Reality is not a given. – Orland Bishop In a conversation with a friend yesterday the question arose, “What are we to expect to happen in the next decade?” Elon Musk had come up earlier in the conversation, and I said, “You know, if we asked Elon Musk that question, he might take it very differently. His answer might start with, ‘I’ll tell you what’s going to happen,’ and then describe what he intends to make of the world.” Maybe he would say, “There will be twelve thousand low-orbit satellites circling the earth. You’ll be able to get broadband internet in the Alaskan wilderness. We’ll all be linked together in an Internet-of-things.”
This is the practice of sankalpa. Speak your intention it as if it was already true. Share your vision as if it was reality. "As if" thinking is powerful because it recognizes that on some level, your dream *is* reality. Us westerners gotta reclaim our imagination and visionary capacity and retrain our minds to not dismiss them.
It's not just the word that has prophetic power. Art of all kinds can do this too. I know you're a word guy, but some of us are more visually or musically inclined prophets.
I sometimes use my design skills to make little magical acts. Yesterday I created a graphic that manifests a dream I have that Canada will create a Department of Holistic Health that will promote diet, exercise and holistic practices instead of merely pushing vaccines, self-isolation and fear. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTDoswNvfNn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
May it be actually prophetic!
I'm looking forward to walking with you on this journey Charles. It's time for us Gen Xers to step up into the role of "elders in training".
Some personal context for Charles expressions of prophetic hopes in his. latest essay. The following words by him are taken from a 2017 essay "The Age of We Need Each Other" It was an experience he had while working through feelings of failure.
"I had a vision of a spiritual being that came to me and said, “Charles, is it really your wish that the work you do fulfill its potential and exercise its right role in the evolution of all things?”
“Yes,” I said, “that is my wish.”
“OK then,” said the being. “I can make that happen, but you will have to pay a price. The price is that you will never be recognized for your role. The story you are speaking will change the world, but you will never get credit for it. You will never get wealth, fame, or prestige. Do you agree to pay that price?”
I tried to worm my way out of it, but the being was unyielding. If it was going to be either-or, how could I live with myself knowing in my heart of hearts I’d betrayed my purpose? So I consented to its offer.
Of course, time would tell that it wasn’t actually either-or. What was important in that clarifying moment was that I declare my ultimate loyalty. Once that happened, recognition and prestige might or might not come as a byproduct, but it wouldn’t be the goal. After all, the work I do isn’t “my” work. These are ideas whose time has come and they need capable scribes. Our true wages in life consist of the satisfaction we get from a job well done. Aside from that, well, the rain falls on the just and unjust alike."
“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.” - Terence McKenna
Lao Tzu is a better role model for a prophet than Trump or Musk. He had a vision, delivered it, and disappeared into the mountains. Perhaps he understood the folly of becoming a leader.
“Let us no longer ask. Let us tell” is certainly a sentiment I can get behind. But how can it be more than just naive sentiment—a pipe dream? How can it be more than the power of the toddler who shouts “NO! I won't go to bed!” when we all know that's exactly where she's headed? What makes Musk different from me is the power and access to resources he has to shape the world the next day, should he so choose. He, or ANY of the ruling elite.
The question is how do we do so when our agency is diminished by our relative poverty and power? Collective action is certainly powerful but society has so many threads pulling us in so many different directions that coalescing to exercise our collective muscle is like herding cats. And there are no mass movements today which can serve as a vehicle for our more noble aspirations.
It’s easy to incentivize people through the market system by rewarding them with money for the goods and services they produce. But I would like to create a world which could incentivize the production of fully realized people—an optimized humanity. Conscious men and women would do well to work towards creating the fundamental conditions where society places more value on the intangibles (wisdom, authenticity, integrity, compassion, courage, etc) than it does on resource acquisition, status, and power—all wedded to ego needs.
The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?
– Confucius
The reason is that the door has armed guards. Heroes, like Julian Assange, Ed Snowden, and Chelsea (Bradley) Manning have shown us the way. They have also shown what can happen if you try to walk through the door alone. They did what they had to do because they were men of conscience and to have done otherwise would have been psycho-spiritual suicide. If wildebeests were to cross the river one by one, the crocodiles would target and converge on them. Only by swimming across en masse can they hope to confuse the crocs by presenting an indistinguishable and unstoppable sea of bodies. How would such a feat be achieved for human salvation? How can we do better than mass protests which appear to be nothing more than citizens going cup in hand to ask for more? How could we get that kind of balls-out level of commitment needed to save us all? How can we end the business of flapping our wings (and our lips), and actually take off to go somewhere better? How can we resolve the fear that tethers us to the ground and the ignorance that prevents us flying off in the right direction?
Charles, fear not. 😊 You do not have the narcissism required to be a dictator. So embrace the power. I'm looking forward to seeing the vision unfold. Because you do have the gift of vision and of words to reveal it. We all know and feel it too and are cheering you on!
I read your essay. Then I subscribed. Then I jumped over to my daughter’s Insta, to see what new thoughts or pictures she may have shared. This is what she has written: “the internet has been feeling very dark and heavy for me lately with everything that’s been going on. Sometimes I simply…log out for a few days to unwind behind the scenes. I want to bring the ‘social’ part of social media back so I’m here for you if it’s been feeling heavy for you as well. Message me anytime, my DM’s are open to chat if you just need someone to listen! Let’s focus on the light that is still present in the world and rekindle that affection with purely just living..” So, there you have it! Confirmation of the Beautiful World Theory!!! Amen, daughter. Amen, brother Charles
I've been working on tools + perspectives to empower a similar vision.
Prompting people to consider the futures they wish to live in, and providing tools + processes to manifest those futures, with the community + people around them:
And some slides, diving deeper into the merits of community-led action (in contrast to individual action, which much of the world x media x doers seems fixated on):
I have so much faith in the vision we are creating together absolutely not wavering at all when I have had a long history of anxiety and questioning myself. It just feels so solid and right and I see much evidence. I had a synchronicity story happened to me today that I’ll share on the forum. Thank you thank you thank you for saying yes to the calling you feel not letting the negative inner critic keep you from that important mission
Yes, dare to take up space and tell it, declare it, invoke and incant it. I am with you in doing so in the small ways in which I do in everyday life. I see and know and feel the beautiful world intimately. Your words resonate with me in my blood and heart, in my bones and my inner knowing. My attention is directed to beauty, coherence and interconnectedness. May this lead me to choose each thought, action and feeling to intentionally create our future moment by moment, thought by thought, action by action, feeing by feeling. You inspire me. Thank you for sharing your gifts.
My prototype idea from doing U. Lab 2X is based on IPBES Natures Futures Framework. I am seeing a card game or some other tool (I don’t know how to make an App) that encourages people to choose which positive nature based future they want to materialise. Futures others (people invited by IPBES) have seen/hope for include denser living with corridors of nature weaving and connecting all. Or less dense with every household producing food in their garden. Some focus on wild rivers regenerated and undamned. Another option is technology using shelters for living and growing food, green walls and roofs etc. Anybody here want to explore this with me? The last few weeks (since Charles essay was attacked, just for the timeline as there were many other things) I have felt like taking up less space, abandoning ideas other than caring for my mother, garden and self. I think the feeling was that the AI & Totolatarism/division was going to be hard to avoid and I would rather be dead. However I am off on a Nature (vision) quest next week. May the vision come.
One of the best things C has ever written, IMHO (and that's saying something....) Becoming aware of a vision of the future, and then calling it into Being. Not just 'hoping' that something good will happen, but 'knowing' (i.e. behaving as if) it will. Thanks, Charles
This is so crazy. I just jumped back over to IG to read a new post by a vivacious and powerhouse friend (ICU nurse freshly fired for not receiving the ZHOT..). After almost two years of taking about nothing but the bizarre world we’ve been living in, her post was An Announcement: EXPECTING! LIFE, IN VIVO!!!! The exact opposite of all that is Dark and Heavy, and another manifestation of the more Beautiful World our hearts need to keep beating
Fuck yes.
This is the practice of sankalpa. Speak your intention it as if it was already true. Share your vision as if it was reality. "As if" thinking is powerful because it recognizes that on some level, your dream *is* reality. Us westerners gotta reclaim our imagination and visionary capacity and retrain our minds to not dismiss them.
It's not just the word that has prophetic power. Art of all kinds can do this too. I know you're a word guy, but some of us are more visually or musically inclined prophets.
I sometimes use my design skills to make little magical acts. Yesterday I created a graphic that manifests a dream I have that Canada will create a Department of Holistic Health that will promote diet, exercise and holistic practices instead of merely pushing vaccines, self-isolation and fear. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTDoswNvfNn/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
May it be actually prophetic!
I'm looking forward to walking with you on this journey Charles. It's time for us Gen Xers to step up into the role of "elders in training".
Brian
medicinepathpodcast.com (my invite is always open!)
Some personal context for Charles expressions of prophetic hopes in his. latest essay. The following words by him are taken from a 2017 essay "The Age of We Need Each Other" It was an experience he had while working through feelings of failure.
"I had a vision of a spiritual being that came to me and said, “Charles, is it really your wish that the work you do fulfill its potential and exercise its right role in the evolution of all things?”
“Yes,” I said, “that is my wish.”
“OK then,” said the being. “I can make that happen, but you will have to pay a price. The price is that you will never be recognized for your role. The story you are speaking will change the world, but you will never get credit for it. You will never get wealth, fame, or prestige. Do you agree to pay that price?”
I tried to worm my way out of it, but the being was unyielding. If it was going to be either-or, how could I live with myself knowing in my heart of hearts I’d betrayed my purpose? So I consented to its offer.
Of course, time would tell that it wasn’t actually either-or. What was important in that clarifying moment was that I declare my ultimate loyalty. Once that happened, recognition and prestige might or might not come as a byproduct, but it wouldn’t be the goal. After all, the work I do isn’t “my” work. These are ideas whose time has come and they need capable scribes. Our true wages in life consist of the satisfaction we get from a job well done. Aside from that, well, the rain falls on the just and unjust alike."
“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.” - Terence McKenna
Lao Tzu is a better role model for a prophet than Trump or Musk. He had a vision, delivered it, and disappeared into the mountains. Perhaps he understood the folly of becoming a leader.
“Let us no longer ask. Let us tell” is certainly a sentiment I can get behind. But how can it be more than just naive sentiment—a pipe dream? How can it be more than the power of the toddler who shouts “NO! I won't go to bed!” when we all know that's exactly where she's headed? What makes Musk different from me is the power and access to resources he has to shape the world the next day, should he so choose. He, or ANY of the ruling elite.
The question is how do we do so when our agency is diminished by our relative poverty and power? Collective action is certainly powerful but society has so many threads pulling us in so many different directions that coalescing to exercise our collective muscle is like herding cats. And there are no mass movements today which can serve as a vehicle for our more noble aspirations.
It’s easy to incentivize people through the market system by rewarding them with money for the goods and services they produce. But I would like to create a world which could incentivize the production of fully realized people—an optimized humanity. Conscious men and women would do well to work towards creating the fundamental conditions where society places more value on the intangibles (wisdom, authenticity, integrity, compassion, courage, etc) than it does on resource acquisition, status, and power—all wedded to ego needs.
The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?
– Confucius
The reason is that the door has armed guards. Heroes, like Julian Assange, Ed Snowden, and Chelsea (Bradley) Manning have shown us the way. They have also shown what can happen if you try to walk through the door alone. They did what they had to do because they were men of conscience and to have done otherwise would have been psycho-spiritual suicide. If wildebeests were to cross the river one by one, the crocodiles would target and converge on them. Only by swimming across en masse can they hope to confuse the crocs by presenting an indistinguishable and unstoppable sea of bodies. How would such a feat be achieved for human salvation? How can we do better than mass protests which appear to be nothing more than citizens going cup in hand to ask for more? How could we get that kind of balls-out level of commitment needed to save us all? How can we end the business of flapping our wings (and our lips), and actually take off to go somewhere better? How can we resolve the fear that tethers us to the ground and the ignorance that prevents us flying off in the right direction?
Charles, fear not. 😊 You do not have the narcissism required to be a dictator. So embrace the power. I'm looking forward to seeing the vision unfold. Because you do have the gift of vision and of words to reveal it. We all know and feel it too and are cheering you on!
Breathe, think, speak...free! We are creating creators of creation. Keep on, my brother!
I read your essay. Then I subscribed. Then I jumped over to my daughter’s Insta, to see what new thoughts or pictures she may have shared. This is what she has written: “the internet has been feeling very dark and heavy for me lately with everything that’s been going on. Sometimes I simply…log out for a few days to unwind behind the scenes. I want to bring the ‘social’ part of social media back so I’m here for you if it’s been feeling heavy for you as well. Message me anytime, my DM’s are open to chat if you just need someone to listen! Let’s focus on the light that is still present in the world and rekindle that affection with purely just living..” So, there you have it! Confirmation of the Beautiful World Theory!!! Amen, daughter. Amen, brother Charles
I've been working on tools + perspectives to empower a similar vision.
Prompting people to consider the futures they wish to live in, and providing tools + processes to manifest those futures, with the community + people around them:
- https://placeflow.net/welcome
- https://sambutler.us/localfutures
And some slides, diving deeper into the merits of community-led action (in contrast to individual action, which much of the world x media x doers seems fixated on):
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FBOLqLTO64DLa-Ws3zi1GSGxL4y5MglhGJkXn1ztV4E/edit?usp=sharing
I have so much faith in the vision we are creating together absolutely not wavering at all when I have had a long history of anxiety and questioning myself. It just feels so solid and right and I see much evidence. I had a synchronicity story happened to me today that I’ll share on the forum. Thank you thank you thank you for saying yes to the calling you feel not letting the negative inner critic keep you from that important mission
Yes, dare to take up space and tell it, declare it, invoke and incant it. I am with you in doing so in the small ways in which I do in everyday life. I see and know and feel the beautiful world intimately. Your words resonate with me in my blood and heart, in my bones and my inner knowing. My attention is directed to beauty, coherence and interconnectedness. May this lead me to choose each thought, action and feeling to intentionally create our future moment by moment, thought by thought, action by action, feeing by feeling. You inspire me. Thank you for sharing your gifts.
I'm about to post your article on facebook. The last time I posted one of yours I was banned from posting for 24 hours - so let's see what happens. :)
My prototype idea from doing U. Lab 2X is based on IPBES Natures Futures Framework. I am seeing a card game or some other tool (I don’t know how to make an App) that encourages people to choose which positive nature based future they want to materialise. Futures others (people invited by IPBES) have seen/hope for include denser living with corridors of nature weaving and connecting all. Or less dense with every household producing food in their garden. Some focus on wild rivers regenerated and undamned. Another option is technology using shelters for living and growing food, green walls and roofs etc. Anybody here want to explore this with me? The last few weeks (since Charles essay was attacked, just for the timeline as there were many other things) I have felt like taking up less space, abandoning ideas other than caring for my mother, garden and self. I think the feeling was that the AI & Totolatarism/division was going to be hard to avoid and I would rather be dead. However I am off on a Nature (vision) quest next week. May the vision come.
One of the best things C has ever written, IMHO (and that's saying something....) Becoming aware of a vision of the future, and then calling it into Being. Not just 'hoping' that something good will happen, but 'knowing' (i.e. behaving as if) it will. Thanks, Charles
This is so crazy. I just jumped back over to IG to read a new post by a vivacious and powerhouse friend (ICU nurse freshly fired for not receiving the ZHOT..). After almost two years of taking about nothing but the bizarre world we’ve been living in, her post was An Announcement: EXPECTING! LIFE, IN VIVO!!!! The exact opposite of all that is Dark and Heavy, and another manifestation of the more Beautiful World our hearts need to keep beating
Really in sync with this essay. But wondered do you really own less than half of 162 billion in assets or was that a typo?