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HOW THINGS CHANGE - COMPROMISE AND COMMITMENT
We wonder, as we look around, how things in the world will change to create a more peaceful Earth, a more loving Earth, a more sustainable Earth. The answer lies in the value shift that must take place in order for this to happen. Such a shift is happening slowly, and it is a question of inner need for individuals and for the collective consciousness as to whether it can happen more quickly and with less peril to the planet or to individuals or groups upon the planet.
This past week witnessed a number of national (U.S.) and international initiatives that may be looked at in the light of changing values, compromises, and commitments. They may also be viewed in the context of light and darkness and the effect of these energies on change. On the one hand, each policy shift reflects something of greater concern for others and for the planet. On the other hand, each demonstrates that a basic commitment to planetary unity and identification with the welfare of the Whole, including the welfare of the Earth, has not yet arrived.
The three movements which took place are in different areas of activity, yet each reflects a partial commitment to a new global concern, and a partial retention of the old, separated values.
First, the International Donor Conference on Haiti produced a vast outpouring of dollars to rebuild the land and infrastructure of this devastated economy. Haiti had asked for 3.9 billion dollars in international aid. What she received was a commitment of over 5 billion dollars.
Such an outpouring is a gesture of responsibility toward one of the world’s poorest economies and of sympathy with a people that is recovering from major trauma. And yet it does not address some of the more subtle features of the problem such as: how the developed nations used their monies in the past not to promote Haiti’s economy but to make it dependent on Western wealth, and how this would be corrected in the future. Nor does it address the broader issue of other economies, worldwide, that are also in need of the West’s wealth, that have not been supported in the past or only minimally so. Because of the ‘bandwagon effect’ in the cycle of most charitable causes, it is hard to know how wide the ramifications of this Donor Conference on Haiti might be. In such instances, it is important to gratefully acknowledge the good as good, yet to understand and take seriously the limitations as well.
Second, the announcement of President Obama’s new policy regarding offshore oil-drilling was a setback for many if not most environmentalists, though it also limited the activities advocated by those who wished to see U.S oil drilling increase to a far greater degree. In this policy, the administration walked the middle-of-the-road, trying to satisfy the wishes of both ‘sides’ without making a full commitment to environmental sustainability.
What is important to note, here, is the way in which decisions get made. As long as environmental concerns and the life of the Earth do not carry the highest priority for us, we will not seek new ways of creating new sources of energy, but will continue to rely on those which have been used in the past which have depleted the Earth. The new must become an inner necessity in order for pathways of inspiration and application to open up and for new resources to be found. While we think we can continue to manage with the old, there will not be the same atmosphere of necessity that breeds the opening of invention and new possibility.
Third, the administration this week set in place a regulation concerning the manufacture of new autos within the U.S. This requires manufacturers to reduce their emissions by a small percentage within the next ten years and to increase the minimum gas mileage during that same period. This regulation shows an increased concern for well-known factors causing pollution of the atmosphere, but does not yet make a full commitment to the idea of environmental health as a necessity.
What we are seeing in these three examples are the compromises that the old seeks with the new. These compromises create slow progress forward, while holding on, at the same time, to what is familiar and comfortable.
It might be understood from what has been said that what we are witnessing is a normal progression of culture and society toward a new set of values, and this is true. However, we are also seeing within these compromises, the subtle interplay of light and darkness and the influence of energies of separation on the proceedings. Such energies can work in ways that maintain separation while seeming not to do so. By allowing small movements forward while at the same time inhibiting larger movements, forces of separation can maintain control over the overall movement toward planetary unity and the opening to greater love for all people. This same dynamic works within individual consciousness as well
The interplay of light and darkness affects life on the world stage in both obvious and subtle ways. Forces of light accelerate the movement toward the creation of planetary healing and the promotion of love and unity between peoples and with the Earth. In relation to increasing light, humanity is responding as a whole, but has not yet reached that point of inner necessity where what must be changed, will be changed, because it has become imperative within the deepest levels of our heart and being.
This consciousness shift lies before us. It is what Divine intention and the souls of those incarnated on the Earth at this time most deeply desire. May your own life reflect what you seek for the Earth and may light guide your way.
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