Principles of Abundance for the Cosmic Citizen: Enough for Us All, Volume One

ONE The Challenge of Our Potential Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. . . . As we are liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others. What liberates us from our own fear is knowledge, an understanding of who we really are and what is possible for us. Our lives are so often driven by old paradigms and outmoded assumptions. If we are to emerge into our potential, we need to be able to identify those limiting misconceptions so that we can choose how we wish to change them. The astonishing findings of quantum physics have become clearer over the past 100 years; and yet we remain mired in the limiting beliefs of Newtonian physics. Whether or not we remember studying classical physics, its assumptions permeate our everyday thinking—concepts like duality, determinism, linear cause and effect, innate competition, and an anthropocentric (human-centered) view of the world. As a result, we experience ourselves as small and powerless, at the mercy of global warming and accelerating violence. But our actual reality is quite different. Together we will explore the ramifications of being interconnected, of creating reality through our observations, of understanding time as relative and nonlinear, and of living in a dynamic and nondualistic universe. We will also look at how to expand our awareness to recognize all life forms as equal partners, examine the truths of our interdependence, and make a case for cooperation as the keynote by which we survive and thrive. This journey, if you choose to take it, will lead you through fear to hope, through scarcity to abundance. Who Are We—Really? We are made of stardust—literally! The carbon atoms that make up a significant portion of our bodies, and that form the chemical basis of what we identify as life, are created during supernova explosions and then scattered throughout the galaxies.2 We may not be aware of it, but we are citizens not just of this Earth but also of an immense, vibrant cosmos. Our context is indeed lavish in its abundance, providing us with incredible possibilities. Immersed in our everyday lives, though, it is easy to overlook this cosmic context, to forget that there is more to life than going to work, preparing meals, and juggling priorities. Often we act as if there were nothing beyond what we see around us and on the news. If we live in urban areas with ambient night light, we might even forget for long stretches of time that there is a vast cosmos just beyond our eyesight. All we actually have to do is to look up—well, actually look “out” since the cosmos surrounds us. During the day, our sun blinds us to the existence of other universes. But the night sky sparkles with energy. What we can see, without the help of a telescope, are the stars and planets on our own block, so to speak. Our Milky Way Galaxy, while enormous to us, is actually an infinitesimal component of a “local” section of the cosmos—or metagalaxy, as our astronomers call it. And there is increasing evidence that our metagalaxy is, in turn, only one of a vast number of metagalaxies that together comprise a meta-universe, or Metaverse. Returning to our own small corner of the Metaverse, we know from the physicists and cosmologists that we are part of a magnificent, organically interconnected, ever-evolving whole. In fact, the actual characteristics of our cosmos are life-changing in their implications. It is not the empty dead space that many of us have been taught. Instead, it is a vast sea of surging energy, reflecting back to us a vibrant potential beyond our wildest dreams. Imagine deliberately recognizing that everywhere you turn there is life, in a wide range of forms. Imagine waking each morning to the conscious excitement of star creation and fresh perspectives. Imagine relishing the contribution you are making, that every type of work is respected and valued—the leadership vision and the support function. Imagine being in tune each day with the flow—the ongoing cycle of beginnings and endings, creation and implosion. Exercise: Expanding Our Perspective Go outside on a clear night when the Moon is visible and imagine that you are the Sun, shining on the portion of the Moon that is illuminated from Earth. Then, keeping in mind the pictures from astronauts, imagine that you are on the Moon first looking towards the Earth and then at the constellations beyond. Can you begin to get a sense of the vastness of our immediate cosmic environment? All of this is not just imagination; it is in fact our everyday reality on a cosmic scale. Why, then, is our immediate awareness usually more limited? We may have peak moments when we are “in the flow”—that sense of childlike wonder, of being present in the here and now instead of fretting over the past or worrying about the future—but they evaporate all too quickly. If we accept that we are all part of a cosmic interconnected sea of energy, what does that mean for us? Are we living separate, distinct lives, or are we part of a continuity of consciousness stretching over eons of lifetimes? Are we driven by self-interest to compete, or are we cooperative at heart? Each of these images holds part of the truth. Our Web of Possibilities Quantum physics tells us that nothing in the universe is completely pre-determined, that no outcome is inevitable. There are strong probabilities as to what will happen next, but what actually happens depends on what we each do as part of the web of energy fields that comprise our universe. . .