{"id":73086,"date":"2014-01-04T03:27:19","date_gmt":"2014-01-04T08:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=73086"},"modified":"2014-01-04T11:22:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-04T16:22:34","slug":"inside-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/by-judith-gayle-2\/inside-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

We begin this new calendar year in a very different space, personally and politically, than we did our last, although frankly, it may not look like it. The challenges that presented at the end of 2012 are disturbingly similar to the challenges today. To say we’ve come a long way seems somehow cavalier, given the returning themes of government shutdown complicated by austerity measures, Wall Street opulence versus economic disparity, international snafus and environmental emergencies. But the truth is, we are not just treading water: we’ve come farther than we know. That’s an important realization, one that can put some wind beneath our wings.<\/p>\n

\"Political While it seems clear that there isn’t much we can do individually about the things we consider national or planetary crises, as representatives of the global community we each have individual responsibility to bring our best to the collective emergency. That’s because we aren’t just residents of this time and space, we’re co-creators of it. Such a possibility is scary to most people who would rather think of life as a thrill ride they have little control over. Easier to think we’re just reacting to what comes at us than complicit in its collective creation, but it’s time to buckle up and take responsibility for our share of the chaos. Everything will change when we do.<\/p>\n

The metaphysical tag for this concept is one we learn early on the path: “as above, so below,” and “as within, so without.” And while what is ‘above’ may seem airy-fairy speculative and what is ‘without’ can easily be interpreted as the consequence of humankind’s flawed character or thoughtless indifference, it is – rather, and importantly — simply a reflection of our attitudes and choices made manifest. The metaphysical significance of the tag is within the interpretation, of course. Some say this is a reminder that there’s nothing to be done about anything, life is just what has to be lived through for its value as a classroom. A more discerning view might, instead, point to the possibility that such essential power as creation is in our own hands.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This is hardly news. For a decade,\u00a0Planet Waves<\/em>\u00a0has flown a thematic flag that the political is personal and vice-versa. That’s because our ability to make things happen in service to our own as well as the collective good comes with the price of both attention and realization. Does it make sense to ignore the rattler that lives under the porch? Does it make sense to ignore ANYTHING that will impact our reality and our experience on the planet? By now it should be clear that doing nothing about a bothersome (or dangerous) situation is the same as giving permission for the circumstance to continue. And for those who think our little bit may not do the trick so why bother, best to remember that without it, there is no trick at all.<\/p>\n

What we ignore despite the obvious truth that our betterment is at stake comes back to bite us. Example? The 2010 mid-terms, which gave us a level of congressional nihilism we’ve seldom seen before. It’s no stretch to imagine that children and old folks would be living easier today, that the unemployed would be better served and the middle class less desperate, that funding for national jobs programs might be flourishing and our infrastructure mending, had the uninterested shown up to vote in November of 2010.<\/p>\n

Why, then, should we suppose we’re better off this year than last, given the continued obstruction, the overwhelming amount of lobbying money circulating, or the ever-ticking clock of environmental emergency? Because many of us have stopped being silent witness to the problems at hand and moved into activism. No, not your mom’s brand of activism or your grandpa’s or even HIS father’s, if great-gramps was a union man back when the Feds rode in on horseback, strike-busters carrying rifles. The changes are happening where the problems originate: within us.<\/p>\n

I can hear some of you sighing, impatient that all this talk-talk-talk leads to nothing but progress crawling along, snail-like, pushing the boulder up the hill. Others of you are inclined to think that unless we can actually see something happening, nothing is. Still others resent hearing it’s up to them, feeling powerless or reluctant to grab a picket sign when the growing militarization of our police makes that a risky business. But the fact is, close inspection of public perception shows that we now have the necessary consensus of opinion regarding social imperatives that, once embraced, must find acceptance in public policy. And, to quote our Vice President, that’s a Big Fucking Deal.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers<\/a>\u00a0write, regarding the work of the late political organizer, Bill Moyer (not the PBS icon,) in instructing those invested in developing social and civil justice movements:<\/p>\n

… when a movement is able to mobilize a small minority of the population in support of views held by a majority of the people, they win. In fact, a review of the last 100 years of resistance movements found that the people have never lost in a dictatorship or democracy when 3.5% of the people are mobilized.<\/p>\n

Bill Moyer sharpens our task, telling us that many activists mistakenly think when they are protesting their target is the government or a corporation when in fact the target is mobilizing the people. We want to show that there is an effective movement speaking to the people\u2019s concerns and putting forth views that they support. This is especially true in the current stage where our task is to broaden and deepen the movement through talking, often one-on-one, with people in our communities and creating a national consensus in support of our goals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just 3.5 percent. Gives us a different way to think about the Hundredth Monkey, doesn’t it? Is there any question in our mind that 3.5 percent of the world population has ALREADY embraced a desire for more civil, equal or compassionate existence, not just for themselves but for all of humankind? With a growing consensus for collaborative living pushing out into the morphic field that Greg Braden calls the Divine Matrix, is there any doubt that the material plane must eventually respond?<\/p>\n

The question is, are we doing our share to assist this internal movement? Are we contributing our focus and our passion? Are we hitting on all possible pistons, and if not — here in a nation where materialism demands allegiance at every turn — how do we get a tune-up? And, one last query: do we even need to go out of our way to get one?<\/p>\n

Me, I think we’re smack in the middle of a Hell Freezing Over moment. From what I see and hear around me, whatever we’re currently doing has sprouted unlikely seeds of personal enlightenment. Our individual interests are pushing us toward unexpected revelation. Our behaviors are changing in stunning ways. People who have spent a lifetime dense as bricks are suddenly sharing insights and beaming Light, even — and this is no small example, given the collective disdain of modernity here — in the Pea Patch.<\/p>\n

For instance, those who haven’t shown any regard for the political aspects of food are suddenly interested in knowing what they’re eating, in buying locally to protect against harmful additives. I’ve seen examples of people who spent a lifetime taking advantage of others surrender to some sort of come-to-Jesus moment, either by illness or circumstance, and shift their attention to become thoughtful, grateful contributors to others’ well-being. There are reports of similar highly-unlikely behavior shifts from around the country.<\/p>\n

Things that we may have spent a lifetime thinking, feeling, doing, suddenly just feel “wrong.” This year, in the Pea Patch, hunters seemed less enthusiastic to kill. In a bloody month when I am usually sickened by sights and smells, this year I didn’t see a single dead deer. Not just that, but those with chronically difficult life-scripts are suddenly cleaning up their acts, eager to find an easier path, asking for a helping hand, seeking renewal. And — don’t choke, now — I think this is all due to the advent of End Times.<\/p>\n

No, not the fundy End Times scenario, with the flying Jesus and the fiery Archangels. You know me better than that! There’s another way to look at this end-of-an-era stuff, one I became familiar with back in the 60s while leading an\u00a0Edgar Cayce<\/a>\u00a0Search for God <\/em>group. Cayce devoted some of his readings to the last book of the\u00a0Bible<\/em>. Revelations is said to be the charismatic work of the apostle John, a man over 90 and a political prisoner on the penal island of Patmos, prophesying about the end of the world.<\/p>\n

Unbelievers have suggested that this was done in a state of dementia, delirium or possession, while true believers are kept in line by the dire prophetic possibilities. As you are surely aware, fundamentalists who take this vision seriously have assigned modern enemies to mythical figures in this nightmarish symbolism, and televangelists rake in the big bucks promoting it. The nation that early on separated religion from government now finds itself skidding along on the fear promoted by those who believe a literal version of Revelations. Hard to believe we take pride in being this simple-minded, but we do, and hard to understand, this possibility has seeped into the bones of the nation as an inevitable punishment-consciousness that is at the core of our current nihilism.<\/p>\n

We are invested in the polarity of right\/wrong, in good\/bad. We have not understood the\u00a0neutrality of learning, the wisdom of experience or the love lavished on every soul from our all-accepting, nonjudgmental Source. And yet all of us, even those stuck in the darkest projections, are beginning to vibrate more quickly, throwing off what is simply no longer our truth. Can we forgive ourselves our ignorance and move forward? Can we surrender ourselves to this process when we consider it only takes 3.5 percent of us to change everything?<\/p>\n

Cayce would tell us we can. His conception of Revelations was that it was not just a compilation of historic symbolism that — no surprise — might easily overlay much of what we experience a couple of thousand years later, but that it was pure alchemy: a map of how our chakras would be energized in a spiritual renaissance to bring in an individual experience of the Christ Consciousness. At the “end,” then, a renewal of who we were must inevitably morph into who we must become in a new era.<\/p>\n

As Eric and Len and others here at the\u00a0Planet Waves<\/em>\u00a0community have suggested, we are at a remarkable point in history. The mix of energies this year — and right now, specifically — is rare and unusual, uncharted even among those of us who chart everything. We come to this period (with or without our active awareness) as spiritual activists participating in an influx of energy gathering to manifest a healing outward experience, one small step at a time. Keeping ourselves apprised of what is needed — giving us the ability to contribute our assistance by intent, thought and action — is vital to a positive, egalitarian outcome, if that is our desire.<\/p>\n

Even now, as we come to the end of decades actively pursuing individualism, we find ourselves greatly in need of group dynamics to reestablish and balance our collective power. This is yet another example of so within, without — so above, below. Another of Cayce’s psychic interpretations had to do with the ongoing pattern of experience within our soul process of the collective vs. the individual. According to the readings, the whole of creation has to do with the individuating of the whole of the God-head, which sought an experience of Itself. That would be us. God’s godding. Light reflecting.<\/p>\n

And again and again, according to Cayce and surely our experience confirms it, this business of evil vs. good — or wakened vs. unawakened — plays out in order to reveal the entirety of the mundane possibilities. In Cayce’s conception from the Akashic records, individuals contributed their experience to the group understanding, while the group itself was simply part of the greater whole. One and the same, particle and wave, pre-discovery of quantum physics. The Great Circle of creation.<\/p>\n

From a spiritual point of view, the channels I frequent all view this new year as ripe with possibility, as prepared to spill out overflowing good, as we accept and work with the incoming energy. They speak to a renewed understanding of ourselves, an activation of DNA codes and a regeneration of ancient wisdom, long forgotten. A re-membrance of purpose and intent. If the ascension process is real – if this insistent and profound Knowing within us, shaking us awake, is as powerful and profound as we think it is — then we are well on our way.<\/p>\n

This year, the prods will come from the inside out. This is a year in which our internal discoveries will change our behaviors for the better, or reveal us in ways the collective will refuse to support (and give us ample reason to reconsider). We would do well to remember — from the We Are All One playbook — that we cannot establish for ourselves what we would refuse another, nor create new solutions using old ideas or frames of reference. No new wine in old wineskins.<\/p>\n

If you are enthusiastic about the inevitability of progressive social engineering — NOT a dirty word or hateful concept, by the way — you may want to get a sense of Bill Moyer’s “vision of a new culture emerging through the cracks of a declining empire.” Watch his final\u00a0presentation here<\/a>. Or, if you’d rather cut to the chase and be encouraged by a quick summation of what’s been accomplished in 2013, watch this\u00a0brief message<\/a>\u00a0from Robert Reich.<\/p>\n

There are many ways in which we may participate in changing reality, in renewing our humanity. They’ll come to us in what we read, in what we dream, in thoughts that make us newly uncomfortable with old habits. This year, the quest comes to us.<\/p>\n

In years past, I would give my\u00a0Course in Miracles<\/em>\u00a0groups a metaphysical list of things to keep in mind. One of them was “the answers to your questions are always right under your nose.” We don’t have to quest for truth; it’s within us. I think this is the year we find out how profound an experience that really is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Judith Gayle | Political Waves We begin this new calendar year in a very different space, personally and politically, than we did our last, although frankly, it may not look like it. The challenges that presented at the end of 2012 are disturbingly similar to the challenges today. To say we’ve come a long … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}