Dr Bob's Blog

In this talk I want to deal with three broad issues. First I want to argue that the Earth is under serious threat from global warming and other ecological problems, but global warming is my principle focus, and we desperately need to alter our activities in order to live in harmony with and value the Earth and all living forms to allow the Earth to heal itself.

 

Secondly I want to argue that living in harmony with the Earth will require significant changes in the way we live. One of things that will need to happen for these changes to occur is a major transformation in human consciousness. We will need to become awakened and enlightened in a spiritual sense. This is why modern spirituality is the second topic I want to talk about.

 

The threat posed by global warming

 

This is the biggest challenge any civilization has ever faced. It deserves to be the number one issue is everybody’s agenda, but it is not.

I want to make some assumptions without spending time arguing for them, that would take two long.

• First, global warming is real, its happening;
• Second, human activity is responsible for the warming and it’s the activity of the developed nations that has caused the problem.

Nothing is known for sure about how the impact will occur, but the overall evidence suggests that the outcome if we don’t learn to live in harmony with the Earth then the consequences will not be good for our successors.

 

Gwynne Dyer who spoke recently in Timaru, and who has written a book (Climate Wars) on the subject makes four conclusions that I think are helpful.

 

First, global warning is coming much faster than first thought. Dyer has talked to many scientists and leaders in researching his book. He detects an air of suppressed panic. There will be many casualties if we get through this issue.

 

Second, we have to decarbonize our economies if we are to reach zero green house gas emissions by 2050 and by 80% by 2030. If we don’t then the second half of this century won’t be a very nice place for our successors. Decarbonizing our economy will result in a great deal of pain for many and tremendous opportunities for others

 

Thirdly, Dyer suggests that it’s unrealistic to believe that we can achieve these targets. Greenhouse gases are rising by 3% per annum and Asia and other places are moving into full industrialization.

 

Dyer thinks we will need to geo-engineering to stave of the problem until the emission levels cease.

 

Fourth, for every degree that the average global temperature rises there are increased mass movements of population, increased numbers of failed states, the risk of war, even nuclear war. These issues will make securing the cooperation needed to reduce emissions to zero much more difficult, probably impossible.

 

If the rest of the world is to attain the lifestyle of the developed world we would need 30% more planet than we now have. One of the major implications is that global warming will almost certainly result in more deserts that will decimate a great deal of agricultural land and create massive problems of starvation, famine and disease.

 

There are two issues that are relevant to our subject here.

 

First, each and every one of us will need to adopt a less energy intensive lifestyle.

 

Secondly, it will take considerable political skill and expertise to decarbonizes our lives. Technologically, it seems that this is probably possible, but do we have the political will and the leadership to make this happen? It will require leadership with a highly developed consciousness to deal with the complexity involved and with the breadth and depth of compassion, care and concern for all of life, not just the human beings in their own nation state. It will also require an electorate who are willing to be lead in this direction.

 

Older established countries have created the problem, and the newly industrialized countries have the right to improve their life conditions. It means that the rich industrialized countries will need to make concessions to the newly industrialized countries and even provide expertise and capital to help them achieve industrialize in ways that in the short term are carbon neutral. This will be a significant demand on the established industrial states.

 

The point I am building up to is that achieving the political will, as well as bringing about a profound change in our activities in order to live in harmony with and value the Earth will depend upon a massive leap in consciousness of at least 15 to 20% of the developed world. At this time we have between 2 and 5% at an advanced level of consciousness.

 

Cosmic consciousness

 

I am calling the level of consciousness that will needed by something like 15 to 20 per cent of the adult population cosmic consciousness. So what is cosmic consciousness?

 

Cosmic consciousness we go beyond experiencing myself as I, me and mine a separate individual that craves achievements, and the acquisition of things as a means of gratification, to a realization that each of us is life, life has us, we are the dance and life is the dancer. Life is a universal, intelligent, conscious energy that has its expression in a multitude of life forms including you and me.

There are three steps that I have noticed in the process of becoming cosmic consciousness.

• First, you gain glimpses of a greater reality about your true nature and essence in practices associated with accessing an enhanced state of awareness. You learn practices like mediation and contemplation as well as in monitoring your activity moment by moment as events unfold.
• Secondly, you learn about the different levels or stages of consciousness (the awareness logics) and you combine the insights from meditation, contemplation and monitoring with reflections on the intellectual stuff you learn. Combining states of consciousness practices with learning about stages of consciousness allows you learn how to enter a new realm of reality where you experience life as a universal conscious energy, your true essence.    
• Thirdly, this is supplemented by learning and applying what I call the awareness and communication capacities that help you better manage your inner mental processes and your interpersonal relationships.

These three steps are the most powerful way that I know of becoming cosmic consciousness. This is the process that I have used in my own awakening, incomplete as it is, but I did not do so in a systematic way, but stumbled through it and later reflected on my experience. I now feel ready to teach others what I have experienced. I am bound to say that becoming fully embedded in cosmic consciousness may never be fully achieved for most of us, as we are likely to fall in and out of this way of being, but we never lose the realization of our true nature, we just lose from time to time the sweetness of the heightened awareness. This is certainly my experience. However, even at this level it sure beats experiencing yourself as a separate, isolated individual.

 

States of consciousness refer to temporary and changing characteristics of consciousness. The three most common states of consciousness are waking, dreaming and deep sleep. There are major variations within waking consciousness that reflect the impact that our emotions have upon what we experience and the nature and intensity of mental energy. This refers to the capacity to focus attention on the tasks at hand. It’s also about what are commonly called peak experiences. I teach you how to access enhanced states of consciousness as you go about your daily life.

Stages or structures of consciousness are more or less permanent structures of consciousness that govern and regulate consciousness. I call these stages or structures of consciousness, awareness logics.

 

Accessing an enhanced state of consciousness helps you bridge the gap between your inner experience and the external world.

An awakened consciousness is what the famous spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle calls the NOW. It means being fully present as each moment unfolds so that you are able to monitor and adjust your actions in real time as events unfold. Very few people are able to do this effectively. Most people are lost in their thoughts and troubling emotions and lose touch with the NOW.

Many people who experience this state of consciousness refer to it as being in the zone, and in this course I teach you how to enter the zone at will.  

The royal rode to entering the zone of the NOW is to learn how to recognize the witnessing presence behind your thoughts and emotions. I teach you how to develop a witnessing and knowing presence which in turn helps you experience and realize your true essence. This witnessing knowing presence is always with you even though you might be oblivious to this fact. An important part of this teaching is to help you learn how to call upon this inner wisdom when you most need it, particularly at those times when you are seriously challenged.

I teach you how you can enter an enhanced state of consciousness in your everyday activities. This enables you to monitor what you are doing moment by moment and adjust their actions as circumstances dictate. In crucial situations we are often overwhelmed by events and it is only afterwards that we figure out what we should have done. By being in the NOW you are able to respond effectively at the time when it matters most.

As your practice of an enhanced state of consciousness you will gain insights into the real nature of your being. You will begin to recognize  that you do not have a life, but that you are life. Life is the dancer and you are the dance. If you think about the implications of what this means you will recognize that you are very much different and much greater than you might have ever imagined.

I teach people how they can free themselves from troubling emotions and use the energy of their emotions in a positive way. You will learn how to identify the inner life energy that flows through your body and keeps you in the NOW.  

 

Stages or structures of consciousness are more or less semi-permanent stages of consciousness that captures the idea that at different stages of life an individual has a certain range of consciousness.

In our lives we resolve six areas of life in different ways at different stages of our lives that I call the awareness logics.

• How we understand what is real and your relationship to reality;
• The system of contributions and rewards that governs our lives, This is about how we think about earning a living and being rewarded for the contribution we make;
• The way we define our needs and our relationship to the things we do and have, to satisfy our needs;
• The lifestyle that we aspire to and the resources this involves;
• How we manage our relationships with others;
• Our relationship to the political and governance processes that affect us.

These stages of awareness logics are universal features of human existence as they are found in all cultures throughout the world. The way these different dimensions are resolved undergo development throughout one’s lifetime. You may not resolve these issues today in the same way you did ten or twenty years ago, you may not resolve them in the same way in ten years time.
 

There  are five different awareness logics that are the most relevant to living in harmony with the Earth.

The five awareness logics that we deal with are the opportunist, traditional, modernist, post modernist and cosmic. The dominant awareness logic in the developed world is the modernist, and I’ll define that first and then contrast that with the cosmic awareness logic.

In the modernist awareness logic the self is experienced as a separate isolated individual. The modernist awareness logic values wealth, status and the good life through material wealth and consumption. People are valued in terms of what they own and their income. Progress is achieved through science and technology and seeking the best solution. It values winning and striving for excellence and appreciates individual autonomy and independence all organized within a meritocracy.

This is the world view of corporate culture, modern science, mainstream media and professional sports. What is true is “objective truth", reason and that which can be materially proved. The aesthetic domain is dominated by fashionable symbols of power, prestige and glamour.

For this awareness logic material progress and the exploitation of resources is seen as good as it increases wealth and is an outlet for the ambitious and entrepreneurial. Material wealth, status and material plenty and expansive consumption define the good life. Needs are defined as those things that make for the “good life”, they are form the basis of identity and people are strongly attached to the things they have.

People who share this awareness logic cannot understand those who don't accept the modernist view of reality. They wonder what the problem is because this awareness logic contains the core factors that keep the economy ticking over.

 

It must be conceded that this awareness logic has been responsible for many positive changes and achievements, but the overemphasis on material success and the acquisition of wealth has meant that everything is sacrificed to these ends. This awareness logic created the modern world, but it cannot take us to a world that will work in harmony with and value the Earth and allow the Earth to heal itself as well as valuing all living forms.

Einstein said that you cannot solve the problems created by one type of consciousness with the level of consciousness that created the problem in the first place.

If you think about the make-up of this awareness logic you can see that it in fact offers a very narrow set of perspectives. Many people have become disillusioned with materialism and the abandonment of the spiritual dimension of life, but who have rejected the mythic narrow focus of the traditional awareness logic of mainstream religion. This awareness logic believes that it’s “my way or the highway”. It also has a limited capacity to see the many shades of meaning and complexity. It also finds it difficult to adopt a position of compassion and concern for those who have a different view of the world, or who it judges to be losers.

Many have also developed feelings of emptiness and an appreciation that the world as its presented to our senses is not the whole truth about reality. It also fails to notice the contradictions and paradoxes we face as it tries to analyse issues using a linear form of reasoning.  When people experience these feelings it's an indication that their consciousness is on the move and they are ready to move up the spiral of development.

Cosmic awareness logic can be contrasted with the modernist awareness logic.

The most radical aspect of this awareness logic is the realization that we are not isolated separate individuals, but that we participate in universal life energy. We do not have a life, we are life and life is the dancer, we are the dance. We are here to serve the universal life energy and in the current era this means living in harmony with the Earth and valuing the Earth and all living forms.

This awareness logic's advantage is that it encompasses an understanding and appreciation of all of the prior stages of consciousness including the modernist awareness logic as well as making possible a broad sense of compassion, care and concern for all people including those who have a counter view.

This awareness logic can understand the conflicts that arise between other awareness logics and also the nature of the looming global social and ecological problems. This awareness logic has a practical world centric morality but also has a renewed insistence on achieving results that seems to get lost in the post modern awareness logic.

This involves creating what Ervin Laszlo calls intensive growth that is focused on developing individuals, communities and ecologies that is sustainable rather than extensive growth that colonizes and consumes resources in an unsustainable way. This will involve a transformed way in which economic life is organized. This awareness logic helps us to support political change that will be needed if we are to live in harmony with and value the Earth and all living forms.

This awareness logic aim is to harmonize spirituality and science and it appreciates that awareness logics evolve and develop if given the right life conditions. This awareness logic can see the beautiful in nature and appreciate how the beautiful can be experienced in the mundane ordinary world by accessing a peak state of awareness.

It is the development of this awareness logic among a significant number of the population that is required to create a revitalized religions and spiritual imagination where the Earth and all living forms is the central focus thereby allowing the Earth to heal itself and for a more just and humane world to emerge. Its also the awareness logic that will be needed among the leaders of today and in the future in order to create the political changes that will be needed if we are to live harmony with and value the Earth and all living forms.

The times are right for a huge leap in consciousness to cosmic consciousness. 

 

An enhanced state of consciousness and developing a cosmic awareness logic cannot be achieved by will power or having an intellectual understanding of what is involved. It requires disciplined practice.

 

I teach people how to achieve an enhanced state of awareness and how to develop a cosmic awareness logic in an online learning programme that I have developed based around the three steps outlined above. I also provide them with a set of practices that they can use for their ongoing development and as a means of accessing enhanced states of consciousness. These practices when combined with the knowledge learned about awareness logics become the basis for reflection and contemplation that gives rise to a transformed cosmic consciousness.

 

I also teach people what I call the awareness andcommunication capacities. These are skills that aid "accomplishedliving". A key issue here is dealing with and achieving mastery of theemotions. Achieving an enhanced state of consciousness involves living in theNOW as defined by Eckhart Tolle, but if we don't have mastery of the emotionsthen our emotions can blow us out of the NOW very quickly. Moreover movingtowards a cosmic consciousness will not be possible if there are unresolvedemotional issues that need to be dealt with. I provide participants with arelatively simple process to deal with any underlying psychological dynamicsthat might impede conscious development.

 

Many people have problems in communicating and telling their truth when crucial and critical situations arise. These situationsinvolve differences of opinion where the stakes are high and when emotions runhot. Most people in these situations do one of two things, they either withdrawfrom the discussion, or they become aggressive in pursuing their point of view.I teach people how to develop the skills to tell their truth, but at the sametime respect others and treat them with dignity and respect.

 

The first step in creating a civilization that lives inharmony with and values the earth and all living forms is the transformation of the consciousness of between 15 and 20% to the cosmic consciousness stage.This, it is thought, could be a tipping point that could put humanity on a new path. If this threshold in consciousness could be reached then it is conceivable that the political, social and economic changes could be made to achieve a civilization that was in harmony with and valued the earth and all living forms. The stakes are extremely high. Organization such as Ephesus could seed communities that might help the transformation of consciousness take place.