Economics is the longest of threads that intertwine the cultures, politics, disciplines, technologies, and interests of our increasingly globalized existence. Because the human race is becoming enmeshed, many economies and peoples were greatly challenged by the economic bust that began in America.  Still, I contend that the dysfunction is constructively catalyzing human growth and compassion and may ultimately help raise our shared values and motivations.

Yes, it is important to illuminate what ran up to the multi-year economic crisis in hopes of gaining the proper awareness that can lead to the implementation of preventative and proactive measures.  I believe, however, that the self serving interests behind such practices have ruled geopolitics for centuries. Such motivations are not new to recent events. It is my contention that the majority of past economic and political practices have been influenced by ideas and emotions related to egoic individuation, such as separation, fear, competition, and dominance. This externally mirrors the centuries-long adolescent stage of collective human development.

Consider Marilyn Ferguson’s thirty-year old observation, from The Aquarian Conspiracy, “The failures of our economic philosophies, like the failures of our political reforms, can be  attributed to their emphasis on the external.  Inner values, like inner reform, precede outward change (p. 327).   Ferguson continues, “Whatever our priorities—self aggrandizement, efficiency, status, health, security, recreation, human relationships, competition, cooperation, craftsmanship, material goods—they are reflected in the workings of the economy” (p. 327).

Warning-infused predictions of economic crisis have circulated philosophically progressive writings for decades. Barbara Marciniak, for instance, in her 1992 esoteric book, Bringers of the Dawn, predicted that natural disasters would play a role in bringing about the collapse of the insurance companies, which would bring about the necessary collapse of many other systems.

We know that a megalithic insurance company, AIG, was one of the most important early dominoes of the crisis to fall.  The question of whether natural disasters played a role in hampering the health of the insurance industry, in combination with the more glaring deregulation problems related to the real estate bubble and derivatives market, is left for others to ponder.  Marciniak’s commentary, however, might lead us to wonder whether our current economic speed bump is just one of several to come.  This certainly is more likely if financial and other reforms do not continue to be implemented wisely.

No matter the way in which economic dysfunction was expected, predictions confidently pointed to its inevitability. Importantly, the predictions also promised that such change would lead to substantive and lasting reorientation of economic priorities.  In the 1994 work, Searching for Light, Carol Heidemann’s source reported, “great chaos is required to literally force souls to develop a system of balanced interactions” (p. 29).

In the late eighties, the Michael Digest group predicted, “the United States, after having experienced large economic expansion (through a series of expansions and contractions) over its history, is destined to experience a large contraction” (p. 52).  This, according to this source, will catalyze a values shift; “a severe economic recession would cause us all to look at how the economic system works and how we run our lives . . . sweeping us up into mature perceptivity” ( p. 52).

As early as 1962, philosopher and physicist, Thomas Kuhn, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, convincingly argued that paradigms shift when the prevailing structures (intellectual and/or institutional) fail to accommodate changing circumstances. Of course, the wide array of global pathology, which exists today and was listed in the part I of this article, should suggest that our structures do not suffice.

Progressives, meanwhile, continue to call for institutional restructuring that reflects new knowledge, changing times and needs, and higher values. Proper adaptation to changing circumstance, however, tends to lag considerably in time.  This is partly due to resistance by those benefiting from the failing forms.  These powerful policy influencers fear that change could diffuse their long-held status and wealth.  A polarization ensues, represented by two large bodies, one of which resists while the other attempts to progress.  American politics reflects this tension visible for the entire world to witness.

I believe even greater changes are at play and reflect a movement from one collective level of consciousness (average of a diverse human species) to a more advanced stage.  According to esoteric sources, our species has finally reached a new degree psychological maturation.  A more adult collective psyche, with its improved cognitive depth, provides us better ability to turn inward in our awareness.  This leaves us more equipped to be compassionate and cooperative. Crises help with this process and force people to accelerate self-examination.

If it is true that an increasing number of individuals are now operating beyond ego-based intentions, we are then improving our ability to self-observe the detrimental impact behind our previous and current ways of relating.  Such individuals come to perceive that behavior that benefits the greater whole also better serves oneself.  As opposed to maintaining systems that benefit just isolated individuals or businesses, humanity must adapt institutions to be more efficient in their service of an increasingly integrating whole.

One could argue that we are already starting to witness the psychological benefits of the Great Recession. Many people have chosen to reorient their life priorities, for example. Some have taken on new roles within their families and/or have begun the process of finding more meaningful service-oriented work aligned with their true passions.  And many economists argue that new and more conscientious consumer choices will outlast the economic downturn.

As we slowly emerge from the rubble, more reflective and aware of what is important, let us forward new economic paradigms that embrace the ideas of service, cooperation, networking, responsibility, integrity, sustainability, health, and the sharing of resources and power.  Businesses that practice with higher values should not only survive, but flourish.

Finally, consider a long-term prediction of a more idealistic economic environment, which reflects a near reversal of economic motivation.  Jenna Catherine, in the 1998 Conversing with the Future, foresaw a time when the business world is free of profits, forecasts, taxes, and ownership, all of which, according to her, block the flow of energy.  When and if this occurs, she predicts that businesses will evolve beyond egotistical control, become more alive and vibrant, and even value love.

Related posts:

1. 2012: It’s Significance and Misconceptions
2. Behind Annual Catastrophe: A Push to Elevate Values?
3. Change

In this two part article, I will discuss global crises within a larger discussion about humanity’s need to grow and change.  Natural disasters are highlighted in the first installment; economic dysfunction is in the second.  While unnerved by the mayhem, I search for deeper meaning behind the catastrophes that are occurring, year after year, on the scale of what used to be “catastrophes of the century.”

America’s compassion may be on the rise after its citizens suffered from no less than four major catastrophes within a decade, several of which targeted this county’s Eastern Regions.  Involved in all of these—9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, and the Great Recession—were several of the following variables associated with Japan’s events: unexpected tragedy, failed response and/or prevention, death, and grave ecological and economic ramifications.

With each catastrophe, with each failure, and with each reaction, the human race becomes increasingly aware of the challenges of our generations. We can no longer slumber through our day, blissfully unaware of our ecological imprint and of our failure to provide even the most basic needs to our fellow human beings.  One estimate, for example, indicates that 1.7 billion people are living in absolute poverty.

Global Problems as a Catalyst for Change

While we hope destruction in Japan and elsewhere is contained and relief begins, we can also hope that some benefit will follow. For it is my assumption that catastrophe also provides us a service.  Maybe, for example, the species, while being burned again when playing with the ultimate match stick of nuclear power, will better recognize its responsibilities. Our decisions about current and future energy consumption is of course one of the most integral issues when considering our greater relationships with and responsibilities to the planet and our fellow species.

A growing number of experts and laypersons recognize the alarming list of societal pathology that is manifesting at the global level. This list, which crosses various institutions and national boundaries, includes the following concerns: overpopulation; nuclear waste; natural disasters; weapon proliferation; war; poverty and famine; increasing disparity between rich and poor; disease; political and economic instability; climate change; air, water, food, and soil pollution; oxygen and mineral depletion; and species extinctions. An almost endless secondary list might include organized crime, nationalism and imperialism, corporate greed, discrimination, crime, ideological extremism, violence, human rights violations, drug trades, drug dependencies, and mental health concerns.

Such a list can seem overwhelming and depressing.  But for decades, if not centuries and millennia, we have heard doom and gloom warnings for our times of change.  They came from spiritual circles, circumvented various cultures, and, most recently, have arrived from our scientific research. The warnings are strong but come with a moving and dangling carrot.  Humanity must come to terms with the way in which it operates.  We must make concerted effort to seriously examine our collective behavior and its impact.  If so, the process will lead us to significantly better existence.

For a wider perspective to our daunting problems, I refer to my 2006 doctoral research. Through an exploration of esoteric commentary that has been circulating for decades, we find, among other claims, information intended to prepare humanity for and understand calamity.  For example, in her 2004 book, Path of Empowerment, Barbara Marciniak wrote, “the version of reality you have come to know will appear to be less and less stable. As events on the world stage steadily escalate into chaos and confusion, you will be compelled to wake up and really start thinking about what is occurring” (p. 15).

For many, the extreme degree at which these problems exist, heightens a sense of duty.  It forces a desire to question, to examine, and to seek.  For some, it begins a search to better understand interrelated causes that exist systemically. Others study the past to learn lessons, while some focus on the flaws of national and international law. During such examination, some find influential obstacles in the forms of cultural and political ideology, as well as powerful special interests.  Ultimately, many people are called to look within and to question their values and motivations, and those of others.  This leads to a considerable increase in the sense of ownership and responsibility.

This process, for many, then initiates a path of awakening away from powerlessness and victimhood and toward service and action, with the recognition that we must make proper but significant adjustments as a species.  Change is imperative, because, as Chelsea Quinn Yarbro warned in her 1995 work, Michael for the Millennium, “a culture that has become so rigid that change cannot be accommodated is ‘doomed’ to extinction … history is littered with examples of cultures that failed to adapt and have gone extinct” (p. 180).

With change, we might be able to do what some contemporary prophets predict.  That is, we might ultimately create societies based on higher values and higher thinking, as well as take much better care of our environment and those in need.  In the 1995 book, Reach for Us,Dorothy Roeder, for example, explained that we are in the process of learning how “to work together to produce a world” where people can exist more happily and with greater knowledge of their true selves. According to this source, this includes the discovery of our inherent ability to create. The prediction also includes the inevitable choice and process to live in greater peace, plenty, and equality. (pp. 4-5)

The Role of Natural Disaster

It is safe to say that we have not been prepared for the quantity and magnitude of the disasters that have surfaced over the last few decades.  The economic and human costs have been enormous. The planning for such contingencies is nearly impossible. Planning and response require foresight, resources, and tremendous levels of cooperation.

And as the number of disasters escalates, we are forced to look at our role in disrupting the climate. In Journey of the Soul, Shepherd Hoodwin reports, “humanity’s ability to destroy the earth can actually accelerate” change, as it encourages us to find solutions. The reorientation of awareness promotes our ability “to create societies in which there is more emphasis on caring for those who are less fortunate” (pp. 231-32).

In his early nineties book, The Chrystal Stair, Eric Klein announced that natural disasters will be dramatic, while Azena, in Earth’s Birth Changes, stated, “plates are shifting and nature is realigning itself to replenish the Earth” (p. 189).  As early as 1990 and in We, the Arcturians,Norma J. Milanovich asked that we accept such change by declaring, “the physics of the universe will no longer support the old [negative] energy that surrounds the planet” (p. 296). Lee Carroll similarly told us, in Kryon Book 7, that earth change helps by transmuting negative energy to restore balance.

With similar exploration into the relationship between tragedy and shifting human values, I will visit the role of economic challenge in this article’s Part II.

Related posts:

1. The Great Recession: Catalyst for Psychological Growth

Polarizing Agendas Across Industries

Before I document the various influences that may help reorient power, we must gain a sense of what is at stake besides disparity of wealth.  Currently, a huge polarity of agendas coexist.  On one end of this spectrum lay an efficient, yet old form of operation influenced greatly by the need to maximize corporate size and profits.  On the other end exists a tide of mostly grassroots interests intent to meet the needs increasingly ignored by big business and politics, as well as to help alleviate the dire ecological costs resulting from the industrial revolution.

Factory Farming http://deraj1013.blogspot.com/2008/05/factory-farming-as-bad-for-environment.htmlLet us first look at the food industry.  Over the course of the last few decades, the industry has been overtaken by huge corporations that have made farming a manufacturing machine of profit.  Its overuse of preservatives, pesticides,antibiotics, and growth hormones, in conjunction with marketing and politicallobbying, has resulted in a convenience store and super market society selling much unhealthy, addictive, and nutrition-starved food.  With a growing worldwide population, this business model is not without merit.  Corporations have maximized the efficiency of land by producing products larger in size while decreasing overhead costs.  But while quantity has been on the rise, wealth has been concentrated and quality has alarmingly plummeted.  Meanwhile, farmers have been exploited, underpaid, and often put out of business.

To forward these trends, agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture, have been seduced by the corporatocracy, and often fail their responsibility to act as  independent advocates for American citizens.  For example, “nine FDA scientists appealed to then president-elect Barack Obama over pressures from management, experienced during the George W. Bush presidency, to manipulate data.”

Meanwhile, an increasing number of people are educating themselves about such things.  A growing consumer tide is choosing and even demanding organic and nutrition enriched products in local and national food markets.  In response, more nutritionally sensitive small businesses are springing up.  Progress, however, remains slow while governmental subsidy programs are supporting conventional, not organic, farming.

This kind of polarization exists in most other industries as well, such as in health-care,energy, education, and the media, all of which tend to be greatly under-served by the corporatocracy.  Although the tide of grass roots and citizen empowerment grows, popular beliefs are still greatly guided by conservative ideology and corporate special interests.  The fields of medicine and health-care, arguably institutions that should not be in the hands of the private sector, have been increasingly overtaken by big business as well.  This has resulted in a delivery of services heavily dependent on the increasingly controversial medical model.

FDA Warning http://bowflexhomefitness.com/popular-dieting-lies-myths-and-scams-exposed/

“Out-of-control” costs of procedures andprescription drugs exist, while medications are often over prescribed and effectively pushed onto the populace through heavy marketing and the wooing of physicians. Very little attention is paid in formalized education about affordable forms of practice and treatment that can be preventative and life-enhancing.  On their own, more people are adopting lifestyles based on healthy nutrition and the incorporation of mindfulness andenergy based practices such as yoga, tai chi, qi gong, reiki, ayurveda, massage, acupuncture, polarity therapy, herbal supplements and remedies, and meditation.

Incidentally, the FDA continues its attempt to up its policing of natural products and supplements.  Currently, such products cannot make health claims (about treating, preventing, or curing diseases).  This effectively keeps ”legitimized” medicine safely in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry.  For decades, serious conflicts of interest claims have been leveled against the FDA.  USA Today report concluded that large percentages of FDA “experts,” who serve on advisory committees to shape drug policy and treatment have financial interests in the drug companies that manufacture the drugs being evaluated.

Fortunately, the Western field of medical research and practice, which includes the use of pharmaceutical agents, continues to is make important strides.  This is creating hope for a world desperately in need of services to address physical and mental health issues and maladies. Such promise will be less realized without significant shifts in the way in which services are rendered and the way private interest groups operate. Certainly the field of mental health has benefited from the development of psychotropic medications to help stabilize psychosis, mood disorders, and anxiety.  But many of these medications, like other Western treatments, act aggressively to suppress symptoms.  Therefore, they do not cure and typically provoke adverse side effects.

Meanwhile, big oil, big auto, and energy companies operating as monopolies continue their entrenchment in the economy.  Such industries have worked in tandem with state, national, and international politics.  Such industries, however, are experiencing severe identity crises.  The auto industry required a massive bailout, unfortunately with not enough requirement for reform.  I personally have a very difficult time believing that, with the human level of technological know-how that exists on this planet, we can only ask auto makers to update their 2015 pollution-creating products to provide 31.6 miles per gallon.  And yet, conservatives continue to complain about the high costs of such policy. At the same time, high fuel prices, which temporarily aid the private companies, are stimulating consumer and business hopes for cost-effective, if not cleaner, alternatives that have been long resisted by the establishment.

The Establishment’s Pyramid of Power

We can characterize the imbalance of world power as operating as a large hierarchy with stratified classes up and down a pyramid.  Through this, a small minority, existing behind the scenes and at the very top, have controlled the moves in the game of power politics, military might, and worldly commerce.  Such decisions significantly impact all levels but primarily benefit those at the top and near the top, such as as the super wealthy with “old” money and connections and the more visible national and world leaders of politics and industry.

Rich Versus Poor http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/pictures/rich-vs-poor-chinese-parents-children.html

Much of the masses exist in slave-like fashion at the bottom rungs of this pyramid.  As its name suggest, the middle class, which has significantly diminished in America, lies somewhere in the middle or even lower.  Because those at the top of the hierarchy have built and maintain their power through established industry, change is slower than needed.  Instead of adapting, progressive agendas are not only ignored, but evendemonized, by the chain of establishment.

With considerable influence and wealth,celebrities represent an interesting aspect of this hierarchy. They operate at a higher level than the middle class but lower than the established, super wealthy middle to upper, upper class.   Celebrities are often used as marketing tools for the corporate world.  When they became progressive or radical in the eyes of the establishment, their names are often tainted and their exposure diminished.  Popular culture, as a result, is now a hodgepodge of attractive, sometimes talentless, faces with little creative inclination.  Movies and and television shows are often over-formulaic so that profit can be better yielded and predicted and risk minimized.

Some, but still a relatively few, in the limelight serve as teachers, leaders, public television and radio reporters, comedians and talk show hosts, and independent artists to help enlighten the masses.  Most truth-telling and avant-garde folks, however, tend to go virtually unnoticed, as they exist somewhere in the fairly powerless middle class or even at the fringes of society.

Fortunately, the economic crisis has illuminated for many the ingrained problems of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and the agendas of the powerful.  Arguably, the attitude of infallibility, which has existed within these walls, is showing increased vulnerability.  As one can witness, the fiscal stimulus responses have in part reflected desperation to patch, with golden-laced band-aids, the corporatocratic structure.  While action may have been necessary, one can argue that such response has done little for long-term reform, appropriate investment, job creation, and middle class support.

Peer Power

The seeds of real reform, however, may have already been planted. Such reform may be helping to supplant or at least significantly reorient the structure of power this planet has experienced for centuries.  Of course, certain hierarchically-arranged dynamics will remain appropriate and viable.  New structures, though, are developing that may be more appropriate for humanity’s increasing empowerment as empowered individuals within a greater global family.

For example, Michael Bauwens calls the emergence of more horizontal interactions as a component of a peer-to-peer (P2P) paradigm most visible in social (internet based) but also economic relations.  Fortunately, the internet has been allowed to develop, in the “free-world,” with limited censorship.  Its rise and horizontal reach may be one component of a yet-to-be formed global structure that might be more flexible, flowing, and transparent.  Although much of what we are exposed to on the internet remains heavily laced with “let me sell you what I have” consumerist energy, the world is being given a gift of freedom never before experienced.

The boundary-ignoring and ever-strengthening world-wide web is helping to facilitate new relations with greater potential to dissect previously segregated lines ofculture, class, discipline, andinstitution.  Access to information, the control of which has always been an integral means for the elite to maintain power and segregation, is loosening.  This is despite attempts, many of which are still quite successful, to keep  information secret and disinformationstrong. Conditioning the masses by the established structures of power—through traditional forms of media, religion, education, and governance—is now more difficult.

Long standing and deeply entrenched businesses have been forced to restructure and appease an increasingly savvy consumer, whose power to seek has increased significantly.  This has been interrelated with a severe blow to the economy that has reoriented the value of the dollar and encouraged citizens to sharpen the ways in which they consume.  Old and new business are now more than ever challenged to be consumer efficient and friendly, while arguably less able to “fool” the populace with general, false, exaggeration, and/or fear or other emotion-based marketing.

New International Relations and the Inevitable Strengthening of Global Bodies of Politic

Many are aware of the unbalanced relations between the more versus less powerful groups and nations during the advancement toward greater interrelatedness.  Larger nations have given aid to third world nations but have insisted on trade and political relations that could forward special interests and the opening of markets.  This practice has been exploitative in many instances.  This does not prove, however, that globalization is without potential.

Consider the next-to-emerge, would-be-imperialist power, China.  Theoretically, in an interdependent economy, one nation cannot act only out of self-interests.  As recounted by economist Thomas Friedman, the world is now flat.  He uses this expression in part the ”to describe convergence of technology and events [such as the internet's rise] that allowed India, China, and other countries to become part of the global supply chain for services and manufacturing, creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world’s two biggest nations, giving them a huge new stake in the success of globalization.”

The expanding economies of China, India, and Brazil are depending heavily on the financial health of the West and will need to act in cooperative, not dominant, fashion.  Of course, dominance has been a visible trait across the risen and fallen empires of England, France, Spain, Germany, and many before them.

Remember– economics precedes and fuels politics.  It follows that as the world economy strengthens through interconnections, so should bodies of politic.  As we evolve, old systems of handling problems no longer suffice.  Therefore, economic and political relations must and will mature, albeit more slowly than many would like to see.  Previously established global bodies, such as the United Nations and its predecessor, the League of Nations, have had little influence over G8 nations.  The interests of the United States, China, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and the UK, and their internal puppet-masters, have overridden those of less industrialized nations and often even the general welfare of the G8 citizenry.

The tide of evolution and progress naturally produces a more expanded scope for humanity.  As I have indicated, our species is now operating globally.  Various philosophers, such as Ken Wilber, have convincingly argued that as a species evolves and develops more sophisticated institutions, it also develops more sophisticated pathologies.  It is important to note that it is now common knowledge that we have manifested a severe global pathology known as the ecological crisis.

This level of awareness is still young  but is increasingly difficult to disregard.  In a segregated and hierarchical world, countries have little economic incentive to invest in change to help heal such pathology.  This is so even when faced with the knowledge that the species might be threatening itself with extinction.  It is only a matter of time before significant investment is made toward healing global problems, as power goes beyond boundary and as responsibilities intersect.  The question is how much damage will be done before such healing takes place.

The Psychological Catalyst

The structural changes described above are some of the many shifts that naturally coincide with the less visible psychological transition that might be taking place.   I argue that the average level of human development is transitioning in an elevated stage.  We may finally be moving out of a self-interested, ego-minded stage and into a more mature brand of awareness. If this is true, this collective evolutionary advance, with some individuals at either side of a spectrum of growth and maturity, elevates the center of gravity and allows for societal behavior with considerably more benign outcomes.  If it is not true, there may not be enough reason to believe that the changes I listed above, such as technological and international political change and education, is enough to help alleviate global pathologies.

The simplest and most important difference between the two stages of development involves the varying sets of motivation that impact behavior.  The stage under which the average earthly citizen has operated for centuries, if not, thousands of years, has been at the egoic, or adolescent stage of development.  With this orientation, people perceive reality individualistically and separately–with an exaggerated level of individuation.  When in its grip, egoic relating tends to lead to decisions that serve individual interests.  While this can constructively promote competition, achievement, discovery, and rationality, it can also lead to aggression, exploitation, waste, and greed.

http://themgv.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/whats-happening-in-morton-grove-november-24-30-2008/

As mentioned, humans have “higher” values when they advance beyond ego-development.  If we are making an important evolutionary advance, then we can expect individuals, groups, businesses, and nations to act increasingly out of a motivation to do what is in the interest of the whole.  At this level, we better recognize the interconnectedness of things and strive to find solutions that work for self and “other.” Our divisive polarized political ethos, with competing agendas on either ends of a spectrum, is an outward manifestation of the collective psychological transition from an old to a new stage of collective experience.

This means that we have reason to believe that the more progressive agendas listed above and that have tended to exist just at grass roots levels, will inevitably be the more dominant and therefore increasingly mainstream set of values.  This will force businesses to change or will help supplant resistant ones with companies that are more mindful of employees; the environment; and the consumer’s health, wellness, needs, and wants.  With this kind of orientation, global bodies heal pathologies and respond to catastrophes, genocides, diseases, and other injustices.

As the century unfolds, popular beliefs will mature and the recognition of interconnected existence will be more commonplace.  We should increasingly see the commonality across religious views and be more tolerant and respectful of unique cultural expressions. And when mired in personal chaos, have faith that today’s suffering may indeed lead to days of greater justice for an increasingly interconnected humanity that struggles to learn how to share wealth, resources, and respect.  It, I believe, is the work of our generations.

Related posts:

1. The Corporation, Globalization and their Pathologies and Potential

A Century of Technological Advance and Economic Expansion

Let us first imagine the striking difference between one’s experiences in the 19th century versus those of the 20th. Folks living in the 20th century witnessed a civilization develop groundbreaking technologies one after the other. Nineteenth century inhabitants could barely envision machinery to cool the air, let alone conceive how to to ride a vehicle throughthe air. Successive advances in technology included a series of important communication devices that would one day shrink the world.  Almost parallel to this was the ever-strengthening of the capitalistic engine known as the American economy.  This super powerful economy drastically grew in GDP throughout the century and fueled the country’s heightened political and military might and influence.

Arguably, today’s manifestation of globalization emerged out of the industrial revolution’ssuccesses.  But as I will remind the reader, it was through a series of important maneuvers, all connected with the American political process, which gave rise to over-sized private organizations whose reach would ultimately circle the globe. The costs have been numerous, including a stripping away of our citizen-based democracy and a species threatening ecological crisis.  The result appears to be an international corporatocracy existing without an equally powerful political body to properly supervise its agendas.

Ideally and theoretically, capitalism can and should produce improved lifestyles for the population in the way of quality products, services, and employment.  And the intended role of government is to morally and legally see that the country’s economic, social, legal, and educational systems further both the health of the economy and the welfare of its citizenry.  This is to occur in proper relation with the checks and balances built into the American political system.

Unfortunately, economics fuels politics, which can be witnessed across time, culture, and political systems.  No system—feudal, monarchal, communistic, dictatorial, city-state, ordemocratic—has proven this false.  Economic interests have always molded, manipulated, and circumvented the systems through which they have operated.

Balance of Power

The American debate, older only in age to the question whether or not to revolt against King George, is the question of how powerful thecentral government should be.  The pro-centralizing wing, represented by the Federalists, won the first battle.  Our country, however, has witnessed a continual tension between local, state, federal, and the various branches of power, as well as the private sector.  For example,Andrew Jackson, the populist and seventh US President, spent much of his political might in the 1830s fighting against what he warned would be imperial-like means to shape economic policy via the second national bank (Second Bank of the United States).  He argued that its power would be out of reach from the democratic process.

Jackson’s administration was successful in the short-term, but the President’s warnings were not heeded as centralized banking has only gained in strength, possibly proving again that the few and very elite have been able to bypass or exploit any governmental system, no matter how well designed.  Consider some of Jackson’s reasons to resist a national bank: (a) it centrally concentrates the nation’s financial strength into a single institution, (b) it exposes the government to control by foreign interests, and (c) it serves mainly to make the rich richer.

While one could argue both for and against the benefits of having a federal reserve system, it is clear that much economic policy is enacted outside the legislative process.   Also, the fact that the United States government is increasingly vulnerable to the interests of governments, like China, is irrefutable, as it continues to borrow enormous sums of foreign money.  Finally, the Reserve, in all its wisdom, failed miserably to prevent the recent series of bubbles and bursts, the latest of which nearly took down the entire national economy and devastated many others.

The Rise of the Corporation

Earlier in this country’s life, rare organizations incorporated to perform a service, such as completing a municipal project.  If the service of the corporation was completed or was no longer relevant to the interests of those it served, the corporate charter was discontinued.  As time passed and as these corporations became more common, groups of individuals took advantage of the opportunity to organize capital and expand the scope of corporate projects.  Nothing helped this more than when those representing corporate interests successfully lobbied to gain the rights constitutionally reserved for a person.

This “right” was gained via an added provision to the 14th and post civil war amendment to properly extend citizenship to freed slaves and their descendants.  The move, perceived as minor at the time, proved to be a major event that would help reshape the balance of power. The provision provided corporate collectives the ability to lobby for rights, spend unlimited amounts of money for campaigns, and maintain the right to privacy and free speech.  Greatly aided by these rights, corporations now influence elections, maintain tax havens, and successfully resist reforms that could minimize their power.

The Burden of Growth

Let us recognize what should be a glaring problem.  That is, publicly-traded corporations are burdened by their motivation to continually increase profits so their stock prices rise and appease investors and stock holders.  This scenario, which serves those who have had the power to build and further such businesses, undercuts the less destructive intentions behind healthy competition and consumerism.  When big business requires continued profits to increasingly produce an inflow of money to the investors and bloat salaries and bonuses, a binding incentive builds.

The incentive naturally produces self-survival decisions and an emphasis on short-term gains.  The corporate locomotive is also tempted to influence legislation that keeps the machinery unclogged, unfettered, and unchecked.

The agenda to increase size has also fostered a drive to keep corporate pathologies and closed-door maneuvers unseen to best minimize public concern.  Meanwhile, the federal reserve system, often criticized for lacking transparency, typically works in tandem with the locomotive to ensure the health of the stock market and the corporate agenda.

Imbalances of Power and Priority

Our country’s formation began with a painstaking process to prevent abuses of power.  We now witness nearly obscene imbalances.  This appears most obvious when examining loophole exploitation of campaign financing and lobbying.  The lobby system originated as part of the first amendment’s right to free speech so that voices of special interests would be heard.  A democracy, based on majority rule, could naturally overshadow the needs of certain groups.

Time has elapsed, however, and this system has morphed into what some legitimately describe as legalized bribery.  Certain super powerful interests groups spend unGodly sums to finance candidates at all levels and on both sides of legislative floors.  It is safe to say that these groups–such as the pharmaceutical, oil, auto, defense contracting, tobacco, and media industries–cannot be considered disenfranchised and therefore in need of special provision to be heard.

Let us also consider the role of the military.  It existed primarily as a defensive requirement during the country’s formative years when America was relatively weak and vulnerable to various powers around its borders.  But soon the United States began its expansion that has yet to abate.  Expansion has required an ever-strengthening military to ensure imperial growth.  The country particularly flexed its brute throughout the twentieth century, acquiring lands and building bases.  It became a legitimate superpower after World War II and quickly became embroiled in an arms race for decades with the Soviet Union.  Various presidential administrations exercised executive will around the world, often-times without legislative backing.

The Cold War, pragmatically and politically, appeared to be an ideological battle between capitalistic consumerism versus a warped brand of socialism.  The United States has fervently preached the values of freedom, liberal democracy, and the rule of law since its conception.  The U.S., however, has backed extreme dictatorships that often have been cruel to its people.  Support was offered to such governments as long as they supported US trade interests and were in alignment against US enemies (against the Soviet Union during the Cold War, for example).

As oil became increasingly important as an economic commodity after World War II, the United States became more involved in Middle Eastern affairs.  The only major consistency found in U.S. foreign intervention has been the intention to maintain or expand the kind of security that allows for economic power and growth.  Such policy is often sold to the public through the preaching of freedom and the preying on fear.  Rarely has America dramatically intervened militarily in a significant regional crisis primarily to help alleviate injustice.

The priority to strengthen the military has helped produce a heavy tax burden and now insufficient funding for what really matters to the population, such as education, health care, and ecological sustainability.  And under the corporatocracy, even well-intended presidents and congressman have been impotent.  Meanwhile, many U.S. states have been suffering from fiscal dysfunction for decades. Consider the following and intertwined practices of the

American Corporatocracy:
(a)    We witness a co-dependent marriage or legalized collusion between the private and public sectors.  Common is the “revolving door” practice that sees influential people of power flipping from side to side to further corporate and military interests.  Former Vice PresidentDick Cheney possibly serves as the best ‘worst example’ of this.  Cheney had a long and powerful public service life, including Chief of Staff in the Ford administration, before serving for five years as CEO of Halliburton, the world’s second largest oilfields services corporation.  He stepped down from Halliburton in 2000 and earned $36 million in severance and stock options.  Soon after and as Vice President, Cheney served as a major proponent, planner, and executor of the Iraq war, during which his former corporation allegedly received unlawful special treatment for projects in Iraq, Kuwait, and the Balkans.

(b)   Corporations have the incentive to take advantage of third world labor and have avoided responsible adaptations, in part through successful lobbying (e.g., not investing in cleaner technologies).

(c)    Many corporations intentionally make products designed not to last to ensure increased and ongoing sales.
Conditioning through Mass Media

Many witness the cycle of operation, described above, as modern imperialism, which is considerably more subtle than practices during past eras.  This brand of empire often relies on conditioning of the public through mass media and a culture of marketing and public relations.  Education and the media have been highly influenced by corporate interests.  Once independently operated, newspapers and their television counterparts are mostly owned by corporations.  As a result, investigative reporting has shrunk to a fraction of what passes as today’s news.

This helps the corporate world keep dissenting opinion at bay and flies in the face of the American Republic’s original vision and built-in freedoms.  And because powerful interests have best funneled their influence through the strengthening of the private sector, they have molded conservative ideology under the banner: big government is bad and takes away from the common citizen.  Ironically, conservative administrations, most notably Reagan and Bush II, have bloated government spending and national debt by beefing up military action and providing tax relief to the wealthy and corporations.

Meanwhile, we do not even require that advertising, much less news, be truthful. Truth, research, science, and education are often swept under the rug as the public is left in a state of confusion, inaction, and powerlessness.  This atmosphere is extremely unhealthy for a real democracy, as well as binding to the health and wellness of both domestic responsibilities and international relations.

Actions from past “superpowers” were a bit more obvious and brutal.  The conquering of neighboring lands for precious resources and greater power was relatively common. The subtle but strong imperialism of the West, with its desire to use a vast majority of the world’s resources, has been highly successful in the game of power brokering.

Because of its subtle nature, it is much easier to deceive the public and keep up the appearance of benevolence. American imperialism, however, has not helped much in the way of alleviating the huge disparity between wealth and poverty and has created a whopping level of waste and pollution.

I believe, however, that this hierarchical arrangement, with a relatively small number of very wealthy and powerful people at the top, is weakening.  If so, what then is in its wake?  Is there reason to believe that our now global family can rise to the vast challenges of the day?  I explore some of the variables contributing to structural change, as well as some positive potential for  globalization, in Part II of this series.

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1. The Promise of our Global Reality

So 2012, when looking at these claims, is a highly significant marker that signals humanity’s new relationship to the cosmos.  It significantly aids evolution, our ability to create our realities more quickly, to take more responsibility of our affairs, to adopt higher values, to relinquish negativity and karma, to integrate more of our true Self, and to experience greater levels of joy and love.

However, these new attributes have been increasingly available for awhile and will continue to be experimented with and mastered by more of the population as individuals awaken and integrate.  Others may choose to incarnate where the energy isn’t as intense.

Importantly, some are expecting an overnight change for the collective, a la the 100^th monkey syndrome, or through some other dramatic shift.  Although our reality is becoming more ethereal in nature, we are still in the physical and operate under restrictions.  It takes time for socio-cultural outcomes to emerge.  Institutions take time to adapt.  So for those expecting a relative utopia may need to wait until later in the century when more stability and abundance solidifies and spreads.  But that is where the work and the fun is had.  We are the builders.

Photos courtesy of Free Web Photo

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1. The Great Recession: Catalyst for Psychological Growth

As folks attuned to teachings like the the “Law of Attraction” and “Conversations with God” believe, humans have always been in some control of their situation through the discipline of thoughts, desires, expectations, and intentions. In other words, the universe, our guides, and our higher levels of Self, have always conspired to respond to human thoughts. In the past, however, when folks were less interior-focused, they were challenged to understand that their inner workings were reflected in their outer forms of circumstance.

This was particularly challenging in a dense milieu very segregated from the more spiritual side of existence. Allegedly, time was slower and was a constant in 3D. So what came into existence took considerable time to show what needed to be inevitably learned. And for those who practice some form of mindfulness, one understands the challenge of taming the wandering psyche. As a result, experience was somewhat chaotic. The universe was reflecting the species undisciplined created reality.

This partly shows why humans have had a tendency to project there beliefs elsewhere, to be victims, and to create distant Gods that control circumstance. It also helps explain why we so easily accepted authority figures, especially if they claimed to be the only conduits of spiritual truth and status. If control was elsewhere only, we gave our power away while learning lessons of planned ignorance and separation.

Societies were also very isolated. And forms of technology had not yet come into existence to help us produce and interact with greater speed. In fact, one could say that the social network revolution, made possible through a progression of increasingly powerful technology to shrink the world, is a reflection of both our global consciousness and our ability to go deeper into our inter-subjective existence.

As I’ve stated before, we may be in a qualitatively different metaphysical environment today. So we are now seeing a plethora of teachings highlighting the need to make a dedicated practice with intention. We are seeing things syncronistically mirrored in our lives when time is an added dimensional variable, malleable and faster in nature. Some, who have experimented regularly with reality creation, are now finding miracles to be their new mundane, especially if they have built a strong connection with their higher levels of Self. As a result, many have proved to themselves that they are masters of their existence, which is interconnected to all members of their human family, to other lifeforms, to Nature, and to the Cosmos—an increasingly bridged, interactive, and interdimensional cosmos!

But note, the notion of responsibility is equally emphasized. Heed John Lennon’s instant karma warning. Whether it feels good or bad, it’s all good, because we are able to learn and grow consciously, have a reason to better focus, to stop blaming others, to tap into the desires of the soul, and to affect real change, no matter our level of social status.

In the decades of my intention practice with Self and clients, I have found that monthly intention setting in the form of written affirmation, while asking for benevolent Spiritual support (from those with which you feel aligned, including your higher Self), is the best way to produce results. And it doesn’t matter the particular spiritual tradition with which you might identify; everyone can benefit. And as a result, we can find common ground through this participatory “experiment.”

It is more difficult to give the Universe mixed messages through these writing means. And your guides then know exactly what you are desiring to create with such declarations. And if you phrase it in a way with detachment to outcome, then you can allows the wise and powerful Universe to freely conspire in a way that best serves you and others benevolently. Results can happen in surprising and glorious ways! Remember though not to create for others (it’s karmic).

Just as you might practice guitar or some other new human tool/skill, practice intention and co-creation … and don’t forget, you are responsible during the commencement of a meta-era free from many past limitations. Good luck and inJoy!

Craig Bowman, PhD
www.bowmancraig.com

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Example two: In the 16^th and 17 centuries, many maverick scientists that were contributing groundbreaking research, laws, and mathematical models of the cosmos, still maintained a metaphysical/spiritual notion of the uni or multiverse.  However, traditionalists (primarily of the Catholic establishment) split the scientific from the spiritual out of fear that such realizations would undermine power structures of the day (economic, political, religious).  At the same time, esoteric Christians existed as a small minority.  

Importantly, popular versions have existed also to mirror the level of the collective psyche while sophisticated mystical traditions of all sorts have existed on the periphery.  The perennial philosophy, to which I subscribe, shows that as individuals grow, they move inward to resonate with the mystical traditions that are able to contain deeper truths.  These deeper traditions mirror one another more closely across culture and time than their popular counterparts.  Popular, or exoteric, views vary greatly by belief, emphasis, cultural context, ritual, and at times, based on political manipulation. 

As the collective grows, then we see greater popularity of the wisdom traditions; hence, the belief that the new age movement is just a borrowing of these beliefs.  I’ll repeat here that the new age is also about evolving consciousness, an ascending environment (higher frequency for example) and the descension of cosmic energies and levels of our individual identities.  Therefore, what resonates at an increasingly popular level, becomes more balanced and converges across disciplines.  For example, would Eckhart Tolle’s teacings be as popular in the West three hundred years ago?  It’s questionable but I doubt it.  

Arthur Lovejoy, one of the early perennialists, convincingly argued in his classic, The Great Chain of Being, that otherworldly philosophies have dominated “recent” history (last couple thousand years maybe), up until modernity’s “collapse of the cosmos” as neoperennialist, Ken Wilber, would say.  Wilber argues that both emphases (this and otherworldly “liberation”) are unhealthy and damaging.

 Many of today’s perennialists, however, are failing to look at “today’s” mysticism, found for example in sophistical channeled literature, which provides updates to our changing metaphysical reality and of humanity’s zeitgeist.  Instead, they often simply argue that mysticism shows parallels (e.g., a belief in Oneness; we are connected to an interconnected thread; God consists of energy, consciousness, and love; we come here from consciousness or involve from Unity and then evolve toward greater Unity). 

Most perennialists don’t adopt any particular cosmology, and therefore don’t specify how souls involve and evolve outside of physical incarnation.  But today’s esotericism does with detailed descriptions of the multi-plane cosmos and multiple dimensions of consciousness.  They also detail how this metaphysical backdrop is shifting as we speak to bridge the material with immaterial spiritual realities.  Allegedly, we are all connected to these other realities on some level.  With such changes, we have greater access to higher realities.  As a result, liberation, or spiritual existence, improves here and now.  This is a more technical description of the phenomenon known to some as “heaven on Earth.”  

So it follows why new paradigms, including science, are becoming more cognizant of interdimensional consciousness, and why more people are pulled to make this reality a place for their own liberation, at least for now.  

Finally, we can gratefully have more compassion for why traditionally otherworldly and this-worldly philosophies emerged and became solidified as popular.  If the Earth and its space/time continuum (3D) was so dense and essentially more cut off, or veiled, from our spiritual sides, and if our lessons were based mostly on fear, ignorance, and the agreed-upon illusion of separation, then why wouldn’t people be more prone in the past to look to the afterlife for salvation or liberation.  And as we grew in sophistication and more used to this physical existence of 3D reality, our science of the last few hundred years reflected only the material side of reality that we can all sense easily, but still more cut off from higher realities.  

Welcome to 4D where time is a variable, not a constant, and space is expanding and becoming malleable.  The power of Now is more powerful … maybe Tolle would have been teaching about something different three hundred, or even 30 years ago.  

Enjoy a break from my postings as you digest.  Questions, comments, and disagreements are welcome.  Feel free to post on the wall, in reply to this post, or via email.  

Craig Bowman, PhD

www.bowmancraig.com

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1. Liberation, Part II
2. Polarization: A Natural Environment During Major Times of Transition
3. Liberation, Part I

New science is giving way to a variety of assumptions and theories that have emerged from quantum mechanics and physics: inner-subjective consciousness, multiple dimensions, parallel universes, an interconnected field of energy, strings, etc.  

So what does this do to the philosophical notion of liberation?  Some postmodernists, deconstructivists, and phenomenologists ask us to be careful with interpretations.  They resist the establishment of new and absolute laws of truth that might soon be proven wrong or exploited.  Some in these camps argue that we must only look to our experience as means to find relative, subjective, or participatory “truth.”   

Some neopagans have assumed that the best ways to perceive reality (e.g., living in harmony w/ nature) have always existed.  Therefore, according to some, we can be liberated by returning to such views and by rejecting the age of “enlightenment.”  This is quite tempting, and we must certainly adopt such healthy ways of operating with Nature.  But, the age of reason has given us much.  Evolution, despite the limiting modern view of it, is a fact.  And technological progress is not something to dismiss.  The challenge rests with appropriate use and integration.  

Many look to the quantum realizations as evidence verification for Eastern mysticism.  They echo assertions that space and time is an illusion and that liberation is simply a state of mind.  

Integral philosophers make a significant contribution by putting forth a perspective that houses individual development and how it is mirrored over time through our species’ cultural evolution.  Liberation can be increasingly achieved with greater awareness and capacity to transcend and include stages of development, including levels associated with the soul and Spirit. 

 Still, these theorists are somewhat pessimistic.  They tend to think that a significant collective advance won’t occur for hundreds of years if only a very small percentage of the population is currently at higher “tiers” of consciousness. 

The New Age movement, on the other hand, is made up of a variety of believers that might align to any one or more of the above theories.  These folks tend to share the belief in an Ultimate reality that pervades the cosmos, life, and Nature.  They are opposed to rigid fundamentalism and scientific reductionism.  They also recognize an inner spirituality, to which we all have access.  For various reasons, they also forecast the potential for a new era of light, love, and enlightenment, or “liberation” from the game of suffering, fear, competition, greed, and suffering. 

I have mentioned some of the variables that are allegedly impacting space and time to help forward these agendas.  In fact, a coherent philosophy within some of the most esoteric teachings of the day supports the strong possibility that collective awareness IS advancing to its next soul-based stage.  And as a result, institutions will follow suit over the course of the next several decades.  What does this mean for the idea of liberation?  It means that a larger number of humans, the most in history, may reach higher states of consciousness and embody larger aspects of their true identity than ever before … here on Earth.  With this liberation arrives a higher level of responsibility.  We must co-create new forms, new ways of relating, and more harmonious systems.  Yes, maybe ultimate liberation might exist upon further cosmic evolution and/or a return to pure Spirit, but the game might get much more interesting and fun here and now. 

 Stay tuned for the final installment of this three-part series on liberation.  I’ll further flesh out these trends, as I argue for a truly integral neoperennial philosophy as a potential master paradigm to contain changing circumstance and knowledge acquisition. 

 Craig Bowman, PhD

www.bowmancraig.com

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1. A Truly Integral Neoperennial Philosophy (Liberation, Part III)
2. A Changing Worldview and its Relationship with Space/Time Expansion
3. Liberation, Part I

The idea of spiritual or human liberation is a good indicator to show how followers of certain perspectives aim to live on this planet. Let us first take a gander through some traditional views. Please note that these are very general interpretations; significant variability exists within such views.

Orthodox Christians have tended to seek liberation—or more aptly, salvation—via forgiveness from original sin, something with which all of us, short of Jesus and Mary, are inherently born. Goals are otherworldly, in that Christians find their peace, God forbid, when they make it to heaven. Desires of the flesh and worldly “success” are minimized at best.

Traditional Buddhists have been equally otherworldly, as followers tended to detach from ego aggregates, including desires, in hopes to be released from the cycle of soul transmigration and unavoidable suffering. Liberation is found via the 8-fold path to Nirvana … typically considered a rare state and not achieved in this world.

Hindu liberation, meanwhile, is achieved via dissolution, or realization, through an awakened awareness that our reality is an illusion at best, possibly a mistake at worst. Otherworldly views of the East have arguably resulted in societies ill-equipped to build Earthly institutions for its people. We don’t need to be reminded of the results from the shadows of traditional Western followers, do we?

In my opinion, Taoists have been more balanced. They held the view that all things consists of polar forces. The best “way” is to flow with such poles. Successful examples are found in Chinese medicine and their martial art and meditative practices.

Other views have been considerably more this-worldly, including paganism and indigenous views across cultures. These views tend to recognize cycles and systems of nature, as well as “mythological” spirits and Gods. Generally speaking, the idea of liberation rests more with being in harmony with the outer world and of Spirit, including Mother Earth.

Traditional science, of course, is the most this-worldly in that materialists see only matter as real. Spirituality to these theorists are only warn out beliefs that were developed to help uncivilized people cope with forces and fears they did not understand. Scientific liberation might be through understanding the mechanistic laws of the universe so that we can “master” our environment. Despite its major successes, modernity ironically brought us to the brink of extinction through its divorce from Earth and the spiritual cosmos. Traditional psychology, a paradigm that grew out of modernity, emphasizes “normal” ego personality functioning based on genetics, environment, and/or early stage development.

Stay tuned for part II, as we will continue to explore this idea of liberation by meandering our way through new paradigms that are currently competing to best perceive our reality and our times. Many of these newer views attempt to bridge otherworldly and this-worldly agendas and also offer interpretations of inner states of reality. In the mean time, what does liberation mean to you?

Photos courtesy of Free Web Photo

Related posts:

1. A Truly Integral Neoperennial Philosophy (Liberation, Part III)
2. Liberation, Part II

And shadow work, meditation, present-centered experience, thought discipline, intention-setting, communication awareness, body work, exercise, nutrition, and energy awareness are just some of the practices to further integration and enhance the quality of our experience. Still, the species is urged to grow at an accelerated clip as we adapt into our changing environment.

If we are trying to become animals of a more complex reality with added dimensions, don’t we also need to integrate multi-dimensionally at an individual level? How is this done and what technologies and/or support are available? Esoteric sciences claim that levels of our Self have always identified with various planes of reality and different dimensions of consciousness. But we have appropriately been “separated” from these truer levels of Self in order to play the human game of ignorance and suffering.

The traditionally known seven chakras, as well as our two DNA strands, have been sufficient means to interconnect our four body system (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual) to what used to be our agreed-upon three-dimensional holographic experience. As time and space loosens, we must adapt, as if we are evolving amphibians crawling for the first time onto land in a milieu of air. Apparently, this can be assisted with the integration of higher chakras and non-physical DNA strands that connect us to the higher planes and dimensions of creation. Glands (e.g., pituitary and pineal) and organs (e.g., digestive) are said to be adapting as well. Some claim children are showing signs of earlier integration, thanks to some of these adaptations, which all allow for greater use (much more than 10%) and balance (feminine and masculine) of the brain, longer life spans, and greater co-creative ability, as well as improved experiences of love, wisdom, and compassion.

Importantly, spiritual entities that already exist in higher dimensional realities are available for assistance. They claim to be able to aid literal integration, send love and higher-frequency energy, and help us on our path toward creating a more divine and flowing life (e.g., through synchronicities and time reorientation). And technologies are also available to assist in this process. I recommend good meditative CDs or something like an Alpha-Stim instrument. These technologies put us in deeper states to aid unconscious and superconscious integration. The old days of meditating in quiet for hours on end in the mountains are not necessarily appropriate now. We are in the eleventh hour. It may be advisable to walk through the “Great Transition” as best we can by healing relationships and affecting real-world societal change. And while physicists have fun explaining what they might be witnessing as parallel and multidimensional existences, I recommend integrating them and letting go of old 3D identities.

Craig Bowman, PhD

www.bowmancraig.com

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