What does the current world situation bring up for you? This question produces a variety of responses depending on who you ask. There are seriously alarming things playing out right now many of which are major global events such as climate change. Beyond that we seem to be creating increasingly oppressive governments even in our so called free western societies. Our society at least to me appears to be suffering from a degenerative sickness which is entering a terminal stage. The degradation of our society is evidenced by many symptoms including increasing extremism, a poisoning of the food supply due to genetic and toxic contamination, a health care system that is based on profit instead of healing and sells poison under the guise of medicine, an almost complete lack of honesty and morality in government, a numbed out population that spends its time entranced by mass media promoting extremely dysfunctional behavior and propaganda and an economy where both greed and manufactured scarcity run rampant.

Two common responses to this that represent two ends of a spectrum include indifference or denial on one end and anger and resistance on the other. While these two responses seem to be polar opposites they have a common underlying basis of fear. It would be quite unbelievable to honestly take a look at what is happening in the world and not experience some degree of fear. Have you allowed yourself to see and acknowledge fully what is happening? These are very challenging times and the future has never been more uncertain but how we see these events and how we respond are critical in determining what form this uncertainly takes. Uncertainly or the unknown tends to evoke fear in human beings because of our habitual way of seeing ourselves as separate beings in a material universe. This illusory separation is the root cause of fear. The unknown in truth contains the limitless possibility of abundance which is our true nature but fear arising out of separation cuts us off from this natural abundance. This is important because if we face the current uncertainly with fear we will collectively create our worst nightmare. So what do we do if fear naturally arises in response to these trying times and it has the power to create what we least want to experience?

Empowered Engagement

One possible answer to this question is to transform our fear into empowerment. Denying or avoiding fear only pushes it into the unconscious where it wreaks havoc on our lives causing us to feel victimized by our life situation because we don’t see how we are creating our own suffering. Acting out of fear or anger masking fear is no better because it produces results that are infused with the energy of fear and dis-empowerment and this can only produce more of the same. If however we recognize and acknowledge our fear we open up the potential for transforming it. This can be done through the practice of mindfulness which I describe in detail in my article “Mindfulness and the practice of RAIN”.

By owning our fear we not only initiate healing for ourselves but we begin to act as healers for our society as well because we bring empowerment instead of fear to the collective consciousness. Being aware of and accepting of our fear transforms its raw energy into conscious empowerment which we can then put to effective use to create real change. In a state of conscious empowerment we cannot be manipulated or deceived and we directly see that we are not separate from the external world but in fact co-create it with what we think, feel and do. This co-creation of our experience can happen consciously or unconsciously and I would say we find ourselves at a stage in our evolution where unconscious co-creation is no longer possible, it has become too destructive. With empowerment we also have a powerful impact on those around us because we touch and trigger their empowered nature even if they are not aware of it at the moment. This allows us to confront destructive behavior in a much more effective way, we don’t condone it and we don’t resist or fight against it, rather we confront it with fearless empowered presence. We can do this because our fear has been owned and transformed into the very power we use to create change and we create that change by stepping into it ourselves as examples of what a fearless empowered life looks like.

We have a choice as to whether we take destructiveness to its most extreme manifestation or whether we consciously step into our roles as divine co-creators and help shape a new more healthy more nurturing society. We cannot do that without facing the darker parts of ourselves including our fear and our needs that result from past trauma. Both we as individuals and as a society are in dire need of healing and this healing needs to start within each of us. I think the positive aspect of our world situation is that its pressure and intensity will not allow us to avoid this healing any longer, we cannot continue the way we have been without destroying ourselves. We can use these intense times as the fuel for change and healing if we understand how to transform our fear and let go of our separation. Then we can respond to whatever happens with empowered engagement.

Some friends of mine and I have been discussing the idea of creating our own community house as an alternative to our various living situations. That discussion has prompted me to look at what community means to me now and in the future. Community has been quite important to me but I’ve started to realize that it has also been very limited compared to its potential. I have a community of friends and we maintain connection, support each other, and even share certain resources like food, services and such. This is a wonderful thing but I’m interested in taking it much farther.

In my view our society is suffering greatly today due to the separation between its members living the individualistic lifestyle. Our society takes individualism to a drastic extreme to the point where we have all but lost the nurturing tribal ways of life of our ancestors. There was a good reason for the development of the tribal community, humans are social beings and they thrive and survive best in community. One person’s weaknesses don’t take them down instead they are compensated for by other members of the tribe. In our society even within a family structure we are individuals, we are supposed to provide for our own needs, pay our own bills, maintain our own house and car, buy our own food and take care of our own health. Even in seemingly close families people often feel disconnected, isolated and overwhelmed. While we may seek help and support to some degree many responsibilities remain ours alone. This presents a massive burden on the individual. The ever changing nature of life inevitably results in us not being able to meet our needs at times such as when we loose a job, get sick go through a major transformation or have a child. Our individualism becomes a liability especially when the systems that allow it begin to collapse as we are seeing today, it is not a sustainable way of life.

What I’m envisioning at least in terms of what I wish to create is more of a modern tribal community or an extended family. Not a family based on blood or birth but one based on shared intention and conscious choice. In the past tribal communities were based on birth, you were born into a tribe or you became part of it through marriage or geographic proximity. You didn’t usually choose your tribal group. This is the old tribal paradigm which we have outgrown in my view so need not return to. Having come from this and now through to the other end of the spectrum of isolated individualism we have had the opportunity to individuate from the blood family and find out personal paths and identities. From this place we have the opportunity to come back to the middle, to choose to create tribal community based on conscious choice with shared intentions, paths and goals. This is the new paradigm of tribal community and I think it represents the most sustainable way of living going into the future.

The ways this looks for me in my visioning process at the moment is gathering a group of people who share a similar vision, who have compatible intentions and interests and creating a community house here in Portland. Ideally we would buy a house and collectively own it co-op style, this has been done here already by many people. What I would add to it would be the connection and container of the dream groups (a way of connecting with each other at a deep level, sharing our experience and processing issues that come up in community life in a safe container) as well as an interdependent connection in terms of resources. In this community we would assume responsibility as a collective for resources such as food and material items, for financial requirements and each others well being. If one person got sick they would not have to worry about not being able to buy food or pay the rent as the other members would support them during their sickness and vice versa. By functioning as a collective we would lighten the burden on each person and create a sustainable and powerful support system that could weather almost any crisis or situation.

What I’m envisioning here is not dependence but interdependence. Each person would be able to pursue their own path and interests and they would be in this community by choice based on shared intentions and goals making the fit work smoothly. I can imagine many such collectives forming each representing different intentions, styles and goals with groups of collectives forming supercollectives thus creating a wider web of support and interdependence. I truly feel this is what many people long for as they leave the old patterns of working at incongruent jobs, struggling to pay bills and “make it” in a society that is deeply sick from its own neglect of meaning and connection. I’m learning from my own experience that to step out of the old paradigm, to let go of the old ways of doing things requires embracing new creative ways of living and working.

I’ve been working more lately with what it means to offer service, well really with what service actually means for me in practice. Service is a major part of my spiritual practice not only as a means of expressing my connection with others but also to express my gratitude for the incredible gifts I’ve received in my life and to give some of that back while reducing self-centeredness. I really had a limited idea of service up until recently imagining that it had to be some clear fixed activity that was labeled service and offered as such, something like volunteering for a charity or spiritual organization.

Now however its more of a daily moment to moment practice and I’m starting to see it as a potential motivation for all activity. A way of giving to others and the universe in a continuous ever flowing way. Now that I don’t have a job and I’ve created some space in terms of what to do next there is a part of me that isn’t sure what to do with myself each day beyond hanging with friends and doing spiritual practice and things like that. It occurred to me that there really doesn’t need to be any attempt to find something to do because the possibility of offering service is always present.

Service in this new perspective can be any activity that comes from a state of presence. I’m learning to stop and be still and become present before engaging in activity so as to be truly aware of where that activity is emerging from. There is a vast difference between activity that emerges from stillness and that which emerges from chaotic mind or from fear or agitation. When activity emerges from stillness it takes on an almost sacred quality which originates from the presence shining through it. There is great clarity here. From that place of stillness service becomes whatever is needed in the moment. Maybe its fixing a meal or taking a shower, maybe its offering a smile or a kind word, maybe its being grateful for what I have or expressing love to someone or maybe its going and working on someones computer or raking their yard. The action doesn’t matter so much, its more that it comes from a deep place and is therefore very resonating with what is needed in the moment. From this place there is no hesitation or doubt and compassion permeates ones experience because our interconnection is felt in the moment and when one “feels” their interconnectedness with others there is no hesitation when something is needed. It becomes a natural response. I’m still a ways from that but its becoming more and more clear as I really practice it.

Service would seem to be an integral aspect of an enlightened society because if everyone was aware of their connection with each other and responded naturally to what was needed we would no longer have any poverty or lack of any kind. However this requires a shift in awareness or consciousness rather than some kind of practical solution. I realize now that the best way I can contribute to this is to practice it myself.

Currently I’m living in a community house with some very wonderful people whom I haven’t had much of a chance to get to know yet. The vibe at this place is very open and grounding and that feels really good with where I’m at right now. Its going to be interesting to see to what degree I fit in and connect with the space and the community here. Its a bit of an experiment and that seems to be where I’m at right now, in an experimental and exploratory phase. I’m not sure where its going to lead but it seems my difficulty right now is directly related to the degree that I grasp at things being settled and stable. The reality is that they are not and when I’m able to embrace that things begin to feel powerful and open and ok until the grasping returns.

The real challenge is letting go of grasping and realizing there is nothing to hold onto. Damn that is hard to do at times, the pull to grasp, solidify and need things to be the way I’m used to is sneaky in the way it creeps in and powerfully frightening when its fully activated. I’ve put myself in a situation where I have no choice but to let go because I have released most of what I was using for my sense of security. At a deeper level I know that community living is the right path both for me personally and for the future of our society and planet but I just don’t know what that will look like for me or how it will manifest yet. The process is certainly moving forward in any case……