Written by wally jasper   

“Could be, who knows? ….
Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something’s coming, something good.
It’ll be there….
The air is humming, and something great is coming ….”


“Something’s Coming”
Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim
from West Side Story


The air is indeed humming. There’s a palpable shift taking place in the world and, more essentially, in our collective human consciousness. All the worldly shifts we can enumerate—the increasing recognition of and will to mitigate anthropogenic climate change, a greater awareness of the utter corruption and the vast reach of unbridled capitalism, the on-going “in-our-face” revelation of our culture’s systemic racism and xenophobia, increasing understanding of the current erosion of our democratic structures, the yearning of millions of people all over the world for a just society and a healthy environment, to name a few—are in fact outer manifestations of a shift taking place in the deeper regions of our collective consciousness.

What is this deeper shift? How do we know it’s happening? What does it mean?

In a nutshell what we are witnessing is an epochal, slow motion evolution out of an ancient and long standing mental habit, a form of conditioning that we could call an egoic way of perceiving and being. The egoic modality is characterized by an inflated value on individuality. This leads to greed, exploitation and the appropriation of the commons by the few. The desire for wealth, fame and self-aggrandizement is not only widespread, but can even be seen to be the bedrock of our culture, the foundation of our governmental and economic systems, in which each entity strives for its own ascendence and enhancement in the world.

The egoic modality is so widespread and universal that it may be difficult to even see it for what it is—a phase of development—and know that it can and will evolve into something different. While we all recognize that this is how humans generally function, and have functioned for millennia, there is evidence that points to the view that as a species we are now at the cusp of a very different way of being.

I see several indications that this shift is well underway. First, climate change and environmental degradation are now so extreme and undeniable that collectively we feel the growing urgency for dramatic change in how we live on this earth. This change requires that we see and understand the forces at work that are impeding this change. It’s not a secret that corporate interests in maintaining the status quo have long controlled governments’ policies in this regard. Greed and corruption reign supreme. What is not generally acknowledged is that simply pointing out the main culprits and focusing on challenging their egregious actions will not, by itself, have very much effect. In order for the system to change, the basic foundational structures must change. In this case, the basic foundational structure is the human ego: the perception and belief that I as a person am a self-existent (rather than inter-dependent) entity whose own needs and desires are what’s most primary (at least to me). The same perception underlies the structures of collective entities: governments, religions, races—all the groups of peoples that coalesce around a certain identity.

What is the antithesis of the egoic modality? What is now arising in our consciousness that will become the foundational structure of a sustainable and creatively viable way of being?

We need only look around at Nature for our guidance. Nature works holistically. All the multifarious parts function together as a whole, with checks and balances, with constraints and with opportunities to thrive when conditions are congruent with the whole. In our arrogance and ignorance, humans have separated ourselves from the web of life. We seek to dominate and control living systems for our own (egoic) betterment, rather than join with the living communities of species and beings to promote and enhance the well-being of the whole. In order to evolve out of this phase of consciousness, this species-wide shift can only be implemented as individuals grow beyond the egoic way of being. The arising consciousness in more and more individuals then acts like a wave phenomenon that sweeps through collective consciousness and becomes a sea-change throughout the whole.

In addition to the urgency to address climate change, there are more indications that this sea-change is in progress. I see thousands of Europeans taking off from their comfortable lives to assist the refugees fleeing to Europe. I see thousands of people all over the world actively confronting the corporate polluters and the governments who enable them, demanding that they switch course. I see thousands of citizens rising up together to denounce racial injustice, to work for the oppressed, to challenge the official narratives that allow injustice to continue. I see a new spirit of good-heartedness and a radical acceptance of difference in a whole generation that already has transcended boundaries of nationality, sexual orientation, religion and ideology to embrace our one planet with values that promote benefit for the whole, protection for the commons, the value and indivisibility of all life. And, finally, Bernie Sanders' truly revolutionary campaign is living proof that a message of unity, of working together for all of us, "we," rather than the selfish few "me's" generates overwhelming enthusiasm and hope in the collective spirit. All this can only happen when the narrowly defined identities of “self” as opposed to “other” are dissolving.

Whenever a sea-chage is imminent there is going to be regressive reactivity; concurrent with the shift in consciousness we are now witnessing, we also see a burgeoning of self-serving, insatiable, narcissistic and megalomaniacal mentality. This is further verification that the shift is underway. The egoic modality, after all, has been in place for aeons and is firmly entrenched. For this reason, we very rarely see the holistic attitude operating without at least some component of egoism, since we are still in the early stages of the shift. In a paradigm where the holistic consciousness were in full bloom, there would be no outright, emotionally charged opposition. Difference of opinion would be welcomed with the realization that the difference will help bring about a re-structuring or re-integration into something new; it would be an on-going creative exploration of possibilities. As a whole, we may be far from this way of reconciling our individualities, but the stirrings from within our deepest aspirations and yearnings are moving in this direction.

Just as it is important to name and bring to awareness the shifts in the world’s situation, such as those enumerated at the beginning of this article, it is important for us to recognize and understand the inner shift in consciousness that is bringing about the outer changes. Much of the change we wish to see in the world must begin with change within ourselves. History has amply demonstrated that all the revolutions ostensibly in the name of justice and liberty usually ended up as yet another iteration of a tyrannical, despotic and oppressive system, whether we look at, for example, the Russian revolution, which transformed rather quickly, or the American one, taking longer but moving just as inexorably toward some other version of a repressive oligarchy. Angry revolutionaries ignorantly perpetuate the same old unconscious patterns by trying to bring change to the system without addressing how their own way of thinking gives rise to those systems. I offer this article in hopes that we are now ready to do things differently. Most of all, I look forward to a vibrant discussion among those who are envisioning a profound renaissance of human consciousness.