Avatar movie – guide to our future

It is an irony that while the whole world is watching the inability of all the world’s governments to reach a viable solution for our future, an inspiring possibility for all of us is being introduced through one of the most beautiful movies ever created – Avatar. Clumsy, disorganized and inefficient world of climate negotiations sharply contrasts with a beautifuly painted world of Pandora, where indigenous population Na’vi live in a connected harmony with their planet, in a unique symbiosis where all life has a place and everything is inter-connected.

James Cameron’s new sci-fi movie paints a tale that is well known to us from our recent history. Greedy corporation supported by blinded army is seeking to destroy and eliminate any resistance to its objectives… Oh how many times have we been present to the consequences of this path. But wait, there is something different this time. As the movie progresseses we slowly become enchanted by the misterious race of Na’vi, by their spiritual beliefs, way of life, co-existence and admiration to all living creatures, by their ability to follow their intuition and live as nodes of universal life-energy that allows everything to happen and in the words of stunning 10 feet beings – is only borrowed.

We become more and more compassionate towards Na’vi… What are these humans doing? Using all proven weapons of the past. Force, technology, deceipt, choiceful blindedness, dehumanization, the list goes on. Suddenly the turquoise indigenous population of Pandora becomes more human that the representatives of the human race… Destructive and greedy interests suddenly find themselves outnumbered by compassion – of few humans towards Na’vi, of Na’vi towards all beings that are part of their home, of the audience towards the efforts of their combined forces…

Just like it is happening in our world…

Avatar is probably the most visually stunning movie I have ever seen. Beautifuly crafted world of Pandora is so inviting that one wishes we could just simply open the door and enter… But Avatar is also one of the most deep, spiritual and philosophical movies I have ever seen. In a package of a brand new and fascinating holywood blockbuster, we are also given a stunning mirror to our world. Mirror that is difficult to see but one that has to be looked into right now, right here at this moment in history.

We always loved stories. In fact, most of our wisdom that we carry today as humanity has been told as stories. Tomorrow, the movie will be played in millions of places around the planet. The Na’vi race and way of life is giving us clues as to what future is possible for humanity. The entire world is being given a guide, a fascinating tale that is not about the past but about the future…  Something tells me that Avatar will become a guiding story of our times…

I smile as I reconfirm that we are always given a hand when needed. James Cameron took over 10 years to make this movie, it is said that the technology had to evolve to be able to fulfill the mandate of Cameron’s dreams. But maybe it was not only the technology we had to wait for. Maybe our way of seeing the world had to evolve for this movie to be accepted and for it to have the impact it will have. We had to arrive at a place where we are able to stop, to listen and to understand.

I am rejoicing today for all of us, for it will be the same level of thinking that gave birth to Avatar that will lead us towards a sustainable co-existence and future on this planet. And that is despite what will happen tomorrow in Denmark…

So? Go see it ! With open mind, open heart and open will. Allow yourself to be touched, to be moved, to be inspired.

And then, then you will know what to do…

Love,

Jarda

Official Avatar Movie

What matters now

Pleasure to share with you a new ebook from Seth Godin, author of many interesting books including Tribes. Also a blogger, marketer and online author, definitely worth a read or subscription to his blog updates.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

The ebook called What matters now is a compilation of interesting thoughts about what is happening around us and is definitely worth a look…

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html

enjoy

Jarda

The way forward…

With the UN Climate Change Conference about to begin in couple of weeks, the attention of many people around the world is  focusing on Copenhagen, speculating on what its outcome will be. Lots is at stake, not only for our climate. Significant progress in the climate change agenda based on a coordinated approach of the 193 countries could mean that if necessary, we are able to come together as humanity to address a difficult global challenge that affects all of us. Failure to do so will certainly carry a signature of dissapointment and bitter feeling that at the end of the day, it is still about national and economic interests before an ability to take any coordinated action. Many other, ‘in-between’ scenarios are also possible, there is indeed lots of possibilities for the outcome.

However, no matter what the final outcome of the conference is, significant progress has been made already. The advertising and TV in UK where I live, is full of ‘new’ agenda around climate change. Majority of big UK companies are integrating sustainability more and more into their mainstream priorities. Climate change has made it from passionate interest of few into the ‘mainstream’, there are very few people in the UK that would not have heard at least a bit about it.

It is very fascinating to see that for the first time in our history, many nations, organizations and individuals all around the world are coming together to collaborate around challenges that affect all of us. Whether it is a common project of majority of world’s nations to preserve crop diversity, global initiative to influence climate change agenda or a C40 – group of 40 largest cities in the world sharing best practice to deal with what is coming. Thanks to the possibilities of internet, willingness to connect and collaborate and  driven by a common desire to ensure survival of humanity, there are myriads of organizations out there striving to address nearly every possible challenge we face, all founded in approximately last 50 years. The initiative to make things happen is coming from all sides – grass root organizations, individual action, organizations and corporations slowly but decisively aligning their priorities, governments integrating various aspects of global problems into their agendas – all because of different drivers yet all acting in one direction…

What needed to change for this to happen?

Our civilization, our way of life, what we care about and what we do, to what we aspire and what we want to create. All these got fundamentally questioned in the last few years. The limits to perpetual growth and indivudalistic profit-drive way of life. The increasing awareness of the results of our past decisions on our present and future. The previously hidden realities of many corporations and governments coming out into the daily light never to be hidden again. The economic crisis in the last 2 years exposing the vulnerability as well as achievements of the fastest expansion period in human history. Our complete dependency on rapidly depleting energy sources. The alternative economic systems mushrooming to address the newly exposed limitations of the current system. And many more…

There is no point in blaming the past, there is nothing inherently ‘wrong’ with where we are and how we got here, it is all part of our journey. At the same time our awareness, the way we see the world, the way we are able to link causes and consequences, the evolution in our personal priorities – all of these are evolving as we speak and enable us to see what needs to be kept and what needs to change to ensure our healthy future. It is as if an invisible wave that changes every human being is spreading around the world and helping us to change in 7 billion unique ways.

It is this spreading wave of change in how we see the world that will help us to face unprecedented changes in life-conditions around us. It will help us to find the appropriate role of governments, nations, cities, communities, individuals, organizations, corporations, NGOs and social entrepreneurs, an appropriate role to play in creating a different future. It is not a role of any of the above mentioned entities alone to take full responsibility for addressing the global challenges that face us. It is a role of all of these to find their own contribution, to find a sollution from where they stand, to contribute to the common effort. There is no point in waiting for someone to do or someone to decide. We all can do, we all can choose. In our unique way.

It is in these times that I am looking with much hope and a feeling of peace as well as a commitment and determination upon our future. There is lots to be done and lots to be changed as well as lots to keep and celebrate. But the change has started and there is no way back. The pace is quickening but so is our capacity to comprehend what is happening and act in the appropriate way. The world will look very different in the years to come. And it will continue to change and evolve forever as to confirm what Heraclitus once said nearly 2,500 years ago… “Nothing endures but change”.

Enjoy the ride and do what needs to be done…

Czech Republic’s future – to dream and act

I have just spent a full and inspiring week in Prague. Reconnecting with the city, with my friends, family… Old places, new faces, new inspiration, re-discovering Czech culture, observing the unfolding story of the dearest country to my heart. Carefully listening to stories from different people to put together a myriad of tiny puzzle pieces to create a picture of my country exactly 20 years after the ‘velvet’ revolution of 1989…

What did I find? First about the past… It is fascinating to fully realize how my country and its culture has been building up. Long history of not being independent (e.g. Austro-Hungarian Empire, Soviet occupation, etc.), unsuccessful history of fighting for what we believed in, being handed and sacrificied for the seeming well-being of Europe. All these are still hard wired in our DNA, Czech people are afraid to be proud, afraid to stand for something, afraid to fight for things bigger than themselves. The 40 years of communism was a fascinating story too… Economic degradation (from one of the strongest European economies before the 2nd World War to old and obsolete in 89), radical collectivization of properties and strong desire to squish any individual expression for the next 40 years, punitive political government and tremendous blow to personal confidence, relationships between people and their ability and will to realize their potential.

Much was written and spoken about the past. Not everything was so difficult and in fact, as we did not know otherwise, we were able to lead quite happy lives… For many, life was more secure and convenient than the tyring to get by in the competitive environment of today. Healthy society is the one that is able to well balance individualism with collective. This applies to culture, political systems, economy, in fact it spans all across the board. Society that combines working towards a common goal with adequate opportunities and recognition for individual excellence. In Czechoslovakia,during the 40 years before 1989, the individualistic element was artificially held back, almost like a lid on a pot full of hot steam. No private ownership, entrepreneurship, no recognition for individual excellence (in fact people would typically rather get punished for being exceptional).

After the year 1989, the past 20 years have seen the lid removed and the country has gone through a tremendous expression of the individualistic values, beliefs and corresponding systems and activities. I remember that in the early 90’s almost every person I met was a rapidly starting entrepreneur. The hunger for more, better, richer, the desire to express, compete, outsmart and outperform was (and is) huge. The early years were very raw with the absence of proper collective systems to hold it all together (e.g. law system was gradually being created from scratch and was hardly able to keep-up with the speed of innovation from people thirsty to gain personal wealth), but gradually the system has stabilized. What happened in many countries very gradually, happened in Czech Republic very abruptly and quickly. As if to confirm the evolutionary path of other countries, after freedom was given to the individualistic worlview, it quickly developed to dominate the scene.

So what about my country in 2009? Few observations…

• With previous collective systems absent (Czech Republic has comparatively very low rate of religious people, the government has a very bad reputation partially due to the past, partially due to recent events, law and order still far away from being respected as it is in some other European countries) and new collective systems still not fully present (e.g. Democracy based on values, compassion and collective principles), the above described individualistic paradigm is currently dominating the events in an unhealthy way…
• Many people I met were very negative in their view of the world, over-inflating all the difficulties and things that do not work while at the same time completely over-looking things that they can be proud of. Czech people often pride themselves in ‘realism’ and practicality and while this is indeed one of the biggest gifts we can ‘export’ abroad to benefit other countries, it is also often a trap that shuts down any inspiration, passion or sense of possibility. It is as if events of past century completely squished Czech confidence in ourselves, in our nation, in what we can bring to the global family. While we are very confident when speaking about matters in our country, when lifting our eyes beyond our borders somehow the confidence dissapears…
• I also saw an exciting side of my country. I met people who are bringing new things, who are discovering what they stand for. I saw signs of the new, of values coming in, of inspiration being awakened of better things to come…

Where will my country go in the years to come? I believe it fundamentally depends on our ability to…

• Allow ourselves to dream again – we had few big dreams in the past and they did not work out well. But they are things from the past and we can not keep bringing them into our future all the time. Czech Republic needs people with inspiration, with big dreams that will move the country forward. What is our contribution to Europe? What do we want it to be? What role do we want to play in the world? Which skills will we offer for the benefit of humanity? We are very good in making things happen but at the moment we are missing big and inspiring dreams that will give us generative direction…
• Strengten the development of a deeper collective frame – examples from other countries in Europe that had much more time to grow and develop in a healthy and ‘unblocked’ way could inspire our future. Building value-based frame to support our governing and individualistic systems. Democracy is a frame, it’s a way of governing and gives individuals huge opportunity for self-realization and success. At the same time however, it will never be successful if the individualistic drive it allows, remains unbalanced with healthy level of empathy, value-driven leadership, compassion and social systems. The highly developed 3rd sector in other European countries and a history of healthy democracy are showing us that it is just a matter of time before this happens…
• Manage ourselves and our leadership- the future of our country will belong to people who are able to make a realistic assessment of what is happening around and then get inspired with what is possible. There is no power in complaning all the time and people are getting tired of it. We are ready for a success story, we are ready for proving what we can do. I believe people who realize this will be the ones rebuilding my country…

Over the past week, I have realized how much I have walked since I the times I was living home. The past 3 years have been so full of experiences, connections and wisdom. I have also realized how much I have to give and how my experiences will be helpful for me in supporting my country. There are many things waiting for us on a global scale. Yet it always feels special to do things for your ‘home’ country, it is as if it counts twice for me

My country is no different to any other in the kind of leadership it requires at the moment. Leadership that is able to dream, get inspired and make a difference. There is no scale or judgment as long as it is happening. Like people in my country, the people all around the world are also tired of constant exposure to all the negative aspects of our present, tired of feeling guilty about our past, tired of not seeing any possibility for our future…

It is time to dream, it is time to act. It is time to connect, empower and support every person out there who is committed to stop complaining and start building our future… In my beautiful country as much as in yours…

The time is now…

Humanity has arrived at the crossroads of our history, in front of the doors to the unknown. There are no definite answers for our future. No one has a reliable forecast of what will happen in the next few decades.

• Environment – Even the most advanced climate and environmental models do not give secure predictions for the climate of the future. We have accepted the need to address the human activities and their contributions to climate change, yet we have no way of knowing whether reducing CO2 emissions will be enough. With rapidly changing weather conditions, decreasing amount of fresh water, methan slowly starting to be released into the atmosphere, increasing occurrences of disruptive climate phenomena, we have no clue what the next years will bring and demand from humanity to survive.
• Economy – The economic books were fundamentally re-written in the last couple of years. Economic theories seem obsolete, current financial system limited and not suitable for needs of wider humanity. New economic systems sparking all over the place. Very few are able to understand, explain or predict the way world economy will develop.
• Science – With new insights into quantum physics taking solid ground from fundamental premises of exact science, we are re-learning nearly everything from scratch. The interplay between our conscience and the physical reality, the realization that our most advanced models only explain the bit before the mystery begins. Increasing flow of new technologies, scientific insights and models desperately attempting to capture the rapid progression of evolution. No one is able to reliably predict the implications and developments that are waiting to be uncovered.
• Spirituality – With the Western world increasingly opening up to Eastern and indigenous spiritual traditions, conscious evolution increasingly becoming topic of conversations and the Mayan calendar predictions and explanations, humanity is experiencing a fundamental inner renaissance. Constantly shifting landscapes of how we see our world gave birth to entire new sectors of economy, art, literature and focus of all our activities. Flow, synchronicity, life habitat, Gaia theory, these are just some expressions of the world we are tapping into.

The point being, that no one has the final answer although we all hold a piece. Point being that our future is absolutely open and uncertain. In short, we don’t have a clue what our future will look like.

When we do not know what our future holds, the important question becomes.

What future do we want to create?

If nothing is certain and little is predictable, that means that any future is possible. So which one is yours?

The time is now for all of us to wake-up. It is too late to be pesimists. It is too luxurious to complain and avoid action. I am tired of discussing what does not work and what challenges are in the way.

The time is now for us to make a stand for what we see possible, in ourselves, in others, in our organizations, communities, countries and as a humanity. Thanks to our diversity, we all see the world in different ways. But we all know what do we feel inspired to improve. There is so much possible and waiting to be realized…

Do you feel called to create? Do you have a dream that is waiting to be brought into reality? Are you open to find it? Are you willing to do what it takes to make possible what you envision no matter what resistance you will face?

The time is now my friends. I count on every single one of you… And I will help may you need it… Make the leap, take the step…

Let’s design the world we dream of, let’s map together the path into the unknown…

Use your wings, it is later than you think…
(Paulo Coelho through Twitter)

Scenarios for our future…

Over the past couple of decades, it became increasingly clear that in addition to known complexities of our existence (nationalities, cultures, world problems, etc.) we need to now count with one more pressing element – the environment. For the first time in its history, humanity has the adequate technology and sufficient awareness to take a big picture view of our activities and their effect on the environment. For the first time we have become conscious that unless we change the way we do things on Earth and enlarge our horizons to take-in nature and rest of life on Earth, we will find it impossible to sustain our way of living. This challenge affects all of us, no matter where you live, the change will affect you sooner or later over the next years.

Recently, I took a part in a sustainability conference and in one of the sessions we have asked ourselves a question. What will our future look like? What are the key choices/possibilities we will need to address within the shifting environmental landscapes that remain to be a big unknown? I would like to share with you few key questions that we will have to find answers to…

• Economic system – heavily tested through the events of last couple of years, the current monetary system is fighting for its survival. Will we revive the system and continue with minor modifications or we will use this opportunity (or potential collapse that is predicted by some) to design a new economic system that better serves humanity? Economy of care, resource based economy, systems based on abundance, contribution to society or diverse community based systems, these are just some of the possibilities. Which way will we go? And if we choose to evolve, how to best transition from the old to the new?
• Population – how do we address the growing number of people in the world? Will we all make it and keep growing or will we experience a global catastrophe that will significantly reduce our numbers? How do we mobilize varying spectrum of people with completely different world-views and corresponding values and beliefs systems?
• Environment changes – will we choose to act? Will we manage to act globally as humanity or keep playing nationalistic games? If we choose to act to reduce future damage, how do we deal with the immediate changes that are bound to happen due to accumulated damage from our recent past? Will the changes be gradual and allow the environment and us to adapt or will we face drastic changes that will leave us fighting for immediate survival?
• Technology – Are we going to be able to keep our steep evolution of technology and adapt quickly enough to necessary shift from fossil fuels towards renewable resources? Will some of us go back in time and all of us remain living in a low-tech, primarily agricultural society or will we maintain and expand our technology and use it as main tools to create sustainable evolution?
• Scarcity – will we be able to move from current scarcity mindset and corresponding effects (dramatically unequal distribution of wealth, masses of people living in constant fear of having sufficient monetary resources, few benefiting from our evolutionary advances, etc.) towards an abundance-based economy and way of seeing the world where common resources are adequately distributed around the world to secure basic needs for everyone?
• Being integral – are we able to mobilize all people with very different life priorities? Will we be able to explain, communicate and understand what is happening and where we are all going despite seeing the world in radically different ways? Will we all be willing to use our strenghts when it counts?
• Evolution – will we progress in our evolution or stall and begin our descent as a civilization? Will we continue to grow or develop or will further evolution require an intentional and conscious support from us in alignment with all what was, is and will be created?

I wrote this as questions to have you think about your own answers before reading my thoughts. As of now, I would choose a technological route that allows us to further evolve our awareness and to design a civilization that is in harmony with the rest of the natural environment. New science streams such as bio-mimicry could allow us to learn from nature and create our future in symbiosis with what is around us. The rapid development of technology fueled by sutainable sources of energy will enable us to solve some of the most pressing problems of today forever. We will find a more suitable economical and social model that is geared towards long-term sustainability and enables us to move beyond the era of gaps and divisions between have and have-nots.

With the evolution of exploitative monetary system, many of our current jobs and professions (aimed at producing more wealth for few and reinforcing scarcity) will become unnecessary and obsolete and people will be left to voluntarily choose if and how they plan to contribute to further evolution of humanity. I see new leadership emerging that is based on authenticity, consistency, integrity , sense of the whole and ability to find solutions that work. I see a deep spiritual awakening that will change the way we make choices, live our lives and relate to each other and that will serve as a prerequisite to all the changes described above…

This is one of many possibilities for our future. As everything is connected, organic and co-created by all of us as well as forces beyond our cognition, it is impossible to predict where we will end up at the end. However, I believe it is crucial for each of us to be informed, to research, to envision, to aspire. I find that many people do not have their answer to a question; “What future would you like to have?”

It is important that we start talking to each other and look for sollutions together. It is necessary that we each take responsibility in our own sphere of influence to seek and act upon the world we see possible. If we don’t, the future will still happen, though it might not be the one you seek. I believe that people reading this blog have a holistic, big picture view of the world beyond only themselves. When people like you choose not to dream and not to act, you leave the future to those who do. And trust me, not all of these people think of you in their versions of the future…

Are you willing to take a chance and not act on the future you see possible? How does it look like? And what will you do tomorrow?

The Venus Project…

Past weekend I had a chance to meet with 2 very interesting people, Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows from The Venus project. In the words of the founders, Venus Project is a veritable blue-print for the genesis of a new world civilization, one that is based on human concern and environmental reclamation. The project is looking at the entire human presence on the planet today, examines the root causes of our current challenges (e.g. scarcity and monetary system) and presents an integral alternative for our future. Please find more information here.

I had a chance to listen to lecture at the London City University as well as listen to few interviews with both Jacque and Roxanne. Here are some key ideas that I noted…

• Venus project determines as a source of majority of our current problems (unequal division of wealth, poverty, crime, environmental degradation, etc.) the mentality of scarcity that is fully supported and perpetuated by the current money system. The design of this system results among others in accumulation of wealth by few, skewed resource allocation and majority of population having to ‘work’ every day and do things they have no connection/personal passion in. Everything in the system is designed to perpetuate it.

  Jacque sees the solution in replacing the current system by resource based economy where all Earth’s resources are common heritage of humanity. For example, we are not far away from having the technology to have abundance of energy for everyone in the world (geothermal and other sources of energy). Due to the present money system it is too expensive to make this happen; if the new system allocates resources in a different way, we could have energy for everyone.

  I love Jacque’s example of human body where all its parts need to work together to make it work. How silly it would be if our internal organs would be in competition with each other and for example human heart would refuse to pump the blood cells with oxygen to the brain. All parts of the system need each other to make it, when one breaks down it damages the entire system. Yet our current economic/social system is strongly based on scarcity/disconnectedness of all its parts…

• The future society would be designed using social engineering, many of our current social problems would be prevented by different education, incentives and different social/economic system. For example the education system would trully stimulate children as a possibility for our common evolution by providing them with self-directed learning support systems instead of an education system that is designed to perpetuate status quo of the society. Jacque says, children can learn anything and the smarter the kids are, the better off we all are…
• By constantly evolving our technology we will be able to prevent most of currently known challenges and problems at its root cause level rather then treating its effects ex-post (e.g. building fire-resistant building instead of needing firemen, etc.) Technology will be in service of humanity yet organized in a way that it can not be misused by people with narrow-minded and short-term interests. It will allow us to have higher awareness of causes and consequences of our actions on environment for example.

As monetary system and scarcity mindset would eventually transform into abundance of basic resources (healthcare, education, energy, housing, food, etc.) majority of ‘jobs’ existing today would not exist anymore. If you think of it, most of the jobs people do today are somehow connected to making money, either to survive or to save/accumulate. With all necessary needs covered and people knowing scarcity is never coming back, there would be no reason to keep saving or being afraid of what will come… People could be free to explore what they feel called to do, what are the ventures that will further support evolution of themselves and contribute to the whole of humanity… The system would bring out the best in every human being…

These are just some examples of what Venus projects outlines. If you look on the website, you can find more information on sustainable cities (land and sea), sustainable transport, construction, housing, etc. I want to leave you explore all Jacque’s thoughts yourself as it is impossible to write all of these into a blog post. Trust me, it’s an interesting reading… Jacque himself also mentions, nothing of this is final, this is just what I/we can see as of now… We will always evolve further…

Is this the answer for our future? How exactly could this work? How will the transiton happen? Has Jacque thought of everything? Will there be a place for me in a society like this? What would people/I actually do every day? Where will it take us, and what will be beyond?

I personally find the Venus project fascinating. I do not know whether this is the blueprint of our future or not. Jacque himself says, this is what I see but if this will happen no one can say. Jacque and Roxanne are currently looking to educate the world about what they researched, created and tested. They are seeking funding to make a popular movie to spread the ideas to a worldwide audience as well as potentially build a prototype of a ‘future’ city.

Learning about the Venus project gave me many answers and even more questions… I feel our way of seeing the world would need to fundamentally shift in order for us to be able grasp and make happen what Jacque sees possible. At the same time, I am wondering whether this is the full picture or whether something is missing… In any way, I am humbled by the novelty, entirety, boldness and intention of this initiative…

What do you think? What do you like about the Venus project? What do you find challenging?

I will look forward to your thoughts… And if you find this interesting, please do spread it in your networks…

Conscious evolution

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.” – Charles Darwin on Evolution, The Origin of Species, 1859

In a recently released movie Creation Charles Darwin undergoes a determined struggle on his journey to publish his theory of evolution which has quickly become a scientifically transformational piece of writing that laid foundations of still presently recognized outlook on how life came to be on this planet and how humanity has reached its current point in history. “What will happen if I can prove that god has no plan for us?” was running in Darwin’s head as the dominant religious paradigm and prevailing struggle between religion and science was making it difficult to be able to fully express what he has discovered. We have continued to develop as humanity and to an extent science and religion have learned to co-exist alongside each other despite coming from radically different paradigm about the world…

While theory of evolution is generally applied to living organisms, can it also be applied towards our ways of thinking, towards consciousness itself? Are there differing ways to see and explain the world that correspond to changing life-conditions and represent developing alternatives with a progressive tendency towards higher-order/increasingly complex ways of explaining the world?

Why are we here? Let’s take purpose of life for example, how did one of the oldest question of humanity evolved over time?

To dominate/exercise power. To serve god. To compete and calculate. To serve others. To follow own purpose in life. To serve nature/environment.

The answer to this question was developing over time, often co-existing and overlapping in the same time yet providing very different direction for representatives of the respective ways of living and being. In today’s world, you are likely to find strong advocates of all these different paradigms of existence, it is therefore clear that different evolutionary paradigms do not dissapear over time.

Now let us consider a possibility that we could commit to evolution itself as the purpose of life. That we are able to see evolution of our consciousness as a path, as a road that we are walking on, as a river that flows endlessly towards the horizon. We could then see clearly that we are on a journey and that all its parts are valid for they brought us to where we are as well as can inform where we go next. We would then be able to distill which ways of being on this planet are helpful and which unhelpful for the awaiting parts of our journey. We could also see that the road ahead is full of possibility and excitement and that it is a road that we have been brought here to walk…

Find below an extract from Evolutionary Manifesto by John Stewart who describes the possible next step on our evolutionary journey…

“Individuals will begin to emerge who see that evolution will progress further only if they commit to working consciously to advance the process; they will realize that this realization is itself an important step in the transition to conscious evolution; as part of this transition they will develop in themselves the capacity to free themselves from the dictates of their evolutionary past, becoming self-evolving beings, able to evolve in whatever directions are necessary to contribute positively to the future evolution of life in the universe; a unified and cooperative organization will emerge that comprises all the living processes that arose with them and all the technology, matter, energy and other resources available to them, eventually developing the capacity to adapt as a whole, transcending the particularities of its evolutionary past, becoming a self-evolving being in its own right, expanding in scale, linking up with other organizations of living processes that arose elsewhere, expanding in scale again and again, moving forever onwards and upwards, without end.” – John Stewart, Evolutionary Manifesto, 2008

What if we commit to evolution as our purpose? What if we commit to evolutionary energies that flow through us ever since we became conscious and that pull us upwards on the spiral of development? What if we become free from our evolutionary past by acknowledging its role in our evolutionary process and in illuminating helpful/unhelpful ways of existing on this planet? What if we embrace that possibilities for our future our endless as long as we keep evolving in harmony with all life and maintain the sustainable balance for everything we do? What if this is all just a beginning of a magnificient journey?

What if ?

Vision/intention for my life

I would like to share with you something special. This is an output of an exercise in which I have browsed through online images while holding a highest possibility and vision for my life in mind. This exercise took around 2 hours and was one of the most meaningful exercises I have done around setting goals/intention for all aspects of my life…

Enjoy and if you feel inspired/moved to do a similar exercise for yourself, please let me know how it goes…

Evolutionary moments

I have just seen a very fascinating movie called Quest for Fire that is situated approximately 80,000 years ago and describes a journey of few Homo neanderthalensis that are desperately trying to recover lost fire for their herd. On their travels, they encounter numerous dangers as well as other tribes and adventures. What was fascinating for me was the central role of fire in the lives of humans at that stage. Fire was something magical, a great mystery and a central point of existence. It enabled warmth, safety and divided those who had it and those who did not.

The most powerful part of the movie was when one of the main characters watches a member of the Ivaka tribe (homo sapiens) make fire in front of his eyes. You can see the amazement, wonder and nearly palpable paradigm shift that goes on during these few minutes. Just imagine that you spend all your life not being able to understand the mystery of fire, you nearly die several times while travelling all over the place to find it, you go through numerous fights to be able to acquire it and suddenly you see that it is possible to make it yourself… The tears in the main character’s eyes when the fire is lit speak for everything…

Being able to make fire anytime and anywhere was one of the key evolutionary moments for humanity. Many others came on the journey ever since. The shift from gathering food to growing food and the invention of agriculture. The constant invention of better and better tools to help us on our journey. The emergence of language and self-consciousness. Development of early spirituality and later conflict with spreading religious beliefs. The formation of science and its constant battle with religion. Steam engine, printing, map making, flight, cities, electricity, photography and filmmaking, internet and…

There are many evolutionary moments such as this on humanity’s journey. The last century gave birth to many of them, we realized for the first time our ability to destroy in a massive scale, we have seen the world shrink and became deeply connected across nations and divisions. We experimented with alternative ways of living on empathy, love and compassion. We have realized the limits of money-based economy and its unhealthy effects and for the first time in our history we have realized that our existence on this planet is not sustainable without re-learning how to weave our further evolution with species/nature/environment around us.

All of these are a part of our journey. Although looking back, some of the choices we made seem ignorant, stupid and destructive, it is important to realize that it is our current level of consciousness that allows for this judgment to happen. We got where we got and that is given, I believe it is a better use of our creative energy to look forward rather than trying to complain about our past. It will be our future choices not our past regrets that will determine our further evolution and existence on this planet…

One can only speculate what key evolutionary moments are waiting for us in the future… Emergence of authenticity and people organizing their lives around things they deeply believe in. Marriage between modern technology and nature. Healthy human presence on the planet in balance with other species and the Earth. Development of artificial intelligence, mainstream spirituality and heightened attention to what goes inside and outside of us. Or many others that did not make it to this paragraph… All part of our journey, all playing a crucial role for our existence…

What will be the most important evolutionary moment in the next 100 years according to you?