Section Theta  Lesson Theta Three: Human Evolution  The Journey From Pain to Pleasure  Just as individuals proceed down a path of optimizing spiritual value and purpose, humanity as a whole, the mass consciousness of the species, travels a similar path. The self-developmental impetus moves humanity forward in the expansion and creative use of group consciousness as surely as it does for each individual  Although it might not be too evident at times, we are a more evolved species now than we were a millennium ago. We have made progress and continue to make progress in our spiritual evolution, both collectively and individually. Now we can come to understand how the rate of this "progress" can be dramatically accelerated.  As with individuals, the species has vacillated back and forth between the dynamic forces of protection (self-preservation) and growth (self-development) as it has become collectively conscious of natural processes and evermore adept at quality creative participation within them. When groups recognize their common roots, interests, and collective power, group purposes and self-identities begin to emerge---kinships, villages, cities, and countries. Each group then responds to its collective social patterns of pain and pleasure to attain its highest value fulfillment. Of course, the "self" is relevant, and any group distinction that does not include the entirety of humanity is limited in its breadth of consciousness.  It must be made clear in every element of society, from family to country, that  all human life has dignity. Individuals who have personal frailties and seem to be out of place with the collective, deserve the respect and love of the group simply because the are a part of the All that Is.  Historically, the pains and pleasures of each group within the species have collectively influenced the overall health and evolution of the whole. In a world where some choose the higher path of cooperation and others remain at a more reflexive competitive level, all humans must default to some degree to the lower defensive, fear-driven path. For example, the early European practice of colonialization, the seizing of power and imposition of Western culture upon any isolated communities. This era was simply a power-seeking expansion rather than a unified cooperative effort honoring the connection need, the insights, or the wisdom of different others. Many enlightened collective and ecologically sound cultural traditions were obliterated, squandering a good deal of value that had been earned. For when thoughtful ideas and words are up against guns and perceived superiority, the meek will predictably suffer.  Yet, despite the collective cruelty shown by these conquers, those who survived under the imposed tyranny were able to bring forth a conviction of love and forgiveness that eventually overcame the pain being inflicted upon them and the "power-madness" of the particular era eventually gave way to a giving and caring that can still be found in the less fortunate, should one elect to look for it.  But as many seers have also predicted, the meek shall indeed inherit the earth. For the cooperative destiny of the human species shall only unfold when humanity recognizes the universal guidance within the human feeling sense. The meek are those who consciously embrace the wisdom within the feeling sense, that recognize the universal connection of all life, that honor the human responsibility to create purposeful change, and are driven by egalitarian respect, compassion, gratitude, loyalty, devotion, and love instead of competitive fear, anger, superiority, contempt, and hate. Although there have been many groups that have had advanced consciousness and understandings, they will continue to be overcome by the ignorance of those who do not--- for the species is indeed an evolving whole with "majority" if not mob" rule. (The Energy of every human thought forms the pool of mass consciousness, no matter the purposeful quality of thought. As creative will power is equal, all energy is equal.) Indeed, the most accurate measure of the condition of any connected chain is indeed its weakest link.  We, as human beings, are linked together in thought. We experience this most acutely with those we care about and less so with those we only know. But we all know each other on another level and can influence each other with emotional energy. Giving strength and love to those who are the "weakest" among us, allows all of us to move together to change our world.  The self-defining identifiers within mass consciousness offer clear reflections of the transformational energy progress that has been made. For any competitive, divisiveness, warring, discrimination, prejudice, or injustice marks the early stages of human progress. Until the majority of the human population becomes aware of the emotional guidance available, pain will be the teacher and pleasure will take the back burner, as repetitive historical patterns of mistaken and limited-purpose choices continue to occur. The measure of Earthly pain marks the necessary corrective call to action to remove the cultural slivers from mass consciousness. At present, ongoing human pain is thought to be a normal condition of life, competition is heralded as the highest value, the universal human needs are frustrated, and humanity has created profoundly excessive emotional malaise. The disease model approach to human mental and physical health dominates, whitewashing the massive symptoms of humanity's folly. From this perspective, it becomes clear that humanity has a long way to go. But it also becomes clear that with reattunement to the emotional sense a good deal of catch-up progress can be made.  It is written that "as we ask, so shall we receive". The keys to that Kingdom of Understanding are no further away than our reach. Once the door to desire is unlocked, the emotion of love will come rushing in and bring with it all we seek.  The evolutionary patterns of punctuated equilibrium, the sudden and rapid changes within longer periods of relative stability, mark the times of enlightenment such as that which now presents itself to humanity. At such times, there is a critical mass attained within mass consciousness, such that it effects a sudden burst of evolutionary movement.  These convoluted periods of fascination that we have witnessed within this past century, periods of racial, cultural, economic and political division, act as mirrors to reflect back to us the mass confusion we have brought upon ourselves with our personal prejudices and our preoccupation with what divides us from each other. From all this will eventually come a new understand and appreciation of where we should direct our future energies.  Each such change begins with a wave of new information becoming available within the mass consciousness of humanity. As each individual receives creative insights and contributes cultural enhancements to his or her group, and each group contributes to the species, the culture undergoes a new cycle of progress. These cycles are simply large-scale turns through the human action cycle wherein the social, emotional evaluation of that which has been created increases public awareness and hones the public motives. With sufficient consciousness of the cause and effect relationship between beliefs and outcomes, and recognizing the emotional evaluation to the degree that right and light responses are effected to the public mind, evolution marches forward at an efficient pace and in a highly purposeful direction.  We have an opportunity to alter the course of history by merely altering how we think and putting those thoughts into the mass consciousness for evaluation and further reflection and action. Each of us can be a spark in the chain reaction of enlightenment. We need only present our "gift" and let the ocean of thought carry it beyond the shores of what we conceive as our immediate boundaries of influence.  Of course, it is the task of each individual to embrace and utilize the available information if the highest collective progress is to be made. Embracing the fact that humans (and even many complex animals) have two ways to process information, one higher and one lower, it becomes apparent how and why humans continue to spend time on the lower evolutionary track. Since humans are undergoing the individual process of becoming even more aware of the information cycles, and have suffered the loss of disconnection of the spiritual guidance of that process; at present, humanity remains largely driven by unconscious processes, still struggling to gain basic understandings necessary for conscious control.  To be still is to come to that state of knowing. In an age in which we are bombarded by messages to buy and try, to acquire and control, to achieve and obsess, we can hardly imagine where to find that opportunity of silence. Yet, it is there waiting for us every night. We need only close our eyes and ask.  In short, humans are far more like animals than the biological form allows. (Compassionate understanding and recognition of this fact will allow the "ego" gate to remain open long enough to comprehend and effect the necessary changes.) The pain persists because most humans still process the flow of information in largely unconscious ways, because the mind has not yet evolved enough to handle the job. Most individuals then struggle between high and low roads as life goes on without the conscious understanding of how their self-accepted slivers interfere with self-development and reinforce the unconscious habitual reflexive protective processes. And, of course, individuals are immediately subjected to the gems and slivers of past generations as soon as the incarnation begins.  The concept of "good" and "evil" contributes to a duality of thought that suggests that "joy" can only be achieved through "suffering" and "pleasure" through "pain" etc., etc. When, in fact, we can experience all the positive gems of life without going trough the negative slivers, if only we will accept ourselves as reflections of a higher nature which is permeated by the All That Is.  Thus, the individual and group minds continuously interact in the dynamics we have described---pushing the species with pain to discover the destiny of purposeful spiritual pleasure. These dynamics underlie the historical progress of every human group. As local groups struggle and test human value systems to see how the spirit responds, certain unmistakable trends appear.  Because it is our nature to try, it would seem to be our nature to fail. But from the experience comes the lesson, again and again, until errors become fewer and the trials become more positive and exciting. At some point, we realize that a little inner guidance can carry us on a long and pleasant journey.  A Brief History of Cultural Evolution  What we have described as mass consciousness is indeed the collective species consciousness reflected in local and overall trends of cultural evolution. (The species is simply a less recognized gestalt of consciousness.) As the evolving social mind tries out new ideas, it runs them up the flagpole by testing them in the world, either the collective spirit will salute or not, with informational signals of pleasure or pain. As the individuals and groups continuously respond with right and light responses, more information is exchanged, and more inventive mental and physical tools and technologies are created.  All that we have in the physical world, especially that which has been invented and distributed by mankind, is the result of creativity siphoned from the spirit down through the human mind. In some cases the new idea worked to the spiritual benefit of the physical/mental world. In other cases it has not. In the latter, it has been a failure of the human mind to adhere to the spiritual signals being given when the idea or invention reached the mental state which has resulted in a negative experience.  A brief historical assessment at the species level can set the contextual stage for the current evolutionary quickening as well as showing the potentials for that which is to come. In essence, the trends will show that the evolution of mass consciousness is steadily moving humanity toward conscious creative, cooperative interdependence, and away from the pains of brutish competitive animal survival struggles. This can be observed in patterns that relate to how well we process and exchange information with one another, for---just like individuals---societies are either pushed by the pains of unconscious animal safeguard processes when they can handle less information, or are pulled by the pleasures of conscious creative successes when they can handle more. For as we have learned, emotion guides the expansion of consciousness by mediating the information exchange internally as well as externally and can protectively close the door to consciousness and default to lower levels of information processing when necessary.  Technology has advanced to a stage where the thoughts and ideas of humanity, as a whole, can now be shared on a mass scale, without the interpretation or misinterpretation of the vested interests of those who are threatened by a loss of power or influence. This is evident not only in economic or technological spheres but in religious and philosophical arenas as well.  We can examine human history within this context and see how the dynamics of freedom, empowerment, and connection either enhance and speed up cultural evolution, or slow it down to ongoing battles for simple survival. As we discussed within the context of human development, natural morality, and politics, humanity is indeed a cooperative, interdependent species. But until the mass mind can embrace the plural "we" self-concept, the emotional motivation will remain on a lower animal "me" level.  There are forces in place in many societies on the planet that seem to be striving to create a level of separation wherever possible. The traditional communication systems appear to be attempting to capitalize on states of division and, in doing so, contribute to that state and even enhance it. Indeed, when we reconnect to inner guidance, individuals can reclaim the natural trust upon which the empathic attachment to other human beings rests. It then becomes generalized to a strong sense of public trust, providing a safe and sturdy mental framework for the cooperative interdependent nature of humans. It is only due to the emotional ignorance of humanity that this was not the case long ago. As such, the destiny of the species has been unduly influenced and stymied by the slivers which have become institutionalized truths ---such as for scientists: "survival is the only purpose of humanity", for religions: that "all humans are born with original sin". From the truths held in the public mind, comes the creative reflection of its misuses of will energy and misdirection of spiritual purpose.  Taking the above mentioned "institutionalized truths" alone; there is enough mischief to divert human thinking for eons to come. The first is extremely limiting in explaining the purpose of life. The second simply puts humans in an inferior position from which they must struggle their entire lives (under the tyranny of an institution) to avoid a state of eternal pain.  Without the concept of unity between body and mind, and unity between people, the higher needs and meanings cannot enter the realm of consciousness. With this inner communication breakdown, there will be an ever-present tension between the "me" body and the necessary "we" mind as well as the "we" collective species. This internal tension is reflected externally in social groupings by symptomatic communication breakdowns, mistrust, disempowerment, loss of freedom, and war within and between groups. (It makes no more sense for humans to compete and interrupt the social information flow than it does for the body's cells to fight amongst themselves interrupting the flow of energy information necessary for physiological functioning.) Indeed, without unity between the individual brain cells which make up the human collective mind, human progress will seem dogged by a dichotomous social yet uncivilized nature.  Nothing seems to illustrate that better than the presidential election of 2000. It would take a great leap of faith to consider the possibility that the waging of legalized war every four years can be detrimental. But when competition is taken to the point where it is considered essential to the betterment of a society, then the dedication to that misconception is bound to spill over into all aspects of life and eventually result in mass malfunction.  Human cultures arose due to the economics of need-meeting which we now know is mediated by the emotional language of spirit in all life forms. Freedom and power were attained when need-meeting resources were readily available. When the territory of the hunter-gatherers was filled with natural bounties, early humans began to communicate and share information about where the best resources might be found, and to coordinate cooperative need-meeting activities. Learning from others about distant resources allowed bands to travel with the turning of the seasons to seek naturally occurring resources---plants, animals, tool-making materials, etc. This expanded the territory and eventually led to the insightful practice of domesticated resource management and replenishment. But it was the informational exchanges between people that led to the changes in the mass mind that facilitated these cultural trends.  The history of the development of culture exists as a beacon of what can be accomplished through the distribution of information. By itself, it is not enough to turn a society into an environment which can sponsor one's full spiritual potential. Clearly, the acquisition of information from within (where the Spirit thrives) must be a part of group and individual development and it's appreciation must be recognized and emphasized.  When humans began to till the land and grow their own plant resources, the traveling became less physical, than mental. The development and use of common language allowed the transport of information and new insightful ideas to cycle between individuals, just as the senses cycled it within the individual minds and bodies. Over time, it was the ideas, the flow of mental information that became evermore complex so that humans began to rely upon the tremendous cultural knowledge resources that are now taken for granted. Indeed, power, freedom and connection are far more about mental exchanges than the simply physiological exchanges involved in sharing and finding food.  Ideas are the food of the soul. The sharing of them is nourishment for the Spirit. Free will must be able to function in an environment in which it is honored. Creativity must be respected as a spiritual quality in which humans are encouraged to indulge. Only then does the advanced technology that makes all this possible tend to be a servant to mankind rather than its master.  As the information within the mass mind continued to accumulate, and roadways and networks expanded between people, there became a need for some sort of centralization and leadership for more efficient assessment of sharing, and organization of the available resources and information. With farming came the first forms of early governments and chiefdoms, that created cooperative groups larger than families and bands. When leadership accomplished the successful cooperative meeting of the needs of the group, all would be well. But more often than not, lack of freedom and equal opportunity for each of the members, would create inner strife and competition within the group and would break down the cohesive structure. (Like any mind, a social ego can only handle as many challenges as its own belief resources.) Large groups would then fraction into smaller, more manageable groups with differing strategies and ideologies---and more often than not, competitive rather than cooperative goals.  The adverse consequences of competition may well be traced back to a concept that wherever there are competing components, one must almost have to be considered to be "good" and the other "bad", with each group presuming the other was in that latter category. Would that we could replace those concepts and perspectives with that which can contribute to the betterment of the whole.  One undeniable trend, however, despite these conflicts and dynamics of change, was the evolutionary trend toward larger united groups that coincided with cultural inventions that increased information flow and shared the mental resources. As humans shared their technological advances, the capacities increased and everyone benefitted in kind. With the advent of written communication, chiefdoms evolved into city-states, with the printing press came modern civilizations, and with the Internet came a globally connected information network between humans. Even without the informational guidance, human creative technological innovation itself pulls humans to recognize the undeniable cooperative nature of the species.  Could it be possible that the present trend in technology can bring with it an expanded understanding of the complete nature of human beings and that the distribution of that information through the exponentially expanding communication system is the best possible hope for the world?  A central message of these trends has been overlooked. This message is that the sharing of information and resources, builds a feeling of public trust, and yields far more long-term benefit than does the fearful power mongering, hoarding of information and resources, in order to gain superiority or short-term advantage. (Taking less in order to share in the short run, always adds up to far more resources in the long-run, since there is synergy and a lack of competitive retaliation from those left out.) Indeed, all cooperative changes lead to increased freedom and empowerment of the individuals within the group, and the increased interdependent connection within any given group---pushing humanity to recognize and acknowledge all three needs within social structures. It is a fallacy that competition will bring anything other than ongoing battles and limited resources for all, but the unenlightened impulsive mind cannot help but fight until the light begins to dawn. Indeed, humanity still struggles with the first developmental challenge, that of understanding and creating trust.  Here is the point of true conflict in the current age: On the one hand you have the expansion of shared information through such instruments as the internet, which is resulting in the "trust" level rising naturally on a worldwide basis. One the other hand, you have political, economic and religious institutions feeling threatened as they become aware that their level of control is slipping away. What we are observing is the confusion among these institutions which this trend is causing.  Thus, there was a great deal of isolation, revolution, mistrust, and fear that caused information hoarding and breakdowns to occur in ways that yielded the Eastern-Western split between emphasis upon external versus internal empowerment, rational versus intuitive processes, cooperation versus competition, freedom versus connection, and allowed opposing forms of government to arise. The West honored freedom and the capitalistic right to earn economic power, while the East leaned more upon the connection need, but often at the expense of basic freedom and empowerment to control one's destiny. The concept of equal opportunity was misconstrued and mutated into an equal result. The entrenched ideas of mechanism and original sin also arose which facilitated a dogged, ignorant denial of the emotional forces which underlie and guide the evolutionary process.  We sometimes confuse progress and achievement with material acquisition. This is not a difficult thing to do when the results are so apparent. Yet, the signs of a not-so-apparent emptiness still abound in a number of social failings in a society that appears to have so much. There are gross inequalities and rampant brutality. The courts are filled with people seeking to correct perceived injustices and children growing into adulthood in environments that are not complete.  To the degree that any ideology provided the information for individuals to empower themselves, the freedom to cooperate within the whole, the higher needs for esteem, creativity, and meaning could arise and be met within the emotional system. Great art, literature and music arose during particularly enlightened times, but only within the classes that were afforded access to the informational resources necessary to meet both basic and higher needs. (Far too many great artistic revelations are still born of frustration and pain, due to humanity's inability to fully value and accommodate the universal need for creativity.) The pains of disenfranchisement would always arise and tear at the social fabric until required evolutionary changes arose. The newest, most evolved, forms of government are attempts to ensure the foundational freedom and empowerment that must underlie any successful collective cooperatives.  While the rights to certain basic political freedoms have been written down and held as ideals in the operation of government, attempts have been made to correct the economic inequalities that have resulted from an economic philosophy that makes a virtue of encouraging unparalleled greed. On the surface, these latter attempts seem to have failed, but the latest chapter of this particular period of history is yet to be written.  In sum, although humanity thinks it is at the peak of the biological evolutionary ladder, the information flow and the capacity for cooperation remains well below that which the form demands and the spiritual pull suggests. Humans still struggle with the simplest of their developmental challenges. In short, they are far less evolved and aware than they suppose, and in far less conscious participation and creative control than they believe. To the degree that basic freedom, power, and connection are accommodated, the consciousness is allowed to expand, to receive, create, and exchange more information. But to the degree that humans must fight for basic freedom and empowerment, they will retreat into autopilot, survival modes of fight and flight impulse responses that continue to tear at the fabric of society. The spirit will not be silenced, for it has a much higher plan than the mass mind can yet fully conceive.  There is a propensity among the elite in any society to presume that the knowledge at hand is the final word in all that is worth saying. In other words, currently accepted beliefs are quick to deteriorate into a form of dogma, whether it be in the religious, political or the scientific field. Arrogance is the most formidable opponent of truth. Yet, if history teaches us anything it is that this type of "formidability" is constantly being overcome.  The trends are very clear, and it is only now, at the dawn of the new millennium that the forces of spirit can be given their full recognition. Indeed, it is the force of anger that causes disempowered individuals to rise up and change that which is unjust, revolutionarily moving society toward the biological conditions nature and Divine Intention have set forth. Unfortunately, the mass human consciousness cannot yet accommodate the flow of feedback information from its own citizenry, due to the lack of universal values and spiritual self-understanding. Without such, the public mind will have less and less cohesive influence, offer less cooperative advice and be vulnerable to all the impulsive actions of its weakest links.  There still exist, in many intensive portions of the planet, pockets of political and economic unrest which literally threaten to ignite a nuclear power keg at any given moment. Words are not being heard. Injustices are not being addressed. Passionate young people are dying in the causes of peace and equality. If hope for better solutions does not arrive in time, hoped-for progress in these significant areas will be set back centuries.  Indeed, the global community which has always been spiritually and ecologically connected, is now fully technologically and economically interconnected and there can no longer be any lingering at a lower level of consciousness—without epic consequences. The recent assaults with computer viruses, germ warfare, and acts of terrorism with technological weapons illustrate the urgency of the need for this enlightened shift.  Hopefully, the content of these "Lessons" will serve to ignite those prophetic words: One small step for man – One giant leap for mankind, providing they reach a sufficient number of people in an adequate amount of time. Levels Of Human Conscious Experience  By divine design, the physical experience has built within it the laws which direct the evolution of consciousness. These laws, however, do not violate the potential creative free will which is inherent in the human experience, but simply include physiological safeguards that ensure the mind can be oriented in the most fulfilling directions while operating within the limits of the physical realm. The human needs and the feeling informational signals of the body motivate humanity to pass through the developmental stages and to become aware of and surmount spiritual challenges which prepare and open the mind to the fully creative human experience.  The physical or mental experiences that seem to be and often are the result of incorrect choices or a failure to hear the messages of our higher nature are the same experiences that stimulate growth in these areas by bringing home to us the realization of the capability we have of creating our own reality. The bad news is: We create our own reality. The good news is: We create our own reality.  As we now know, it is the divine acceptance of as much incoming information as possible which will tip the scale from feelings of corrective pain toward those of purposeful pleasure. Acceptance marks the entry into the ego gate in both individual and cultural minds. Habitual denial ensures ignorance and ongoing corrective pain until there is conscious acceptance of that which has been created. The degree of acceptance corresponds with the level of conscious experience. At present, the species ignorance of the emotional guidance sets the stage for incoming personalities to fall victim to the limiting beliefs offered as institutions, traditions, and truths. The structure which accomplishes the acceptance of emotional guidance will give rise to far more optimal kinds of humane experience. This fully human kind of functioning encourages the expansion of consciousness at a much faster pace than has yet been experienced by most human beings.  Acceptance suggests trust and trust equates with faith. But the faith suggested is not a blind faith in that which is being served up by our established institutions, but rather a willingness to trust our inner feelings when inviting higher knowledge to penetrate our consciousness. This material attempts to make the point time and again, that there is already in place a system that can flood us with the knowledge of unlimited potential of spiritual development and we need merely understand and appreciate the universal concept of the All That Is.  Nevertheless, these evolutionary levels of experience are all well within the grasp of any given individual to the degree that an environment accommodates the inner impetus to evolve. There have been several cultures whose beliefs and isolated nature allowed for some quite impressive development of inner abilities that much of the world has yet to embrace. Those cultures that advocate meditative practices or utilize meaningful dream guidance which access inner information through altered states of consciousness, have indeed much to offer the masses. But the most useful information source which can bring such insights into waking consciousness and daily experience shall be through the original path--- the feeling signals.  This term, "feeling signals", may still present itself as part of a mystery when it comes to capitalizing on its true meaning and implementation. If such can not be fully understood and utilized at this point in time, no matter. Other practices, such as those mentioned in the above paragraph, i.e. meditation or dream guidance, will help us move toward the "feeling" goal. These will serve as experiences to prime the pump of our imagination, so to speak.  Since a critical mass (the predominant percentage of energy) must be attained for macro evolution to occur, there will always be individuals interacting who are at different places in terms of consciousness. Although the majority still linger in the darkness, there are many intuitively enlightened individuals who have tenaciously gathered and evaluated as much information as possible and have expanded their consciousness significantly. They recognize the self-made limits within mass consciousness and are responsibly striving to remove them.  The role in this process is not limited to anyone but those who wish not to play their own personal role in this evolution. All who occupy the physical have chosen to do so because of a particular gift of some kind. Such gift or gifts are held on a genetic level and can be brought to the surface by simply expressing desire and intent.  There are many who answer the calling spirit and offer spiritual truths through artistic interpretations which resonate with others. Such inner directed and outer expressive individuals are often referred to as light workers. Such individuals have accomplished the spread of spiritual information to the degree that critical mass is closer than ever. It falls to these enlightened ones to carry the torch and to help bring their own higher levels of consciousness to the masses. These people, the compassionately meek yet with courageous integrity, understand and forgive the cost of ignorance for the benefit of free will. They seek to bring forth the Christ consciousness that lies dormant within the human potential---faithful that even when pushed by pain the spirit will lead humanity from the darkness.  Those who struggle against conventional thinking to give expression to their inner spirit are now the beacons of light that shine as examples of the potential within each soul. As the recognition of the connection between body, mind and spirit becomes more apparent, the path of these pioneers will become more easily tread.  Thus, there are levels of human experience ranging from painful, unconscious incompetence and confusion, to pleasurable, consciously creative competence, and spontaneous value fulfillment. Such is true for the entire species. On the macro level of human evolution, this occurs as three distinct levels of existence with varying degrees of personal awareness, purposeful understanding, creative competence, social justice, and painful and pleasurable symptoms.  The choice of where we wish to place ourselves along this path is ours. The tool to what knowledge we wish to accept or reject is our feelings. In the truest sense, if it feels right we can and truly should do what we imagine we can.  The Survival Level of Existence  The first level is that which is currently familiar, but it is actually a very primitive and crude form of human experience more likened to animal instinctive experience. This is the normal condition of humans who have not yet consciously embraced their inner guidance system, and are subjected to the autopilot modes of spiritual self-regulation. Free will and consciousness awareness are both severely limited at this level, but the genetic collection of body wisdom ensures the divine goals will be protected and that the urgings of spirit can always become known.  There are portions of humanity in the present day that reflect the "primitive" qualities described above. Unfortunately, these "portions" can, at times, become quite influential in the affairs of the world. It might even be observed that such mentality is often supported and encouraged by those institutions which regard themselves as having predominant superiority over the functions of most human life and all of nature.  This, the survival level of experience, is characterized by supremacy of body, with limited awareness of a good deal of the available bandwidth of quantum information. The information exchanges happen largely behind the scenes carried out through electro-chemical interactions within the body that bypass any form of mind and directly interface with the world. But even in the forms with the most meager brain structures, these unconscious informational processes are depositing information in varying forms of memory banks. There is a cellular form of memory which is the accumulation of all experiences of that particular gestalt of consciousness---in its highest form. This kind of memory bank speaks within the bandwidths of quantum energy gestalts (available to all forms of consciousness who can attune to it), directing all genetic operations, and it's information is called upon as bodily wisdom.  The body enjoys its own form of consciousness that is yet to be appreciated. Yet, this "gestalt" is quite capable of learning and progressing; and observable history of humans on the planet stands in evidence of this process. To often, as societies become more technologically advanced, its members become educated beyond their level of understanding. Minds pried open with knowledge become closed by the force of intellectual arrogance.  But also through these purely physical processes, a second kind of memory then begins to take place. This occurs through a body's pairing of events and feelings in memory in order to benefit from the experiences and creative will of the individual. This manifests as conditioned learning in animals and in humans---and is created without conscious intervention---but it underlies and gives rise to the emerging mind and personal forms of memory. For it is in the ability of any organism with a complex enough brain to pay attention and recognize the patterns within the context of space and time and make some self-directed changes and choices in the process. Over time, a mindscape develops with the unique mental representations of the physical information that can take on an ego identity of its own.  Humans are a primitive species engaged in the process of reaching a state of self-realization. This "process" and the end result are guaranteed by the innate qualities of the species. What is not guaranteed is the directness of the path taken. Free will can accelerate the process or delay it. Creativity can be loosened or stifled. Sparks become flames only to return to the state of burning embers. The universe, in all its forms, reflects a state of expansion and contraction, but never extinction.  Thus, as the survival level mind evolves, these bodily patterns are not only recognized, but the mind takes on more and more conscious control and creative participation within the regulatory processes. In the natural expansion of consciousness, the mind first needs to grasp what is happening. The feeling signals bring conscious attention to the outcome after the fact---after the behavior and twice removed from the intentional motive itself. This leaves the mindful consciousness mostly focused in the past with confusion resulting over why things happen. Due to the resistant impulses of the defensive safeguards, the first kinds of answers will not embrace creative self-determinism within the physical system and blame will be assigned externally.  An avoidance of responsibility for creating one's own reality will continue to lead to the habit of pointing a finger of blame in every other direction deemed appropriate at the time. Such patterns of mental activity are usually followed by some physical expression or action that eventually accelerates to a point of massively inflicted pain. Demonic personalities are pumped up well beyond their level of importance, usually to encourage solutions of an over-simplified nature.  Take, for example, human superstition. Since the typical human experience is driven by mostly unconsciousness intentions, which create actions and outcome perceptions that bring many surprises (both good and bad), the mind begins to recognize the timing and coincidence of events and begins to assign cause and effect. This is a typical pattern as the mind strives to make sense of what is happening as life unfolds each day. With the error of human judgment pairing the outcome with the feelings and allowing conditioned learning, the mind can inadvertently associate cause and effect in a willy-nilly fashion. A free will mind can then believe that human sacrifices bring the sun or rain, that different others are evil demons, or that vengeful Gods are meddling in human affairs, in turn creating those very realities and perceptions---complete with all corrective signals.  A collective mind that dares to question the status quo and is encouraged to exercise a God-given free will to do so, will soon take a society from the depths of ordained forms of superstition to a state of enlightenment which outpaces the qualities of fear and guilt.  Since the mind first emerges with its initial holdings gleaned from the past, the present remains driven by impulse, with the feelings of pleasure and pain most meaningful in the moment, with long-term concepts and future events rarely considered. This is what leads to the trend for competitive, short-term thinking instead of long-range, strategically cooperative interactions, and mental strategies of cultural institutions that are based upon win-lose warring. It will only be when the connection is made between the contents of mind and the outcomes created that trust in humanity's power and ability can be established. If the current threat of environmental disaster on a global scale does not stimulate a broader vision of what can and must be done, the planet's population will surely descend into another "dark" age. Yet, it is the collective consciousness, acting on what may currently be an undetected level, that can turn the tide toward a more positive result. Survival Empowerment and The Chakra System  Another way of grasping this point is to look to the spiritual challenges and the opening of the chakra centers of mind---but within the mass consciousness of the species. The survival level experience is focused upon the lingering challenges of the first three chakras as tribal freedom and empowerment are learned through the unconditional trust and acceptance of mother archetype and the autonomous creative activity of the father archetype. As the cultural information provides for better and better parenting of its children, valid connection and creatively expressive contributors propel humanity to the other higher understandings of the heart chakra for true global unity.  The correlation between a microcosmic and macrocosmic state gives evidence of how what can be accomplished on a unit as small as the family can effect a collective body as large as a planet and beyond. A society that encourages the importance of understanding the parental role in the development of a child can take hope that, in the end, an entire culture can be elevated above the mentioned archetypes.  The species is now faced with surmounting the spiritual challenge of the heart chakra, necessary to balance the mass energies for full connection. The trend can be noted in the shifting values of religion, and indeed, a good deal of the evolutionary patterns have been influenced by religion. The influence has been largely due to the fact that religions have been the keepers of such concepts as spirit, soul, and divine guidance, and have been concerned with the questions of empowerment and moral authority. In other words, as the mind evolves the ability to realign with internal empowerment, the species will struggle to open its first three mass chakras to the full energy of spirit.  This is a natural process that must follow in evolutionary order. What can short circuit the process is the establishment of those systems which distract or derail the natural evolutionary connection with divine guidance and self-empowerment and replace those qualities with a form of moral authority that is enforced from outside the individual.  As humankind has struggled to gain knowledge and value systems that afford external empowerment over the harshly competitive conditions of the environment, the spiritual impetus within has also been pushing for discovery of the internal values upon which cooperative empowerment can arise. At first, religions focused mainly upon these internal values due to the natural sensitivity to the feeling signals. But over time, the struggles for external power and authority allowed religious doctrines to mutate in ways that promoted unified values and morality only through competitive external power.  At this point it would appear that the pendulum has swung as far as it can justify. With greater knowledge and open information exchange coming to the fore, the maximum point of acceleration has been reached and we are beginning to move back from the extreme of the authoritarian world and toward the appreciation of free will.  As we now know, the uses and misuses of the emotional system underlie these dynamics. In essence, any aspect of any religious doctrine that demands adherence to external authorities (be they deacons, shamans, or Gods) through bribes or threats has limited purpose and will be identifiable by its exploitation of fear, guilt, and anger from vengeful retaliation. Conversely, any that inspires internal cooperative empowerment is multi-purpose and calls upon the higher feelings of compassion, integrity, courage, gratitude, loyalty, and faith shall be those that stand the tests of time and unite humanity. The old and new testaments of the Holy Bible illustrate the trend away from fearful adherence to vengeful Gods, external power sources and competition, and toward internal cooperative self-empowerment---true spiritual empowerment ---advocated by the entity Jesus Christ. Still, humanity remains conflicted between two levels of conscious understanding.  While certain portions of the "new testament" are given much lip service, it is still those other portions of same (along with complimentary portions of the "old testament") which support the system that encourages control from without. This is the great failing of the message advocated by Jesus the Christ. It is also the flagrant misuse of the Bible to the point of Western shame, i.e. not teaching His message of internal empowerment by example.  This vacillation between internally directed cooperative power and externally based competitive power has influenced evolution in several ways. First, the tremendous diversity that exists in the human gene pool is characteristic of the geographic, environmental and sociocultural inter-actions that have taken place between genetically isolated groups. Religion has helped to both isolate and bring together the formerly noninteracting genetic populations due to competitive holy wars and as missionaries associated with "savages" in order to spread the good word. Second, religious ideologies also have resulted in self-preserving group identities and distinctions that continue even when geographic isolation is no longer a factor, creating uniquely interacting kinds of gene pools and social environments such as race and ethnicity. (Indeed, scientists have given little attention to the profound socio-cultural effects upon the gene pool.)  It should be evident that the greater the mixing of racial and cultural genes, the greater the advancement of such groups. Nature approves of this process by bringing the best forth that each contributor offers. This is true on a physical level as well as a mental level. There is no reason why it should not also be true on a spiritual level.  For example, the self-identifier of the group "catholic" influenced the intermixing of formerly isolated genes and physical traits due to the beliefs advocated by that group. The purposeful concept of equality of souls and equal access to salvation within the ideology resonated with the universal connection of humanity, and helped influence the mating patterns between formerly isolated groups. The downside has been that less purposeful tenets have also been included such as indiscriminate reproduction, institutionalized judgment, fear, guilt over natural drives, and loss of personal accountability. Nonetheless it will be those united in spiritual community that will continue to lead the species until science embraces the spiritual nature of the human being. The spiritual impetus is of course, moving humanity to unite, to connect, and for the whole species to benefit from the unique talents and skills and cultural answers that have arisen. This sharing and exchange of both information and genes is what will drive both cultural and genetic evolution toward its cooperative destiny. The fearful and angry racial hate is simply a survival level phenomenon of less consciousness.  A lesser level of consciousness, especially on a spiritual level, is destined to give way to a greater level of consciousness. It is not just the "survival of the fittest" at work here, it is the impetus of progress that motivates the process. It is one of the explanations for the greatness of a society which encourages a constant influx of diversity, along with an integration of that diversity.  In sum, the survival level of experience is the mass mind's struggle to open its first three chakras. It is characterized by low levels of conscious awareness, information comprehended, conscious competence, social self-understanding, self-acceptance, purposeful creative expression, value fulfillment, social justice and cooperation, and positive emotion; and high levels of unconscious intentions, incompetence, confusion, superstition, misinformation, impulsive actions, inner and outer competitive conflict, spiritual malaise, and painful fear, anger, and hate. Individual pain manifests in social symptoms such as depression, rage, suicide, violence, and creates a predominance of mental and physical health disorders. Of course, this is but a pale comparison to the rich potential of higher level experiences that consciously embrace and participate within the co-creative flow of life.  Experience drives the mass mind to find better ways of conducting itself other than to pay a negative price of short sighted behavior. It suggests that there is an inner guidance system in place which can bring an elevated level of consciousness, when accepted and encouraged.  Indeed, hidden within all major religious themes, are the seeds of the spiritual truth that humanity needs to re-attune and be guided by the highest feeling tones such as compassion, integrity, forgiveness, courage, and faith. All the answers do lie within and the promise of full human living can be attained by simply decoding and following wisdom within the feeling signals. The discovery of the emotional sensory compass and the spread of information regarding its use, will be the final catalyst necessary to unite science with all the religions and for the species to fully balance the human heart. With this information, humans can then rise to the challenge of unity by using the feeling information to allow the mind to align with---instead of war against---the desires and bodily processes and wisdom of spirit. This will generalize socially to end the external warring between individuals and groups for basic power and freedom.  There are as many aspects of truth as there are perspectives, but it is "perspectives" which bring "truth" its potential for expansion and encompassing the All That Is. We need not all agree all of the time, but it would be of great benefit to learn to celebrate our varied perspectives. It would also be a broadening experience on all levels.  Thus, at the survival level of existence, humans are most concerned with self-preservation and the basic needs of freedom and empowerment, both in obtaining resources and in creating a competent mind. The first competence a mind must embrace is that of its own emotional guidance which relaxes its ego identity and propels it forward with enthusiasm and faith upon the purposeful developmental path---this is the only valid and authentic form of empowerment. A freely empowered mind can then begin to overcome the fight and flight impulses and respond with right and light responses that are effective over an ever-longer period of time. A freely empowered mind learns from the past but is focused more in the future as it plans and strategizes how best to maintain creative control over its destiny.  The school of life is full of lessons which are not always pleasant to absorb, but once the individual masters the art of learning in a way that results in the least amount of pain, the mere joy of attendance becomes the driving force to the acquisition of greater enlightenment.  This empowerment and liberation of each personality then drives the creative expression that accumulates and manifests as cultural evolution. Each individual contribution builds toward empowerment and freedom of the whole---building connection. The current information explosion within human culture marks the nearing of the end of the survival stage and entry of the species into its next level.  We might even consider recognizing the qualities of the internet as being an essential part of this ordained process.  The Individual Task At Hand  As we have discussed, at present, humans remain poised at a crucial threshold, ready to consciously embrace the undeniable truth of the emotional, ecological, economic, and cosmic interconnection. As science teeters on the brink of recognizing the unified connection between body and mind, as religions recognize the folly of superstition and the emotional voice of spirit, as political leaders recognize the futility of oppositional parties, philosophies and countries---the connection need will come to the fore, competition will give way to cooperative social justice and vault humanity up to the fully human state.  A half a century ago it would have been anathema to suggest that cooperation might be a greater virtue than competition. The latter was the American way of life. Now it is safe to consider that unlimited capitalism might be a crucial threat to not only to the ecology but to the survival of the human race.  But this will not occur due to some dramatic polar shift, weather patterns, planetary alignment, miraculous cosmic forces, or divine intervention---it will occur due to the creative efforts of each and every individual to become aware. The miraculous divine forces are already at work and have been throughout the entire evolutionary history of the Earth. The quantum informational field has been ready and able to provide as much guiding information as the inhabitants of the Earth are prepared to consciously assimilate, rationally synthesize, and to willfully act upon. This will go on being true no matter how long it takes for humanity to open to this wisdom and evaluative guidance.  To use another analogy: The electrical grid is in place and one need only plug the lamp into the socket and turn it on in order to draw the energy source and bring the desired light into one's surroundings. What we're talking about is not so much creating as recognizing and utilizing.  Nevertheless, a much more creatively delightful form of existence awaits beyond the shadows of human ignorance and has long been unfolding before the minds of those ahead of the group game. With each individual effort to embrace the accountability to free will choice, to proceed through the spiritual challenges, to develop the mind to be able to receive and process the maximum amount of information, and to share those insights with creative expression which hone the cultural mass mind, the evolutionary progress of the whole will benefit. By the very act of reading these Lessons, the energy increases---and by embracing the energy, increases exponentially toward the mass enlightenment and the higher destiny. There shall be no martyrs of this cause, for the personal rewards of transcending mere survival are beyond measure.  This is not a situation of suffering our way to a state of success. Rather it is a point of reference which we can choose to connect with and build upon. We are not operating beyond the limits of our capacity. We are simply in a position to recognize that our limitations are self-imposed.  With awareness that the survival level is but a first step along the macro path, we can now go on to discuss the higher potentials within the destiny of the species.   Historical Survival The patterns of human history reveal that humanity, despite all of its advanced technologies and creative cultural achievements, is still in the early stages of its evolutionary destiny. Although nature sets forth a clear course through the interactions of genetic memory and the quantum environment, this biological predestiny is intended to be embraced and creatively enhanced with purposeful use of free will. Indeed, human consciousness plays an integral role in the pace of human evolution. But the protective self-preservationary safeguards within the system ensure that the direction of evolution will always remain the same---pushing and pulling humanity toward the True North of adaptive self-development, meaningful self-actualization, and cooperative co-creation. Just as rivers can never permanently run uphill, so the human spirit can not avoid it's destiny, that being an envelopment with All-That-Is. Each time we embrace a fresh thought, share in idea, create something new out of the multiplicity of our existence, we move toward a greater level of expansion, of which there is no limit. Despite the repeated mistakes and cycles of ongoing pain within the Earthly experience, the patterns are readily available for conscious comprehension and punctuated enlightenment to occur at any time. The higher destiny awaits, beyond space-time, whole and intact, ready to unfold before the willing eyes, minds, and hearts of humanity. The survival stage is merely the necessary transition as humanity grasps the meaning within the automatic processes and its abilities to consciously enhance them. As a normal part of the expansion of All That Is, the human experience includes a transition away from automatic processes and biological predestiny and toward ever-more creative, willful empowerment. Learning through the cycles of pleasure and pain, however, will lead even the most recalcitrant to higher uses of the conscious mind until the inner delights of the highest feelings begin to take over. It will only be due to continued mass rejection of the available guidance that humanity could now undo the progress and destructively set themselves back, although such is within the realm of choice. Free Will shall always be a part of human nature, along with the ability to create one's own reality. The appreciation of the former and the comprehension of the latter are the twin horses that pull the metaphorical wagon on it's unending journey. But we are the final arbitrator of the pace of our travels, as well as the direction. The nature of our adventure is ours to control. This is both our privilege and our responsibility. But the biological variety within the human gene pool provides for many unique destiny paths to be chosen by advanced entities or "old souls" and ensures that individual personalities can evolve higher levels of aware existence and be far enough ahead of the pack to help instigate purposeful changes on the mass scale. Due to the collective efforts of the most enlightened ones, at the current juncture, the species consciousness is approaching the critical mass. Like the "Hundredth Monkey", we can play a significant role in bringing about those insights which take the human race to that next step of evolution. It does not matter in what area we make our contribution or the comparative size of such. We are equal in the totality of all life and can measure results against all we have been, currently are and are yet to be. As such, the historically painful struggle to understand and establish the biological conditions of justice can, at last, come to an end. When the painful signals of fear and anger over survival competition are finally quieted, humans can begin to attune, comprehend the meaning, and respond to the higher, more subtle and complex feeling tones of the spiritual language, and begin embracing the higher purposes with all thoughts and creative actions. Such purposeful expressions will model and share the knowledge and as the enlightened information sweeps across the international community, earthshaking shifts will be made. Intellectual and social barriers will be removed, ushering in a new era. An era in which the species can begin to experience what it means to be fully human. We can put on this mantel like a fresh set of clothes and upon reflection, realize that we have not so much altered our capabilities as recognized them. We will make that quantum leap as if it were little more than stepping from one rock to the next across the stream of life. The Being Level Of Human Existence This is the best state of human experience, wherein human beings are more than just surviving animals, but fully alive with an ever-broadening receptivity to the available bandwidths of information within the quantum field. The focus will shift away from self-preservation and become meaningful self-development so that consciousness can expand to its full potential and be guided to prepare itself for the highest quality creative expressions. The focus upon the external senses will be shifted with the recognition of the inner senses beginning with the attunement to the emotional sense of spirit. At this stage of experience, humans are much more likely to surmount all the spiritual challenges, open and balance all chakras of mind, and have a wholly creative human experience. Thus, humans will also be far more healthy, energized, alive, creative, and passionately involved in the daily business of purposeful co-creative living. If this stage of development can be imagined and experienced, it would be the equivalent of achieving heaven on earth. It would be the accomplishment of erasing the line between the physical and non-physical state of existence. What we now view as life-after-death would be life-in-life or living completely in the now. The being state allows for the mind to be focused in the present, but prepared with solid strategies, skills, and perspectives to act spontaneously in ways that will facilitate and create a positive, purposeful, future. There is little impulse avoidance, rationalization, blame, or any other form of survival defense necessary. This is the juncture wherein creative will unites with biological predestiny and forges them together on the purposeful path. The daily life will be far more pleasing, as the unfolding mind embraces evermore meaningful information and begins to direct multi-purposeful thought and action. Imagine for a moment that one no longer had to preoccupy oneself with a sense of survival and could concentrate solely on acquiring knowledge automatically and exercising creative expression without the fear of negative influences for those who did not comprehend the virtures of self-empowerment. We could easily move into the All-That-Is State of Consciousness. At the being level of evolution, humans have embraced the inner guidance and can both learn at accelerated paces and can unlearn everything contained in both kinds of memory banks. They can cleanse the mind of the distortions left over from instinct, conditioning, and from low-quality conscious intervention. All conditioned learning, which is affectionately known asemotional baggage, can be unpacked and processed through the conscious mind so that the fear and anger are dramatically reduced from both the perceptual and creative aspects of the life experience. Right responses examine and decode all emotional signals, to reconcile them within the perspectives and contextual frameworks that bring the highest emotional responses. We can evolve our personal mindsets by replacing those of lesser quality with those in line with spiritual evolution. We can remember and build upon whatever we elect to, as well as revise and reject those beliefs and conditioned thought processes which have and continue to lead us down the road of pain. At the being level, humans are aware that every pain is a corrective signal to inform the mind to right uses of free will, as the spirit's instructional guides to thinking and acting. As the changes are made to individual minds through right responses and expressed outwardly in the light responses, the mass mind evolves accordingly in the creation of the just and civilized social perspectives, strategies, and structures. Once the deficit pain of enslavement and disempowerment have been reconciled within the cooperative, interconnected, enlightened world, tremendous cultural progress can then occur. It is no accident that such practices as meditation and prayer have been suggested as the best methods to contacting our inner spiritual nature. Now it is beginning to become clear that these practices are the keys to opening the door to our self empowerment, as well as setting free our creative possibilities. At present, a nearly sufficient number of humans have attained enlightened minds to the degree that this shift can take place. For although we have many institutionalized traditions of survival level consciousness, most are recognizing the basic fact that all people comprise a common species. Instead of the historically predominant experiences, and impulsive responses to the protective pangs of raw fear, anger, and maladaptive guilt, resentment, and hate; the majority have begun to collectively create the being state of passionate, creative enthusiasm and egalitarian feelings of love, compassion, respect, courage integrity and loyalty. This is what could only be described as a "grass-roots" movement in that it is not developing and being spread by our contemporary institutions of power, nor by those who head those institutions. Rather, the movement toward this more enlightened, spiritual state is happening where it's least expected. As religions and governments begin to crumble and display their ineptitude, the general populace stands back in bemusement. At the being level, the optimal developmental path will become the normal experience for each incoming human being. Without all the painful static characteristic of the survival level, the mind can turn up the volume on all sensory channels and allow in much more information---rapidly increasing the self-developmental pace. Humans will embrace the inner guidance system from birth as enlightened parenting and educational systems shift from the paradigm of external authority and competitive power to cooperative internal self empowerment. This sounds almost too impossible to imagine as we view our present competitive society. Yet, it is the strength of the imagination that precipitates progress in any stage of development. When any collective attitude is carried to a near impossible extreme, its flaws become that much more apparent, even to those who are the least motivated to recognize them. With proper social structures and parenting techniques, individuals will be off and running with the most effective personality patterns, attitudes and strategies, the full natural morality, and fully creative passionate empowerment to begin maximizing their value potentials by age eighteen or even less. There will be no need for stages of confusion, rebellion, isolation, addiction, or depression when the mass consciousness embraces and accommodates aspects of the feeling system and welcomes and fosters the unique gifts that each human has brought to Earth. It is in the most reactionary of times that the greatest amount of progress is achieved, for it is such states that the most inner reflection is stimulated. If the 60's era seems to have reversed at the moment because the younger generation is no longer doing drugs, dressing unfashionably and leading marches in the cause of peace or justice, it is only because that particular group has moved on to a state where change can be accomplished through more subtle tactics. Three Perspectives Of The Being Level At the being level, although positive emotions will lead the way to purpose, negative emotions will still arise. This is simply due to the fact that humans can---and will---make mistakes and perpetuate violations upon one another while learning through trial and error. But the difference between the survival level experience and the being level experience will be that the perceptions of the mind honed by feeling guidance will be different. When the mind is cleansed of its slivers and its gems accumulate over time, the mind's perceptions are quite literally altered by the attitude and interpretations which fall from the purposeful belief systems. Indeed, when allowed to develop naturally, the human mind arrives at universally optimal ways of thinking and acting. As a society progresses along the spiritual path, there will always be those that appear to want to swim against the tide. The difference will become clear as the tolerance for error will increase as compassion begins to replace harsh judgment and the spirit of All-That-Is is recognized to be within all human beings, just waiting to be brought to the fore. Thus, the being level of human consciousness is characterized by three mindful perspectives that are the natural result of the mind responding to its own emotional guidance. First, the mind comes to see the world through "The Lens Of Unity" in reflection of the fulfilled connection need and the enlargement of the ego-identity to enfold the feelings of others within the emotional self-concept. Indeed, the role of the ego becomes less necessary as the mind understands the difference between defensive resistance and empowering acceptance. Although the individual sense of self is still intact, the ego "me" protector is no longer necessary. For the mind's identity understands the meaning sense of "we" and its individual role within the interconnected whole, as its natural morality emerges. Through this lens, individuals automatically emote in tune with the needs and feelings of others, thus making personal choices that will benefit others. They will be able to intuitively stand in the shoes of all others involved and make cooperative decisions accordingly. If such a paradigm shift sounds too idealistic to the average cynic, we need only be reminded that the teachings of our religious institutions have been suggesting the importance of a collective love for quite some time. The lesser members of these churches are now about to take them at their word. As this collective mindset expands, the leaders of these institutions will find themselves being motivated to realize the direction of this progressive parade and put themselves in front of it. As the ego relaxes to allow in all the available information, the mind will become attuned to the subtle meaning and messages of the complex feeling tones as opposed to being gripped by the raw fears, angers, and compulsions of the basic autopilot mode. The initial empathic connection, trust, mutual respect, and loving connection within the family automatically generalized into the public trust, public respect, and compassion for humanity that drives cooperative civilizations. Meanwhile, the individual self concept blossoms into a full awareness of the unique inherent value potential and destiny challenge and becomes the driving conscious force behind all motives and actions. This is a two-step pattern. The self-preservation of the individual begins to give way to the realization that a collective caring and awareness can provide much greater security and happiness. It then follows that out of this settled state can come increased awareness and creativity. This brings the second character perspective of the being level mindscape. This driving passion to discover, develop, and creatively contribute all innate gifts brings with it feelings of enthusiasm, mirth, integrity, courage, and profound faith in one's ability and in the meaning of each life event as an opportunity to advance along the destiny path. This mindset that emerges from these feelings can be called the "Personal Accountability Perspective". Although the compassionate mind is aware of human frailty, accepting of inevitable mistakes, and forgiving violations, the empowered accountable mind takes full and complete responsibility for multi-purpose living, seizing every opportunity to progress along the destiny path, and solving every problem that the personality encounters along the way. At this stage, society begins to become objective about its state and encourages its individual members to exercise their innate talents in creative ways to do more than just understand the state of its troubled members but to envelope them in ways that bring greater respect and appreciation to who they are and how they can be helped. With the being level lens of accountability, each individual activity avoids impulsive fight, flight, and approach responses and ensures right and light responses become the predominant course corrections. With such a mind, there will be no blaming others---no matter what role they might play in the situation; no self deception of any kind, no rationalizing mistakes, no denying incoming information, nor being dishonest in interactions with others; and no competitive aggression (whether passive to active) unless a violation has occurred and light responses have not been successful at creating the needed change. The accountable mind seeks out the meaning within each and every life experience in the faith that meaning is indeed to be found which guides the most purposeful immediate action to keep the self upon the most rewarding life path. The mind then can see its own signature upon each event that is created and the final vestiges of survival level confusion, resistance, and blame slip away. What begins like a painful trip in the dark, evolves into an enlightened experience wherein the traveler becomes aware that he/she need not progress by feeling one's way in some haphazard manner but can actually "see" the road ahead and has the capability within to steer a more efficient course toward what chosen goal one might wish to attain and that the ultimate "goal" is to be one with the All-That-Is. The third perspective that arises naturally at the being level of experience can be termed the "Big Picture Perspective." Such a mindset allows all outcomes to be evaluated in the context of the broadest awareness of the most information available over the longest period of time. This perspective allows for the discovery of the meaningful patterns which make sense of the surprises of every day events. Feelings of hope, faith, courage, and universal oneness both build and spring from this perspective. The consciousness begins to recognize the relativity of space, time and even self, in order to see the meaningful opportunities and learning messages in each moment. The "Big Picture Perspective" also results in the kind of intuitive understanding of exactly what the long-range effects of any thought or action will have. It affords the person the rightful and full range of conscious choice. It is the antitheses of impulsive, unconscious, short-term autopilot responses to simply bring immediate pleasure in order to alleviate pain. We might imagine, for a moment, what the consequences might be if we were able to examine a choice we are about to make and see how each choice might play out in the long term. We would then be able to exercise our free will in a more sophisticated fashion and avoid the slivers or pitfalls which might cause ourselves and others undue pain. With less "pain" there would be more pleasure and with more "pleasure" our lives would come closer to what they were intended to be in the initial creation of our species. Together, these three perspectives will help remove any slivers and build a mindscape of gems. These optimal tools can also be used to help people vault themselves into the being level. Individuals who feel trapped in the patterns of survival level consciousness can simply borrow these perspectives as a way of reinterpreting any outcome that brings a painful emotion. In doing so over time, they can become as automatic as if they had developed naturally. Thus, the active right response of reframing each and every painful experience through one or all of these being-level lenses can be a tremendous aid to the individual enlightenment process. This suggested process does require a commitment of time for reflection. At this point in our cultural history there are many who feel compelled to occupy every waking moment with some type of productive activity. We even have a term for it: Multi-tasking. We have come to relate happiness and completeness with accomplishment and acquisition of material things. Until we can begin to value repose equally, little progress will be made. For example, some driver cuts you off in traffic, and the immediate feeling is one of anger, survival impulses take over and you might likely honk, yell, or flash a crude gesture at the offender. But if you respond after the fact with a bit of reflection, a right response can be attained. You might think in ways that allow in additional information for processing of an alternative decision. By drawing upon the "Lens of Unity", you can put yourself in the "offender's" shoes. You might think back to once when you made a mistake in traffic that was taken as a personal offense against a stranger, and the painful regret you felt. With adopting the "Big Picture Perspective", your mind can find alternative, more purposeful interpretations of the act. As such, you might realize that the offender did not know you and could not have meant any personal offense, might be stressed to get somewhere in a hurry, or that the poor slob might just be hopelessly ignorant of anyone except his own immediate needs and most likely did not even see you. At the very least, to recognize that this was an unconscious act of a struggling survival mind allows compassion to replace and reduce the defensive anger. The above serves as a good modern example that most of us who drive in urban areas can relate to and use to advantage. Others can find similar examples of occasions when we felt anger toward someone without remembering our own transgressions and misguided behavior. These annoying experiences might just be considered gifts to stimulate both our memories and, hopefully, our sense of compassion. Each such thought can reduce the amount of anger and perhaps on the next occasion, only annoyance will be felt when someone cuts you off in traffic and the impulse to act does not occur. Using these perspectives in this way, in and of itself honors the "Personal Accountability Perspective", for you are making the necessary changes within your own mindscape and modeling them to the world. That is the highest gift one human can offer the species. Over time, with many such right responses, you will at some point be able to shake your head with a knowing smile or even laugh when someone cuts you off in traffic. The fear and anger signals of a defensive ego will have been replaced by the compassionate acceptance of the fact that people can and will do that sort of thing without it affecting your freedom or power---or connection---in any way. We make our spiritual progress in increments at whatever pace we choose. Each step is not only of personal benefit but, even more, a gift to a multitude of others. Each such action serves as an example and motivating force for those around us and can serve as a salve to an irritated state of mind. In time, the being level experience will shift focus away from issues of power, freedom, and connection as true civilizations arise, and humans can get right to the higher challenges and chakra centers. The needs for esteem, creativity, and meaning will usher the highest levels of activity development and expression and the focus upon the highest chakras will be the major life effort. As individuals find and use their empowered voice, the words of the leaders who have conquered the speaker challenge will help humanity move ahead ever faster. The focus will ultimately be in becoming conscious of ever more complex levels of meaning, or seeing and transcending the limits of the ego "self" identity as all chakra centers open to full capacity---and beyond. The seers will experiment with altered states of consciousness and gain far more awareness of ever broadened bandwidths of information, being enticed into a still higher level of human potential. What begins as a point of intent will soon spiral upward in an ever-expanding awareness of our own nature and that of all that surrounds us, until we both blend with the whole and come to comprehend the potential of our accelerated progress. In sum, the being level is characterized by: attunement to the emotional voice of spirit, recognition of the higher informational use of complex learned feeling tones, individual purpose, optimal course of development, internal self-empowerment, interconnection, cooperation, social justice, awareness of how and why things happen as they do, enlightened character perspectives which alter perceptions of outcomes, and far more positive emotional and creative experiences. All of these conditions pull humanity ever higher toward potentials far beyond what the present consciousness can yet conceive. Above is the portrait of what we can become. We need but apply the paint of imagination to this blank canvas and create an unlimited series of gifts to and for All-That-Is. The Transcendent Level Of Human Existence Inherent within every human is the ability to achieve a still higher level of experience which can be described as the transcendent level of human potential. Indeed, nature familiarizes us with these potentials through the highest emotional tones that resonate with direct insights and flashes of this kind of experience. Dreams also contain many hints of the mobility and breadth of human consciousness, should humanity recognize that they are not simply ramblings of brain with its consciousness removed by sleep. Indeed, it is a mobility of consciousness wherein the dream state affords the spirit its freedom to interact directly with the body, with the personality as mindful controller out of the way. But as the mind evolves, it is no longer a liability to mobility of consciousness, and can instead bring the creative personality into the game. Eureka! Moments of cognition. The more frequent, the greater the appreciation of the human potential. Personality, with all its baggage and hang-ups, becomes less of a distraction and more of a partner with the mind, determining the what's and how's of greater moments of creation. At the transcendent level, the full creative capacities can come to the fore as the mind has broadened to attune to and embrace all the wisdom of body and add tremendous creative enhancements to the processes. The mind has transcended the pitfalls of a struggling body and is finally fully in control, but plays a lead role in directing high quality thoughts and actions. There is no longer conditioned learning, since all information flows into the mind for processing and as it expands, the more subtle and finer distinctions can be made within the multiple levels of information that are available within each experience. The predominant experiences are those rich feeling tones with the joyous resonance of universal clarity, the joys of compassion, grace, courage, justice, mirth, exuberance, divine love, faith, honor, gratitude, devotion, and universal oneness. Just as meditation brings into the mind fresh insights about the totality and meaning of our lives, so can mind grasp the wholistic picture when not being distracted by physical senses and programmed apprehensions. While our five senses are being reduced to a near neutral state, our soul (the Greek word for mind) opens its unfulfilled capacity to the depth of understanding. At the transcendent level of human experience, all chakra centers are open and continuously expanding as the mind attains an ever broader conscious participation within the co-creative processes. The emphasis is upon the crown chakra, however, as the individual actively practices the expansion and mobility of the conscious mind. Transcendence begins with the recognition that the entire bandwidth of quantum information contained within All That Is, is accessible to the human spirit and that the challenge of the Earthly experience is to actively create the conditions within mass consciousness to align the mind with the breadth of spirit so that the species can evolve away from the necessity of limiting bodily safeguards. Could this be what is meant by the proclamation, "The Father and I are One"? Mind and Spirit can blend and in doing so, can put aside the preoccupation of self-preservation, knowing that the state of heightened awareness can now compliment a greater state of security on all levels. Once the being state unites the external senses with the internal voice of spirit, the finer aspects of inner sensory perceptions will automatically begin to awaken. Indeed, the range of emotional sensitivity involves vibrational insights, and multi-sensory mechanisms to enhance the breadth and quality participation within the co-creative experience. Although the species has much progress to make as a group, certain individuals have attained transcendent level experience---it has been attained in the dream state, through chemical manipulation, through meditative practice and even through religious revelation. Fleeting glimpses of these abilities remind humanity of this inner potential, as flashes of intuition, sudden shifts out of the relative time, space or "self", or instantaneous joyous, harmonic resonance with the quantum field. Such sparks of insight are like fireflies that light up the night and suggest that were they to eventually become more plentiful, the night could turn into day and we would come to see more of our world than we could ever imagine. We need not wait until the hereafter to experience this knowing. It could be as close as our fingertips. Indeed, the genetic physical potentials within the most chemically sensitive personalities allow for tremendous spontaneous mobility of consciousness---often chosen for uniquely challenging, leadership destiny paths. Many misunderstood experiences, that the survival level consciousness world deems to be abnormal, are in fact simply the innate ability for mobile consciousness. Psychic, telepathic abilities, multi-modal perceptions and projections, multiple personalities, and even psychotic delusions are all manifestations of a giftedly mobile chemical vessel intended to facilitate out of space/time/self conscious sojourns in order to offer unique creative insights and contributions of the most challenging destiny paths. Using the descriptive word normal, we tend to build walls around those observed experiences that seem too bizarre to fit into our limited paradigm. In doing so, we lock out many potential experiences which could broaden our soul view. Indeed, what appear as "mental disorders" to the confused public mind are actually splendid opportunities to learn the mobility inherent within the human consciousness. Oftentimes, gifts in one area come with apparent weaknesses in those held to be of value. It is an ignorant travesty that such individuals are feared by the masses, and taught that they are disordered or evil, and are chemically medicated away from their gifts. Such out-of-time individuals often suffer rejection and isolation, and never fully recognize the meaning within their unique experiences. They should instead, be revered, studied, and helped to align with and balance their chemical sensitivity, attune to, and manifest their uniquely creative offerings. For even within the survival level mass mind, these individuals often transcend severe limitations and put forth the most insightful and indeed ingenious offerings. It may just be that our propensity toward fear is what keeps us from appreciating those within our midst who could bring us to the next stage of awareness at an even greater rate than we now hope and anticipate. Of course, life at the transcendent level will include tremendous mobility of consciousness as a routine of daily creative living. Even the normal range of human potential has far more gifts than have been discovered. Lucid and creative dreaming, astral projections, and spiritual travels will become a far more common practice as the inner aspects of self take on larger and larger roles and the mind attains ever more access to the vast information within the quantum field. The focus upon value assigned to external sources of information will dramatically shift toward internal scientific explorations of time, space, and self. With an open heart, the mind and eyes of humanity will expand to take in more and more of the wonders within All That Is. There will be such highly creative and effective cooperative social structures that self-preservation and self-development will be a respected right of every human citizen, so the immediate purposes of self-actualization will be the primary purpose of humanity. This will include both the fulfillment and expansion of all potentials---hurtling humanity ever-further along the evolutionary path. The above words paint pictures upon humanity's canvas which already shows the outline of what can be developed. We can fill in the blank spaces with the colors to be found within our innate nature. By exploring ourselves, we can find the door to a world we could hardly have dreamt into existence. Once a candle is lit, darkness must retreat. At the transcendent level of experience, there will be an unprecedented flow of newly available information affecting all levels of consciousness. There will be ever-increasing intensity of inner telepathic resonance, of attunement to deeper and more core memory banks, of self-hypnosis and inner time/space travel, of unifying the wisdom for altered states and dream consciousness, of directing lucid dreams and facilitating communications and resource sharing with alternate personalities or incarnations, as well as experiencing all the inner senses in the distinct nuances not yet even conceived. But most of all, the human experience will be the spontaneous creation of exactly those experiences which can most fulfill the entity and all levels of gestalts of consciousness within which the personality lies. The person will experience the rapturous resonance of fulfilling the ever expanding destiny of All That Is with precision, creativity and panache. Imagine going from the travel mode of a small scooter to the most sophisticated of jet aircraft. It would be the equivalent of accelerated learning starting in kindergarten and arriving in graduate school in a single year. Of course, this pace of advancement would be erratically self-determined. However, the potential remains a constant. The potentials will continue to expand as the telepathic and intuitive pathways become dominant. Communication within and between people will be far better and less restricted by the limitations of language. Thus, new mechanisms and levels of information exchange will become the norm. Deception will be a vestige of the ancient past as travels in altered states of consciousness allow humans to bypass the illusory boundaries of time, space and even self. The depth of empathic compassion will have truly transcendent qualities as will the creative abilities. The social manifestations of the transcendent level of humanity will be a global community much more akin to the elusive utopian society than the present pessimistic mind of man can consciously embrace. Technological advances will occur more in inner realms as the self-system, internal abilities, and willful self-empowerment are intellectually and institutionally embraced. Intuitive research, travels, and technologies including energy medicine, and conscious participation within energy dynamics will be mainstream. Ultimately the creative adaptive efforts of humanity can enhance the genetic code, and transcend certain limits of the psychic form. Such advancements can allow consciousness to create physiological changes independent of biological processes---creating many of the instantaneous miracles of religious legend. Value judgments and human knowledge will also be vestiges of ancient history, as the Eden-like condition of mass consciousness is restored. This is promised to be a process of advanced evolution of unprecedented dimension, wherein mankind will move from the conventional physical/mental state into a profoundly spiritual state with all that such a "state" can entail. We are on the threshold of such a shift - we need only seek it as our future ideal. If all this sounds like something similarly described in our understanding of the after-life, it is only because it is little more than what brings that state into our current physical state by erasing the barriers which separate that state (the after-life) from this state (our current life), as well as that which separates us from each other. Such is the promising path set forth for humanity. From this vantage point, the historical and present events provide empowering evidence that the era of competitive self-preservation is nearing an end. All fear, isolation, confusion, and war are the death rattles of the unconscious stages as humanity begins to consciously embrace inner empowerment, trust, connection, meaning, and global unity. Each individual who embraces the inner voice of spirit shall help build the energy to propel humanity forward. Such is the challenge at hand, a challenge to be entrusted to any and all whose consciousness resonates with these universal truths. Such is also the state of mind for those who will open themselves to the inner wisdom which occupies all inner feeling. It is only when we stop fearing our deeper selves and remember to trust that which we intuitively knew before we entered our present state of physical reality, that we rise to the level described above. We can begin doing this right now. Summary In sum, the eras of humanity have all been leading the mass mind to become aware of the higher destiny, to make that significant shift in consciousness which reconciles freedom and empowerment within cooperative connection to vault into the being level and to begin to taste the fruits of human potential. The more individuals attain purpose in their personal lives, the more the world can be shaped by their light responses to become the just, civilized, mass consciousness that is necessary for the blossoming of human potential. This kind of evolution will not happen automatically, for the human physical consciousness is necessary for the most purposeful and expedient cultural evolution. Of course, if humanity fails to rise to the challenge, the unbridled misguided mass mind will ultimately lead to self-destruction---the outcome of the utter lack of self-development. It is only through intent that the positively described future above can become a reality. A reluctance to travel down the road of spiritual awareness and expansion can only lead in the opposite direction. For this is a dynamic universe, occupied by dynamic beings who are either moving forward or declining. Free will prevails. Fortunately, the gathering impetus of individuals following the urges of spirit have already begun to set forth a successful outcome. The macro patterns of human evolution are depicted below. The chart shows the relationship between individual purpose and social justice, and how with each increase in individual purpose the world at large improves. The arrow constitutes the history of humanity which is at present, poised to vault into the being state---guided by the enlightened ones. The outline is in place. The dynamics are in motion. Each of us can now elect to be a part of the process or a part of the resistance to it. The only question now is the nature of our contribution. This is the legacy that awaits humanity when enough individual minds become enlightened to shift the mass mind toward reattuning to the inner guidance system of the voice of spirit. The information contained within these Lessons is designed to shine the light so that ever-more aware individuals can contribute to the critical mass necessary to boost humanity over the threshold from the crude and brutish survival state of experience to feel what it means to be fully human. From there, the pace can rapidly increase, leading individuals and eventually the species to the higher calling of the transcendent abilities and leanings of nature toward the most creative and unlimited physical manifestations of the expansion of All That Is. The challenge now is to get this information before those who would wish to participate in the evolution which is in progress. The greater the distribution, the sooner the evidence of success will begin to become evident and acceptable. As shown, we have in place, at this time, a system known as the internet, which is quite capable of spreading any piece of information around the world and back in a matter of hours or a few days. We can now turn the discussion to the final summation of what the Lessons have been sharing and see the concept of enlightenment in the broadest perspective. Table of Contents