Global Awakening News Commentary and Guidance for Enlightened Change During Rapidly Changing Times ~ Special article reprint ~ June 2007 Connection, Service, & Spirituality by Alex Kochkin These essays are presented for their value to anyone who cares about the future as humanity prepares to make the greatest shift in consciousness and existence ever. We cover a wide range of topics including social-values research, future-views, the world situation, and advanced spiritual perspectives. Global Awakening News Published online at http://www.pfcn.net/napsum-bul1.html and available via e-mail service to opt-in subscribers. The Global Interchange, Positive Future Consulting, Fund For Global Awakening, and Global Awakening Press are not affiliated with any religious, political, or economic tendency; and most certainly are not aligned with any guru s, groups, or channeled entities. To contact us by E-mail: info@pfcn.net; to contact us by postal mail: PO Box 969; Stevensville, MT 59870 USA GLOBAL AWAKENING means individuals and communities becoming aware of and embracing their true nature one of interconnectedness, service, and spirituality, as we express extraordinary dimensions of our larger being.
Connection, Service, & Spirituality These three commonsense yet fundamental factors based on core values can be used to embrace 84% of U.S. adults and a majority of voters. How to bring enough people into a higher awareness and active participation in a greater whole? How to reach the majority of people who have goodness in their hearts and are open to hearing of genuinely new possibilities? What if it were possible to connect a large majority of Americans into a more unified and positive field of consciousness and action? At present, there is no coordinated or coherent transformational movement for a positive future. There are many large and small groups focused on various material issues: health, civil rights, race, women s rights, environment, war, peace, population, hunger, etc., and yet others who are focused on religious dogma, survivalism, militarism, and the usual panoply of commercial interests, etc. Those who do share and cooperate are mainly found in commerce and business, military and weapons-related arenas, religious fundamentalists, and, of course, the two dominant political parties in the U.S. Yet, an opposing intention for a positive future is blossoming and energizing around principles of a non-sectarian spirituality, connection with all life, and service to others and planet. Are these the principles that will create the wave upon which humanity will ascend to higher and more evolved state of consciousness and being? As we analyzed the IOOW-2000 data (www.inourownwords.org) for the simplest ways to bridge the greatest number of people, three statistical indexes were discovered that were nearly universal bridges that resonated with a large majority of Americans. Each of these elements can be used alone or in combination, depending on the audience. In the diagram to the right, the beige shaded area outside the three connected circles includes roughly 16% of the population that fell outside the basic elements of connection, service, and spirituality and who exhibit the strongest disconnect from self or society. Those who are included in the three overlapping circles readily identified with any one or combination of these basic elements and taken as a whole, represent a set of core aspirations embracing 84% of American households: 1. "Connection Index" - represents a range of values and beliefs from the personal connection to one another, connection with creation and nature, and connection with the cosmos and higher consciousness. 2. "Service Index" represents a range of values and beliefs from helping one another, making a difference in the world, and nations helping nations. "Spirituality Index" represents a range of values and beliefs from the traditional to the new, a sense of the sacred in all life, and connection to higher consciousness or God. Page 2 of 7
Those people in the centrally overlapping group, as well as those in the combined Spirituality/ Service group, include the highest components in agreement with global awakening and its potential for extraordinary change. The central overlapping group also includes an interesting mix of two statistical types: one we named Social Traditional - Religious Conservatives (or STRC for short) and another type we called Seeking Community Transformation (or SCT for short) that is more open and expansive in their worldview. In this central group is a large concentration of the SCT type (Seeking Community Transformation - one of The 8 American Types). In contrast to those in the STRC type, those in the SCT type are generally opposed to the death penalty and are more holistic in their worldview. When the CSS model is viewed through the more detailed lens of The 8 American Types, we find an interesting mixture of three of The 8 American Types in the central nexus of the CSS (Connection-Service-Spirituality) model. In addition, there are many shared values and beliefs between this central nexus group and their closest allies the Connection/ Spirituality and Service/Spirituality groups. These two illustrations highlight the relationship between The 8 American Types and the Connection-Service-Spirituality model. The arrows and their placement indicate vectors along which diverse people can be connected with higher common denominators such as recognizing that fundamentally we are all connected as one, the earth is a living organism, helping those in need globally, acknowledging a sense of the sacred connection in everything, and the importance of global awakening for a positive future. The direction of the arrows indicate relative movement of large numbers of people into new possibilities arising from a greater unity that embraces human diversity. Connection, service, and spirituality offer one avenue to embrace and involve many people who otherwise would not find common ground. Additionally, these three basic factors provide a higher unifying commonality for those people who may still be struggling with the stresses of daily life, and who are less likely to vote. If what we need to serve a new way of being emphasizes our higher potential and encourages growing more spiritually aware and highly evolved as individuals and as a species, then our social and political institutions must be very different than they are now. The point we are making here is very new and requires the creation of new social, cultural and institutional Page 3 of 7
constructs, since it is based on an entirely different set of assumptions and intentions. Although the highest national elections are essentially rigged in favor of the dominant faction of the global control-elite, the concepts and data presented here can be used to aid various types of social-spiritual progressive initiatives. If used properly, insights and strategies derived from the research can be applied to electoral campaigns at state and local levels, where there is less top-level control --and thus greater opportunity to directly foster new paradigms for local community over a long period. Lastly, it is of utmost importance that spirituality be uncoupled from religion in the public dialogue. Whether one identifies strongly with a religion or not, spirituality is something that naturally floats above and apart from the doctrines of various religions and sects. Spirituality must never be equated with religion or vice versa. It is also essential that social-progressivespiritual leaders not stereotype strongly religious people. For example, there are many Evangelicals who are very keen on planetary stewardship, very much against the violent wars of the current regime, and who truly seek an enlightened society. Integrating the Greater Whole: A New Paradigm Globally or within our own country, a basic lack of integration of spirituality and social counterparts of ethical values and conduct, provides a basis for old paradigm themes that substitute a false sense of control and power over our entire environment. In dramatic contrast, awareness of our fundamental interconnectedness and natural compassion encourages only the best to emerge from all levels, from the individual to all humanity. It is this over-arching basis for a greater unity-of-the-whole that represents a way forward into a more enlightened and awakened state of being. It is this basic approach and its simple operating principles that can provide long-lasting solutions at personal and collective levels. It facilitates solutions allowing everyone to think and act in ways they may have only imagined possible. Humankind has had its moments of peace, such as when a major war ended, or people saw the Earth from space for the first time, that a profound sense of connection, gratitude, and of the beauty of creation was felt by so many. We cannot afford not to choose a new way. As a species, we have stubbornly tried to "do it our way," as separate from a greater whole of a great cosmos. Our higher nature calls to us, inviting us to create a different home for ourselves. We are a young species and have much to learn. At last, though, we have begun to open our eyes and hearts to greater possibilities. Now the choice is ours. We offer our work, ideas, and suggestions to facilitate the emergence of a new type of globalized and localized leadership that will help usher in a new era in which humanity can leave behind its dysfunctional ways and explore the farthest reaches of its evolution as spiritual beings. All groups and individuals who are called to this level of service will find much strength within the embrace of a global consciousness shift and global awakening. For more information on The 8 American Types, go to http://www.inourownwords.org/8types.html and http://www.pfcn.net/ana/ch5-09.htm. Page 4 of 7
A short primer on the IOOW-2000 typology systems. Page 5 of 7
If we would so choose, what matters most Our higher potential awaits us as we graduate from the conditions of human suffering and conflict an awakening to our true nature as spiritual beings. The adventure has barely begun. Our likely future potential. Where we could be now if we so choose. Our current situation Our distant past It is also a launching point to new dimensions of consciousness and being, as more people welcome it for themselves. Still in the quadrant grid, but moving into the upper right area is where a majority of people could be living now the dawn of an enlightened civil society. Just like a snapshot, the quadrant grid represents our current situation and current value systems. In our journey through existence, what matters most are our intentions. and actions. The marriage between heaven and earth, between spirit and matter, is giving birth to something new and wonderful. It means new possibilities for human existence, a new vibration for Earth, and new possibilities for all of Creation. Creation is re-creating Itself. The vastness of this destiny is such that it can only be known as it unfolds. - from the 1997 vision statement of Fund For Global Awakening Page 6 of 7
Public Online Forum Bringing Together Awakened Community Home page: http://www.newearthsummit.org Main forum page: http://www.newearthsummit.org/forum/ A forum that is free of advertisements and includes various thematic boards including: Special Articles to Consider Spirituality, Transformation, and Ascension Awakened Conscious Community Dreams and Visions and Future Viewing Health and Harmony World and National Events Predictions of Future Events Changes in Planetary and Space Environments General Discussion Sites of Special Interest Weblinks Books, videos, and music - Member reviews Contributors can submit material to posting. At present we have limited new posts and have been mainly tracking significant news and information about the changing human and planetary environment. Anyone can read what is posted. Submit material for posting by e-mail to: newearth@newearthsummit.org. ~~~ Global Awakening News Published online at http://www.pfcn.net/napsum-bul1.html and available via e- mail service to opt-in subscribers. The Global Interchange, Positive Future Consulting, Fund For Global Awakening, and Global Awakening Press are not now nor have ever been affiliated with any religious, political, or economic tendency; and most certainly are not aligned with any guru s, groups, or channeled entities. To contact us by E-mail: info@pfcn.net; to contact us by postal mail: PO Box 969; Stevensville, MT 59870 USA Page 7 of 7