Last night I went to bed my head reeling with information from an article entitled 2012 A Time of Extraordinary Change, in EnlightenNext (The Magazine for Evolutionaries) (p. 65) where Carter Phipps interviewed John L. Petersen, a futurist and founder of the Arlington Institute. Petersen « is tracking the winds of change that he feels are destined to sweep away the foundations of our current society and prepare the way for something completely new. » Governments are trying more of the same in an attempt to re-inflate the balloon of the economy and curb the damage of the financial meltdown. However he argues that it is almost impossible to really change the system until it has failed completely. He predicts that this realization will sink into politician’s heads towards the end of this current year.
At 8.00 PM local time I tuned in to a tele-seminar where Craig Hamilton was launching a series on The Great Integral Awakening, interviewing Michael Murphy. The topic was on how to develop “Integral Transformative Practice and the Evolution of the Whole Person.”. I must say I was disappointed and almost out loud bored. I had signed up at the nudging of two women but could not find my women’s outlook reflected in the discussions. Later checked their Facebook group and I am not the only one to have noticed. Ah! At last we dare to speak up and not take the masculine gospel, spiritual and al… for granted, something I have too been guilty of doing for decades. All my intellectual training actually went down that path…
Later still, before going to bed, introduced myself on the site of Braveheart Women, something tells me that down that alley I will safely learn about women power, the trade of collaboration versus competition, something I have been healing from in the last five years, where comparing myself to others brought up eons of pains stored in my cellular memory.
It is time that the other way of functioning, natural to women, but too often buried under years of academic, intellectual, male dominated structures, be given a space to blossom, be nurtured, allowed to heal so that it can take its rightful place on world stage, acknowledging the different way in which we function, loud and clear, not better just different and so much needed to balance a masculine dominated world.
This reminds me of a quote of Shaman Numi (or perhaps it was another name, not sure), reported by John Perkins in one of his workshops. Every time the women of the Shuar tribe felt that the men had been over hunting or warring enough they kept them home, so balance could prevail. I believe this time has come again in our larger tribe of human species for the women to step back into their power and reign in the overflow of greed and always more that will drive us off the cliff.
And then this morning I got an email from Dr. Lin Morel (Beyondwordgroup) sending me notes of her latest tele seminar and there I can relate. Lin calls it the <grace model>. Lately I have been attracted to a group of powerful women working from their heart mind. Thanks also to Mary Hall and Jennifer McLean for their powerful work of healing. Lately also I have been noticing how my daily writing is generated from my center out and no longer from my head down, a very freeing experience, where I dare write as I speak and not follow some academic mumbo jumbo where I have to follow a set format to be acceptable to the APA and their French equivalent. Working and writing in two languages is confusing enough and when each respective authority have different rules on formatting etc. it become quickly a case of procrastination as boredom prevails. Who is right anyway?
So where am I going with all this? My husband would have checked out by now or would have budged in three or four times to tell me what to do, when I am not ready to do anything yet, I am still processing all this information and I don’t know clearly how to articulate what wants to emerge from my core, yet. But daily it gets clearer as it emerges and I take the time to articulate just that, the creative process in action.
So stay tuned, at one point I will use my rational mind and bring some order to this chaos.
This is not the time to dismiss what academic and intellectual training has taught us. For me however this is a sacred time to reconnect to my heart, learning new channels of connection, birthing new pathways in consciousness, together with and inspired by, other women.
I have been reflecting on my own purpose for awhile now and perhaps posting a half baked statement will attract some other women on the same wavelength and together we can articulate what the creative impulse is nudging me to birth, instead of coming from my old paradigm of needing to do everything by myself! Food for thought!
How do some of my women friends function? Perhaps we can start from there and see where that takes us….
Imagine a world where we function in mutuality and cooperation instead of competition! This sure resonates with my soul. The constant bombardment about marking success by monetary calculations, for me, is definitely mind-based. My preference is being heart-based and trusting the money will follow. It always works that way for me.
Something I noticed Friday at a local entrepreneurs networking meeting that may be supporting this type of movement. Two of the older men in the group (eldest baby boomers, I imagine) found their next life stage focused on collaboration, not financial success. One man started a bartering club–something women often do. This is definitely a cooperative activity. The other man wants to provide a quality specialty cleaning service with money being a secondary goal. How refreshing!
As we gather together around the world to move toward cooperation, our power becomes an awesome force. Keep sending these inspiring messages. We need to spread them throughout the universe.
Dr. Wingfield has noticed something that is based in the drop of testosterone as men age. Because of this, as they get older they become less bellicose and competitive, although cultural competition with younger males may mask this. Quite simply, the human race is suffering from what I call testosterone poisoning, brought on by the shift of power from male and female elders to young men. The most glaring example of this is in the American entertainment industry, where the decisions about what is available as entertainment are made predominantly by men under 40 years of age. Hence the predominance of violence, and particularly violence against women in so-called entertainment.
Being female doesn’t make me heart-centered, and not all men are innately driven to destructive competition. I think that is the real key. Competition does not have to be destructive, but in America destructive competition has become a huge part of the foundation of our way of life. I hope that this can be turned around, but I do not want to see competition completely exorcised. It is not evil.
Human beings need to be challenged. The problems we learn to resolve or overcome are what build character and make us strong. I am reminded of the trees that were planted in the Biosphere in Arizona, a completely enclosed and regulated environment, like a space center. The trunks of those trees had all the strength of cooked noodles. Why? Because there was no wind. Without the need to resist the movement of the air around them the fiber of the trees was weak. People need to build their physical, emotional, and mental strength in the same way–through resistance. One need only think of the families where the parents were not privileged, but learned and grew and succeeded by meeting challenges and adversity and overcoming them. Then come along the children of privilege who never want for anything–and become drug addicts and waste their lives. That is a cliche and generalization, of course, and not universally true. But we all need challenge in our lives to show us what we are made of and what we can do.
I hope as we look at what the human race has done and where we have been, we will recognize that there is a place for challenge and competition, but not a place for destruction and hate.
Aline,
You speak about the differences between men and women, yet I can’t find a clear explanation here. I think you felt bored by listening to Michale Murphy because, with all his training and ingtellectual understanding of heartfelt matters, he was probably speaking from the mind and not the heart. I like that you are now allowing your words to come from the inside out, heart felt words. The structure and order can follow later.
Erica
I agree Erica! I am sick and tired of having my head rule my life! Exploring new ways of being!