenicist disdain for the lower classes, mainly Catholic in Ireland. The strident anti-populist impulse that disfigures his later life especially set a pattern in Irish letters repeated later by others including Francis Stuart and Conor Cruise OBrien, the former drawn to Hitlers Germany, the latter indulging in late career belligerent Zionism and Islamophobia.

In an age of celebrity, Beckett would win celebrity by apparently eschewing celebrity. One way or another, the tango between writer, media and public remains even now tortuously difficult.

For those to whom it matters, the coming decade will be a time to look back, to celebrate, to think critically about Irish literary achievement. No commemorations or conferences in the 2020s, however, will return us to the 1920s. Nor will any amount of Booker Prizes or Tony Awards greatly change the situation of the contemporary writer either.

Today, accomplished poetry, literary drama and maybe even the literary novel are typically quiet niche pursuits closer to ballet or opera than to the novel and poetry a century ago. TV or cinema can make an occasional sensation of The Commitments, The Butcher Boy, Brooklyn or Normal People, but transmedia adaptability doesnt typically do much for the work of a Derek Mahon or Sinad Morrissey. Even when they do serve fiction writers, such as Colm Tibn with Brooklyn, they rarely serve as their more ambitious works, such as Tibns The Master.

The streaming companies that secure strong ratings on the back of works like Normal People rarely repay the favour to the literary world. Though a good novel with a neat story will always serve their purpose, it would be idle to look to Hulu or Netflix for serious critical programming on modern writing. Since writers contract to publishing corporations, and publishing corporations to distribution behemoths like Amazon, or to conglomerates like Disney or Time Warner, the writer, as much any other profession, lives in a world saturated in neoliberal capitalist hierarchy and values.

Looking back on Irish writing in the 1920s, two obvious things stand out: how male that world was and how Protestant. After the fall of Gaelic Ireland, the world of Irish writing and the Irish visual arts were a Protestant stronghold and Joyces exile and Daniel Corkerys crankiness need to be understood in that context.

Neither privileged masculinism nor Protestant patricianism inhibited work of quality. Yet, like ours now, the 1920s world was changing faster then than anyone could keep up with. Did Yeats in 1901 look farther into the future than he knew in Ireland and the Arts when he wrote: We who care deeply about the arts find ourselves the priesthood of any almost forgotten faith, and we must, I think, if we would win the people again, take upon ourselves the method and fervour of a priesthood. We must be half humble and half proud.

In a 21st-century Ireland where almost forgotten faiths are the norm, writers struggle, like priests or ministers, for real vocation and publics that care. Still, young writers continue to appear and even Trinity College, the early 20th-century heart of Irish dullness, continues to produce a few. The Irish generation that came of age after the 2008 financial crash has moved sharply leftwards and wants its own new Ireland. Its support for causes like that of the Palestinians or Black Lives Matter indicate that its views are more internationalist than narcissistically nationalist. The current pandemic and its fallout may push them further to the left.

Today, several youthful Irish writers, most prominently Sally Rooney and Oisn Fagan, announce themselves Marxists, resurrecting another almost forgotten faith, and are doing their best to create a new Irish political fiction capable of speaking to their own era. Their task will not be easy. For all the attention, nationally and internationally, lavished recently on Rooney, what her Marxism might mean for Irish writing today has generated little comment.

What does it mean to be a Marxist writer in the 21st century? Or to be an Irish one more particularly? How can it become something more than a marketing tag a distinguishing brand image? These are questions for critics even more than for writers like Rooney. However, for Irish critics to address such questions well, they will need to take capitalism, Marxism and literature all equally seriously, a rare enough occurrence in Irish studies.

The fact that Rooney and Fagan both attended Trinity reminds us, if reminder is needed, that the literary arts have always been, for better or worse, the preserve of elites. This has not changed greatly since the 1920s. No one can cut a leftist swathe in that world without difficulty. Still, the ambition is to be admired and bespeaks of the writers a faith in themselves and in literature, and a hope for a responsive public willing to consider the issues they raise seriously.

As we move into the centenary of the 1920s, we must wish these young starters well and hope that they, and their readers, can be half humble, half proud, and set our ambitions high. There is a literary tradition to inspire, much in it to emulate, much to avoid, much to renew.

Joe Cleary teaches English and Irish literature at Yale University. Cambridge University Press will publish his Modernism, Empire, World Literature next year.

See original here:Golden decade: How Irish writing roared in the 1920s - The Irish Times

Posted: at 5:12 pm

By Vejas Liulevicius, Ph.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville The Haymarket Riot, May 4, 1886, Chicago. Beginning as a strike rally, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb that killed eight police and a number of civilians.. (Image: Everett Historical/Shutterstock)

During the decades after the death of Karl Marx, the socialist movement expanded in many countries. Although there were fears among the Marxists that his ideology might grow faint or diverge from its initial principles, it continued to thrive, although with internal clashes between theory and practice. Also, there were many factions based on the interpretations of the principles in many countries.

Learn more about the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.

In Austria-Hungary, under the rule of the Habsburg Empire, Marxists struggled to reconcile Marxs idea of fading nationalism with their ethnically diverse social structures. These Austro-Marxists came up with novel ideas and models such as federalism and autonomy to prevent the fading of ethnic identity. This was a problem that was persistent in the coming years and proved especially challenging to practice.

Another peculiar aspect of the Austro-Hungarian socialist movement was the immense mass power it had. This power was demonstrated through rallies in the streets. This was hugely impressive for a young man who had just arrived in the city in 1908. His name was Adolf Hitler. Although he was not attracted by the Social Democrats, the idea of mass politics was highly fascinating to him. In his book, Mein Kampf, he recalls how impressed he was with those masses selling to the proportions of a menacing army.

In the late 18th century, Poland was divided by Russian, German, and Austrian empires. Different regions of the country were ruled by these empires. As a result, the socialist parties were not able to form unified and long-lasting parties in this country. Different parties under different names were formed, including the Proletariat Party, a Polish Socialist Party, the Polish Social Democratic Party, and the radical party of SDKPiL (Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania). These were all underground parties that broke up in the early stages.

This is a transcript from the video series The Rise of Communism: From Marx to Lenin. Watch it now, on The Great Courses Plus.

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Conscious Evolution TV - The Convergence of Science ...

Global Chaos Is The Needed Catalyst To Evolve Consciousness

Our world is currently ruled by outdated ideas, yet we are not choosing to update these ideas as we have not come to accept the obvious about our delusion in holding onto them.

Each new idea is a contribution to humanity, but it is not meant to get us stuck, so why do we? Why have we let economy's, business, and huge corporations slow and halt the ability for humanity to thrive?

The highest aspiration possible for humans would be to design governing, distribution, and monetary systems in ways that mimic the natural systems of a healthy jungle. Gilded Age ideas like Social Darwinism or survival of the fittest that attempted to justify racism, eugenics, oppression of immigrants, exploitation of workers, and massive economic disparity are woven into the very fabric of our current societal operating system.

These deep-rooted, oppressive ideologies still rule us today though they emerged over 500 years ago from feudalism and were brought to the New World merged together as colonialism and imperialism. This misguided ethos is embedded today in centralized, top-down structures including governance, monetary policy, healthcare, and more. In order to redesign these societal systems in a contemporary way that mimics the symbiotic networks in nature we must first recognize that we have bought into an unnatural delusion and change the way we see the world by addressing our core beliefs.

Outdated Ideas Rule Our World Today.According to Wikipedia, Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending a countrys rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Meanwhile, In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their religion, economics, and other cultural practices on indigenous peoples. These ideologies of domination, extraction, and exploitation are central to our relationship with the land, while also ruling global markets, scientific institutions, corporate culture, academia, religion, healthcare, and governments. Worst of all most individuals have adopted and accepted this worldview of humanity being separate, in competition with each other, and pitted against nature without even questioning it!

Featured in this composite image is Patricia Gualinga Montalvo, Kichwa defender of the Amazon.

Beliefs Shaped by History:When Columbus first looked out and saw the Caribbean Islands of the New World, he brought with him the belief systems of colonialism and imperialism. His ethos had been cultivated over centuries of royal hierarchies, feudalism, oppression, privatization, and subjugation from the Old World. Looking from the islands outward to see Columbuss ships on the horizon were the Native Taino People whose indigenous worldview, like all indigenous peoples, still sees the web of life as interconnected, sacred, commonly shared, and holistic. These two world-views clashed while the one with guns and superior weapons almost completely extinguished the perennial wisdom of the original people.

Some say that the plagues and Dark Ages that Europeans went through prior to the Renaissance played a role in shaping their cultural relationship with nature. Since so many people were dying from the Black Death, a belief system that humans were being punished by God or being punished by nature began to take hold. This entrenched two divergent worldviews: the sinner/redemption story of Christianity (religion) and the Newtonian Cartesian Paradigm (reductionist, mechanistic science).-Ending the Conquest of Nature

Beliefs Shaped by Observing Nature:Yet the Taino People of the Caribbean descended from those who had lived for centuries in the Amazon Jungle. They had witnessed the reciprocal, symbiotic networks of life that seamlessly flows between plants, animals, mycelium, pollen, bacteria, air, water, and earth. Though there is much to know and observe within the web of nature, there is also a reverence for the unknown, and the great mystery of life.The indigenous worldview is based on nature rather than the political hierarchies of Europes ruling families, their monetary systems, and religions.

Which is Delusion, Which is Reality?Just as the lineages of Europes ruling families (along with the material wealth and political clout they have passed down through the generations) are still with us today, so too are the descendents of the original people of the Americas. Natural, land-based worldviews may fade from dominating society for a time but they will never vanish altogether because they are perennial. The human species comes from the land, it is dependent on it for survival, it is completely intertwined with it, and it will return to the land upon death. However we are also seeing the great natural places, forests, oceans, and even the Amazon Jungle being decimated by humans under the spell of domination, extraction, and exploitation.

The Limits of Science:Newtonian Science has become the golden calf of the day but few recognize that it was shaped by the same old-world beliefs that influenced Columbuss colonial world view. Science has helped humans dominate the planet. In its infancy Western Science was a threat to the dominant power structure maintained by religion. We see this battle play out today as many religious people oppose climate science and theories of evolution. In order for early science to not tread on the territory of science it was forced into reductionism. Science was given the freedom to research the parts but not allowed to look at systems as a whole because the church deemed this as being the realm of the spirit, of God and thus their domain.

Science has brought such great innovations yet it has beentrained for centuries to have blindersand only see the world as separate parts. This is evolving slowly with integrative science, and holistic medicine but today it faces hurdles much bigger than the church. Today science and medicine are relatively beholden to research funding which usually comes from business investors looking to turn a profit, corporate financial endowments, or government grants. It doesnt matter which era we live in because the wisdom of, not biting the hand that feeds you still applies.

Money and politics now shape science. All of the above shape our belief systems yet we still find the common ethos of domination, imperialism, and colonialism at the root. It is amazing to consider that many of our world systems are still literally built on the foundations of Dark Ages thinking born from feudalism, religious fanaticism, as well as the rule of kings and queens. Who will liberate us if we are not willing to liberate ourselves from these underlying beliefs?

Welcome to Global Pandemic:Many historians believe that viruses, germs, and disease brought by Europeans to the New World killed more people than guns and swords. Europeans, having lived in close quarters with each other and with domesticated animals, have endured many plagues and developed antibodies. It could be argued that COVID-19 is natures response to the failings of human systems which are a reflection of cultural world-views. Monocropped agriculture, abuse of pesticides, meat/dairy factory farms, deforestation, overuse of antibiotics, polluted water along with poverty due to greed and economic disparity are just a few factors that contribute to a world prone to pandemics.

Empire Responds to a Virus:Centralized, top-down structures are systems modeled after kingdoms of the Middle Ages that require a central command that everyone must fall in line behind. With that must come a narrative to rally the troops to protect the kingdom from invaders. Who do we turn to in a moment of global crisis like this? Apparently the top of chain of command is theGlobal Preparedness Monitoring Board, an organizationcreated bythe World bank and the World Health Organization. This consortium of political leaders, lobbyists, bankers, billionaires, and pharmaceutical corporations utilizes public and private partnerships which funnel public funds from governments and foundations into private corporations for research. In the case of COVD-19, billions of dollars have gone into research for a vaccine.

We have all witnessed the battle to control the narrative about this process, the divide is exploding across social media. Are there conflicts of interest in this model? Are some banking on this crisis? Are governments using this to take civil liberties and increase surveillance? To wear a mask or not, to close down the economy or re-open it, to have mandatory vaccines or not, to have contact tracing or not? Doctors with dissenting opinions are being censored from social media and politicians are trying to squeeze this crisis into the conventional partisan boxes. It has become overwhelming to keep up with.

With so much at stake there is a fatal flaw in the centralized, top-down model. If there is an error, or corruption then the whole system becomes poisonous. This is why keeping all eggs in one basket is never a good idea. In contrast, a diversity of viewpoints and approaches, available in a decentralized model, allows for best practices to emerge rather than forcing one course of action. Sadly there is no silver bullet.

Madagascars President Andry Rajoelina has implied that we are potentially witnessing medical imperialism, as his nations herbal cure is discounted by wealthy nations. Why is vaccine research being funded by the billions whereas natural approaches are not considered or funded? Is it only worth investing in medicines that are profitable to large corporations? These and many more questions are being passionately debated across the planet right now.

One Thing is Certain:Uncertainty is becoming more certain. The models of control that have been used for centuries in the traditional top-down, centralized systems are imploding. There are more questions than answers yet there is another way to look at this situation. The indigenous perspective has been buried by centuries of conquest. It is nature-centric, and recognizes that humans dont have all the answers, it embraces the mystery while seeing all things as an interconnected whole.

Nature Conspires:The Latin roots of the word Conspire are con, meaning together, and spiremeaning breath. Literally it means to breathe together.When we look at and study how ecosystems work it is fair to say that nature is conspiring to sustain life. Even our very planet is the perfect distance from the sun, not too hot or too cold, allowing life to flourish. There is a natural cycle of life inherent in our planet that sustains every aspect of who we are and how we came to be. This is a conspiracy that I can get behind!

These plants are not really individuals in the sense that Darwin thought they were individuals competing for survival of the fittest, says Simard in the 2011 documentaryDo Trees Communicate?In fact they are interacting with each other, trying to help each other survive.-Plants Talk to Each Other Using an Internet of Fungus

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the popular film by Louie Schwartzberg,Fantastic Fungi. During the film I was particularly struck by the research showing that fungus mycelium acts as a sort of internet carrying information and nutrients to various plants, trees, and shrubs. This miraculous symbiosis between diverse species in the forests is not happening as the result of a top-down, centralized system. In the fall-time there is no president tree who decrees that it is time for all the trees to make their leaves change colors. These organisms are each sovereign yet they are all responding to the impulses of the seasons in unison. Bruce Lipton calls this phenomena, conscious evolution.

We know that we are made of bones, blood, cells, muscle, etc. and we tend to think that these are what makes us human. However, we often overlook the Human Microbiome. This is a naturally occurring community of microorganisms (microbes) in our body including diverse viruses, fungi, and protozoa that outnumber human cells almost two to one! While this might sound scary, this thriving community of microbes in our body is working in harmony with our human cells to create life as we know it.-The Self You Never Knew, The Human Microbiome

Shift the Narrative:Nature is dynamic and alive. She communicates if we listen and observe. The belief that humans are somehow above nature, like a king is above his subjects, is pure delusion. We are not in an either/or situation, things are not black and white. We have gained much understanding through reductionist, mechanistic science but we must recognize that it is most potent when science observes, mimics, and respects natural systems. Humans have a disease of the mind in the colonial, imperialistic ways we see each other, the animals, the plants, and the very elements that sustain our lives.

We can not solveour problems with the same level of thinking that created them. Albert Einstein

We are approaching our response to COVID-19 from the same materialistic, colonial, imperial, centralized, mono-cropped, chemical-driven, profit-centered, privatized model that has birthed this crisis in the first place.Lets take a good look at the outdated operating system and human beliefs that are embedded in our current centralized systems. This is the model, born from feudalism and the Dark Ages, that now rules our global markets, scientific institutions, corporate culture, academia, religion, healthcare, and governments. There IS another way.

If the wordconspiretruly means to breathe together then collectively maybe we should all do just that. We are woven together in this majestic web of life throughout all of time. We can create systems that mimic the way that mycelium nourishes a healthy jungle allowing it to thrive. It will not be a centralized top-down system,it will be a distributed networkto empower all the disjointed parts to flourish. Its time to upgrade our societys operating system.

Lets listen to the science so we can integrate the broken and disjointed pieces of the reductionist mindset to embrace a holistic approach. Nature has untold secrets but we have forgotten how to listen. Indigenous people are keepers of nature and hold a very profound understanding for us in this time. They have been warning that this day would eventually come. Their voices and cultures have been squashed by a worldview based on conquest that is as invasive to humanitys perennial wisdom as any virus. Perhaps it is time we take a moment and listen.

Due to the pressure of mass censorship, we now have our own censorship-free, and ad-free on demand streaming network!

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Click here to start a FREE 7-Day Trial and watch 100's of hours of conscious media that you won't see anywhere else.

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Global Chaos Is The Needed Catalyst To Evolve Consciousness

Margo Price on the Bob Dylan Classic She Wishes She Wrote – Pitchfork

Thats when I watched [the 1967 Dylan documentary] Dont Look Back for the first time, too. I was just hoping for that moment: to be burned out on the road, as tired as he was in 65 after touring England. At that point, I hadnt really traveled anywhere. Through the decade that I struggled to get my foot in the door, I had a lot of free time to immerse myself in every phase of his life. He could have just fizzled out after the folk period, like a lot of other people did at that time. The fact that he was always reinventing himself was important to me.

Is there a line or verse in this song that stands out to you?

The last verse is where it really hits home for me: When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose/Youre invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal. Hes writing to Miss Lonely, and it could have been Edie Sedgwick or Joan Baez. He always has a way to protect himself and wear this armor, but that verse feels very freeing. I think he was writing about himself.

I heard that it was 20 pages of word vomit, as he liked to call it. I cant imagine what the entire thing looked like. Even getting it down to six minutes seems like a feat. But you can feel that energy in the room. Everybodys just playing it from their gut. Youve got Al Kooper on the organhes not even an organ player!

Like a Rolling Stone also represents a turning point when Dylans writing became more imagistic and surreal. Ive noticed a shift in your work toward more open-ended songs. Is that a conscious evolution?

For sure. The first album ended up being a concept record about me, so I felt like I had to keep it all in the first-person. It was a good exercise in being honest with myself and getting things off my chest that I had been lying about to my family and friends. With this record, I wanted to find different ways to convey my thoughts. I found that Id be writing one song but directing it at three different people, because different people can make you feel the same emotion. I see songwriters make the same album over and over, and Im like, This is boring for me to listen to, so I know youve got to be bored. In the end, youre going to be more proud of your work if you keep things fresh.

Other than Bob Dylan, do you have other role models for maintaining longevity as an artist?

Linda Ronstadt did such a good job of following what was right in her heart and not what was going to be a commercial success. She was a massive pop star but then she put out an all-Spanish mariachi record. People told her, Dont do it. Its going to ruin your career. But it just made people love her more. Joni Mitchell is also highly underrated. She found a way to keep herself inspired, and thats important too. Reading all the time, writing, discovering new music, and watching filmsall those things are tied together in being turned on to the muse.

Have you ever run into Bob on the road?

Yes, I have! We were on the Outlaw Tour with Willie Nelson, and Bob was playing the Milwaukee show. It was amazing to see my name next to theirs, even though it was way down. Ive made it! When Bob came onto the premises, we were told that no one could be backstage. So we all hid inside our tour bus and looked out the window, like Santa Claus was coming. We were so excited. He pulls up with a motorcade of maybe 25 police officers on motorcycles. He was wearing a white suit coat and black pants and really cool shoes. We just watched him walk to the back of the stage as he was fixing his hair and his pant leg. We went out and watched the whole performance from the front of the house, which I never do. It was pretty incredible. I heard a story that day that Bob walked onto Willies bus wearing a towel over his head like a boxer and carrying an apple pie. He goes, Wheres the king? Take me to the king.

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Margo Price on the Bob Dylan Classic She Wishes She Wrote - Pitchfork

Foundation for Conscious Evolution | barbaramarxhubbard

Foundation forConscious Evolution

Our Vision

The ultimate goal of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution is the awakening of the spiritual, social, and scientific potential of humanity, in harmony with nature for the highest good of all life.

Our Mission

To educate people in the worldview of Conscious Evolution and how to apply it in their lives, personally and socially. To network, connect and align individuals and groups, making visible the vast movement for positive change that is arising everywhere, and to further cooperate toward our common goal of a compassionate, sustainable future.

The initiatives of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution offer a context and container for connecting and empowering the vast global movement arising for positive change, making the efforts of this movement visible to engender greater coherence and synergy. We work on the premise that small islands of coherence in a sea of social chaos can jump the system as a whole to a higher degree of harmony and order.

By connecting and communicating whats working, positive and innovative, the Foundation for Conscious Evolution is helping to build a new patha golden bridgeto the next stage of human evolution. On that path, we look beyond the current confusion and crises to see the new capacities that are arising. We hold our unprecedented power as the means for restoring the earth, freeing ourselves from illness, hunger and war, and fulfilling the deepest aspirations of the human heart. We envision humanity arising to cocreate a future equal to our vast potential.

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Foundation for Conscious Evolution | barbaramarxhubbard

Toxic Positivity is a Thing and It Needs to Stop – Thrive Global

In a world overloadedwith inspirational quotes, daily affirmations, and endless positivity,sometimes it can seem wrong to feel anything less than cheerful. Buy intothis relentless flow of messages promoting happiness and feeling good above allelse, and we end up in a kind of spiritually anemic wasteland a type of toxicpositivity that would have us believe that emotions can fall into only one oftwo categories bad or good. And, if we fail at feeling only the good ones,then we are somehow inadequate and miss out on creating an engaged andpurposeful life. Sigh.

Heres theproblem with this over-simplified view of our interior lives:

The things that bring true meaning and purpose to our lives areoften the same things that invite the whole array of emotions into ourconsciousness, even the supposedly negative ones.

Forexample, think of a long-term intimate relationship, or when a person becomes aparent. These are complex life experiences that require us to be vulnerable, tostep into the unknown, and brave the full array of our emotional responses.Its totally unrealistic to assume we could orient to these types ofcircumstances with the goal of only feeling the good vibes.

Having such an expectation sets us up to miss some of the most enriching opportunities for growth and connection. How can we teach our children about emotional resiliency if we are demanding they embrace a false positivity instead of learning to deal with the world the way it is? How can we model self-acceptance and self-compassion if we are effectively denying huge parts of ourselves and deeming them unacceptable simply because those parts are less than comfortable to feel?

The rigid approach of positivity and nothing else is indeedtoxic. It stands in direct contradiction to a path of conscious evolution, onein which we welcome in the moments of vulnerability and see them asopportunities to acknowledge and feel all of our feelings. This is how we gainwisdom in life and access to deeper layers of our own potential by allowingourselves to be present to full spectrum of our experiences and emotions.

So whatsthe antidote to this epidemic of toxic positivity? In a word, itsauthenticity.

Unlike the counterfeit form of enlightenment promised to us with toxic positivity, authenticity promotes a deep and potent inner-knowing, and allows us to show up in the world from a place of embodied presence no matter what emotions we are experiencing. But how exactly do we do that?

1.To be authentic, we must start with awareness.

We need to be willing to show up, stay curious, and make ourselves completely available to the present moment. When we do that, we are setting the stage to stay open to possibility and invoke the power of beginners mind. We refuse to make assumptions, including the assumption that certain emotions are better than others. Only then do we become truly available to listen to and receive from the experiences life is offering us.

2. With awareness intact, the next step towards authenticity is to clarify and connect with our values.

This is an essential step for making life more meaningful. When we know our values, what we want to be a stand for in this world, we can have a different orientation to our feelings. They are no longer good or bad. Instead, they are opportunities to learn more about what truly matters to us.

We tend to have the strongest emotional reactions to things that are important to us. For example, if we feel big grief about the millions of children living in poverty in our world, perhaps that is an indicator to us that we might deeply value being of service to others less fortunate than us. And as such, we can start to choose actions that align with that, which leads us to the next step.

3. Once we are clear on our values, then we can choose to act in accordance with those values to create a purpose driven-life.

Life no longer is about seeking out perpetual happiness. Instead, we choose to connect and prioritize those things that will move us further in the direction of what matters most to us.

When we have a clear connection to our inner purpose like this, we develop a much greater tolerance for the full spectrum of feelings. We dont fear the difficult emotions any longer. Instead, we understand that each feeling we have is part of a larger process of self-discovery and self-creation. And with our values at the forefront of our mind, we feel motivated to create a life filled with meaning and passion. But the practice of authenticity doesnt stop there.

4. To fully own our deepest truth and leave the cult of toxic positivity behind us, we must also embrace the ambiguity that inevitably comes with choosing authenticity.

As they say, the only thing certain in life is change. When we stop wasting energy trying to be in control of everything (including our emotions), we enter a more truthful relationship of co-creation with the universe. We allow ourselves to be changed by the journey as it unfolds.

This is where our true power lies not in cultivatingsome artificial sense of positivity but in genuinely showing up in the here andnow, clear on our values, ready to act, and willing to be changed. This isthe ground from which a life of real meaning and purpose can blossom andflourish and incidentally its also the place from which we truly can experience authentic happinessand fulfillment.

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Toxic Positivity is a Thing and It Needs to Stop - Thrive Global

Sacramento boasts a hot lineup of community and culture events this week – Yahoo News

Photo: JD Mason/Unsplash

Looking to get out into the community this week?

From a training activity to a dinner, there's plenty to do when it comes to community and cultural events coming up in Sacramento this week. Read on for a rundown.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

From the event description:

Side Hustle Wednesday invites you to the first of our Speaker Series with David Chan, and to a warm bowl of truffle ramen.David Chan, an engineer by day, ramen chef by night, will discuss how his full-time gig fuels his passion for ramen. Enjoy networking with fellow hustlers and a bowl of truffle shoyu ramen, specially designed for the event.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 23, 6-8 p.m.Where: Tomato Alley Collective, 2014 28th St., Suite FPrice: $15Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

From the event description:

Hosted at various locations throughout Sacramento County by the U.S. Census Bureau in partnership with the Sacramento County Complete Count Committee, this training is open to all community members interested in learning more about general 2020 Census information and local census efforts.

When: Thursday, Oct. 24, 1-2 p.m.Where: Greater Sacramento Urban League, 3725 Marysville Blvd.Price: FreeClick here for more details, and to get your tickets

From the event description:

Periodically we gather Logosophy's friends and enthusiasts for a conversation about a particular topic (i.e. freedom, destiny, conscious evolution, respect, etc.) The intent of this activity is to inspire participants to introspectively exam their own principles, thoughts and feelings through the review of logosophical concepts and respectful exchange of ideas. Refreshments will be served.

When: Friday, Oct. 25, 6:30-8 p.m.Where: Logosophy Cultural Center, 2110 16th St.Price: FreeClick here for more details, and to get your tickets

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This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.

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Sacramento boasts a hot lineup of community and culture events this week - Yahoo News

Tara Westover on Being ‘Educated’ – The Emory Wheel

Jessie Wang, Contributing

Historian and award-winning memoirist Tara Westover discussed themes of family and education in her memoir Educated at the Emory Student Center on Sept. 26.

Educated has won over a dozen awards and was named Book of the Year by the American Booksellers Association. The bestselling memoir chronicles Westovers upbringing as a Mormon survivalist in the mountains of Idaho and her attempts to reconcile her desire for self-determination with the strict ideologies of her parents.

Westover, 33, was joined in conversation by Carol E. Henderson newly appointed vice provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer, and adviser to the president as part of the Emory Integrity Projects Common Read One Book, One Emory program.

Westover was raised by Mormon survivalist parents who distrusted public education and health, and did not set foot in a classroom until she was 17. Despite studying independently for the ACT and subsequently gaining entrance to Brigham Young University (Utah), Westover quickly became aware of how insubstantial her homeschooling had been.

The only history I learned was my fathers, she said. I didnt even know what the Holocaust was.

Westover acknowledged that although her unique upbringing made her stand out among her peers, her differences have never bothered her.

I spent my whole life not fitting in, Westover said. Im OK now with not fitting in. Ive accepted that conformity is an illusion. You dont have to be like everybody else.

Another byproduct of Westovers idiosyncratic childhood was the perspective she gained on what it means to be educated something she wanted to convey through the ambiguity of her books title.

[Educated] can mean informed, fearless, intelligent, arrogant, brainwashed, she said. Part of the way that I would define education was getting access to other points of view.

Westover emphasized the importance of appreciating and accepting other perspectives, noting that two people can have the same experience and come to different conclusions.

I think that respecting people that you disagree with is a prerequisite to self-respect, she said.

Nevertheless, Westover voiced her concerns that education was beginning to associate more with certainty than inquiry, which she believes has bled into how we perceive others.

Weve kind of gotten into a social space where we think if we know one thing about a person, we know everything, she said.

Westover stated that she was inspired to write about her life as a way to cope with her gradual estrangement from her parents, a process she described as difficult and long.

When I went through that process, I just felt like I was the only person it had ever happened to, and I thought it might be helpful for other people to read about it, she said.

Westovers described her writing process in Educated was like journaling, which she said helped her cope with the changes in her life. She argued that journaling was more therapeutic than the act of writing for readers and encouraged the audience to consider it.

Theres something in writing that I think is therapeutic, Westover said. But then I also think that when you write for people, its not really as therapeutic because there are different rules.

Westover also revealed that there are aspects of her life that she deliberately omitted from her memoir for fear that they would be poorly received, and pointed to the vast cultural differences between rural and urban America.

There are some things I could have written about my father that would have been too shocking, and they would not have been received in context, she said.

One potentially controversial passage that Westover did keep in the memoir featured the repeated use of the N-word. Westover included the story in the memoir to highlight her conscious evolution, tying into the larger theme of what it means to be Educated.

I wanted to write a story about language and the power of it, Westover said. For so long I just heard [the N-word] as any other word, and then I was awakened to how powerful it was. I didnt want to blunt the power of it by representing it in any way less than it was.

Westover acknowledged that it was a difficult choice, one that still gives her food for thought.

I rethink it all the time, she confessed. Maybe I made the wrong decision.

Concluding the discussion, Westover revealed that she would not offer any advice to her younger self.

There are things you have to learn that nobody can tell you, Westover said.

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Tara Westover on Being 'Educated' - The Emory Wheel

Sacred Centers – Tools for Conscious Evolution

Aligned along the sacred core of your body, seven energy centers known as chakras spin like sacred jewels, forming a bridge of connection between Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter, mind and body.

Herein lies the architecture of the soul.

This ancient map of the chakra system presents a viable key to wholeness and a guide for both personal and planetary awakening.

As we align the inner worlds of earth, water, fire, air, sound, light, and consciousness, we simultaneously align with these sacred elements in the outer world.

Herein find tools to open, engage, activate, and align your chakras and your innermost being with the larger mystery of life.

Explore our books, workshops, home learning courses, videos, and more.

Join our community and become a member of Sacred Centers.

In this long-awaited book by acclaimed chakra expert Anodea Judith, you will learn how to use yogas principles and practices to awaken the subtle body of energy and connect with your highest source. Using seven vital keys to unlock your inner temple, you will be guided through practices that open and activate each chakra through postures, bioenergetic exercises, breathing practices, mantras, guided meditation, and yoga philosophy. Learn how to activate your chakras through yoga. With 232 full-color photographs, step-by-step alignment instructions, chakra-based posture sequences, pranayama (breathing) techniques, mantras, yoga philosophy, and more, this book is a must-have resource for anyone who teaches or wants to learn about yoga and moving the subtle energy.

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Sacred Centers - Tools for Conscious Evolution

Conscious Evolution (Kansas City, MO) | Meetup

If you...

Want to become empowered to live the life of your dreams or figure out what that is, then Conscious Evolution is the group for you. Human potential remains just words on a page until you take that first step in increasing your awareness. It begins with ideas and if you are the type of person that really wants to understand how to cause change, Conscious Evolution is a doorway to find out how to do just that.

Conscious Evolution is for people that are tired of the rat race, want something more out of life and are willing to explore new ideas. It's for people that want to change themselves and know that that can make their world a better place.

The Groups topics: Consciousness, Evolution, Science, New Age, Mind - Body, Philosophy, Psychology, Spirituality, Metaphysics, Meditation, Awakening, Enlightenment, Light Workers, Unity, Oneness, Discussion, Humanism, Agnostics, Seekers, Singles, Friends, Indigo, Personal Growth, Self Help, Self- Discovery, Self-Realization, Self-Improvement, Life Transformation, Creativity, Community, Social, Volunteers, Peace, Green, Environment, Course in Miracles, Secret, Law of Attraction, Dreams, Reiki, Energy, Quantum, Healing, Holistic, Alternative Health, Near-Death Experience, Paranormal, Shamanism, Psychic, Reincarnation, Past Life, Soul Travel, Medium, Channeling, Astrology, Numerology, More..

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Conscious Evolution (Kansas City, MO) | Meetup

The 8 Stages of Conscious Evolution – Waking Times

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Stephen Parato, ContributorWaking Times

Have you ever wondered About what level of consciousness youre truly at?

Not in terms of it being a contest, or to say youre better/worse than other people, but as a kind of inner GPS that simply tells you where you are.

As humans, we tend to have very distorted and biased perspectives, especially when it comes to ourselves.

Its really easy to go on a yoga retreat and think youve transcended stress forever, or think youre enlightened after reading a few spiritual books.

This is why its crucial to have references that tell it like it is and objectively reflect where youre at.

I recently came across what can be described as a map of consciousness. Its a research paper by Justin Faerman entitled Mapping the Evolution of Consciousness: A Holistic Framework for Psychospiritual Development.

This paper describes, in plain English, eight stages of consciousness. And its not abstract or woo-woo. Its straightforward, simple to understand and backed by a lot of research.

Here are the stages outlined in the paper

Note: The first 2 stages are considered lower consciousness, while stages 3-8 are considered higher consciousness. This is not a judgment of being better or worse, but simply a means of classification.

Stage 1 is categorized by patterns of externalization and an overall victim mentality. The dominant emotions are fear, disdain and hopelessness. There is also a belief that life cannot be trusted.

In this stage, blame is placed on other individuals, society, government, nature, disease, etc. and other elements believed to be outside of ones conscious control and influence.

The motivating forces of stage 1 are safety and security.

Dominant Belief Structures:Life is not safe; I am not safe

Mantra for Evolution:God does not play dice with the universe. Albert Einstein

In this second stage, individuals realize that they have some degree of control. Yet this control is often motivated by fear and survival.

For example, war is an extension of this stage of consciousness. The enemy is perceived as a threat, and because of this, people believe they are morally justified to kill, eliminate or repress that enemy.

We also see various reflections of this stage of consciousness in our collective world. Look at how most people treat the environment and interpersonal relationships. Or consider the dominant mentality of politics and business.

This level of awareness is cut off from the following deeper understanding: Life is not a random series of events over which control must be exerted, but a deeper reflection of the internal psychodynamics of a persons own mind and consciousness.

Dominant Belief Structures:I must make it so; What I cannot control will destroy me.

Mantra for Evolution:If you bring forth what is within you, then that which is within you will be your salvation. If you do not bring forth what is within you, then that which is within you will destroy you. Gnostic Gospels

In this stage, the individual begins to understand the direct connection between their own perceptions, beliefs and emotional state and the conditions of their life, relationships, experiences and reality as a whole.

This level of consciousness is represented by a fundamental shift, from disempowerment to empowerment.

In order to fully complete this stage, an individual must undergo a deep transformational process that includes the purging of all perceptual distortions (limiting beliefs) and the healing/release of all emotional wounds and traumas. The emergence of consciousness into later stages is observed in direct proportion to the evolution of an individual through this process of deep inner healing and transformational work.

Dominant Belief Structures:I am in control; I am creative

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Mindfulness, Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, Emotional freedom techniques, Neuro-linguistic programming, Trauma release exercises, Psychotherapy, Hooponopono, Introspection

Mantra for Evolution:Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens. Carl Jung

In this stage, we see the evolution of the self into the beginnings of deep joy and peace.

As the resistance to perceived undesirable circumstances in life falls away and one begins to understand that there is an intelligent flow operating in every moment guiding the evolution of consciousness on both an individual and collective level through what could be dualistically termed positive and negative experiences.

The individual realizes here that even in great suffering, there is great wisdom and potential for expansion and evolution and that nothing is out of place, ever has been or ever will be.

Dominant Belief Structures:I am loved; I am supported

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Seeing everything as perfect, Surrender, Acceptance, Letting Go, Embracing Flow and Effortlessness, Meditation

Mantra For Evolution:Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment. Eckhart Tolle

At this stage of consciousness, the individual begins to understand and observe that the Universe is evolving itself through them.

The individual begins to realize that all perceived suffering or negative events are either:a) Created or called into their reality by aspects of their own consciousness in an effort to be resolved and transcended as part of their individual evolution and as part of the larger collective evolution orb) Exist due to their conscious or unconscious resistance to what is unfolding, which is essentially a resistance of oneself.

Individuals in stage 5 live more through their intuition, as intuition becomes clearer and clearer as one moves up the stages.

Dominant Belief Structures:I am safe; Everything is perfect

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Intuitive Development, Kinesiology

Mantra For Evolution:Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself. Rumi

At this stage of awareness, the individual begins to understand that reality does not exist independent of consciousness, and therefore consciousness, or awareness if you prefer, is the causative factor of the universe and all that existsthat consciousness is creating all reality.

Individuals in this stage experience a profound sense of unity and oneness with everything.

When an individual fully enters and embodies this stage of awareness, their simple presence itself becomes a transformative experience for others. Individuals in this stage often become teachers or leaders, dedicate their lives to service of others or seek solitude to spend time in introspection, although they may also choose to live very normal and inconspicuous lives.

Dominant Belief Structures:I am one; I am whole

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Service, Contemplation, Meditation

Mantras For Evolution:You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself. Alan Watts

Stop acting so small. You are the Universe in ecstatic motion. Rumi

Individuals at this stage of growth begin to transcend the physicality within which we are proverbially trapped until we reach this point.

Here individuals begin to harness conscious control over this process by directing their awareness in such a way (through belief, emotion, thought, visualization, the manipulation of energy, intent, accessing transpersonal aspects of the self and likely other mechanisms not yet discovered) as to be able to make use of these higher order quantum-transpersonal abilities of the self.

Individuals at this stage perceive and know themselves to be limitless and are in various sub-stages of actualizing that reality beyond a simple intellectual understanding.

As individuals move more deeply into this stage they proportionally complete lower stages which leads to an embodied confidence, power and knowingness, which is palpable to most all who they come into contact with.

Dominant Belief Structures:I am infinite/limitless; Anything is possible

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Esoterics, Visualization, Kabbalah, Sound/Vibration/Mantra, Qi/Nei Gong, Kriya Yoga

Mantra for Evolution:Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein

Individuals at this stage tap into phenomena like:

Those who have near death experiences as well as users of psychedelic drugs or plant medicines (ayahuasca, DMT, LSD, mushrooms, etc.) are often able to have highly embodied first-hand experiences of this state of awareness pre-development into this stage, giving them a proverbial taste of this reality without necessarily having done the psychospiritual foundational work necessary to experience this stage organically and therefore they often lack a deeper understanding of the larger framework of what is happening along with the ability to maintain it beyond a transitory phenomenon, still nonetheless forever changed by the experience.

As an individual becomes more grounded in the later phases of stage eightwhich encompass this dimensional awarenessand simultaneously completes their evolution through lower stages, one would theoretically achieve complete enlightenment or non-dual self-realization.

Dominant Belief Structures:Everything is energy; I am awareness; Reality is an illusion

Useful Psycho-Spiritual Practices:Energy healing, Esoterics, Visualization, Kabbalah, Qi/Nei Gong, Kriya Yoga, Meditation, Visualization, Remote Viewing, Astral Projection, Telekinesis

Mantra for Evolution:We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Although this model ends at stage 8, this doesnt imply that no further stages exist and that somehow stage 8 is the pinnacle of conscious evolution. However, any claims as to what happens beyond stage 8 at this time are simply conjecture.

At this point, you probably have a pretty good idea of where youre at.

When the descriptions are objectively laid out, it forces you to be honest with yourself.

Its also helpful to accept where youre at right now, while continuously learning and growing. Dont resist where you are right now or beat yourself up, neither of those serve your highest interest. Choose love, gratitude and compassion in each moment and you cant go wrong.

Heres another important point: youre not limited to one stage! Chances are that youre dipping into different stages on a daily basis. But it should be fairly apparent as to what stage youre grounded in at this point in your life.

For me, Im pretty grounded in stage 5, though I often fluctuate between stages 3 and 6. Ive tasted stages 7 and 8, yet these experiences have been few and fleeting. Sometimes Ill even find myself in stage 1 or 2, and thats okay. Its all a part of the human experience.

This framework is beautiful because it allows you to effectively calibrate where you are. It naturally creates self-awareness. Awareness is the first step toward any change, and transformative in and of itself.

I encourage you to read the full paper, which you can download for free here:Mapping the Evolution of Consciousness: A Holistic Framework for Psychospiritual Development

Which stage are you in at this point of your journey? Is this framework helpful for you?

Leave a comment below.

Much love to you on your path.

Stephen Parato (akaStevieP) is a holistic health & wellness advocate, philosopher, writer, and positivity connoisseur. He is also the founder ofFeelin Good, Feelin Great. Website link:http://www.feelingoodfeelingreat.comFacebook link:https://www.facebook.com/FeelinGoodFeelinGreatTwitter link:https://twitter.com/SteviePThatsMe

This article (The 8 Stages of Conscious Evolution) was originally created and published by Stephen Parato of Feeling Good, Feeling Great, and is re-posted here with permission.

The 8 Stages of Conscious Evolution was last modified: May 31st, 2017 by WakingTimes

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The 8 Stages of Conscious Evolution - Waking Times