“To transform our world, we must first transform our thoughts” [1]

Bruce Lipton

Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you enjoy reading it as much I did putting it together. It’s taken a few weeks to get my head around what I wanted to write as I have several themes, topics and ideas I am exploring at the moment and it’s hard to keep focussed and get my thoughts into a coherent order. I’m not sure if I’ve achieved this here in this blog and I apologise in advance as I’m likely to digress at times but hopefully my thoughts and motivation are clear in the end. I also hope that I’ve done justice to the topic I have decided to explore; which is consciousness.

I acknowledge my privilege and the influence this has on my perspective of the world. I am an educated white male living in an affluent country and I have never experienced poverty, oppression and bigotry.

Please read this essay in the spirit it was shared; with love, compassion and a desire to learn. I wish to state that in no way am I wanting to impose myself on others with my writing but I feel a deep desire to share my thoughts and inspirations with whoever may be reading this and I am very grateful that you are, I warmheartedly wish you all the very best.

My aim is to improve myself and strive to be better each day. Writing is one way I am trying to meet this aim and it is one way I can contribute towards my wish to live in a society that sustainably exists within our planetary limits and that has a loving heart at its core. Hopefully my writing will go some way to showing why this is important and how we can achieve this.

I hope this blog inspires a positive thought you never thought you’d have…

Consciousness – The path to our new ‘ism?

I have been learning about meditation over the last 2 years or so. Over that period of time I have also learned about several of our great philosophers and the ideas and thoughts they have shared. I am particularly inspired by the likes of Spinoza, Descartes, Kant and the Stoics. So I guess I have been very much thinking about ways of thinking and being inspired by the thoughts from other minds that I rate as much more intelligent and wise than my own.

I consider myself very much a novice with my meditation practice but it has inspired me to consider my mind, our consciousness and how inspired I am to do something good for humanity. I am also inspired by my belief that we need to change our way of life and our relationship to the planet as quickly as possible to avoid catastrophe. I regard our coronavirus pandemic as a correction providing an amazing opportunity for us to turn our minds to righting our current wrongs.

This blog will explore what is consciousness, discuss our current paradigm and global consciousness, delve into universal consciousness, highlight the importance of sovereignty of our consciousness and identify why I believe this is a key element for us to develop a new paradigm for humanity. I will try to show why I believe that our consciousness may be the path to the new ‘ism’ that we need. In short, the quote at the top of this page from Bruce Lipton inspired me to explore our consciousness as a vehicle to transform our world and here is what I came up with.

I’m sure you’ve already thought to yourself, what planet is Tim coming from with this ‘consciousness’ stuff. I mean consciousness, Tim, really? What are you thinking? And that’s the point.

Throughout the process of writing this blog I have thought to myself many times about what am I trying to achieve here, am I just on some obscure path and have I tried to bite off more than I can chew, and maybe I have. However, this journey has convinced me of the importance for us to consider our consciousness and the opportunities that this can bring us both individually and collectively.

Before I get into consciousness I wish to go back for a moment and explain what I mean by a new ‘ism’. To me an ‘ism’ is how we regulate or organise our behaviour to live as a society. It’s our common values system or our mission statement. It is about us asking ourselves what is our purpose and how will we achieve it. I believe we need to create a new and better way for us to exist and this is something I think about often.

As humanity we’ve rewritten our mission statement several times over millennia; from animism, polytheism, monotheism and now scientific materialism and neoliberalism. Bruce Lipton would tell us that ‘holism’[2] is our evolving paradigm, Peter Ellyard talks of ‘planetism’[3], I like the thought of a version of ‘communitarianism’[4], however the answer is likely to be something even more profound and positive than anything I could currently imagine. Whatever it is, I believe it must have a global perspective and enable us all to live freely in our respective societies.

Now back to consciousness. For this essay I will define consciousness as how we perceive our world, it’s our thoughts and intentions. It’s having a sense of self awareness. We all have consciousness however it’s one of our most mysterious of traits and something that science cannot yet fully explain. We exist because consciousness exists, we can’t separate consciousness and existence as they are same thing. Descartes famously said, “I think therefore I am”, but as Chopra identifies, perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “I am, therefore I think.”[5]

If turning our minds to our consciousness could be the catalyst for us all to gain greater appreciation of our power and aids our evolution towards a higher awareness and a more loving society, then it’s worth giving it a go, and that’s the underlying premise of this essay.

“We are what we think, all that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”[6]

Given our current existential crisis’ I believe it’s time for all of us to consider the progress we would make if we just opened our minds to inclusive, more nuanced and positive ways of thinking. We have a great opportunity to transform our world for the better, but it will not be easy given the prevailing power and social hierarchies that are the predominant influence on humanity at present. As Goldin and Kutarna identify in their book, ‘Age of Discovery’, we have reached an age of contest; between the good and bad consequences of global entanglement and human development, between the forces of inclusion and exclusion, between flourishing genius and flourishing risks. They believe we can achieve our own golden era, our own Renaissance, as the conditions are ripe. But we need to be determined because our new golden era will not simply arrive, we have to achieve it.[7]

In order for us to flourish we must recognise where we are currently going wrong. Our western civilisation has been built by conquest and conquer, the colonisation of the world, exploitation of natural resources, trade and slavery – all based on exploitation for our own selfish gain. We are facing problems because people are concentrating on their short term, selfish interests and not thinking about the entire human family or the earth. We have let our egos get in the way of enlightenment by needing to be right, needing to be first, by only thinking of ourselves and by hoarding ridiculous amounts of wealth.

What we have at the moment is a truly insane global consciousness. As Graham Hancock identifies, “we have old growth rainforests being cut down and replaced with soya beans so we can feed cattle so we can all eat hamburgers. Only a truly insane state of global consciousness would allow such an abomination to occur.”[8] Similarly we are destroying old growth rainforests throughout Asia to plant palm trees so we can extract palm oil so we can eat cheap processed snacks and have cheap cosmetics. This is truly insane.

We have developed an economic system that the more successful it is the quicker we destroy the planet. It insists that we take more from the earth, turn it into even more things so we can consume more things and throw away more things all in the name of economic growth. As David Icke has said, “Our current economic system of take, make and throw away is really the perfect environmental and human assassin.”[9] This is truly insane.

We have disassociated ourselves from the earth and called it the ‘environment’. We have closed our minds to the fact that whatever we do to our surroundings we do to ourselves. Our environmental crisis is a human crisis, we are both the cause and the victim. We are decimating the earth because we really don’t care for anything but ourselves. Our greed has become the sickness of our world, we worship our own egos and take pride in our ignorance, pouring scorn on expertise and wisdom. This is truly insane.

We have created weapons of mass destruction and have a collective arsenal of weapons that could destroy the world many times of over. This is truly insane.

I could go on with examples of our insanity, they are evident throughout our history and our prevailing western culture; witch hunts, crusades, wars, genocide, segregation, slavery, racism, bigotry, corruption, colonisation, imperialism and neo-liberalism. The point I really wish to make is that our current paradigm and global consciousness is one that has been co-opted by ego, greed and selfishness and this has led us to a world that values individualism, materialism and exploitation. These values are evident in the religious institutions, governments and corporations that currently influence much of our thinking and way of life.

It is evident that our most widespread and insidious form of violence is ideological control. Our history is riddled with evidence of religious movements and governments convincing people to act with aggression and violence towards others. Perhaps the best way to stop this is to realise we need love just as we need food and survival of the most loving is the only ethic that will ensure not only a healthy personal life but also a healthy planet.[10]

I will discuss universal consciousness, which is where love comes to the fore, later in this blog, but first in order for us to consider our consciousness I want to explore our sovereignty over it, which is an essential human right that is under threat from various fronts.

“There can be no more intimate and elemental part of the individual than his or her own consciousness. At the deepest level, our consciousness is what we are – to the extent that if we are not sovereign over our own consciousness then we cannot in any meaningful sense be sovereign over anything else.”[11]

Graham Hancock

I have always felt that it is my prerogative to alter, expand or do anything else to my consciousness. So long as I am not doing harm to anyone else then it is my choice alone to do with my consciousness what I will. Graham Hancock says this much more eloquently than me when he described it as us having sovereignty over our consciousness. He says we must be free to make decisions over our own consciousness, always with the proviso that we do no harm to others, and any government or institution that attempts to limit our freedom over our own consciousness is itself an agency of darkness and control. This control is illustrated by our ‘war on drugs’ which is really a mind control exercise and is another example of the utter hypocrisy and distortion of values found in our current paradigm. This hypocrisy is evident in the way we glamorise alcohol consumption and promote drugs such as Ritalin for hyperactive teenagers or Prozac to treat depression but demonise natural medicines such as psychedelics and cannabis.[12]

Psychedelics such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms), DMT (which also naturally occurs in our bodies and is apparently the chemical that is responsible for our dreams) and Ayahuasca (from South America, also known as the wine of the souls) are part of a group of natural medicines that have had an intrinsic role throughout the history of our human evolution. It is argued that the use of these medicines has contributed towards our ability to evolve from a hunter gatherer to the modern human beings we are today. Now I am not advocating that everyone should go out take a trip, but if an adult wants to have such an experience, then so be it, all the best to them, I hope they enjoy it.

I’m not fussed about experiencing psychedelics myself but I must admit I am intrigued by Ayanuasca. Shamans from South America proclaim it to be the remedy of the sickness we find in western civilisation which they identify as our disconnection with spirit. Ayanuasca is about the sacred and interconnected nature of life on earth and the interdependence of material and spiritual realms.[13] So framed in this manner, that raises my interest, but Ayanuasca is something not to be taken lightly or to think of in a recreational sense, apparently it’s a very full on experience and to be honest, I’m not sure my brain or body could handle it.

I am also drawn to mushrooms but not in the psychedelic way. I have recently developed an interest in all things mushrooms, in particular, the role mycelium has in our ecosystem. Scientists are harnessing mycelium, which is the root structure of mushrooms, towards uses and applications that will help us save our planet. For example, it has the potential to be an alternative for plastics and other single use products thus reducing waste and pollution in our world. It can also be used to clean up toxic waste. I first learned about these things when I attended the Planet Talks session titled ‘The Magic of Mushrooms – A Mycelial Path to Saving the Planet’[14] at Womad in 2019. It has fascinated me that fungi has preceded trees and animals on the Earth by hundreds of millions of years and appears to be the key to nature’s intelligence that is evident in all life … my apologies, I digress.

But I guess the point is, I have learned about mycelium which is something totally ubiquitous in our environment and similarly I am learning about consciousness which is also ubiquitous to our human experience and I feel these two things are intrinsically interrelated and may well be at the heart of our interconnectedness with the Earth. This is something I will explore in a future blog.

I believe that sovereignty over consciousness is not just about being free to experience natural medicines such as psychedelics. It’s our freedom to control our own mental processes, cognition and consciousness. It’s our fundamental right to self-determination and we can control our sovereignty in numerous ways, such as meditation, exercise or by simply reading a book. One way that I am ensuring sovereignty over my consciousness is through my meditation practice.

As mentioned earlier, I am very much a novice when it comes to meditation so I in no way profess to be an expert on the subject. But what I can express is how it is positively changing my perspective and what this means to me.

For many years I had the idea that I was never good at meditation as I could not stop my mind from having thoughts, assuming that meditation is some blissful experience where you can switch your brain off. Now that I have learned more about meditation I have learned how ignorant and self-defeating this assumption was. Having thoughts is a natural consequence of having a mind so we shouldn’t struggle or block them when we meditate. One of the first exercises I have learned is to use an object, such as my breath, as a support for meditation which is a relatively simple place to start. Rinpoche and Solomon identify a range of other exercises to support meditation but one of the most illuminating with regard to my initial ignorance is actually using our thoughts to support the meditation.[15] The Stoics do something similar to this and encourage us to meditate on a thought, quote or concept.

I am learning that breath is a central element to meditation practice and is the bridge which connects life to consciousness and unites our body to our thoughts. Focusing on breath is a way we can take hold of our mind when it has become scattered and to take hold of our consciousness to help us develop concentration and wisdom.[16] I am learning to be aware of myself when I become impatient, angry or selfish, those times when my ego starts to take over. I now notice it, breath, and get back to the present moment and stop myself behaving in a negative manner. But I’m still a work in progress as I forget to do this sometimes which occasionally leads me to making poor judgements.

My meditation practice is providing me with greater understanding of ‘negative capability’ which is the capacity to engage in a non-defensive way to change, without being overwhelmed by the pressure to know or to solve. Negative capability has also been identified as a ‘sublime expression of supreme empathy’[17] enabling us to see things from another’s point of view.

It also assists me to focus on having a ‘beginners mind’. Obviously I am a beginner with my meditation practice, but in my work and life in general, a beginners mind helps me to let go of assumptions and judgements. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness and a lack of preconceptions, just as a beginner would. Actually, I first learned about ‘beginners mind’ when I attended the Executive Leaders Program[18] in 2018 and this was the catalyst for me to learn more about meditation in the first place so there is a nice little synergy or loop happening here.

Another advantage I am finding from meditation is it requires me to pause, reflect and take a step back, similar to the concept of not doing that Renner and D’Souza introduce in their book, ‘Not Doing – The Art of Effortless Action’.[19]  Not doing is being present and reflecting to recover, retrieve, refresh. Not doing is an antidote to our narrow view about how we get things done, which is traditionally by being busy, to control, to work hard, to work against the natural flow of things. Not doing is allowing and going with the flow, it requires less energy and more awareness. While just working harder can deliver an outcome, we might find that we have reached the wrong destination which I think is evident in our current global paradigm.

Wendy Haylett[20] identifies that meditation and prayer dissolve a sense of separateness and heighten our sense of interconnection. For me I have found that my meditation is harnessing my thoughts and realisation that we should regard ourselves as one with the environment and as such should be living in harmony with the Earth. It is also focussing my mind on the need for interconnectedness and cooperation and to seek out the wisdom of our First Nations cultures from around the world, especially our indigenous cultures from here in Australia.[21] This is also highlighted by Bruce Lipton in his book, ‘Spontaneous Evolution’ where he identifies that the re-missioning of civilisation needs to be contingent upon us changing our mission from one based on survival of the individual to one that encompasses survival of our species. Learning from the wisdom of our First Nation people who survive by maintaining harmony and balance with the cycles of nature is a great place to start.[22]

The intention we should hold when we practice meditation or mindfulness is the incremental modifying effect or change that it can foster and I am finding this myself as I am becoming more mindful of my life as well as becoming increasingly grateful for everything in it. I am aware of the incremental change and am finding that my meditation practice is slowly infiltrating itself into my every day. One aspect of this is I can’t wash the dishes again without thinking of Thich Hnat Hanh and his example of washing dishes mindfully. It may appear a small, maybe insignificant, thing to do but it highlights to me that mindfulness comes from incorporating meditation practice into the everyday, highlighting the value of being in the present moment and not letting our consciousness get carried away with the busyness of life and thinking of everything else other than … washing the dishes. It helps me to stop thinking of the next thing I will do and actually immersing myself on the task at hand at that moment.

“For love of bustle is not industry it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind.”[23]

Seneca

Related to this, my meditation practice is also putting a spotlight on time and its influence on our lifestyles and consciousness. I recall doing an essay on ‘Time’ at university and I regret that I no longer have it as it was the essay that I was most proud of. The essay explored the history of the role time has played in our lives over the ages and it identified how time has become an intrinsic part of everything we do and has become central to the busyness of our western lifestyle. It explored how the speed of our lives is continually increasing thanks to technology, evident by the time it once took to travel going from a matter of months to days or hours and the speed with which we expect our internet connections to be. I remember sitting for up to half an hour waiting for a game to load up onto the old Commodore 64, I doubt many of us would have the patience for that any more.

I digress again, but what meditation is teaching me is the importance of removing time from the equation and removing the preoccupation of getting onto the next task at hand. Our preoccupation with busyness means we are never consciously in the present moment, we now also have a new preoccupation to always be connected which is further exacerbating this. So, perhaps we should consciously try to slow our lives down, this is something the coronavirus is providing some of us the opportunity to do. Some simple ways we can slow our lives is to turn off the phone, get off social media, read a book and cook our food from scratch. I love the notion of the slow food movement which also focuses on using locally grown produce. Thich Hnat Hanh encourages us to spend at least one day each week being mindful. This is not dissimilar to the Christian practice of devoting Sundays to church and family, or the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening for the Jewish community or the Jummah prayer that Muslims observe on Fridays.

Perhaps after this pandemic is over we could reincorporate this into our lifestyles and prioritise at least one day each week to mindfulness and/or our faith. To devote the day to family and friends, to cook, to read, and just have time to be ourselves, to slow down, refresh, reflect and enjoy and relish in the present moment for at least one day.  To devote time in this manner is a great way for us to take sovereignty over our consciousness and wean ourselves off the 24/7 always connected, always busy lifestyle which is currently being driven by our current paradigm of materialism and economic growth and is the norm for many of us in the western world.

I have learned the central aspect of mindfulness, or awareness, is to be concerned with reality, it is clearly seeing what really is. It can lead to enlightenment but realising that enlightenment is not an escape and meditation is not a vehicle to transport us to another world or some feeling of bliss. Mindfulness is the starting point to enlightenment, enlightenment being truly seeing and being in the life we are in. Immanuel Kant in a 1784 essay described enlightenment’s motto as “Dare to Understand”.[24] Having sovereignty over consciousness is the first step towards this.

So, in summary, a focus on having sovereignty of our consciousness is a focus on taking responsibility for ourselves, our thoughts, our behaviours and our actions. Sovereignty over consciousness can lead us to live a more empowered life uninhibited by the conditioning and assumptions contained in our current paradigm.

Individually we have the ability to take sovereignty over our consciousness. I believe it is also necessary to develop a sense of universal responsibility, a deep concern for all humanity irrespective of creed, colour, gender or nationality and a universal responsibility for all other animals, plants and the Earth. This sense of universal responsibility can come through a focus on universal consciousness.

To accept universal consciousness is to understand that there cannot be life without mind. The interactions of any living organism, be it a plant, animal or human with its environment are cognitive interactions and this process of cognition is evident in matter at all levels of life, it can be argued that the play of consciousness is behind all of creation.[25] This natural intelligence means a bird knows when to migrate from one side of the Earth to the other to breed, a bee can fly several kilometres to collect pollen and return to their hive, a dog can show love towards their master, an embryo knows to become a baby and a seed knows to grow into a tree. Charles Darwin recognised this in his lesser known work called ‘The formation of Vegetable Mould through the action of worms’ where he documented how much worms “acted consciously and how much mental power they displayed.”[26]

If we consider the universe itself as a living conscious being then we can consider that concepts such as space, time, energy, matter and biology are created by a universal consciousness. We can then look further and see that the unit binding the universe together is not a thing, but a relationship and this quantum process at work is that of unconditional love and that this unconditional love is the key to understanding our connection to all things.[27]

This unconditional love could be referred to as our spirit and can manifest in us showing kindness, compassion, care and a willingness to help others and the environment. Tibetans regard compassion as nobility or greatness of heart and it implies wisdom, discernment and kindness. This spirit is evident in the main intent of Buddhism, which is ‘compassion’, the Dalai Lama frequently says ‘My religion is compassion”.[28] This intent is what makes all life meaningful and as Master Shanti Dava says, “All happiness in this world arises from cherishing others, every suffering in this world arises from self-cherishing.”[29]

However it is evident that for those of us in Western Civilisation, we have lost our connection to this spirit, this love, allowing our current distorted values to lead us towards self-destruction. We have programmed ourselves to be competitive and to win at all costs which is completely against nature. Our absence of spirit is why we create so much pain in the world and why we are willing to inflict so much suffering on others. But as Holiday states in his book ‘Ego is the Enemy’, “Love is right there. Egoless, open, positive, vulnerable, peaceful and productive.”[30]

This love is not some abstract thing or just the love we experience between two people. It’s the love of holding a door open for another, to share a meal, to give money to the homeless, to care for our environment, to put oneself in harm’s way to help another, to physical distance to stop the spread of a virus and reduce the number of people who will die. It is the love that inspires some of us to write and share our thoughts and aspirations. This love can be found in the joy in doing human work.

“Joy for human beings lies in proper human work. And proper human work consists in; acts of kindness to other human beings, disdain for the stirrings of the senses, identifying trustworthy impressions, and contemplating the natural order and all that happens in keeping with it.”[31]

Marcus Aurelius

This love has to be the bedrock of our purpose, values and actions if we are to positively transform our world. However, firstly, I guess we need to ask ourselves should we have a purpose, and if so, what is it? It has been argued that we should regard our world as a piece of fruit and that we are the equivalent of mould so our purpose is to eat it. If our purpose is to act as a bacteria or a cancer then it’s obvious to me that we are fulfilling this purpose and perhaps all my thoughts of creating a better world are in vain. However, I like to think our purpose is something much more positive than that as for all we know we may be the only shot the universe has at intelligent self-organisation. Our ability to process information and consciously be in the world may be what distinguishes us from the rest of the universe.

With such a thought in mind, perhaps our purpose is to seek enlightenment by seeking to achieve the highest activity a human being can attain, which according to Baruch Spinoza is “learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free” and that the “minds highest good is the knowledge of god, and the highest virtue is to know god.” Spinoza’s god is also called nature and is the totality of everything. It follows then, that if we are all aspects of god, or one being, one nature, then it would be ridiculous for us to destroy others and the environment as to cause suffering to anything is to cause damage to ourselves as well. We can prove gravity exists but not why gravity exists, perhaps our purpose is to keep asking why?

To achieve our purpose and to live with harmony in a sustainable manner, we need to have common values. The creation of common values is not a new idea. Christianity has the Ten Commandments; Buddhism has the four noble truths and the eightfold path. Goldin and Kutarna say we should embrace the values of being bold, virtuous, honest, audacious and to show dignity.[32] The Stoics have numerous values but in essence they tell us to take the obstacles in our lives and turn them to advantage, control what we can and accept what we can’t. I think the Stoic values are also well encapsulated in the following quote;

“Our ambition should not be to win … but to play with our full effort. Our intention is not to be thanked or recognised, but to help and to do what we think is right. Our focus is not on what happens to us but how we respond. In this we will always find contentment and resilience.”[33]

I love the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. He saw self-improvement as a duty and defined self-improvement as the ability to adhere to the categorical imperative, that is to ‘act that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another person, always at the same time as the end, never merely as a means.’ More simply put, we should never treat others as a means to an end and always do our best because anything less is to treat ourselves as a means rather than as an end.[34] Just imagine if we all lived by that one rule … the world would be an awesome place.

We are witnessing that self-destruction is part of our nature and we are forgetting that self-creation is infinitely more powerful. By waking our consciousness we can make right what we have done wrong. This can happen one person at a time – by each of us taking control of our sovereignty of consciousness. According to Chopra[35] “it’s a one-player universe and you and I are enough to move creation itself”. Now isn’t that an inspiring proposition. I believe it is time for us all to step out of our respective comfort zones and evolve together for the sake of our very existence. We can honour the memory of our ancestors by daring to understand, healing our relationship with the Earth and reconnecting with our spirit of unconditional love that underpins our entire existence.

If I can borrow some words from the South African Constitution, it includes the following intention, to ‘Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person’, I love that phrase, ‘free the potential of each person’, it inspires me so much, and I think a way of achieving this is by turning our mind to consciousness and recognising that the depth of human experience is much more than just material things, technology and our egos.

“For every idea a human being has ever had, there are infinite ideas yet to come. When I realise this, I feel optimistic – vista’s of creativity open up in my minds eye.”[36]

Deepak Chopra

If consciousness creates reality then change must start within us and the way we perceive the world. We have to realise that no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. To address our current social, political and ideological problems we need to feel a sense of greater meaning and equanimity in life. If that’s a higher consciousness, or enlightenment, mindfulness, nosis, or as Deepak Chopra says, being Meta Human, or simply being a more loving person, or to just be kind, then so be it. We should strive for that in our own personal and unique ways.

For me, this includes continuing my meditation practice, to continue to learn and improve myself. To be brutally honest I also need to take more heed of the advice of Kant and the Stoics and be more self-disciplined as I let myself down in this regard all too often. This is a personal challenge that I need to overcome to ensure I fulfil my own potential, as mentioned previously, I am still a work in progress and I’m far from perfect. Coupled with this challenge, I am also looking forward to considering how we can ensure we support our democracy and protect it from corruption and vested interests, how we can implement the principles of the blue economy[37] so that economic development does not need to exploit nature and the environment, how we can ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth, education and opportunities and how we can address population growth, consumption growth and climate change to ensure we sustainably exist on our planet. I am looking forward to exploring these and other themes and their relationship to our political systems, social structures, economic activity and environmental processes that will form elements of a new ‘ism’ that will be able to shine under the lens of a more inclusive, compassionate and loving approach.

My aim is to apply the aims of appreciative inquiry to humanity, by searching for the best in people and fundamentally shifting our perspective to see the wholeness of the human system and to inquire into the systems strengths, possibilities and successes. Whilst I have previously identified much that I am not proud of with our current paradigm, there is so much to be proud of, especially in the fields of science, medicine, engineering, the arts and philosophical thought. I am fascinated by the myriad of cultures throughout the world and what I can learn from them. This fascination feeds my love for travelling and learning about other people, their history and culture, and especially their food. The destinations of my last trip overseas was influenced in part by watching Rick Stein and wanting to enjoy great local dishes such as Konigsberger Klopse and Currywurst in Berlin, Tafelspitz and Schnitzel in Vienna and Lobster Soup in Reykjavik, all of which I must say were absolutely delicious. But I digress … again, my apologies.

My prime motivation is seeking the best for us, humanity, and our existence on Earth. This is quite an all-encompassing and pervasive aim but it is set against the recognition of my immensely infinitesimal place in the scheme of things. I sense how infinitesimal I am when gazing out to the stars in the night sky, by recognising the small dot in time that I am consciously on this earth in this body, by honouring the thousands of generations that have come before me. When looking out to the stars I remind myself of Neil deGrasse Tyson who said, “When I look up at the universe, I know I’m small, but I’m also big because I’m connected to the universe and the universe is connected to me.”[38]

It is also important to recognise my own role in the mess, to recognise my actions that are contributing to and supporting the current paradigm. One action that we all have some control over is how we spend money on services, food and essentials for living. Whilst I have always been conscious of my spending habits I am now more vigilant in buying local and supporting local producers and businesses. I am heartened by the number of cottage industries that have started locally and I hope to see more people following their passions and dreams and starting their own businesses and sharing their skills. I am also mindful of my privilege that I am able to make decisions on spending based on principle and not price. I am privileged to have this discretion as many of us don’t.

But what I really want to do is send my aspirations of love, compassion and kindness to each and every person and especially to you, thank you for reading this blog and getting this far, I hope this blog has inspired a thought you didn’t think you’d have and opened the possibility for a new perspective. Rinpoche and Solomon identify that some people criticise the practice of sending aspirations as merely a way to feel good without actually doing anything. But everything, every action starts with a single thought. A single thought of kindness and wishing the best for others will lead to actions as actions are a result of our aspirations, a single moment of thought. That single moment of thought has the potential of creating a tsunami of outcomes.[39]

So to wrap this blog up, it is my belief that consciousness is the path to the new ‘ism’ that we require if humanity is to live in harmony with the earth and for us all to regard each other with kindness, care, compassion and a loving heart.

For this to occur, it’s all about sovereignty over our own consciousness as without that we are prey for anyone wishing to manipulate us to continue the unnatural and abominable path we are on with our current paradigm of materialism, capitalism, exploitation and selfishness. We must take responsibility of our own consciousness. It’s easy to look externally and say others must change but as we can see through universal consciousness, we are all part of them, we must all change and the only person we really have responsibility for is ourselves.

Throughout history only four things have led to a more equal society; mass mobilisation warfare, transformative revolution, state failure and pandemics. Only when one of these catastrophes destroys the current order do we have hope of a more equal world.[40] The coronavirus has provided an amazing opportunity for us to do just that.

So I will return to the quote by Bruce Lipton at the start of this essay, “To transform our world, we must first transform our thoughts”. We have the opportunity to transform our consciousness, it can simply begin with an opening of the mind, an opening to truth, to wisdom and to love. For each of us this shift in consciousness is personal and unique.

This transformation of our thoughts can be achieved through having sovereignty over our consciousness, clear in the purpose that we can free the potential of each and every one of us enabling us all to shine…..

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

The best way I can change the world for the better is to strive to be my best self and allow myself to shine which may encourage others to do the same. That is the challenge I have set myself and I encourage you to join me.

Thank you again and all the very best.

[1] Lipton, B., 2020, ‘Be conscious of what you are thinking’, https://upliftconnect.com/, January 2020

[2] Lipton, B, 2009, ‘Spontaneous Evolution’, page 212

[3] Ellyard, P., 2008, ‘Designing 2050 – Pathways to Sustainable Prosperity on Spaceship Earth’.

[4] A definition for communitarianism can be found on Wikipedia at this Link

[5] Chopra, D, 2019, ‘Meta Human’, page 141

[6] Quote viewed in ‘Consciousness creates Reality’ on YouTube, Link here, 2018

[7] Goldin, I. & Kutarna, C., 2016, ‘Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of our New Renaissance’, pages 1-3

[8] Hancock, G., quoted from a David Al-Badri film, ‘Rebirth’, 2020, Link Here

[9] Icke, D., 2008, speech viewed on YouTube, Link here

[10] Lipton, B., 2019, ‘The Biology of Belief’, pages 219-220

[11] Hancock, G., 2013, ‘The War on Consciousness’, viewed on Youtube, Link here

[12] Hancock, G., 2013, ‘The War on Consciousness’, viewed on Youtube, Link here

[13] Hancock, G., 2013, ‘The War on Consciousness’, viewed on Youtube, Link here

[14] A podcast of this session can be found at this Link

[15] Rinpoche, P.& Solomon, E, 2018, ‘Radically Happy’, page 195

[16] Thich Nhat Hanh, 1976, ‘The Miracle of Mindfulness’, page 15,21-22

[17] Quoted from Keatian website, Link here.

[18] The ‘Executive Leaders Program’ (XLP) was facilitated by Andrew Stevens, Barry Bale and Diana Renner on behalf of LG Professionals SA, here is a Link to my epilogue of this experience.

[19] Renner, D. & D’Souza, S., 2018, ‘Not Doing: The Art of Effortless Action’

[20] Haylett, W, 2019, ‘Episode 27: Right Mindfulness and Meditation’ of the Everyday Buddhism Podcast

[21] I wrote a blog about my perspective on Indigenous Australia, here is a Link to it

[22] Lipton, B., 2009, ‘Spontaneous Evolution’, pages 2, 45-46.

[23] Seneca’s quote was shared on the Daily Stoic Facebook page

[24] Chopra, D., 2019, ‘Meta Human’, quoted on page 108

[25] Chopra, D., 2019, ‘Meta Human’, pages 118-119

[26] Quoted in ‘Connecting with Universal Consciousness’, 2016, viewed on YouTube, link here

[27] ‘Connecting with Universal Consciousness’, 2016, viewed on YouTube, link here

[28] Haylett, W., 2018, ‘Everyday Buddhism 6 – Got Intention? AKA How to be less of a jerk’ podcast

[29] Haylett, W., 2018, ‘Everyday Buddhism 6 – Got Intention? AKA How to be less of a jerk’ podcast

[30] Holiday, R, 2016, ‘Ego is the Enemy’, page 207

[31] Quoted in Holiday, R & Hanselman, S., 2016, ‘The Daily Stoic’, page 159

[32] Goldin, I & Kuterna, C., 2016, ‘Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of our New Renaissance’

[33] Holiday, R & Hanselman, S., 2016, ‘The Daily Stoic’, page 148

[34] Manson, M., 2018, ‘The One Rule for Life’, article found at www.markmanson.net

[35] Chopra, D., 2019, ‘Meta Human – Unleashing your infinite potential’, page 275

[36] Chopra, D., 2019, ‘Meta Human – Unleashing your infinite potential’, page 119

[37] I wrote a piece about the Blue Economy in January 2019, here is a Link to it

[38] Holiday, R, ‘Ego is the Enemy’, page 140

[39] Rinpoche, P. & Solomon, E., 2018, ‘Radically Happy’, page 152

[40] Dunlop, T., 2018, ‘The Future of Everything’, pages 19-20