May 17, 1994
(C) Copyright 1994 by C.B. Willis. Redistribution rights granted for non-commercial purposes.
When polled, many Americans say that they feel our country has gone off track.
Few people recognize themselves as spirit, or understand the potentials of spirit.
The negative effects of social and personal conditioning tend to run rampant and unchecked. Many people are in such bad shape they have little time or energy to devote to service to others, community, personal or spiritual enrichment, friends and family, artistic expression, or physical re-creation. Furthermore they are far from being optimally effective or fulfilled in their worklives. Stress ailments are commonplace, and lifestyle and nutrition based on convenience alone do not support wellness. Depression and profound hidden upsets are widespread.
Few people today understand the need for or seek any kind of professional assistance to release social and/or personal conditioning. Even fewer can afford such assistance even if they wanted it, and seldom do they have time and service to trade for professional services.
The problems on the planet are so massive that working with a few individuals is not going to cut it, or create enough critical mass to shift the rest. It will take a wider view and a more global approach to make effective inroads into healing our planetary situation.
Fortunately, there are millions of persons of goodwill who want to do whatever they can to reverse destructive trends on the planet today.
In the spirit of ecumenism, representatives of the various religious traditions hold forth together in a spirit of goodwill, seeking the common high ground. Regardless of particular teachings or spiritual practices, the emphasis is on the importance of spirit in human life.
Likewise in diversity programs of today, gender, age, ethnicity, or other background factors take a back seat to the common ground of one's humanity, while diverse attributes add spice and round out the mix in a group.
This paper is a clarion call for all factions and people everywhere to pull together in a new ecumenism, a new universality, and a new commonality of PURPOSE, regardless of various church affiliation, spiritual tradition, philosophic persuasion, therapeutic approach, or none of the above, IF we are to actually accomplish the job of PLANETARY HEALING.
We may variously disagree on HOW the job is to be done, but we CAN agree more or less on WHAT the problems are, and THAT we are committed to stop at nothing to resolve them for ourselves and the next generation(s), and that it may be possible TO CREATE a more supportive context for people to live spiritually on Earth.
Another area of agreement lies in the area that I have termed in other writings "universal core values," values that are so fundamental that all other values may be said to derive from them. Such values are universal because almost everyone, from whatever religious, ethnic or other background, would give assent to them as values that they do indeed hold.
The above can be seen as a common core of agreement, more or less, throughout all humanity. The task now is to NAME THE CORE AGREEMENTS in further detail and communicate them widely as such, as a way to solidify our common ground and as a platform on which to build.
1) Approach the planetary situation from the perspective of pure spirit, from outside the Earth system.
2) Approach the planetary situation from the perspective of embodied spirit, living day-to-day inside the Earth system.
In either case, the following results would be desirable:
To achieve results on a wide scale, any approach must be:
Simplicity will make for easy duplication. I suggest below that "telling the truth" will be the core of this simplicity. If something is too complicated, the chances are it will not be properly duplicated, and it is also likely to become trivialized and degraded as people don't understand it, don't get positive results, or don't have fun.
1) Spiritual Identity Crisis. Most people don't know themselves as spirit. This is true even of regular churchgoers and those who have practiced a spiritual discipline for a long time. Most people think they are bodies, ordinary minds, personalities, emotions, feelings, family, sexuality, group affiliations, accomplishments, work, or interests. Handling the spiritual identity crisis is the first step to spiritual freedom. Spiritual identity is at the heart of all world religions, but has tended to get buried underneath more peripheral teachings.
2) Unnecesary Suffering. Much of what people take to be necessary about the way things are is in fact UN-necessary. Unnecessary suffering is often the product of craving for sensation and material things, attachments, ambitions, social and/or personal conditioning, or what I have elsewhere termed "tacit social agreements" (unspoken and/or assumed social agreements).
3) One special form of unnecessary suffering is a social agreement (often tacit) to play THE SCARCITY GAME, the game that there's not enough good stuff to go around. Not enough money, not enough recognition, not enough time, not enough space, not enough energy, not enough love, not enough you name it, it ain't there to be had and enjoyed. You'll find people telling all kinds of stories to justify why there REALLY ISN'T enough of what they want. What if we could tell all kinds of stories to say that THERE REALLY IS ENOUGH OF WHAT WE WANT, AND HERE'S HOW TO GET IT, AND IT'S REALLY VERY SIMPLE WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT FROM HERE, AND FURTHERMORE I CAN MAKE MORE OF THAT ANYTIME I WANT IT, AND IF I LOSE ONE I'LL JUST MAKE 10 MORE, etc.
I challenge Humanity to come up with 10 NEW ABUNDANCE GAMES by the end of 1994, life games that begin with an easily agreed-upon premise of abundance that supersedes the old game of scarcity. You have to name specifically what scarcity game(s) it supersedes. You also have to get some media publicity on the new game, and/or publicize it yourself on the Internet. Do you think that designing new games would fly as a party game? Sure beats 20 Questions. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Well, they've already left out spirit.
Be willing to be first In a group to tell the truth. Do it on a toe-in-the-water basis, then deeper as the group energetically welcomes the opportunity. If telling the truth is new for you, it may be clumsy or awkward at first. Just stay with it, because soon you'll develop a beautiful grace and authenticity in telling the truth that's a joy to witness and to experience within yourself.
Tell the truth about WHAT'S NOT WORKING. This is not "being negative", as that judgment is just a social way to keep people from telling their truth. It's just getting the facts and feelings out on the table that have been repressed so long. It's giving ourselves and each other permission to say what's so instead of hiding it. Where possible, tell the truth in first person singular; make "I" statements. No one can argue with you, as you are the authority on your perspective and feelings. Telling your truth gives other people permission to follow suit and agree with you, "Me too." Corollary: Recognize the life games that are currently being played and which ones DON'T WORK. Take a good look from a distance. Most people, once they have stepped back to take a look at what doesn't work, will automatically make the choice to create a better way.
Tell the truth about and validate WHAT IS WORKING. PRAISE THE GOOD to make it even more real. Corollary: Recognize the life games that are currently being played and which ones DO WORK.
SHARE YOUR DREAMS about what you want and your visions of what's desireable and possible. Ask others to "speculate" thus, "If you could have it any way you want it, how would it be for you...?" This is a high co-creative activity that springs forth from the depths of our being with desire and feeling, not just visualization which is all too often solitary and overly mental. I say let's create a culture of sharing our dreams and visions.
Know that if humanity as a collective could create the present set of life games they have going, they can, by the same creativity and agreement, create some NEW GAMES that produce more wins for everyone who dares to participate.
Tell the truth in SMALL GROUPS. Small groups can be a potent antidote to denial. Church growth consultants today are advising of the importance of small groups, especially closed groups, for a sense of connectedness with people of like mind, intimacy, inspiration, and personal growth. In or out of a church, small groups provide a framework for an accelerated pace, intense personal experience, mutual support, and spiritual sharing and communion. Groups also provide an instant social context for integrating personal breakthrough and identity shift into one's life, and a reality check on interpersonal dynamics. Groups need to be moderated by an experienced leader, and there need to be agreements regarding confidentiality and refusal to speak negatively about outsiders except in a therapeutic context regarding problems, etc.
HAVE SMALL IN-HOME PARTY GROUPS of 6-12 people, where participants have fun while being there for each other to tell the truth. Such party groups would quickly become closed and would be ongoing weekly for perhaps years at a time, something like Dungeons and Dragons groups, only with a different sort of purpose. There could be scriptural reading and interpretation, sharing of dreams and visions, meditation, prayer, energywork, healing, service projects, sharing wins, conscious games and exercises, questions posed for personal growth, and many other options.
I would envision the in-home party groups as a virtually no-cost option for planetary healing. They would be fun for like-minded people who may already be friends, could be non-denominational and non-sectarian (optional), they would help overcome alienation, provide a way to make new friends, provide a meeting ground for people in the same generation, foster personal growth, spiritual revelation and healing. Potluck dinners, desserts, or snacks could be a part of the party.
Furthermore, the party groups could become trendy and a "hot" thing to do, especially on a Saturday evening.
Rotating the leadership or facilitation in the small groups would help prevent a cultish or authoritarian atmosphere.
Any number of workbooks, videos, and other media could be generated to support such groups in their various activities.
IMAGINE ALMOST EVERYONE ON THE PLANET DEEPLY INVOLVED IN A CONGENIAL SMALL GROUP THAT IS COMMITTED TO HEALING THE PLANET DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY.
Multiplying the numbers of these groups builds a key momentum of CONSCIOUSNESS and INTENT to heal the planet. What will EMERGE will be new ways of being and many constructive directions.
PLANETARY BREAKTHROUGH starts with you and me, with your group and my group, and spreads from there to our communities, states, nations, world, and beyond. Are you "game" for a NEW GAME, for the journey into the future that works for everyone on Earth?
What will YOUR small group do? And WHO will you be inviting on your journey?
- C.B.Willis
cbwillis@netcom.com
For further reading:
"FINITE AND INFINITE GAMES" by Carse.