Sustainability, the Future &
Mind Alignments
by James Smith
Jonathon Porritt recently declared that mindset blockages are the greatest obstacle in progress towards sustainability.
This series of articles seeks to set out how a clear understanding of the human mind and its processes can help us find a better future. Like any instrument it will play a better tune when it is in the hands of a skilled practitioner.What is the human mind and how can it help with sustainability?
Each one of us has a mind, and according to how we employ our minds determines what appears in the world. The human mind is defined as the seat of consciousness, thought, volition and feeling. Mind set is defined as habits of mind formed by earlier events. The mind is not a physical organ like the brain or heart it is something that requires a different approach to understand what it is and how it works. Mind alignment can be thought of as that thing or future point that we wish to tune our minds into. It is a forward looking thing rather than a mind set which is to do with what is already known. Mind alignments are concerned with attunement, sensitivity and fine feeling as tools that will help give shape to our futures.
Some people have very broad minds able to focus on a wide range of topics whilst others are more single minded. Some people have brilliant minds like Ghandi, Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and Beethoven. Each of these minds was able to usher in a new era of thought and consciousness. In certain ages such as the Age of the Enlightenment great progress was made by many people in a number of areas.
The human mind is an incredibly versatile instrument and according to how it is assembled and put to work will determine what the output from it will be. The problem in the world of today is that minds are primarily occupied with earning a living and having done that, how to increasingly earn more. Somehow a different mind configuration needs to be put together that is concerned with what will work in the future. We are all born with the same equipment, it is a question of how we use it.
The power of the human mind can be gauged by considering some of the dramatic changes that have taken place in relatively short periods of time of human endeavour. This can be seen in examples of urban development, science and technology.
It is also the case that the human mind can receive the totally new thought or idea that is capable of being world changing. This is the case with Einstein who having read certain accounts of the physics of the day, that he formulated in his mind his famous ‘thought experiment’ concerning what one would observe if one could travel with a beam of light – at its speed, which lead to the theory of relativity. Watson and Crick were able to hold a single focussed mind set that eventually revealed the structure of DNA. The question now becomes what configuration of mind set will give the best alignment to address the issues with sustainability.
The human mind works in three departments, which are the unconscious, semi conscious and conscious. The unconscious department deals with what we do not know, and according to how we use our minds, this can be translated with varying degrees of accuracy.
Finding out what there is in the unconscious can be best accessed by asking ourselves lots of questions. These can be fired out into the ether and the mind will then catch what comes back. The key is to be able to frame those questions that the future is to do with.
In our world today, a radically new mind configuration is needed to deal with the issues that we face. In the face of an intractable mess, would we want to try and solve that mess or start afresh with a new mindset and a clean sheet of paper? Einstein once pointed out that a problem cannot be solved at the level at which it was created. In order to address the sustainability challenge an elevation is needed from which a better future can be considered. As our present mind set is unsustainable, clearly a different mind elevation or mind alignment is needed.
The question of how to find a different elevation now presents itself. It is something above what we already know. Clearly this is not easy as our noses are already pressed against the glass ceiling that is the limit of our present consciousness. The answer is that we have to alter our stride our stance in order to allow a different intelligence to flow.
So the future calls for different sentiments, attitudes, principles and values concerning human purpose. It is clear that what has worked for centuries is now breaking down and we are looking for new patterns of thought.
The present world mind condition
The world that we have created and live in today is the output of our many individual and collective mindsets. It is clearly unsustainable and this is becoming increasingly so. The many threads that make up this overall trend appear to be incapable of reversal. The world conditions and challenges that humanity faces are overpowering.
The threads within this overall trend are mainly concerned with human issues and so irrefutably, the source of these issues by which we are surrounded is the human. If any progress towards a sustainable future is to be made, then an urgent evaluation of the human condition and methods of remedy of that condition are called for. It is the case that for any sustainable development to occur, we are first looking at changing the human condition through personal development, leading to progress in the human condition. You can forget nuclear power, wind turbines and all things technological. These are all distractions from the central issue of the human condition.
Our present state of emergency in the human condition demands a re–evaluation of the mind sets that presently prevail and consideration of what mind alignments will offer a better opportunity of translating the onsetting future. The problem is deeply rooted in our mind sets and some far more effective techniques in the realms of human development are called for.
If we were to ask ourselves ‘What does the present world mind set look like?’, we might be surprised at the answer. Understanding the world mind condition at first appears to be something of a challenge, as there is no ready to hand reference book to tell us what it is. However, a very good idea of the prevailing mind set can be gauged by looking at the media and what that tells us about where human minds are.
Scanning a daily paper will reveal a whole range of headlines – try it. Now by spending time looking at the pattern of headlines and what the most frequent headlines are, it shows that they fall into a number of broad headings, for example wars, famine, disease, economic problems, crime and so the list goes on. It is also clear that somehow there is no balancing list of good news stories listing the most recent human achievements. Surely this cannot be true? How can the human condition be so desperate? Well may be this is the case.
We can also get an idea of what’s in our own mindsets by simply asking ourselves what occupies our minds? Try keeping a log and see what it says. You will soon see what the reality of your own situation is. An example of a persons mind set right now might be the mortgage, balancing the books, forthcoming MOT, their relationship, the next assignment and so it goes on. It might also be worthwhile asking what influences our minds. Perhaps one of the key influences is the media, and it is through the media that many of the impressions that our minds carry, are made up.
Another line into the present condition can be gauged by looking at what we have done to the planet in the last 200 years or so since the industrial revolution. There are good news stories, like increase in life expectancy in some countries, but the overall trends do not look so bright. A clear picture can quickly be built by looking at the Global Environmental Outlook series produced by the UN. It is also the case that we have wrought more destruction upon the planet in the last 200 years than at any other time in the history of the human race, which is a quickly sobering thought. This also true despite all of EIA’s, SEA’s, university courses and knowledge that we claim. Once upon a time the universities were about the study of what went on the universe and they gathered the best minds. Most university effort is now harnessed to commercial products and so all of this has now been consumed by the profit motive.
In contrast, it may be worthwhile spending a few moments asking of oneself the question, What do I actually need in my life? Or more pertinently, How much do I actually need to sustain myself? The answer is clean air, clean water and two or three meals a day. In the animal kingdoms this is what there is. The magpies that have just produced four young near outside our house do not seem to be too worried about their mortgage, pension, tax return etc. Nature takes care of what they need, season after season.
This line of thinking needs constant review and will only become significant for the reader, until the point is reached where it becomes apparent that a completely new mind alignment is needed concerning the future. It needs to become an overwhelming case to the point where making necessary changes becomes an absolutely natural way of going on. It also needs a point of understanding to emerge in oneself. The mind sets that we have at the moment simply do not work.
Now it may be that the answer about what will work in the future has already arrived with someone or a number of people. In which case, the issue becomes who are they and how to work with them. In this scenario our world of competition, control and greed tends to blot out any new original thinking. In the event that those people cannot be found, the problem then becomes, How can I do it myself?
The future mind and mind alignments for future sustainability
If, as in the Italian Job, you have just pulled off an incredible robbery and are making good your escape and your escape bus swings off the cliff road and is left hanging precariously off a mountain precipice, it immediately becomes clear what the difference is between all being well and all being unwell.
Part of the human condition is that we do not know how unwell we are. This is because there is no ready comparison as to what well might be in the human condition, unlike in the Italian Job. The only way that we can see what is unwell, is in the world around us, and for any person who loves the environment, it is pretty clear very quickly, that all is actually very unwell. The human species has made an enormous mess of the planet, unlike any other species.
So in this there is a part that is missing, something fundamental and yet not obvious. At the risk of alienating a large number of the readers of this article, it becomes necessary to introduce a new consideration, that of the possibility of a creative force that somehow may be at work in our affairs.
This possibility has of course been considered, made real and acted upon by some of the greatest minds in history. These minds have introduced fundamentally new lines of thinking concerning the future and how human life needed to be different. Examples of these people include Lao Tse, Confucius, Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mohammed. These mind sets have all worked very well, although as we can see somehow they seem to losing their holding power. So the question is what else might be going on?
For many people the idea that we have a spirit may already be irrefutable, for others it may be an idea that they accept, but need more evidence. For others it may be bunkum, in which case there is no need to proceed beyond this point. So for you as the reader, there needs to be the consideration of the question as whether you see that there is a purpose to human life. Do you believe that you have a spirit and soul and that somehow we have to find out how the equipment that we get when we arrive on the planet is mean to be used? It might distil down to: Is there a purpose for human life? or there is not a purpose to human life.
David Wilcock recently captured this when he wrote ‘When most people think of God, or an Ultimate Being in the universe, they do not typically see the stars and planets and galaxies as thinking, evolving beings. Looking through their telescopes, scientists see only slow–burning nuclear furnaces scattered in a black emptiness. However, this prevailing view in science of a ‘dead,’ ‘godless’ Universe, has now been successfully challenged and replaced by a far more spiritually focused viewpoint, and all the required scientific evidence to prove it already exists.
Using this new model, we can make a very strong case that the Earth and humanity is about to experience a physical and spiritual metamorphosis, where the very energy of atoms and molecules themselves, suddenly transforms to a higher, faster vibration and we once again experience a ‘Golden Age’ of civilization. This spiritual change has been predicted in many world religions and spiritual traditions, including Christianity’. Fritjof Capra captured this idea in the Tao of Physics, and indeed for Lao Tse the idea that all things connect was quite natural.
This seems to be proposing that things are in the process of change. If there is an increase in the energy that is entering the planet, what might we expect to see? Well the answer is, things speeding up, rapid advances, more virulence, things breaking down that do not fit the new energy patterns. It may also be the case that those things that read and fit the new patterns are capable of dramatic and remarkable success.
Can we see this pattern of change taking place at earlier times in human affairs and in the life of the planet? Following the trace of human evolution shows us that human capability has steadily increased. In the same way, the planet has advanced from a lump of rock, to a thing of incredible beauty which carries numerous species. So there is an idea here that things develop and this leads to the question of what might be the next evolutionary step for the human. It is also easy to see that the energies that these things run on, has increased.
If we imagine that there is an energy relationship between the human and creation and then consider what this might propose. If the human is intended to work on these finer energies, the question becomes what is needed to capture them? A good analogy would be that of a radio receiver, where it is necessary to turn the dials to find the frequency that gives the best reception for what is new. Once the frequency has been found, it is then necessary to consider what these new feelings, thoughts and ideas might translate into.
So a key future mind alignment is that there needs to be strong consideration of what the purpose of human life might be how? and how that applies in today’s rapidly changing world. A further mind alignment is to consider how the human condition might be improved, in a way that starts with the inner qualities that a person might hold. It is from this type of mind alignment that the intelligence will emerge about what sort of future to build. Much can be learnt from looking at the best of what has been, but is also the case that in a changing universe, we also need to look forward.
The human mind and its ability to translate the unknown
This article began by seeking to understand what might need to be done to assist with mind set blockages which are presently seen as being one of the great obstacles to greater sustainability. In the course of doing so, this writing has proposed a number of key points:
- The mind set and attendant human condition that we collectively hold now, is the prime cause of the environmental issues that we see in today’s world.
- The focus then needs to be on the human condition and what we can do internally within our inner worlds, to bring about a different outer future.
- The human mind is an incredibly powerful instrument and needs to be understood if it is to be of assistance.
- Part of the present dilemma and fixed condition is that the prevailing mind set is governed by what we already know, which clearly is not working. A break out is called for involving radical new thinking.
- In order to be effective rather than mind sets to do with what we already know, we need be thinking about mind alignments to the future. Such alignments will have a number of key features within them including for example: motive, values and the notion of service. Things such as ego, greed, and oppression will increasingly not fit.
- There needs to be? a strong contemplation of the relationship between the human, creation and the planet, and the spiritual dimension of life. It is for each person to make their own way in this.
- The nature of the relationship is changing as the universe appears to becoming a more potent place.
- Wipe it all out and start again, this time with the dolphins as the spirit carriers?
- Send the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to sort out the miscreants amongst the human race?
- Have another cup of tea and let humanity sort itself out?
- Increase the potency so that those who want to develop in the way of creation can do so and those that do not, sort of get left behind?
The human race is moving into the future at a phenomenal rate and what that future may hold is largely unknown. It is for humans to find ways of translating that future, in the way that will create the best opportunities for future success.
If the future is full of new thoughts and ideas intended to assist humanity, who will they turn up with? As someone once said it is easier to thread a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. It is going to arrive with those people who have the right sentiments, motives and values that mirror what is seeking entry into human affairs. It will not be to do with technical fixes. The thing that needs fixing is the human.
Have you ever been in a place in yourself where you do not know what to do? Or perhaps been at the edge of what you do know? Or perhaps in something where you have no fields of reference? Does this feel scary? Well this is the position that the world is in, and increasingly so.
Looking at children they often encounter something that they have no prior experience of. What do they do? They play with that thing to find out what it can do, what it can be used for, how it might work and if you are a parent, you know that they ask an endless stream of questions. Always they ask why, why, why?
What do we know about the future as it advances towards us? Where are the futurists who are tasked with considering what will work in the future? What will the mind of the future be concerned with? What will the relationship between the human, planet and creation be? The questions go on and on.
Occasionally a child will come out with a piece of thinking that is completely new for them and it has not been put there by anyone. It arrived from somewhere else. For Einstein the thought of relatively was completely new, it arrived from somewhere else. This must also be true for the wheel as it arrived in someone for the first time. It is also quite incredible to consider what the human mind has been able to do with the concept of the wheel, from log roller to jet engine, all the same concept.
So what will the new world be made up of? Will it be a better wheel or a zero emission car or new sentiments attitudes and values to do with human purpose? Well it is for each one of us to figure it out for ourselves and cleave to what works in our own lives. It might be all of these things, but in the mind of this author, it is mainly going to be about the relationship between the human, creation and the planet. According to how this develops will determine what physical features we make in the world.
At different times in the history of the human race, the best of people came together to consider what next in human affairs. These gatherings were the places where the future was considered and where the laws were made, that the visionaries who could dip into the future and that would then allow the greater population the best line of entry to the future. What do we see in our governments today? Corruption, scandal, self interest, profit. So if there is some new intelligence seeking entry into human affairs who will it arrive with? Certainly not the governments of the world who have led us into this present mess. It will arrive with the free thinkers who have the best alignment to the future.
About the author:
James Smith MSc, CEnv, FIEMA is passionate about discovering what a sustainable future will look like. He advises organisations about their future sustainability and seeks to do so by bringing in a futuristic perspective. He is actively researching the emerging wave of world change and what this means for organisations. James specialises in the development of leaders and the evolution of organisations that will be sustainable in the future. He is an experienced facilitator of processes leading to greater perception and understanding of issues and challenges within organisations. His company Sustainability Training Advice Review works with a wide range of organisations who are seeking to improve their sustainability performance.
tel 01559 363839 mob 07831 841793
e–mail james@sustainabilityconsultants.com