This Is Not A Drill
“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness, and in human responsibility. Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better in the sphere of our being as humans.”
Everything in the world seems to be changing faster. I started noticing the acceleration in the 1990s. Over the past decade, we have witnessed an increase in the intensity of world events. We see it with technology, rising fear and anxiety among many, dysfunctional politics, rising authoritarianism and fascism, increased polarization, changing social mores and values, moral confusion, and existential climate threats.
On the positive side, in myself, clients, and many others, I notice an increasing inner awareness, clarity, inner strength, and a deepening connection to one’s authentic self. Meditation was weird in the 1970s (when I started) and is now mainstream. Meanwhile, the reemergence of psychedelics, used in therapeutic and ceremonial ways, has the potential to heal trauma and emotional wounds like never before, to allow us to see beyond the fear-based perceptions and beliefs that forms the basis of virtually every human and planetary affliction, and to deepen awareness of our true nature and our re-connection with Nature (they are one-and-the-same) of which our Earth is an essential part.
What is going on?
It seems as if the old structures are breaking down, as a deeper consciousness is looking to emerge. For those engaged in conscious work, there is a recognition that the Light, the energy within the system, seems to be turning up. As the Light intensifies, so does the shadow, (mostly fear-based) aspects that we, collectively, have been unwilling to look at. It seems to me that this shadow is surfacing and playing out in world events, calling for us to meet them in a new way. It is only when we see it and meet it all with compassion (even when setting firm boundaries are called for), can healing and positive transformation take place. But if we don’t even allow its contents to be seen, it stays as a shadow, drawing power from our resistance to seeing it, and continuing to be projected into the world. The outer world is always and nothing more than a reflection of the current state of our collective consciousness.
How do we approach what we are witnessing? How do we hold this within ourselves? What is our role, our response-ability, in this unfolding drama?
It strongly feels to me that this is what we’ve been training for our entire lives.
This is not a drill.
If life is indeed a training ground, a spiritual schoolhouse, then what is the core lesson we are here to learn? I would say it is to become aware of ourselves as creators where we get to choose to create from either fear or love.
Our consciousness is our canvas and our experience is our feedback to show us what we are creating.
Therefore our responsibility in each moment is to consciously choose which of these two frequencies, fear or love, will shape and inform our creation. This choice is only possible when we are present in our awareness. Therefore, awareness is our superpower.
Creating from love is relatively easy when we feel secure. But what about when fear arises? In my experience, choosing love in the face of feeling fear is a potent activator, akin to lifting weights in a gym. Confronting resistance strengthens our intentional creation "muscles." Each time we choose love in the face of fear we are expanding our capacity for love to increase, to flow and express through us.
A personal story: In 2022 I was with a group of men doing high-altitude trekking in the Andes of Peru and Ecuador. (In fact, the picture at the top of my home page is at 13,500 feet from that trip.) This wasn’t a vacation, it was an adventure. They say the difference is that on an adventure you ask yourself at least once, “why the hell did I do this trip??” That trip was full of challenges. People got hurt while mountain biking, some got Covid, another had to get an IV at a clinic for some kidney infection, someone had their cell phone pick-pocketed, driving in a bus along narrow roads with steep drop-offs, and to top it all off, while 90 miles in the back country of Ecuador, the indigenous people went on a general strike, closing all the roads, leaving us stranded. We had to get a helicopter to airlift us out!
On this trip there were daily opportunities to be in fear. This is not my usual life experience. Yet I knew exactly why I was experiencing all this. I was in training. Each time I encountered fear, I intentionally choose to be more strongly focused on the inner Light than the fear. I used the intensity of the fear to drive my consciousness deeper into presence, focusing on the Light. My inner voice knew that regardless of apparent (external) reality, the deeper, more powerful and true Reality of our safety was operating through us, leading us through the trip. And it did. It felt like I was strengthening my focus on, and trust in, the power of our shared Being.
Instead of falling into fear and its descendants (hopelessness, despair, anxiety, blame, depression, etc.) we can intentionally choose to see and use our challenging experiences as activators of our power. In this way of being, we can use fear so that it no longer uses us.
Personal transformation always entails some form of breakdown-breakthrough, much like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. On a collective level, I believe we are in a similar situation now.
Where do we look for safety and stability?
In my observation and experience, particularly in these times, I've noticed that the more we seek safety and stability from external events or what appears to be reality, the more confusion and fear tend to arise. This serves to strengthen the illusion of a separate self or ego. On the contrary, when we turn our attention inward, grounding ourselves in our body and connecting with the genuine identity of oneness, often referred to as our shared Being or Atman, we discover a true and unshakeable sense of safety and stability. This internal focus becomes our sanctuary, fostering a greater sense of peace, clarity, and equanimity regardless of external events. Taking action from this level of being produces far better results than the same action taken out of fear. Don’t take my word for it. Bring this into your experience and see what is true for you.
Where are you focused?
What we focus on grows in our consciousness and affects the way we perceive the world, the options we see, what we project outwards, and what experiences we draw to ourselves. It all starts with what we choose to focus on.
Fear can be loud, scary, dramatic, and calls for us to remain centered more than ever. This can be challenging. It screams for our attention. The temptation is to react with fear, falling back on old patterns. However, we already know that acting from fear only creates more fear. So this cannot possibly be the true way forward.
The intensity of these times calls on us to more rapidly and strongly anchor our identity inwardly to the core of what we truly are. The alternative is to get caught in more sense of separation and fear.
Which do you choose?
Make your absolute commitment to what you know to be your deepest truth and let that inform all your choices.
A profound perspective from A Course In Miracles suggests that every action is either an expression of love or a call for love. The only true response, in either case, is to unconditionally send love — to all unconditionally. Acting from love generates more love. This becomes even more powerful when we understand that we receive that which we give. It is one flow of energy. In this choice we get to experience that love always expands in power faster than fear — and in this lies our true safety.
This isn't about denying fear-based emotions (that’s what created this mess in the first place) but rather feeling them and meeting them with compassion. Spiritual advancement is not about successfully avoiding difficult feelings. That’s called “spiritual bypass” and is actually the ego’s “spiritual” program. 😟 Our inner work is about centering into our true infinite spaciousness of love from which we can hold all feelings in compassion.
I am not immune to feeling the gravity of intense emotions. The question, for me, is “What is the truest way to meet these emotions?” First, it is to refrain from adding more fear-fuel to the fire. Then, choose to hold these feelings in love and allow Source (the Infinite Unconditional Love) to transmute them into the Field of Love. This Field is far more powerful than all of the collective fear.
Nisargadatta Maharaja said, “The state of witnessing is full of power. There is nothing passive about it.” In my transformation work with people, I witness this truth daily. We now have the response-ability to choose whether we hold what we witness in fear or in the one Field of Love. Because everything is interconnected to everything, our moment-to-moment choices ripple through the collective. Our choice really matters. In the face of external drama, our collective choice to hold what we witness in love is a more potent force than anything fear can conjure. Indeed, it accelerates our soul evolution. It is a high form of service.
Even on the most pragmatic level, being in fear increases chaos while choosing love brings forth collective wisdom, infinite intelligence and power. When coming from love the chances of finding and implementing solutions to our challenges goes way up.
We are given all that we need to be what we truly are here to be — and perhaps what humanity is in the breakdown-breakthrough process of becoming — 🌈Light incarnate.
This is not a drill. This is what we have been training for. 🕉