Have Things Really Changed?

So here we Americans are on the other side of what they’re calling a “monumental election.” But have things really changed???

I was recently invited to the second annual BLEEP Kongress in Frankfurt, Germany. The organizers asked me to speak on “Has consciousness of the world shifted (since BLEEP was released), or is it really just the same?”

The easy answer is - of course they’ve changed. Ever read the I Ching? - “the only thing constant is change”. But that’s the easy answer. A real answer is how much have they changed and in what ways...

I suppose the organizers asked the question figuring that we here in BLEEPville are something of a lightning rod for movements in consciousness. Well we don’t have any hard data, any meditation exit polls to report, or Samadhi Party Platforms to dissect but there are some anecdotal events to consider.

It was 4 years ago when Mark, Betsy and I were going around the country doing Q&A’s after screenings. We were often asked if there was anything we/they could do to effect the elections. (For those outside the US - George W Bush was going for re-election.) People were upset about the war and the dogmatic fundamental religions that had wormed their way into public policy. They were hoping there was something that they or a group could do to effect change. The response from around the room was a mixture of interest and a desire to let the world be the world and go off into the caves and find enlightenment.

This time around no one was asking “if” they could effect change. They were simply GOING to effect change. I personally know a lot of people who have ignored politics in general and the world in particular for the sake of some type of spiritual growth, who have simply “had enough.” And it’s not just enough of whatever political agenda is going down. They/We/I have had enough of the way this world is being run.

Sometime between a year and 2 years ago something swept through on the inner planes that swept everyone out of their caves, zendos and dojos, and onto the street. And we looked around and saw that it was not good.

It had to happen. Think about it. The most basic tenet of the metaphysical canon is - we are all connected. Everything is connected. Don’t think so? Completely isolate yourself from the environment and see what happens. You won’t last 3 minutes.

Now on the path we do all these practices to clear out our blocks, become more aware, more sensitive, less ego oriented and more transcendentally oriented. Well it seems the result of this, given that we are connected, is that connection with others, our environment and our planet has become more like the connection we feel with our own body. And as we feel that connection more and more with things “outside” of our selves, we respond in a new way.  I know people who can feel the pollution of the planet like a poison running through their veins. And you can bet you won’t find them dumping garbage in a river.

As for the emergence of consciousness studies in the world at large, the culture is vastly different than 8 years ago when we started BLEEP. Back then if I mentioned to most people my interest in meditation, they thought I was in some weird cult and should be locked up in that cave I was talking about. Now its pretty much mainstream. Eckart Tolle got on Oprah’s web studies and rocked the record books.

In complexity theory they always talk about “emergent properties.” Complex systems seem to undergo change in ways that are predictable, and, unpredictable. Properties emerge that come out of nowhere. What are the wide sweeping effects of the internet!? How will that transform people and the planet? What will be an emergent property of 10% of the planet embracing a spiritual vision instead of a materialistic one?

I realize I’m concluding with questions, but in a time of great change how can anyone know for sure? But I do know this connection thing isn’t going away, and in fact is coming home to roost. What a time to be alive...