The world seems poised at a time of critical mass. Standing at the the edge of now, we come to a time to reckon and decide. Will humanity take the mantle of responsibility for our world, or continue toward fragmentation, isolation and destruction? This cusp is evident in the stage show of American politics. Hillary is being forced precipitously to the left, distancing herself from Donald on the … right?

Or, wherever he stands now that the religious right and social conservatism have retreated to the shadows of influence. In a flood of judgement, one thing for which Trump has not been credited enough is his utter hobbling of the republican party. This even as the exacerbation of its wounds continues to capture the hearts of their majority.

Bernie must live to fight another day.  The great progress made toward the undemonification of socialism, economic fairness and class awareness is estimable. Since his campaign the gnawing gash behind the wheels of democracy has become more evident. As veils become slowly diaphanous, scenarios of power structures indebted to big money, big business, big oil, big guns and big pharma are no longer the reserve of action adventure movies. The future us now, as this has become our own home movie.

Yet, even as currents below are exposed, so the vista above clarifies.  Can we continue to look away?

A decade ago, Ray Kurzwiel coopted the scientific term singularity to refer to the grand convergence of technology, the streams it enables and society. The theory – certainly borne out in actual events – is that the development of tech will exponentially increase until there is a tipping of the critical mass toward deep structural change that will happen perhaps too quickly to navigate. It is said in the Vedic scriptures that the time of iron will give way to the time of air. We recite apocalyptic prognostications, and the science fiction of ancient texts like fairytales embedding the ideal of a grand culmination in our mental stream. But, maybe this can be navigated elegantly. Perhaps with the advent of greater pain, comes greater awareness, and with it the responsibility to navigate the change with sanity and poise.

I believe there is a politics of materialism which may give way to a politics of spirit, a politics of soul, if you like. The politics materialism builds an identity around the limited conception of duality. We foster local unity by the creating a global difference. We find an other and gain strength through blame. We summarily blame the other party, other countries and other tribes of humans in order to rouse self-referential strength.  we are now  for real solutions to the problems facing modern life. Like it or not, we are living in another time and place than the world that had come before. Is it a precipice? A juncture? A singularity? An apocalypse? Maybe its just time.

Simply that.

The destination  is now and the time is here. Becoming awake in America is about bringing conscious intention to life, to our communities, families and ourselves. I love the idea of being part of a web of purpose whereby we can connect through the warmth of our hearts and the power of intention. It is so important to remember that we can create a purpose for our life, that makes whatever we’re going through, so worth it. Life is hard. But, maybe life becomes easier as we connect to others. Maybe its time to stop the aggressive me-first grabbing at life as though having more than we need will help us. When we act out of panic, all we do is support the panic. When we act out of need, all we do is create more need.  But when we find the space of enough, we have enough space to allows other in to our world. We become part of our world. As we give up that which we only grab out of fear, we gain space to acquire new things.

In that space we can create a place to be. A place to create, to conjure, to come home. A kingdom of the mind. A country of the heart ruled by the politics of soul. A kingdom created in the image of human goodness, developing toward goodness for all.

All of us live in societies. We all feel trapped here, or inspired here depending on how much we feel involved in the world around us. We can isolate, and live behind the walls of a stone castle, and become more ensconced in the beliefs that bind us. Or, we can integrate, open to the differences and turn willing to listen the world. Learn hear the songs of  other clans, learn to kneel before other beliefs, learn to feast with other tribes. To learn and to change, while still upright in our own dignity.

Perhaps its time.

There was another mass killing.

Which one was that? The terrorist? The Muslim who sympathized? The Syrian who was left out? The Kid in the night club? The white kid in the theater, or the best friends at school?  Its getting so hard to keep count. Kids killing kids, cops killing kids, cops being killed, improvised explosives and suicide vests changing the face of public gathering. The world is erupting.  And with it, the cry to have more guns, and more war and more punishment. As though adding to the problem will somehow solve the problem.

But with all the pain, there feels like hope in the cracks of our chaos. With more pain there is, perhaps, more awareness.  There is more here, in front of us, to see and to understand.

This is a great time to be alive. Yes.  Not instead of the pain or despite the pain, but entirely because of the pain. Its a blessing that we are here to help and to repair and to work to bring this world back into harmony with the earth that has nurtured us. Its a blessing here in New York City to be among the fortunate, the privileged, the few who have the honor to make a difference. It is our great honor to serve. And it is great to give back. You see, we become weakened as we grab for more. We falter as we turn away.  We fail as we try to win, and win at all cost. There is no wining that does not win for all of us. There is no sanctity except in the grace of living in a world that we support, and are supported by.  And because of this, it is a great time to be awake.

The destination is now, and the time is here. We can make a difference, slowly and surely in our lives and now – more than ever in history – even small differences will be heard around the world.

America Awake is a call to (open) arms. Awake is a revolution whose symbol is not a raised fist, but an open hand. It is a philosophy of understanding. And, rather than re-knowing what we already know, reiterating what we’ve been told, retelling the obvious and restating that which was written in stone, in an age of stone, we can emerge into a new dawn, and simply have the courage to say . . .  heck if I know. Lets start fresh.

How can I help?

What is happening now? And, how can I better understand the needs of my sisters, and the truth of my brothers, and the pain of a rainbow of every shade in between?

I pledge allegiance to the moment. And equipped with the immense power of wakefulness, vow to listen to the differences and to heal all damage. I pledge to cause harm to no one and bring the world together in a time of darkness.  I pledge to never outrun my fear, but to open my heart to the transformative possibility of my pain.

Is that utterly ridiculous?  I suppose so. Its certainly naive and simplistic. And, how cool is that?

There is so much pain in the world. So much struggle. We have everything we need to have everyone on the planet happy, safe and well fed. But, the imbalance of wealth continues. The environment is red lining. There are random catastrophic attacks on innocent people around the world.  Is any of this sustainable?  Fixable? Actually, survivable?

Is it the end of times? Or, will that come with an election in the fall?  (I’m old enough to have laughed at the idea of Ronald Reagan.  And we all remember Al Gore winning the presidency, don’t we?) But seriously, are we going to elect a billionare with questionable business histories to help restore economic balance? The alternative, by the way, is only a millionaire with equally sliding moral scale.

In what scientists refer to as a stable universe, we live with the fact that the cosmic rug can be ripped from us at any time. But, science only explains so much. Our beliefs, when they aren’t completely blocking us, only go so far. Ideas aren’t worth the projections they’re imprinted on. When it comes down to it, there is only life. And life does whatever the heck it wants.

That’s what we signed on for when we met the gleam in our parents’ eyes and pushed past the thighs screaming into the night. It’s no surprise we were crying. But, Then we gave in, forgot the truth, and decided to try it all over again.  We became excited by our feet and the prospect eating the coffee table. Eventually, we walked and eventually we let go of youth to pound rocks in this improbable prison called life. 

And we understood that those weren’t rocks so much as our heads. And when we stopped pounding long enough against the cell door, we had an epiphany. Okay, not an epiphany as much as a realization. Or, maybe a resignation. This is all there is. Its not gonna be anything other than this. And when we got that, we stopped hitting our head long enough to realize the cell was ajar. And that jars can be opened. And, all we need do is let go into that smile from divine tho born from the dirt and delivered to the dirt, in between, take our place on the planet as its stewards and its fruit. That’s it really. Just take care of things, as we can. 

People try and find deeper MEANING in life as the planet is threatening to evict us, and we are warring on our own souls. Kind of like philosophizing at the scene of a car accident. Sure, these things beg the grand questions. But, shouldn’t someone call an ambulance? 

This is a plea for us to do something out of love and care for each other and the world. This is a call to nonviolent activism. Waking up in the chaos and riding this lifemare into the dark and the light of our journey. Letting go of what we believe, so we can step into the arms of who we are and what we need to do for each other to save ourselves.  I recommend sitting down to gather ourselves and letting the energy of change change us into the Bodhisattvas we were destined to become.  If the world is grasping for something to save it, maybe we can be junkies for wakefulness. Maybe we can be willing to sleep in the cold just for the rush of helping our world. So when Walking Dead is finally done, when we’ve exhausted all excuses, when the alarm has been pushed to snooze enough times, we can wake up and realize this is the only life we have in this life. And it needs us. Not the planet. The planet will evict us and carry on like nothing much happened. In a billion years it will sprout another thinking race. And, maybe that race will know enough to live with some respect for itself. 

But, maybe that race is here. In our dream of waking. In our belief in each other. In our trust in humanity.  We can wake up into the dream, and bring the change.