When I envision my personal future, I first envision the future of the planet. It would be foolish to not integrate these two visions, and yet, it is very common for people to envision their lives separate from the life of the planet because they are held separate from the consequences of their actions both physically and psychologically. Physically, by the buffer between them and the suffering undergone by distant people and places. And psychologically, by a powerful cultural narrative that defines what it means to be human in relation to the whole—mainly: ‘you are separate from the whole, separate from the ‘environment’, and separate from every other person’. Every culture tells a different story, and indeed, every person has a slightly unique story to assure themselves that life has particular meaning and this is how you behave accordingly. These stories of what it means to be human are powerful because they set the stage for everything else to occur—they define the assumptions upon which huge frameworks of logic can be built. And if there is one thing rational minds love to do, it is to incessantly debate the internal structures of a fortress of logic—never mind whether that fortress itself is floating through la-la-land. What we need to do is question how these frameworks actually rest upon the Earth. What are the stories that keep them afloat?
To me, it has become radically clear that the underlying story that shapes our actions and our very experiences of reality is the Illusion of Separation—the story that the universe consists of individual entities that are either self-motivated or dead and unintelligent. This underlying assumption has shaped our experience of the world—and mirrors our experience of the self. We have created empires from this assumption—empires that exploit the natural world, pit people against each other in competitive arenas of scarcity, and teach us to control ourselves with elaborate systems of conditional self-approval.
These stories also tell me what my future should look like. And it has a lot to do with over-working at a steady accepted career to pursue ambitious goals, climbing the success ladder, making lots of money, getting a mortgage and a car, investing in a retirement pension, acquiring more stuff, and maybe making a few babies while I’m at it so I have someone to pass these stories on to. I mean, surely we must continue this important legacy.
I have come to the stage now where I have outright rejected my culture’s story for two main reasons: it does not align with reality, and it does not align with our true potential. It does not align with reality and so it will not be possible to maintain—hence the word unsustainable, which literally means that it will come to an end. And it does not align with the vision I have been gifted of our true potential on this planet. Thankfully, the vision I have of our true potential and the story I have regarding reality are aligned, which makes for significant clarity and purpose in my life.
A lot of people drive themselves to change because of the pressures of reality, but deep inside, there is a resistance to overcome because their hearts have not yet been allowed to speak their truth for fear of being ‘idealistic’ or ‘naive’. But truthfully, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible* has to be held as a sacred vision in our beings before we can begin to truly empower our hearts. Not maintaining a vision leads to stress, negativity, and potential burn-out, since we must constantly force ourselves to do what our intellect thinks we should—while our hearts are treated like small children who have to be herded around, constantly motivated (or manipulated), cheered up when bad things happen, and told lies so as to remain protected from the bad feelings of this dark world. But our hearts are strong enough to handle the truth. We’re just afraid of what they might do when allowed to fully feel the world and to act accordingly...
On the other side, there are those who become so opposed to the pressures of reality interfering with their lives and ‘all those whiny activists’ trying to manipulate them to change their ways that they fall into a state of denial.
Creating a better world should not be a chore or something we do out of fear. A better world simply comes about as soon as we start applying our unique gifts and living into our true potential with love and honesty. Every time someone sheds an illusion, heals from a wound, lets a grudge go, expresses gratitude, gives generously, dares to love, plants a garden, meditates, speaks to the wonder in another human being, or makes any other movement toward our true potential—the universe becomes a better place by the grace of interbeing. And so I have a vision of my life that is closely coupled with my vision of this planet and by becoming an empowered passionate being, the world becomes a better place. So long as I have fully stepped out of the way of myself, I will able to give my whole self in service and nothing more, and as long as I am doing this, the only self-pain I shall feel is when the world wants to change me quicker than I am fluid and adaptable; but even in those difficult times, I am learning to trust the transformation and to not resist; discomfort and pain is part of the process. There are many examples of when reality adds pressure, and vision transforms that pressure into the fluidity to grow toward our potential.
For instance, it is deeply important that we learn how to form, improve, and actively participate in the organization of intentional communities to co-create new and better ways of living in harmony—not just because the top-down structures of power and control do not have our best interests at heart and the global monetary system could crash into chaos in the next couple decades—but because being part of an empowered community gives us a profound experience of existence beyond our little individual selves, meets our deep longing for connection and love, gives us a sense of responsibility and purpose that removes our insecurities, and empowers us toward our greatest potential in relation to the universal life force that moves through all things.
It is vital that we learn how to grow food, capture and manage energy and water, and build self-sustaining human settlements—not just because the oil industry could hit the fan, energy prices could soar, and food shortages due to climate change and transportation failures could become a widespread global emergency in the next couple decades—but because our connection with the land will become an intimate and profound lifeline, we'll know exactly where our food comes from and how it was made, and we'll live with a deep life-affirming gratitude for every meal and for the joy of having a home that is nourishing and nurturing.
It is wise that we teach ourselves how to survive and thrive in the wilderness—not just because civilization might collapse into some chaotic form or get caught in some militant form within another few decades—but because reconnecting with the wilderness will enrich our lives and give us a sense of belonging, vibrancy, and wonder that is entirely missing in our modern lives, while also helping us to reconnect with the genius of our wild bodies.
There may be external pressures for all of these changes, but each change brings us into greater harmony and the result is always a higher quality of life anyway. So let the vision of a better world transform the pressures of reality into the fluidity of change.
There is a beautiful concept (and experience) in yoga (and life) called the still-point. It is the place where the energy is balanced, neither pushing nor pulling, neither forcing nor resisting. This is the sweet spot, the place of active non-doing, the place of effortless grace where the world acts through you; here, you are at peace, surfing the wave.
We yearn for this sweet spot where working for a better world becomes an effortless act of passion and love. But we so often try to reach it by either attempting to correct for our resistance with force or correct for our force with resistance. The result is a tug-of-war inside our beings—hardly what you would call peaceful or effective. But this is how we live our lives. We are taught self-control; we are taught that self-mastery is success. But to become the master of the self is also to enslave the self. And before any of this can occur, you must first separate yourself into pieces so that one piece can act as the master and the other as the slave. The Story of Separation runs deep. Or perhaps this is where the story originates. As we relate to our bodies, so we relate to the world. Our relationship with ourselves and our bodies has become the model or template for how we relate to the world. The Story of Separation will continue to be dominant so long as we continue to experience existence from a place of fragmentation.
So how did we become so fragmented? How was the unbroken whole shattered into pieces? There are countless shifts in the history of humanity that have shaped our consciousness, but the overall trend can be seen by mapping out our retreat from body to head. The rational mind, being such a powerful tool, eventually assumed power over the rest of our being, including our hearts and bodies. It transformed from a tool into a way of operating and relating that relegated the body to the status of a machine, numbing us from its fluid intelligence. When we feel resistance to something, instead of applying force to overcome it—willpower fueled by the intellect—what if we listened deeply to the resistance and shone the light of attention down into those dark neglected areas of our bodies and hearts? Perhaps, in doing so, we could reintegrate these aspects of self and the resistance would yield and dissolve, allowing us to fluidly leap into clear and passionate action with little effort. Rediscovering and experiencing our wholeness is therefore critical to everything we do in life, since an effective new story can only be written from experience.
The journey to wholeness is profound. How can we use our current operating system of separation and control to get to a new operating system of self-organizing fluid intelligence? I’ll give you a hint: this is not something that can be forced. It requires, first and foremost, that we learn to trust the world. Letting go of self-control is a vulnerable step, and completely reckless if we assume that there is no intelligence beyond ourselves that can guide us. First, we must admit and experience that the world is inherently intelligent, and then we must allow ourselves to take part in this intelligence. We do this by becoming embodied. Our bodies are where we integrate the energy of the world—where we align ourselves—where we come into harmony with the whole. By bringing light and life to all the dark corners of our bodies, we can eventually rejoin the world and be a part of its genius.
The intelligence of the rational mind is all about focusing in, breaking the world into pieces, gaining perspectives, and leveraging control in order to do things. The intelligence of the body is all about opening up, feeling the whole, integrating massive amounts of information into raw meaning, and using this intuition to participate harmoniously in the enfolding of the present moment—to be. The two intelligences complement each other like female and male, yin and yang, two poles held distinct so that they may unite.
The nature of the universe is self-organizing genius. People experience the natural world in awe and they are humbled by how everything works together so beautifully, so elegantly, so intelligently. And they think, ‘Ah! There must be some intelligent being orchestrating the genius of the world!’ They call this being God, a male entity that stands on the outside and does to the world. Others look around at the very same world and they experience the intelligence as something that permeates and moves through all things. Perhaps they call this the Goddess, or Mother Earth, a female entity that simply is everything from within. The same is true for our intelligences. Our brain stands on the outside and does. Our bodies are seamlessly part of the world and their intelligence is one of being. This distinction of male and female—doing and being—is fascinating and I find it very insightful. Here we live in a patriarchal society while also being ruled by the head, the ‘male’ intelligence of abstraction and control. And in our society, women have been oppressed in horrific ways, while we have also oppressed the intelligence of our bodies, the ‘female’ intelligence of integration and harmony. The correlations here are astounding, and perhaps, as we work to fully empower women, while freeing men from narrow definitions of masculinity, we can also, hand in hand, reawaken the intelligences of our bodies and move toward greater wholeness and fluidity. Furthermore, if we healed the conflicts between the sexes, our sexual energies would be free to flow through our bodies once more in a healthy blossoming way, giving us a newfound love and invested pleasure in being alive in a harmonious world.
Speaking of the pleasure of being alive, our operating system of control has a few things to say about that. Mainly: you are not allowed to feel good unless you succeed at something. I don’t know about you, but when I begin to peel back the layers upon layers of control algorithms and conditional self-approval games, I just have to laugh at how petty and small my little self truly is. Because even if we have a powerful vision of our true potential to guide us, the first thing our operating system of control wants to do is turn this vision into a goal. And then, every time we move toward this goal, we give ourselves permission to feel good. And every time we move away from this goal, we are withheld the pleasure of being alive. Wow, to be free from this hierarchy of control—now that would be bliss! Because true freedom is not the power of control; it is when you no longer need to be in control. Control is only necessary when we have separated ourselves from our one true guide.
But imagine that. No more straining to be something ‘better’. No more micro-managing every bloody decision in your day. No more judging your progress in every activity whether walking to work or painting a picture. No more ignoring the things that cannot be measured. No more withholding the pleasure of being alive! The exciting process of growth and transformation should be enjoyable regardless of how it measures up to your expectations. If our intellect is busy judging us based on its definition of the ‘right’ path through life, then we still do not entirely trust the world to guide us. And how can we ever cooperate with something we do not trust?
When I envision my future, I do not hold it in my mind like a concept. There is always a distinction between the vision and my thoughts about the vision. The vision is something I experience. It does not belong to me, nor is it my creation. I have no revision control. I feel what is there and I have allowed it to grow and evolve as it will. The same must be true for the New Story. We are not prescribing it; we are describing it only as we begin to experience it—as we begin to live into it.
To me, it has become radically clear that the underlying story that shapes our actions and our very experiences of reality is the Illusion of Separation—the story that the universe consists of individual entities that are either self-motivated or dead and unintelligent. This underlying assumption has shaped our experience of the world—and mirrors our experience of the self. We have created empires from this assumption—empires that exploit the natural world, pit people against each other in competitive arenas of scarcity, and teach us to control ourselves with elaborate systems of conditional self-approval.
These stories also tell me what my future should look like. And it has a lot to do with over-working at a steady accepted career to pursue ambitious goals, climbing the success ladder, making lots of money, getting a mortgage and a car, investing in a retirement pension, acquiring more stuff, and maybe making a few babies while I’m at it so I have someone to pass these stories on to. I mean, surely we must continue this important legacy.
I have come to the stage now where I have outright rejected my culture’s story for two main reasons: it does not align with reality, and it does not align with our true potential. It does not align with reality and so it will not be possible to maintain—hence the word unsustainable, which literally means that it will come to an end. And it does not align with the vision I have been gifted of our true potential on this planet. Thankfully, the vision I have of our true potential and the story I have regarding reality are aligned, which makes for significant clarity and purpose in my life.
A lot of people drive themselves to change because of the pressures of reality, but deep inside, there is a resistance to overcome because their hearts have not yet been allowed to speak their truth for fear of being ‘idealistic’ or ‘naive’. But truthfully, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible* has to be held as a sacred vision in our beings before we can begin to truly empower our hearts. Not maintaining a vision leads to stress, negativity, and potential burn-out, since we must constantly force ourselves to do what our intellect thinks we should—while our hearts are treated like small children who have to be herded around, constantly motivated (or manipulated), cheered up when bad things happen, and told lies so as to remain protected from the bad feelings of this dark world. But our hearts are strong enough to handle the truth. We’re just afraid of what they might do when allowed to fully feel the world and to act accordingly...
On the other side, there are those who become so opposed to the pressures of reality interfering with their lives and ‘all those whiny activists’ trying to manipulate them to change their ways that they fall into a state of denial.
Creating a better world should not be a chore or something we do out of fear. A better world simply comes about as soon as we start applying our unique gifts and living into our true potential with love and honesty. Every time someone sheds an illusion, heals from a wound, lets a grudge go, expresses gratitude, gives generously, dares to love, plants a garden, meditates, speaks to the wonder in another human being, or makes any other movement toward our true potential—the universe becomes a better place by the grace of interbeing. And so I have a vision of my life that is closely coupled with my vision of this planet and by becoming an empowered passionate being, the world becomes a better place. So long as I have fully stepped out of the way of myself, I will able to give my whole self in service and nothing more, and as long as I am doing this, the only self-pain I shall feel is when the world wants to change me quicker than I am fluid and adaptable; but even in those difficult times, I am learning to trust the transformation and to not resist; discomfort and pain is part of the process. There are many examples of when reality adds pressure, and vision transforms that pressure into the fluidity to grow toward our potential.
For instance, it is deeply important that we learn how to form, improve, and actively participate in the organization of intentional communities to co-create new and better ways of living in harmony—not just because the top-down structures of power and control do not have our best interests at heart and the global monetary system could crash into chaos in the next couple decades—but because being part of an empowered community gives us a profound experience of existence beyond our little individual selves, meets our deep longing for connection and love, gives us a sense of responsibility and purpose that removes our insecurities, and empowers us toward our greatest potential in relation to the universal life force that moves through all things.
It is vital that we learn how to grow food, capture and manage energy and water, and build self-sustaining human settlements—not just because the oil industry could hit the fan, energy prices could soar, and food shortages due to climate change and transportation failures could become a widespread global emergency in the next couple decades—but because our connection with the land will become an intimate and profound lifeline, we'll know exactly where our food comes from and how it was made, and we'll live with a deep life-affirming gratitude for every meal and for the joy of having a home that is nourishing and nurturing.
It is wise that we teach ourselves how to survive and thrive in the wilderness—not just because civilization might collapse into some chaotic form or get caught in some militant form within another few decades—but because reconnecting with the wilderness will enrich our lives and give us a sense of belonging, vibrancy, and wonder that is entirely missing in our modern lives, while also helping us to reconnect with the genius of our wild bodies.
There may be external pressures for all of these changes, but each change brings us into greater harmony and the result is always a higher quality of life anyway. So let the vision of a better world transform the pressures of reality into the fluidity of change.
There is a beautiful concept (and experience) in yoga (and life) called the still-point. It is the place where the energy is balanced, neither pushing nor pulling, neither forcing nor resisting. This is the sweet spot, the place of active non-doing, the place of effortless grace where the world acts through you; here, you are at peace, surfing the wave.
We yearn for this sweet spot where working for a better world becomes an effortless act of passion and love. But we so often try to reach it by either attempting to correct for our resistance with force or correct for our force with resistance. The result is a tug-of-war inside our beings—hardly what you would call peaceful or effective. But this is how we live our lives. We are taught self-control; we are taught that self-mastery is success. But to become the master of the self is also to enslave the self. And before any of this can occur, you must first separate yourself into pieces so that one piece can act as the master and the other as the slave. The Story of Separation runs deep. Or perhaps this is where the story originates. As we relate to our bodies, so we relate to the world. Our relationship with ourselves and our bodies has become the model or template for how we relate to the world. The Story of Separation will continue to be dominant so long as we continue to experience existence from a place of fragmentation.
So how did we become so fragmented? How was the unbroken whole shattered into pieces? There are countless shifts in the history of humanity that have shaped our consciousness, but the overall trend can be seen by mapping out our retreat from body to head. The rational mind, being such a powerful tool, eventually assumed power over the rest of our being, including our hearts and bodies. It transformed from a tool into a way of operating and relating that relegated the body to the status of a machine, numbing us from its fluid intelligence. When we feel resistance to something, instead of applying force to overcome it—willpower fueled by the intellect—what if we listened deeply to the resistance and shone the light of attention down into those dark neglected areas of our bodies and hearts? Perhaps, in doing so, we could reintegrate these aspects of self and the resistance would yield and dissolve, allowing us to fluidly leap into clear and passionate action with little effort. Rediscovering and experiencing our wholeness is therefore critical to everything we do in life, since an effective new story can only be written from experience.
The journey to wholeness is profound. How can we use our current operating system of separation and control to get to a new operating system of self-organizing fluid intelligence? I’ll give you a hint: this is not something that can be forced. It requires, first and foremost, that we learn to trust the world. Letting go of self-control is a vulnerable step, and completely reckless if we assume that there is no intelligence beyond ourselves that can guide us. First, we must admit and experience that the world is inherently intelligent, and then we must allow ourselves to take part in this intelligence. We do this by becoming embodied. Our bodies are where we integrate the energy of the world—where we align ourselves—where we come into harmony with the whole. By bringing light and life to all the dark corners of our bodies, we can eventually rejoin the world and be a part of its genius.
The intelligence of the rational mind is all about focusing in, breaking the world into pieces, gaining perspectives, and leveraging control in order to do things. The intelligence of the body is all about opening up, feeling the whole, integrating massive amounts of information into raw meaning, and using this intuition to participate harmoniously in the enfolding of the present moment—to be. The two intelligences complement each other like female and male, yin and yang, two poles held distinct so that they may unite.
The nature of the universe is self-organizing genius. People experience the natural world in awe and they are humbled by how everything works together so beautifully, so elegantly, so intelligently. And they think, ‘Ah! There must be some intelligent being orchestrating the genius of the world!’ They call this being God, a male entity that stands on the outside and does to the world. Others look around at the very same world and they experience the intelligence as something that permeates and moves through all things. Perhaps they call this the Goddess, or Mother Earth, a female entity that simply is everything from within. The same is true for our intelligences. Our brain stands on the outside and does. Our bodies are seamlessly part of the world and their intelligence is one of being. This distinction of male and female—doing and being—is fascinating and I find it very insightful. Here we live in a patriarchal society while also being ruled by the head, the ‘male’ intelligence of abstraction and control. And in our society, women have been oppressed in horrific ways, while we have also oppressed the intelligence of our bodies, the ‘female’ intelligence of integration and harmony. The correlations here are astounding, and perhaps, as we work to fully empower women, while freeing men from narrow definitions of masculinity, we can also, hand in hand, reawaken the intelligences of our bodies and move toward greater wholeness and fluidity. Furthermore, if we healed the conflicts between the sexes, our sexual energies would be free to flow through our bodies once more in a healthy blossoming way, giving us a newfound love and invested pleasure in being alive in a harmonious world.
Speaking of the pleasure of being alive, our operating system of control has a few things to say about that. Mainly: you are not allowed to feel good unless you succeed at something. I don’t know about you, but when I begin to peel back the layers upon layers of control algorithms and conditional self-approval games, I just have to laugh at how petty and small my little self truly is. Because even if we have a powerful vision of our true potential to guide us, the first thing our operating system of control wants to do is turn this vision into a goal. And then, every time we move toward this goal, we give ourselves permission to feel good. And every time we move away from this goal, we are withheld the pleasure of being alive. Wow, to be free from this hierarchy of control—now that would be bliss! Because true freedom is not the power of control; it is when you no longer need to be in control. Control is only necessary when we have separated ourselves from our one true guide.
But imagine that. No more straining to be something ‘better’. No more micro-managing every bloody decision in your day. No more judging your progress in every activity whether walking to work or painting a picture. No more ignoring the things that cannot be measured. No more withholding the pleasure of being alive! The exciting process of growth and transformation should be enjoyable regardless of how it measures up to your expectations. If our intellect is busy judging us based on its definition of the ‘right’ path through life, then we still do not entirely trust the world to guide us. And how can we ever cooperate with something we do not trust?
When I envision my future, I do not hold it in my mind like a concept. There is always a distinction between the vision and my thoughts about the vision. The vision is something I experience. It does not belong to me, nor is it my creation. I have no revision control. I feel what is there and I have allowed it to grow and evolve as it will. The same must be true for the New Story. We are not prescribing it; we are describing it only as we begin to experience it—as we begin to live into it.
book. It is very accessible, enjoyable, and witty while hitting every nail on the head with eloquence and clarity.
*This happens to be the title of a truly life-changing book by Charles Eisenstein. If you want a thorough introduction to the New Story, I highly recommend his