The metal stairway in this image evokes in me considerations of the evolutionary spiral, the universe’s operating system, which scientists understand to “favor” increased novelty, diversity, adaptation, complexity and order.

Along the bottom steps of the oil tank, I see the significant ordering that has already occurred. In the steps above and combined with the railing, the lighted way indicates that the overall direction of evolution is onward and upward. Finally, conveying purpose to this ascending pathway is the massive structure behind it—the universe.

Applying the metaphor to humanity, I would place the current generation in the area of transition, where light and order are emerging from the darkness—wherein dwells ignorance, short-sightedness, intolerance, self-centeredness and the illusion of separation.

I imagine the transition toward the light up the steps being fueled physically by health and well-being, safety and security, strong economies, innovations in every domain, the pursuit of excellence and what works for everyone. And because consciousness gives rise to form, I imagine that love, compassion, tolerance, collaboration, empowerment, ethical behavior and the like are the energies at the growing edge of illumination.

To some this may sound saccharine or unrealistic, particularly in light of how we’re portraying ourselves in the mass media and entertainment venues. But evolution is a universal, unbounded and dynamic process that has operated, and will continue to do so, with or without human beings.

What’s different in our time is that we understand this and we’ve gained some knowledge about the patterns that support living systems—cooperation, adaptability, complexity, and interconnectedness.”

In his study of 26 societies, Historian Arnold Toynbee found that a civilization’s prospects for survival were greatly enhanced by the movement of information and resources from the top of the society to the bottom. Those that accomplished this feat of uplifting citizens at the lowest level survived the longest.

On the other hand, collapsed civilizations had in common an “inflexibility under stress and the concentration of wealth in a few hands.” He also observed that civilizations disintegrated when their leaders stopped responding creatively, and they “sank owing to nationalism, militarism, and the tyranny of a despotic minority.”

Addressing the challenge of moving in the more positive direction, biologist and systems scientist Dr. Janis Roze, advised:

“We must now give equal time and focus, equal or even greater energy to those human qualities that are constructive, growth enhancing, confidence and trust inspiring, so that the power of these qualities can be consciously developed and applied both to individual lives and to the directing of societal and world affairs.”

As far back as we’ve been able to see, human evolution favors the passing on—physically, mentally and socially—of characteristics, qualities and thinking that promote survival and growth.

The darkness below the stairway suggests the gravity of older patterns of consciousness: fear of loss, attachment to power, institutional self-protection, short-term thinking, and the subtle pressure to conform rather than act courageously.

Yet the illuminated steps hint at another direction emerging within human society—one shaped less by competition and division than by collaboration, creativity, empathy, and the recognition that our lives are profoundly interconnected.

The spiral itself reminds us that evolution isn’t simply movement through time. It’s an advance in awareness.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi connected the dots, tying the individual to evolutionary process by observing:

“What evolves is not the self trapped in our physical body, which will dissolve after death. Rather, what will survive and grow is the pattern of information that we have shaped through our existence: the acts of love, the beliefs, the knowledge, the skills, the insights that we have had and that have affected the course of events around us. No matter how smart, wise, or altruistic a person might be, he or she is not going to contribute to evolution except by leaving traces of complexity in the culture, by serving as an example to others, by changing customs, belief or knowledge in such a way that they can be passed down to future generations.”

Light doesn’t emerge from the darkness, it dispels and gives form to it, creating well-ordered shadows.

Consciousness (light) is fundamental. It’s progress isn’t a straight line, but a spiral. The direction toward expanded thinking and a better life, individually and collectively, is in alignment with the patterns revealed in the spiral—cooperation, adaptability, complexity, and interconnectedness.

The direction of choiceful change is either up or down. There’s light on the steps ahead, darkness on those below. Every day, personally and socially, the steps we take, even the tiny ones, are either up or down.

We live on a different planet now, where not biology but symbolic consciousness is the determining factor for evolution. Cultural selection has overwhelmed natural selection. That is, the survival of species and of entire ecosystems now depends primarily on human activities.

—Brian Swimme, Cosmologist

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My other sites:

Contemplative Photography

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

My contemplations tend to focus on the present.

They’re usually prompted by one of my photographs, the social climate, or patterns in current events—what people are talking about online or in person. For these I generally write with a “closeup” or “normal” lens.

This topic requires something much wider.

The thought to post this occurred because of the growing buzz surrounding the birth metaphor. While the analogy has circulated for decades—perhaps even longer—it now seems to be gaining traction globally among ecologists, futurists, philosophers, systems thinkers and spiritual visionaries.

In part, I suspect, it’s because so many people now feel the instability personally.

Environmental disruption.
Political polarization.
Economic anxiety.
Information overload.

The erosion of truth.
Loneliness.
Confusion.
A growing sense that something fundamental is breaking down.

Fear and helplessness seem to be rising everywhere. People increasingly ask:

“What’s going on? Exactly, what’s happening? Everything’s breaking down.”

Have you felt this? Have you found yourself sensing that the world has become louder, less safe, dumber, more fragmented and more emotionally exhausting than it once was?

Does it seem like humanity is unraveling?

Or becoming something new? The perspective that we’re experiencing the pains of birth works for me because it reframes the meta-crisis in a way that’s both meaningful and hopeful.

Not easy.
Not painless.
But purposeful.

Like an expectant father trying to calm his wife during labor:

“Hold on, honey. You’ll get through this.”

Both understand:
something difficult is happening,
but also something extraordinary.

Something wonderful is coming.

Meta-Crisis

Many thinkers now use the term meta-crisis to describe the convergence of multiple global breakdowns occurring simultaneously.

Climate disruption.
Political instability.
Mental health struggles.
Weaponization of technology.
Social fragmentation.
Economic inequality.
Declining trust in institutions.
Discredited media.
The erosion of shared meaning.

These crises are not isolated problems.

They interact.
Amplify one another.
Feed one another.

Each appears to be unsolvable. Yet at the same time, something else is happening.

Around the world, people are joining their talents to envision and co-create more humane ways of living. New movements emphasizing ecology, compassion, collaboration, trauma awareness, restorative justice, mindfulness, systems thinking, social engineering, sustainable economics and global responsibility are on the rise almost everywhere.

Beneath the noise, higher consciousness is on the ascendency.

Philosopher Beatrice Bruteau described it as a movement from a “domination paradigm” toward a “communion paradigm.”

Domination systems are organized around hierarchy, control, separation and competition.

Communion systems recognize interdependence, caring relationships, co-creation, mutual flourishing and shared creativity.

In domination cultures, power flows downward.

In communion cultures, power circulates.

Bruteau believed evolution itself gradually moves toward greater interiority, relationship and wholeness—not merely toward greater technological complexity. Humanity, in her view, is slowly awakening to the reality that we belong to one another; we “indwell” one another.

What if much of today’s instability reflects the painful tension of a worldview dying while another is struggling to be born?

Does that change how you feel?

Does it soften the anxiety even slightly?

What Is Trying to Be Born?

Different thinkers describe humanity’s possible future in different ways, yet many point toward remarkably similar qualities:

expansion of love,

greater compassion,
increased awareness,

co-creative partnerships,
creative expression,
deeper relationships,
heightened intuition,
and a growing recognition of our interdependence—with one another and the Earth.

Many also share another striking conviction: evolution moves toward greater complexity, coherence, freedom, order, awareness and beauty.

Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin believed the universe evolves toward increasing consciousness and unity—a movement culminating not merely in intellectual advancement, but in what he called Christogenesis: the gradual emergence of humanity into higher expressions of love, communion and spiritual awareness modeled for him most fully by Jesus the Christ.

Similarly, Barbara Marx Hubbard wrote of “the birth of the universal human”—a stage of development characterized by expanded capacities for empathy, creativity, intuitive knowing and conscious co-creation.

Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo envisioned evolution moving beyond the rational ego into what he called “supramental consciousness”—a more integrated mode of being grounded in unity, spiritual awareness and direct experience of the sacred within all life.

Philosopher Beatrice Bruteau similarly believed humanity is evolving toward greater participation in divine creativity itself.

Christian monk Thomas Merton wrote that humanity’s deepest crisis is one of identity: forgetting our essential connectedness to God, one another and creation.

Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh used the word “interbeing” to describe the reality that nothing exists independently. Compassion naturally arises when we experience this directly.

Ecological historian Thomas Berry believed humanity is transitioning from a human-centered worldview toward an Earth-centered consciousness—grounded and resulting in mutual flourishing.

Systems theorist Ervin Laszlo argues that humanity is developing toward greater planetary coherence, resulting from the integration of science, spirituality and systems awareness.

And social theorist Riane Eisler sees history gradually moving away from domination systems toward “partnership cultures” rooted in cooperation rather than competition and control.

Not all perspectives, however, are equally hopeful. Some technologists envision humanity’s next stage primarily through artificial intelligence, genetic engineering or cybernetic enhancement—an evolution of capability more than consciousness.

Others fear civilizational collapse altogether.

And still others suggest evolution has no direction beyond adaptation and survival.

Yet despite these differences, many thinkers across philosophy, spirituality, ecology and systems science share a striking intuition:

humanity may be growing toward a wider identity.

From isolated self
to relational self.

From competition
to communion.

From fragmentation
to wholeness.

From domination
to participation.

From fear
to love.

Expanded Inner Capacities

Some thinkers envision humanity’s next evolutionary stage primarily through advances in technology.

Others suggest that humanity’s deeper evolution may involve the unfolding of latent inner capacities already present within consciousness itself.

Paramahansa Yogananda wrote extensively about expanded human potentials traditionally regarded as extraordinary or even miraculous:
heightened intuition,
telepathy,
clairvoyance,
states of unity consciousness,
and profound experiences of spiritual perception. In Autobiography of a Yogi, he described such capacities not as supernatural exceptions, but as glimpses of possibilities latent within human consciousness.

Similarly, Barbara Marx Hubbard believed humanity may be developing capacities that today seem extraordinary but could eventually become natural expressions of a more evolved human being.

Research organizations such as HeartMath Institute and the Institute of Noetic Sciences have explored phenomena involving intuition, interconnected consciousness and the deeper potentials of the human mind.

Viewed together, these perspectives suggest two parallel dimensions of evolution:
the outer evolution of technology,
and the inner evolution of consciousness.

One expands what humanity can do. The other transforms what humanity can become.

For many spiritual visionaries—including Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Sri Aurobindo and Barbara Marx Hubbard—the highest possibilities of human evolution are ultimately expressed not through power or machinery, but through expanded consciousness, deeper compassion, conscious co-creation, awakened creativity and greater expressions and expansions of love.

Seeing with a wider lens

Contemplative photography has taught me that, what appears chaotic often reveals inner coherence when viewed from a shift in perception.

A tangle of branches becomes graceful.
Shadows become dimensional, creating geometry.

An oil wrench evokes its elemental beginning.

A giant oak tree latent within a single acorn.
Broken surfaces reveal texture, depth and reflection.

A spark of the divine in a homeless person.
Even violent storms possess strange beauty when viewed from a distance.

Perhaps evolution works this way too. “Unraveling” can be seen as laboring for something higher to emerge. The butterfly image accompanying this essay expresses this beautifully.

Inside the cocoon, transformation appears hidden, disordered and uncertain. One form dissolves before another can fully emerge. From the insect’s point of view, the struggle of transition is normal, simply a natural process of being present and letting go. It doesn’t know what’s ahead, it trusts that nature knows what it’s doing.

Letting go of the past is difficult. But when something in life is ending it’s for a good reason. And it’s a sign—the possibility of transformation.

The current era is filled with the signs of passing through such a threshold—moving painfully from one state of being to another. Many evolutionary thinkers suggest that nothing essential is ever truly lost in the evolutionary process. Each stage of development carries forward and integrates the most life-promoting energies of what came before it.

Matter becomes life, life becomes mind, mind becomes self-aware consciousness. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin observed, evolution appears to move toward increasing complexity and consciousness—toward greater wholeness, integration and interiority. In this view, humanity’s future does not abandon the past but transforms and includes it within a larger expression of life.

evolution has direction,

growth is cumulative,

and the deeper achievements of humanity are not meaningless or discarded.

Evolutionary movement is always forward,
not merely cyclical repetition.

What increases is depth of being—

Toward greater wholeness.
Greater consciousness.
Greater compassion.
Greater freedom.

Greater participation in one another’s well-being.

When my wife was in labor, about to deliver our daughter, uppermost in our minds—along with the struggle of the moment—was the (long standing) anticipation of what was to come. Perhaps humanity too, will one day look back and acknowledge that the struggle was WELL WORTH IT.

Beyond appearances, every technology is an expression of human consciousness extending itself beyond limited thinking. What we’re witnessing today is not merely rapid innovation, it’s the emergence of certain technologies that transcend utility, developments that don’t just improve life, but reveal who and what we’re becoming. They’re not isolated breakthroughs. They form a pattern.

The Expanding Edge of Human Capacity

Across multiple domains, humanity is reaching beyond what once seemed fixed.

Artificial intelligence and robotics are extending cognition and action beyond the biological body. They raise a profound question: if intelligence can be replicated, what remains uniquely human?

Space exploration is carrying us beyond the Earth itself. From that perspective borders disappear, and we begin to see our planet as a single, fragile whole.

Ecological awareness is dissolving the illusion that we’re separate from nature. We’re not simply observers and consumers of the Earth—we’re conscious members of a larger holon, a living system.

Biotechnology and gene editing are allowing us to alter the very structure of life. Evolution is no longer something that simply happens to us. It’s becoming something we can participate in.

Nanotechnology and advanced materials are reshaping matter at its most fundamental levels.
We’re learning that the smallest (quantum) structures often hold the greatest power.

Global communication networks have connected humanity in real time. We’re forming a planetary nervous system, where ideas move instantly across the whole.

Seen together, these are signals, suggesting that humanity is moving from being shaped by evolution to consciously co-creating it.

What These Technologies Are Teaching Us

Each of these developments carries an implicit lesson:

· Limits are often provisional.

· Intelligence isn’t confined to the individual mind.

· Human consciousness is responsible for its own (and the planet’s) evolution.

· Life—all being—is interconnected and interdependent at every scale.

· We’re active participants in larger, unfolding processes—earth and human evolution.

· We can do more together—synergistically— than we thought possible.

The technologies are teaching us that the problem isn’t out there. It’s in the lens through which we perceive ourselves, others and the planet that sustains us.

The Metacrisis: A Failure of Seeing

If these are truly technologies of transcendence, then we must ask: Why, as our powers increase, do our crises deepen? Why do the same capacities that can heal the planet also accelerate its destruction? The answer doesn’t lie in the technologies themselves. It lies in how we see ourselves individually, the species as a whole and our relation to the Earth. Our “metacrisis”—a compounding of complex breakdowns that can’t be resolved independently—is not, at its core, technological or political. Again, it’s perceptual—a crisis of sustained erroneous perception.

· We’ve seen ourselves as separate from nature, so we exploited it.

· We’ve seen ourselves as separate from one another, so we divided and competed.

· We’ve seen ourselves as isolated selves, so we pursued power without wisdom.

· We’ve seen others as threats, so we disengaged, demonized and denounced them.

· We’ve seen others as potentially violent, so we armed ourselves.

· We’ve seen the Earth mainly as a resource, so we despoiled the life that sustains us.

· We’ve seen water as a commodities, so we put meters on them to create wealth.

· We’ve seen life itself as meaningless, so we became selfish with short term goals.

Power Without Perception

Our technologies have advanced much faster than our ability to process their ethical consequences. We can manipulate life, but we haven’t learned to fully honor it; we can connect the world, but we don’t really understand one another—or accept our differences, and we can extend intelligence, but haven’t deepened the wisdom to apply it toward collective flourishing. The defining imbalance of our time is that, while we’ve gained the power to transcend sensory limits, we haven’t yet transcended the consciousness of separation, self-centeredness and greed that created them. As a consequence, technologies may be amplifying our brilliance, but put to self-centered ends they create confusion, instability and division. For example—

Social media platforms amplify our ability to connect and share ideas globally—yet the same systems fragment attention, reward outrage and intensify polarization.

Artificial intelligence accelerates insight, creativity and problem-solving, while also generating misinformation and uncertainty about what’s real.

Biotechnology and gene editing offer the potential to eliminate disease, yet they raise profound ethical dilemmas about the manipulation of life, inequality and unintended consequences.

Global financial systems and digital markets enable unprecedented wealth creation and efficiency, while also driving inequality, instability and disconnection from real-world value.

24/7 news and information networks keep us constantly informed, in the process overwhelm, distort and distract from greater priorities, creating a persistent sense of crisis.

The Real Milestones

The more significant next stage of human development is not primarily technological. It’s perceptual. What’s most needed—and will occur if we learn from nature and the metacrisis we’ve created—is a paradigm shift in consciousness: from separation to participation, from control to relationship, from fragmentation to wholeness. Without this shift, our tools will continue to outpace our wisdom in using them. With it, those technologies will become instruments of healing, coherence and respect across the board.

Seeing as the Turning Point

Our expanding technological capacities and the deepening global metacrisis reveal a single truth: the outer world reflects the inner lens through which we perceive it. My experiences in contemplative photography have taught me that everything depends on how we see. A landscape approached with distraction yields one kind of image—chaos. The same setting approached with presence, interconnectedness and respect reveals something entirely different—coherence, a sacred presence. So it is with civilization. The future will not be determined by what we can build, but by whether we can learn to see the world and ourselves as an undivided whole.

Invitation

If you believe our most important task is to cultivate clearer vision, consider subscribing and sharing. Coming soon to Substack; a serialized version of my unpublished manuscript: Media of Hope: Imagining Television’s Higher Potentials—Elevating Minds; Opening Hearts; Empowering Lives. Why television? Because, as a mass medium television continuously and poignantly reflects and shapes what the general public sees and believes as real.

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

Technologies are like “media,” they extend our senses beyond the limits of time, distance, scale, intelligence and life experience. What we’re experiencing today is not merely rapid innovation, but the emergence of technologies of transcendence, those that are not just changing the world, they’re teaching us something radical: that the future of humanity will not be determined by what we can build, but by who we choose be—in relation to our machines.

Futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard wrote along these lines, asserting that humanity now possesses “emerging capacities”—technological, social, and spiritual—that can deliberately transcend previous limits and guide our own evolution. The technologies of transcendence aren’t just improving life, they’re demonstrating that we can be conscious co-creators of evolution (not just passive products of it), that limits and limited thinking are not absolute and “the impossible” can drive determination and transformation.

Technologies of Transcendence

Technologies are like “media,” they extend us extend us beyond previous limits—of time, distance, scale, intelligence and life experience. In doing so, they also illuminate something deeper. Each one, in its own way, tells us about ourselves—who we are, what we can do together and where we are going. The technologies of transcendence are not simply instruments of power. They’re the means by which we discover our power.

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

(Extending action and cognition)

Machines now perform tasks once thought uniquely human—perceiving patterns, making decisions, even generating language and art. They challenge our assumptions about intelligence itself. It reveals that intelligence alone is not wisdom. Efficiency is not understanding. And as machines grow more capable, we’re asking: What is distinctly human? Not computation—but consciousness. Not speed—but discernment. Not output—but meaning. Not fragmentation—but coherence. Not separation—but integration.

Space Exploration

(Extending presence beyond Earth)

From early missions to ongoing exploration, humanity has stepped beyond its planetary cradle, glimpsing Earth from afar. That image—fragile, luminous, whole—changed us. It’s teaching us that we’re not separate observers of the world, but participants within a single, whole living system, that distance creates perspective and broader perspectives require responsibility.
Perspective awakens responsibility.

Deep Ecology

(Extending identity beyond the individual self)

Ecological awareness has evolved from conservation to something more profound: a recognition that the human is not apart from nature, but an expression of it. It is us in one of its varied forms. The self, as a contributing person, is larger than the individual. To harm the Earth is, in a very real sense, to harm ourselves. To care for it is to find meaning, balance and belonging.

Genome Manipulation and Biotechnology

(Extending influence over life itself)

With tools that allow us to edit the genetic code, we’re entering domains once reserved for nature alone. The implications are vast—medical, ethical and existential. We’re learning that power without wisdom is dangerous. It calls us to develop a deeper reverence for life—not as something to control, but as something to understand and participate in responsibly.

Nanotechnology

(Extending awareness into the invisible)

Quantum science has demonstrated that at the molecular and atomic scale, matter behaves in ways that challenge ordinary perception. Nanomaterials are natural, incidental or engineered substances containing particles measured in nanometers. They exhibit unique properties—such as increased strength, chemical reactivity, or conductivity—compared to bulky counterparts. Allowing the design and construction of material systems from the ground up, nanotechnology is demonstrating that “reality” is far more subtle and interconnected than it appears. What we take as solid, stable and separate is, at its foundation, dynamic and relational.

Biocomputing

(Blurring the boundary between living systems and machines)

By integrating biological processes with computational systems, we’re dissolving the line between organism and technology. Rather than using silicon chips, biocomputers use neurons, proteins or DNA to perform computations. It demonstrates that “life” and “intelligence” are not opposing categories. Eventually we’ll find that all matter is intelligent and we’re participants in a continuum that invites humility as well as innovation.

Building Materials and Engineering

(Extending how we inhabit space)

From self-healing materials to regenerative design, our built environments are becoming more adaptive, efficient and responsive. For instance, architects are increasingly favoring mass timber, specifically Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glued Laminated Timber (Glulam), for large-scale, high-rise buildings. They yield superior strength-to-weight ratio, rapid construction speed, sustainability benefits, and structural integrity. We’re learning to build not against nature, but with it.

Food Production

(Extending how we sustain life)

Advances in agriculture—vertical farming and hydroponics, lab-grown foods, precision fermentation, CRISPER gene editing, AI robotics, hydrostatic pressure fields and carbon-negative protein production—are reshaping the ways we nourish ourselves. We’re learning that sustenance isn’t all about consumption—it’s using nature’s intelligence to responsibly produce more and more nutritious food. How and what we feed ourselves reflects how we view life, interdependence and each other.

Global Communication Networks

(Extending connection across the planet)

Digital networks now link billions of people in real time globally. As we speak, share and witness across vast distances instantly, we’re learning that connection is not the same as communion. In time, this awareness will bring increased presence, authenticity and compassion into the connections that technology makes possible.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

(Extending perception and imagination)

Immersive technologies allow us to step into constructed worlds, altering how we perceive space, time and identity. They have shown us that perception is not fixed—it’s shaped. And if it can be shaped externally, it must be grounded internally. Otherwise it’s just another toy that runs the risk of being weaponized.

Renewable Energy

(Extending alignment with planetary systems)

Solar, wind and other renewable systems reflect a shift from extraction to participation. We’re slowly learning to live within the restraints of the well-being of the larger whole system—people and Nature. And power does not have to mean domination. It can mean alignment.

Data and Predictive Systems

(Extending foresight)

We now model, simulate and predict complex systems, from weather to economies and human behavior. (We’re even betting on them). But knowing more doesn’t guarantee choosing wisely. For instance, when scholars in archaeology began to integrate their findings with geologists, ecologists, anthropologists and climate scientists they discovered that the root cause of the nearly simultaneous collapse of major cities encompassing the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age was climate change—long term drought. That example, together with the severity and frequency of climate events, is advising us to exercise foresight and whole system’s responses.

Perspective

Together, these technologies are stretching us— outward into space, inward into the cell, downward into the atom, across the planet, into virtual worlds and possible futures. They expand our reach while challenging our ethics and preparedness. Technology is not only changing how we live and work, it’s revealing what we must become or perish.

Not more efficient, but more aware.
Not more powerful—but more responsible.
Not more connected—but more present.

Technologies are tools, not ends in themselves. They’re milestones in our evolutionary journey. To cross them well, we’ll have to grow into a deeper form of humanity rooted not only in intelligence, but in wisdom; not only in capability, but in a more inclusive and expansive consciousness.

If these are truly technologies of transcendence, then we must ask: Why, as our powers increase, do our crises deepen? Why do the same capacities that can heal the planet also accelerate its destruction? What is the purpose of our power? The answer doesn’t lie in the technologies themselves. It lies in how we see. In Part 2 I’ll relates this to my previous posting on the metacrisis—Crisis Precedes Transformation: What One Person Can Do In A Time of Global Uncertainty.

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My other sites:

David L. Smith Photography Portfolio.com

Ancient Maya Cultural Traits.com: Weekly blog featuring the traits that made this civilization unique

Spiritual Visionaries.com: Access to 81 free videos on YouTube featuring thought leaders and events of the 1980s.

One among many leaves that float on the surface of life, I ride the waves.

Some are calm—

meaningful conversations,

helping where help is needed,

Linda’s cooking, Graeter’s ice cream, Skyline chili, Panera strawberry salad,

researching and writing,

Scott Hamilton’s tenor sax, Andrea Bocelli’s voice, Beegie Adair on piano,

traveling backroads to photograph, editing my photo collection,

orange tabbies, jaguars and woodpeckers,

The West Wing, Northern Exposure, John Adams, Anne of Green Gables,

The Life of Pi, Avatar; Enchanted, Singin’ in The Rain.

Others are turbulent—

war, man’s inhumanity to man, political discord and division,

cruelty to animals, racism, intolerance,

not being able to help where help is needed,

health challenges,

loud music and loud talkers in restaurants, order-takers getting it wrong,

littering, horn honking, foul language, telemarketing interruptions,

television IDs in the corner of the screen; hype and destructive commercials,

apocalyptic movies,

political self-centeredness.

On the surface I do my best to adapt.

Beneath the surface I experience depths and expanse.

Further down, in the stillness, there is peace of mind.

Deeper yet, ironically, in the darkness comes greater illumination.

Descending through the abyssal plane, the adopted surface-self diminishes.

With no place to look and nothing to see, pure awareness and authentic self emerges.

At base, where non-self and not-knowing are embraced, being takes precedence over doing.

There, aware of pure potential, I rise to the surface again with fresh insight.

Though riding the waves as an individual leaf, I am of the ocean.

I don't give you

money, food, shelter or clothing

because you appear to need these things,

because I feel sorry for you

or say to myself, "There but for the grace of God..."

I give what I can, not to feel good about myself

or out of a sense of social responsibility.

I give to spark your renewed faith in human nature

that you will know the good, the Godly in all of us.

Seeing this, at least in spirit,

you will be more inclined to help us build the ark of love,

the vessel taking us to the birthing place

of a new humanity.

A big sign in the window read—

(Reader: Insert your full name here)

A RETROSPECTIVE

When God came out a reporter

with a microphone asked,

So God, what did you think?

God smiled: “It was all mirrors.”

High in the field of frigid darkness,
The place where potentials reside,
Atoms rise, congregate, and coalesce.
I am born, a vaporous singularity.

Wandering there, I reach out to the closest being,
A speck of dust carried on an atmospheric wave,
Clinging and descending, the order expressing
Symmetry with six arms.

Growing, gaining weight, I descend
Through neighborhoods of varying cold and wet.
Colder, my body flattens.
Warmer, my arms grow intricate, needle-like crystals.

Descending further and gaining momentum,
I reach out in seven directions,
Ever growing, expanding, tossed in the wind.
I am not alone.

Rising, falling, swirling with my neighbors,
Our uniqueness becoming clear,
As does substance as we journey together.
The currents stronger now, carrying us to the same destiny.

Approaching the earth, falling together in silence,
Trees lift their white-burdened arms to greet us.
An orange tabby on a windowsill watches, arches its back.
A doe leads her fawn to a leaf-fallen thicket.

Beauty and mystery filled the journey
As our singularities became a multitude,
Arriving together in silent curtains of white,
Possibilities realized in a spectacle of joining.

Nationalism is a point of view that puts the identity, interests and values of a nation ahead of other nations, regarding itself as independent and self-sufficient, the ultimate authority on what's best for its citizens. Grounded in national pride, it has brought people together to assert their freedom, independence and economic growth in the face of domineering kings and tyrants. The French and American versions of democracy resulted from their respective sense of identity and values, driven by a passionate desire to unite and formalize them. So within a nation, collective fervor can contribute to unity and resilience.

However, it can also create division and vulnerability, poverty, war and genocide through exclusive and aggressive policies. History and the sciences, biology and anthropology in particular, have shown that all living systems are interdependent. If your liver cells collectively decide to stop regulating the nervous system, preferring instead to only process hormones that make it bigger and stronger, the organ will become cancerous and create a host of painful symptoms throughout your body. Unchecked, you could die of end-stage liver disease. Whatever the reason, when a living system—family, company, corporation, church or nation— builds a virtual or actual wall around itself, it not only limits variety, innovation and expansion which are evolutionary drivers, it becomes increasingly vulnerable to change with limited ability to adapt.

How does national pride turn into self-centered obsession nationwide? Systemically, the short answer is fear, which begins in a climate of breakdown. When members in a complex living system such as a nation, observe a number of breakdowns that escalate, they feel vulnerable and helpless. They look outside themselves for someone at the top—a king or government— to fix them. As tensions rise and problems escalate, those at the bottom of the social pyramid lose faith in their leader or government. Kings can be deposed. In governing bodies, a charismatic person, often a celebrity who’s had a taste of power acquired by being rewarded and admired, stands up, expresses national pride and criticizes the way the system is being managed, confidently proclaiming easy solutions to complex systemic issues. Not understanding the complexities and relationships involved, everyday citizens are easily seduced by this person's passionate expression of self-confidence and conviction. They want the quick fixes. And the prospect of something radically new encourages people to participate in the promise of a future where their payoff is both intrinsic (respect, acknowledgement, engagement) and extrinsic ("more money in our pockets").

How do we know when national pride turns toxic? What are the telltale signs? When those seeking power reveal the mentality of what psychologists refer to as "narcissistic personality disorder," a red flag should go up. Below, I characterize expressions characteristic of a toxic nationalistic mindset. While the power-seeker speaks of "we the people," his or her inner compulsion is always "I."

We're the best. We come first. (I am the best. I come first)

Words to this effect are a clear expression of collective superiority and self-centeredness. The mindset creates division, erodes trust, limits global cooperation, creates economic and political tension and risks, promotes discrimination or conflicts with marginalized groups and foreign nations, neglects the moral obligation to assist less-developed nations and because environmental issues transcend borders, short-term gains lead to unsustainable practices that harm the planet.

Immigration poses a threat to our culture, livelihoods and security.

A nation's greatest asset is its people. The greater the diversity of a population, the stronger its resilience, the ability to respond to crises. And greater diversity increases the capacity to innovate, particularly in the areas of health, economics and security. For example, America became strong because it welcomed immigrants. Rather than seeing them as intruders, they were regarded as potential contributors, and we found ways to incorporate, educate and encourage them to become responsible and productive citizens.

We don't need to depend on outside producers. We'll produce everything we need.

This is a failure to understand or accept a reality that has the potential to uplift every facet of a nation's existence. Like it or not, every living system maintains its existence in the context of larger systems. Nothing that's alive can exist alone, not human beings and not their collectives. When each member (nation) in a whole system (planet) contributes its unique gifts and exchanges them, the whole and its members flourish. A nation that draws a membrane around itself, limits or excludes those benefits.

We don't need to belong to regulating organizations. They don't respect our freedom.

This is like saying we won't subscribe to traffic laws, water treatment authorities and police departments in our neighborhood. At every level, regulations in human systems are designed to ensure their health, protection and smooth operation. Detaching from these increases a system's vulnerability to breakdown.

I'm not like your current leaders who are making things worse. You deserve better.

This statement creates division, pitting "Us against Them." It's an emotional appeal to those at the bottom of the social pyramid. We learn from debate strategies, that to gain position or power within an existing system, the challenger must assert the negative (whether he or she believes it or not). And reasoned arguments, evidence and supports are given to prove that the status quo is not working. One of the telltale signs of an individual promoting self over social well-being is the lack of these essential components of formal debate—argumentation, instead making emotional proclamations couched in generalities. Rarely if ever do these leaders display reason or intelligence regarding the solutions they propose. It's a diversionary tactic: You don't need the details. Trust me. I know what’s best.

Those who resist or stand against us must be eliminated. God wills it! He is on our side!

This proclamation, followed by widespread demonstrations of violence and murder, quickly raise the status of the charismatic individual. Historical examples include Napoleon (France), Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Atatürk (Turkey) and Sun Yat-sen (China).

There is no end to our greatness. Under my rule, we can conquer the world.

The first indication of this particular narcissistic and power-hungry attitude is gaining control of an existing army, pouring more resources into it and building it up through more and larger successes in gaining ground. The leaders mentioned above fall into this category.

In the current era, two more indicators of toxic nationalism have emerged—

You can't trust science or facts. (Implication: But you can trust me).

You can't trust the news media. (Implication: But you can trust me).

By definition, a nation that places its trust in one individual is a dictatorship. A fundamental principle of whole systems science states, "The whole organizes the parts." In a democracy, citizens collectively experience the positive and negative consequences of the consciousness (beliefs, values, moral character) they elect to office. This means that voters at the bottom of a nation's pyramid are far more responsible for its failures than those in office. When citizens feel neglected, disrespected, undervalued or disenfranchised they will eagerly vote for change. Any change. Thomas Jefferson understood the importance of trust in a democracy. He often stated, "An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy... Whenever the people are well informed, they may be trusted with their own government."

In an evolutionary, even historical time frame, democracy has not yet proven to be sustainable. In The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, a pack of wolves recite, "The strength of the pack is the wolf; the strength of the wolf is the pack.” Indeed, the strength of a nation is the citizen, and the strength of the citizen is the nation. All systems are interconnected and characterized by feedback loops. In living systems they enable the members to adjust based on the state of the whole. For instance, when a democratic nation breaks down, the departments modify their behavior based on goals and performance parameters established in its constitution, not the desire or order of its president or dictator.

Schism in the soul, schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme to return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements of civilization. Only birth can conquer death―the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new... The West will terminally decline unless a new spiritually motivated minority emerges offering new creative leadership, bringing the society to a new level of consciousness and development.

Arnold Toynbee, English historian and philosopher of History

In keeping with my intention that every posting be an appreciation; we can be grateful for the negative consequences of toxic nationalism because pain and dysfunction clearly demonstrate what is not working. In time, we can adjust. The souls caught in the web of narcissism are not "bad." I believe they're following a pre-birth plan, intending through experience to learn balanced and productive responses to fame, fortune and power. In a word, the lesson is love.

When we look at a chair, we see the wood, but we fail to observe the tree, the forest, the carpenter or our own mind. When we meditate on it, we can see the entire universe in all its interwoven and interdependent relations in the chair. The presence of the wood reveals the presence of the tree. The presence of the leaf reveals the presence of the sun. The presence of the apple blossoms reveal the presence of the apple. Meditators can see the one in the many and the many in the one... The chair is not separate. It exists only in its interdependent relations with everything in the universe. It is because all other things are.

Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk
Author, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

The heart of the giver makes the gift precious.

—Martin Luther, German priest, theologian, author, hymn writer, professor

(Quiz question 1: What three gifts did Jesus, the Christ, offer? To whom?)

(Quiz question 2: What three gifts were you born with? To whom are you giving them?)

Like the seers and oracles of old, Art sings and shouts from the axis of truth to wake us up to who we are and where we are going.

Alex Gray, American artist, teacher, Vajrayana practitioner
Author, The Mission of Art

All matter originates and exists by virtue of a force. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. 

I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.

Max Planck, Physicist, originator of quantum theory

Some day, after mastering the winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J., Priest, scientist, philosopher
Toward The Future