Many Voices

I am constantly amazed as I encounter new people expressing the same ideas I have been sharing here. I believe it would not be an exaggeration to say there are a million voices proclaiming the need to awaken from the unconscious life we have been living. Wherever one looks - from the pain and suffering caused by war, poverty, dis-ease and other forms of injustice to the destructive exploitation of the planet - the need to grow beyond our present state of ignorance is evident. What is also evident is that the "shift" will not be brought about by governments or institutions that are heavily invested in maintaining the existing system even though it is obviously unsustainable.

If we consider the transition from the "dark ages" into the "enlightenment" we realize how the view of humanity and our place in the universe changed dramatically. It was a relatively slow process compared to the speed that change takes place today. Imagine having grown up with the view that the earth was flat and the sun revolved around it being told that this was not how it is at all. How incredible this must have seemed. Yet, slowly a new reality unfolded. Today, we are in a similar process. The institutions that have evolved over the past 500 years are being challenged by the growing awareness that they are no longer useful and in fact have become a "stumbling block" to the world of peace, a world of caring and sharing that we all, by our nature, desire.

One example of how people are changing the world is the Vday movement. It grew out of the vision of an amazing woman - Eve Ensler . In 1996 she wrote and first performed The Vagina Monologues out of which evolved the now worldwide Vday movement that through raising awareness strives to eliminate violence against women. It is a totally grassroots movement that is making a difference for many girls and women, but the most important task of raising awareness still has a ways to go, but in this time of "viral" events change can happen quickly.

Still, it depends on the willingness of each of us to be open to change and to embrace it each day and every moment regardless of where we are or what we are doing. Every situation is an opportunity to question and ask if we are expressing our true self of love and compassion or are we responding to the habitual negativity of our egos. Every time we ask this question we connect to our higher self and infuse our being with the positive energy that is the Force.

Eve Ensler