(A) Who’s driving the truck?
For the longest time, evolution proceeded via a gradual increase in consciousness, from single celled protozoa to “complex” sea anemones who could retract upon touch, to agile fish, adventurous amphibians, gigantic reptiles and nurturing mammals. Then hominids and, eventually, Homo Sapiens Sapiens arrived on the scene. The very newest advance, but definitely not the final one, came when evolution became conscious. The evolution of consciousness morphed into conscious evolution. Now, a species capable of retarding or accelerating evolution has arrived. It is an awesome gift fraught with deadly power if used recklessly. There’s nothing more dangerous than the unconscious use of consciousness.
In the early stages, intention was only present in the form of unconscious instinct. That is how the journey of the cosmos ambled along. Then somebody got a bright idea, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness!” According to many wisdom traditions, the gods frequently regretted that decision and tried to undo it on several occasions – a little like parents giving their reckless son a gift of a car on his 16th birthday. However, for better or worse we are now driving the car and often, it seems, we do so “under the influence.” It sometimes even appears as if Homo Sapiens Sapiens is a bunch of suicide bombers with the accelerator floored in a truck filled with explosives.
(B) The Rock
Many years ago, I had a vision in which I saw planet Earth as a rock sitting on a sheet of ice in the emptiness of space. There were seven billion ropes attached to this rock, with a human being pulling vigorously on each one. Using simple vector mathematics, I could calculate the exact speed and direction in which the rock would move. It was being pulled towards a cliff and was in danger of being catapulted into the void.
Later, I came to realize that there aren’t actually seven billion ropes but, rather, that humans have clustered into camps. Originally, these were small clans, then tribes, then global religions and, finally, economic and ideological mega communities. Each group’s instincts were honed into intention by the stories they told, especially the historical, theological and cosmological tales.
The meme makers (storytellers) learned to harness the masses. Sometimes this was done for purposes of transformation, for instance the work of Lao Tzu, Confucius, Buddha and Jesus; other times, it was used for nefarious purposes, like greed and warfare.
In our times, courtesy of the political-military-economic hegemony, loyally served by the mass media, a few mega groups have formed around the cleverly disguised intentions of the oligarchs. Currently, less than 60 persons own 50% of the world’s resources. And this is why xenophobia, avarice and genocide are endemic to our times. The intentions of the masses have been carefully harnessed by the oligarchs, in the service of global domination. Meanwhile, we have been lulled into sleep by the old Roman technique of “panes et circenses” (bread and circuses), as they pollute the planet and collect the loot.
Like the great avatars we, too, can use small group energy by empowering us in a world where “little people” have been made to feel helpless.
(C) The rope of hope
Like never before, there is a need to get behind the rope of hope, of love and of unity consciousness, before our precious rock is pulled over the cliff into the chaos of the abyss.
There is a simple formula that calculates the force of attraction between two heavenly bodies: F = M1xM2/r2 where F is the force, M1 and M2 are the masses of the two objects and r is the distance between them. If either of the masses were bigger, or if the distance between them were smaller, the force would increase.
Dreams are like that; but mostly we dream from the tiny planet Ego, about a tiny, personal dream, like a bigger house or a higher salary and – to shrivel our chances even further – we don’t really believe we can have them, or even deserve them; thus, increasing the distance between the dreamer and the dream because of our lack of faith.
Wonders happen, as Jesus said they would, when we have the wisdom to dream as a species, about a dream that is love-impregnated and with a faith that shrinks distances between subject and object.
When instinct becomes intention, and intention is energized by desire, and desire is motivated by love, all things are possible. It only takes two or three to begin; or, in Lynne McTaggart’s most recent book, simply “The Power of Eight.” With each increase in numbers, you get not just arithmetic progression but an exponential one.
If you want to grab a strand of this new rope, how about joining or starting a little 8-12-person regular prayer/intention group? The networking of such groups will, I believe, be the key to not merely the survival of our “Rock” but its ascension. Maybe, this is what Jesus really meant by, “thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church.” Just like Francis of Assisi, after his vision misunderstood it as an injunction to re-erect the broken shell of his local chapel, until he realized he was being asked to reform the a very corrupt Vatican-dominated Christian Church. Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a next stage to this statement of Jesus; it was not about erecting stone structures nor even about creating human institutions but about aligning with the community of incarnated souls as they attempt to move planetary consciousness into the next stage of global ascension?
(D) Lord, teach us to pray
For my Ph.D. dissertation, I conducted what was then (1992) the largest double-blind, controlled, randomized experiment of the effects of prayer-at-a-distance on humans. I wanted to measure its effects on self-esteem, anxiety and depression. Altogether, 507 people took part – 90 as “agents” (who did the praying for 15 minutes daily for 12 weeks) and 417 as “subjects” (who were willing to be the “targets” of the prayer.)
To synopsize the answer to the question that I asked in the 393-pages dissertation: “does prayer work?”, I can say: “You betcha!” And the biggest surprise? It was that the agents (the archers) benefitted even more spectacularly than their targets.
Prayer does not work by bending God’s arm to adjust Her will to our agenda but, rather, it creates a laserized intention of coherent human love-beams that can move mountains.
I suggest that there are six simple steps to effective prayer. First, it is necessary to do some “house cleaning.” It’s counterproductive to offer water from a contaminated faucet to a thirsty traveler. So, as Jesus said, “If you go to offer your gift at the altar, and there remember you have anger against your sister or brother, leave your gift at the altar, go and be reconciled with your sister or brother and then come back and offer your gift.” It is very important, before I begin to pray for any target, that I purge my mind of all gunk – anger, fear, anxiety and, especially, unforgiveness.
Stage two is to then fill myself with compassion, which is, basically, the realization that all beings are manifestations of the same Source; we are all sunbeams from the same star. There is no such thing as an “enemy” once we realize that. Compassion, then, is not so much Mary feeling empathy for John but, rather, one finger feeling love for another finger on the same hand.
Stage three is to send out a laserized beam of love at the target. This cannot merely be formulaic; it must have the cutting edge of the archer’s focus on the target. It demands the energy of total awareness in a concentrated moment.
Stage four is to take whatever disciplined action is required in a situation ala the dictum, “pray as if everything depended upon God; live as if everything depended upon yourself.” This may mean social justice work or simply smiling at everyone you meet. It should become “a way of being” – not a party piece to check off a box on the prayer protocol.
Stage five is a belief, a faith in some superpower (God? Combined Intention? Love?) to translate intention into outcome.
And stage six is detachment. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s not. Once we have done our part, we surrender to a much higher intelligence – that which designed an entire cosmos – to figure out the optimal route and the perfect timing for the intended outcome.
Let us pray!
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