Subject: Gaian Perspective on GGDate: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 16:41:18
A GAIAN PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
(The Paradigm Shift)
by Michael Ellis
Thomas Kuhn defined Paradigm Shift as what is considered peripheral
moves to centre stage.
Vlakev Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia has said "without a
global revolution of human consciousness, nothing will change for the
better in the sphere of our being as humans and the catastrophe towards
which this world is headed be it ecological, demographic, social or the
general breakdown of civilisation will be unavoidable".
Science has built a picture of the universe which up until now has been
considered as materialistic.� When we look at the consciousness
movements, we see that within Western society in particular, the aim is
to fill the gap left by the vacuum caused by the separation between inner
and outer experience.� We need to create depth, resonance and meaning
in our lives by focusing on bridging the gap between reason and belief,
intellect and intuition in order to create a cosmology and spirituality
more integral to the human frame of reference.� We need to seek to
reconnect ourselves with the essence of life.
There are almost as many belief systems as there are human beings.�
When I speak to professionals about the solutions to world peace, social
disintegration, environmental problems, they are despondent.� The
solution to them depends upon their specialty and this could be
psychological, economic, theological, environmental, bio-genetic
manipulation or humanistic.� The question is, what is the common
denominator ?� Ten percent of the population suffer from genetic bi-
polar depression according to the psychiatrists and yet I believe if we
create a dysfunctional environment, we get dysfunctional responses.
What we do have in common is life and consciousness - and we need to
understand life, as being an interconnected synergic matrix of reciprocal
maintenance and connectedness. We have finite bodies but infinite
minds which have the power to realize a new world of hope, creativety
and sustainability.� The system tries to deny that we human beings have
a Soul.� It entraps us in world models of economic rationalism, is
centred in materialism,Darwinism, The Selfish gene, The Biomedical
model and the rational ordering of Society.� It forgets about our
consciousness, (transpersonal experience) our hearts and our beliefs.� As
an African Spiritual teacher has said.� "A civilisation without rites of
passage has a sick Soul."� In such a situation � 1) There are no elders or
mentors (they are all out making money), 2) The youth are violent or
without hope, 3) The adults are bewildered.��� This is exactly our current
status quo!�
I think we need a global revolution which comes from the heart and soul
of each individual.� I hope this paper will show that consciousness is
defined as the perception of the true nature of things or true reality and
that consciousness is imminent in the Universe and is inseparably
connected with all phenomena and matter, just as the mind is
inseparably connected with the body and spirit.
Five per cent of the adult population of North America have had an
NDE or near death experience.� In his book Recollection of Death,
Cardiologist Michael Sabom, details several independently confirmed
autoscopic experiences.� He concluded that none of the standard
explanations is adequate to account for the accuracy brought back from
out of body.� In the information the subjects reported that they could see
details of their surroundings that they could not have perceived by
means of their physical senses.� Psychologist, Kenneth Ring, after
conducting a survey amongst twenty-six NDE's assessing changes in
attitude, concluded that after these experiences individuals tended to
express a greater appreciation for life and more concern and love for
their fellow human beings.
It would seem from these illustrations that mind does have an integrating
role beyond that of the matter in the brain although in normal
circumstances matter and mind are inextricably interlinked.
Stanislav Grof in his talk in Beyond the Brain, 1990, stated that through
transpersonal experience there is access to new information not through
ordinary channels.� There are two forms of learning - learning through
observation, analysis and synthesis, and learning in state of being or
direct experience.� Grof talks about three kinds of experiences.� Firstly,
the ability to become objects or living entities encompassing the whole
range of phenomena within the universe.� Secondly, the ability to
transcend linear time so that all past and future events can be
experienced with all sensory modalities.� These non-ordinary states of
consciousness would include conception, birth, ancestors, collective
racial memories and past life experiences.� Thirdly, experiences which
take you into realms that this culture does not consider to be objectively
real, because they transcend space and time.� They would include the
collective unconscious and archetypes, for example: if a person
experiences themselves as a God or Goddess.� Also this will include
such phenomena as channeling, spirit guides, universal mind and cosmic
consciousness.� Stanislav Grof uses these three categories as his form of
cartography for psychic exploration.
An example of the first category is provided in the successful research of
remote viewing at Stanford Research Institute, California.� Remote
Viewing is a term created by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, two laser
and quantum physicists who have headed this research effort in PSI.�
These subjects were sealed in rooms and asked to identify remote
geographical locations selected randomly.
In certain cases, star performers such as Ingo and Swann were not only
able to identify distant target sites but were also able to accurately pin
point weather conditions at the site at the time.�� Mr Swann, an artist,
also produced data on viewing Jupiter, Mars and Mercury, which were
subsequently confirmed by NASA satellite missions.� This information
is a challenge to the Newtonian-Cartesian thinking which is the current
philosophy of Western science.� Our scope reduces things to the extent
that we view phenomena as if they were isolated events unconnected
with anything else.� We seek for short term gain and do not realise that
1) everything is connected, 2)the loss of one item diminishes everything
exponentially, (like the loss of the Brazilian rainforests effects the lungs
of the planet creating destructive climate changes, 3) things work
together synergically, (the sum is more than the individual parts) 4)
nothing is really predetermined and foolproof � in the cloud chambers,
the position of an electron is a probability � Nature is enigmatic!�
The way we think of things is determined by our belief systems and in
our society we were brought up with the predominant belief system
which is materialistic, positivistic and scientific.� This means that we live
in a world in which the objective reality can be defined by
experimentation and where our subjective experience does not impinge
on the reality defined by science outside us.� Cartesian dualism defined
originally by Descartes makes a distinction between the mind and the
body.� A thinker observes but is not involved directly, just as God has
become Deus Ex Machina.
[ML1]Is the notion of uncertaintity in science here the premonition of
the� dawning of a new age or the annihilation of our selves as a species ?�
How does the living, growing body read the language of atoms in the
DNA ?� Is there not memory and intelligence even at this level - and do
not our brains but further manifest this consciousness in a self-reflective
way ?
The dawning of a paradigm shift is upon us.� Can we make the jump to
the realisation that a new era and a new millennium implies the evolution
of consciousness above everything else ?
Fyodor Doestoevsky, commented "The Golden Age is the most
improbable of all dreams that ever existed, but the one for which men
gave their lives and all their strengths, for which prophets died and were
slain, without which peoples do not wish to live and cannot even die".
Perhaps it is that the Paradise Myth10, as an aspect of inner being and
inner wealth, truly expresses our union with divinity, because this
expresses coming home to ourselves and partakes of acknowledgment
of our connectedness with� our neighbour, our planet and our universe.�
However, our normal waking consciousness, our emotions and thoughts
cloud us from this reality because of the destructive and competitive
nature of our social and physical environment and the nature of the
crisis which this planet is currently undergoing.� The overt, global,
environmental crisis is expressed as a severe degree of loss of Global
Biodiversity � to the extent that the continued survival of the Human
species is threatened.� Biodiversity is the total variety of all life forms
and in the living matrix it is the function of the integration of a diversity
of species which provide us with clean air and water, fertile soils, food,
shelter, medicines and industrial technology.� We are losing 100 species
a day and more than a quarter of all species may vanish in 50 years.�
Most severe losses are occurring among invertebrates which play critical
ecological roles.� Loss of species lead to loss of new medicines and the
disturbance of the eco-system is leading to the emergence, re-emergence
and spread of infectious diseases like TB and malaria, and apthogenic
microorganisms switching hosts, e.g. HIV and horse virus.
The major threats to Biodiversity are -�
Land clearance
Alien species
Genetically manipulated species
Indiscriminate harvesting of species
Pollution
Urbanization
Climate change
Currentl y, our population which has a doubling time of 50 years, is
being pruned by mal-nourishment, poverty,� (2,000,000) and disease,
e.g. Aids and TB in Africa and population control in China and
Indonesia.� The links between human health and biodiversity are
obvious.� Most of these global problems have been brought on by
human irresponsibility, where our ravaged planet is due to a
fundamental error in the perception of the nature of humanity, in that
undue emphasis has been placed on materal at the expense of mind and
consciousness.
����� 32 Journal of Australian Medical Association� 1998.
In The Fear of Freedom,� Eric Fromm,� states, "modern selfishness is
the greed that is rooted in the frustration of the real self and whose
object is the social self".
Robert Heilbroner, Professor of Economics at the New School for
Social Research, in the 1970s, was hopeful that in the end the survivalist
ethic would come to the fore, and that humanity with personal
responsibility would take action that would defy the homicidal
promptings of reasonable calculation.
This� statement was made in the 1970s.� A psychoanalyst at the same
time said that every illness is also the vehicle of plea for love and
attention.� Michael Balint16 who founded Balint Seminars to enable
doctors to understand themselves and their patients more clearly, and
who coined the term "the doctor as a therapeutic agent or drug" was
concerned when and how the doctor should get the patient out of his
fantasies.
In the sense that the fantasy maybe covering such questions as, What is
the essence of the illness ? How did it start ? What caused it ? and
Whether it will heal ?� Surely we have a similar process of reflection
when we look at our global crisis and the increasing social disintegration
around us.
The basic construct that Michael Balint used for healing his patients was
for the doctor to be like a priest, who could create continuity of care and
create a working hypothesis of the biographic processes within the
patient, which contributed to the illness which could be mental or
physical.� It is the ability of the Therapist to provide sufficient space for
the patient in which the patient can feel free to explore the self and find
his/her way through the impasse.
What would happen if each one of us realised that our lives were about
to terminate and the planet was about to end in the next hour ? The
realisation, understanding and experience would be very different.��� We
would be faced with the reality far different from what we had been
accustomed to at that stage.� Our minds would make a jump.
Stanislav Grof states, "in working with patients in non-ordinary states of
consciousness, spontaneous healing of the body and the psyche
becomes available".� He says, "there is effort of the organism to simplify
itself, to throw off things and get rid of traumatic imprints.� Even if the
patient becomes extremely wild there would always be a way through
and the extremely pathological process is found to have tremendous
therapeutic value".
This is a very positive statement for our planet in crisis and for the
suffering humanity is going through at the moment.� The statement
highlights the importance of the energetic and vibrational components of
spirit and consciousness.� The crisis that we are in can be thought of as a
healing crisis on a human conscious level.
The Buddha in the Lotus Sutra talks of the bereaved children,�
desperately calling for their deceased father and in their grief taking the
medicine � the elixer of life perfect in order, taste and smell and� then the
compassionate� father, the Buddha appears.
Willis Harman talks of the need for individual and organisational
transformation leading to whole system transformation for the
reassessment and rebuilding of society around a new paradigm.
It is interesting to note that very few people think about the future of the
total planet or fate of future generations, the rise and fall of
civilisations or the paradigmatic shifts in the evolutionary process.� This is true as we rarely view the totality of our lives or look to planning our futures and our family's future.� We are all so shortsighted and live in a limited time frame.
How many paradigmatic shifts in consciousness has humanity gone
through since on this planet ? It has been postulated that ancient
civilisations were simultaneously overthrown by vast natural upheavals
which marked the ends of the old, middle and late Bronze Age period. ��
Immanuel Velikovsky produced his evidence from a scholarly
dissertation on a vast array of legends.� Castrophism Theory by
geologists suggests that global disasters of cosmic proportions have a
hand in our destiny.
Neocatastrophism as used by the latest generation of geologists explains
such phenomena as the extinction of the dinosaurs and the onset of the
Ice Ages.� Graham Hancock, Robert Bauvel and John Anthony West all
give extremely convincing evidence that the Egyptian Sphynx and the
Egyptian pyramids of Khafu, Khufu and Menkaure are in fact remnants
of a flourishing advanced civilisation occurring before the last Ice Age
10,000 years ago.
Life is an enigmatic phenomenon.� It flashes by in a blink of an eye.�
Human beings rarely plan and look to the future of themselves, never
mind their planet.� And as for the enigma of death.� In Western Society it
is flung under the carpet.
The Quest for Enlightenment
�
However, these paradigmatic shifts in the consciousness in humanity as
civilisations rise and fall, create whole new structures or archetypes and
patterns in the depths and stratas of consciousness of the human psyche
and on an individual basis we can attain changes in the structure of our
own psyche through appreciating and experiencing this new patterning
or transformation that is occurring now.� We need to reach into the
energetic nature of our consciousness and our beingness, and the soul or
monadic essence of our consciousness which is part of eternity, - rather
than deny death and simultaneously deny eternity.
I believe that the very nature of our current healing crisis is to create the
New Patterning or a more holistic universal awareness or consciousness
of the sacredness of life and our interconnectedness with Universal Life.�
This is indeed a quest toward enlightenment.
If scientific materialism is but the external tip of the iceberg, I believe
in the next century we will be exploring the vast reaches of the inner space
of the psyche and dwelling on the nature of life and consciousness.� This
giant step for humanity will be more significant than man's first walk on
the moon or the genome project to map the whole human chromosome.
"The past thousand years has been a male dominated society with the
assertiveness and aggressiveness of male energy being paramount.� A lot
of advances have been made (exploration of the physical world, and the
development of technology in which everything is measurable and
objective).� It has been the age of the self and the ego.
A new era and a new millennium can bring us exploration of our inner
world.� It can be a more harmonious era of peace, cooperation and
sensitivity - with emphasis leaning towards feminine energy.� Although
scientific and technological advances will continue, emphasis will be
more on the exploration of the relationship between peoples,
surroundings and the cosmos ("relationship" being the key word).�
During the 2000s Arts will be emphasised and people will become much
more intuitive and creative and operate on this level.� It will be a time of
beauty and goodness.� It has the potential to be another Golden Age.31
Rupert Sheldrake's theory of Morphogenic fields suggests that it is
consciousness that moulds the DNA.� Conceivably we can mould and
change our own DNA within our life time.� Stuart Litvak and A Wayne
Senzee in Towards a New Brain quote evidence of holonomic systemic
influence from brain to body to gonadal cells - inheritance of acquired
characteristics.
I mention these concepts as examples of possible deep changes
occurring in the morphogenesis of Humanity which represent healing
and transformation.
DNA has the ability to turn on and off large areas of itself but what turns
these keys is not understood.� John Davidson feels that a living entity
and its environment is an inextricable patterning and this patterning
supersedes genetic considerations where the outer world of the entity is
an aspect of the formative mind, and where DNA is the reflection of
patterns within the subtle blueprint.
Perhaps now in the depth of our cells huge areas of DNA are being
turned on, influenced by the huge changes in global society, technology
and environment.� Irreversible destruction of living and non-living
resources go hand in hand with a greater disparity between the wealthy
and the poor of the world, the developed and developing countries.�
Artificial intelligence, the info web, bio-cybernetics, genetic
manipulation are developing at an inordinate pace.� Global society is
losing the basic core of the nuclear family and extended family.� People
are taken in by the cult of consumerism and material wealth, giving rise
to greed and satiation for some and loss and suffering for others.� The
overall picture is one of individual alienation.� There has surely to be
some compensation and healing coming from within the collective
human psyche.
The changes affecting our planet currently are so enormous that unless
we can evolve and creatively enhance positive change and positive
vision within our community we are doomed.� We have, however, the
memory, the neurological ability and the DNA sustainability to access
consciousness and creativity through illumination in order to change our
world and our reality to a more sustainable utopian creation.
........................................................................
Dr. William N. Ellis is a physicst, futurist, farmer living in
Maine on the Canadian Border.� He worked nearly 20 years as a science policy
consultnat for the National Science Foundation in Washington.� Then held
positions with UNESCO, the Congress, The World Bank, Nepal, Ethiopia, and
various U.N. agencies. Since 1976 he has been the General Coordinator of a
transnational network of local developer exchanging ideas and mutual aid on
the Alternative and Transformational movement.� He is current facilitating
an on line-book "Creating Learning Communities."
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
E-mail: [email protected]�� ��������������������������������
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Postal Address:� Nuclear Engineering Department, UFRGS�
Av.Osvaldo Aranha 99, 4 andar, 90046-900 Porto Alegre,RS,Brazil
