Feeling Called to Transform Through Transcendence

 I was feeling heavy with the current negative energy that seems to be dominating so much of our lives, in the news and on social media, and often during face-to-face conversations too. A toxic cocktail, composed of division and opposition, the main ingredient Covid, with dollops of vaccine mandates, climate change, racism and conspiracy. This fear-based narrative has every cell in my being overwhelmed and exhausted and my quest to find something positive and uplifting to write about felt unattainable yet again. Then I stumbled upon a Super Soul podcast episode featuring the inspirational Eckhart Tolle. 

My skin tingled when I saw the title, Transforming Our Consciousness Through Adversity, for what better descriptor for what I was feeling than adversity? Well-acquainted with Tolle’s views, I knew I was going to discover wisdom that would help me to transform my experience. He dove right into it, his droll voice drifting towards me like a much-needed life-line. By the end, my mind was spinning and I hardly knew where to begin nor what direction my writing would take.

The core lesson felt to me to be linked to a bible passage of a parable Jesus shared. To paraphrase, Jesus said, “everyone who listens to my teachings and does them will be building a house that is built on a solid foundation. When you build a solid house, when the rains, winds and floods come, it will stand strong.” Eckhart went on to explain that the house is you, and the solid foundation is the kingdom of heaven, which is inside you. He said digging deep means it will be hard work and that it is an inner, spiritual journey. The winds and floods are life’s adversities, like climate change and Covid.

Raised in the Christian faith, the truth of the teachings of Jesus has long resonated with me. But, I wondered, how can this wisdom be translated to people of other religious backgrounds or those who identify as agnostic or non-religious but spiritual? More importantly, how can this awareness transform the collective consciousness to create change and lift the veil of darkness that has descended upon us?

Eckhart states that all spiritual teachings are about finding the transcendent inside yourself, so I decided to do some research. I found that in Islam, there is a belief in cultivating self-awareness, with the goal of knowing God better, strengthening your resilience, accessing humility, and developing good habits.

Similarly, in Hindu philosophy, the self-existent essence of human beings, or Atman in Sanskrit, is often translated as soul or pure consciousness. In order to obtain moksha, or liberation, a human being must acquire self-knowledge.

Buddha’s teachings of dharma and the eight-fold path involve control of the mind. In Buddhist practice, mindfulness is taught as a daily practice, achieved through meditation. Nirvana is experienced as an eternal, transcendental state that is beyond name and form.

According to the American psychologist Maslow, the highest state or level of development for human beings is transcendence. He postulated that it can be achieved by focusing on altruism, spiritual awakening, and the unity of being. 

Clearly, there is a way forward, towards this state of transcendence, regardless of your belief system. This is great news, but the next question is, how does one bring about this elevated state of existence and spread it world-wide? I believe that change begins with the self, that it starts with one person and one step at a time. We all must go deeply into the present moment, into the consciousness that connects us to all life, to all of creation, and to God. But for every person to realize their potential there needs to be a global shift. 

Maslow conjectured that human beings can’t reach higher states of existence when the basic needs of food and shelter are not being met. That means our systems need to be rebuilt so that all of humanity can achieve these higher states. For that to happen, we need strong, collaborative, altruistic leadership. In my opinion, the answers are not going to be found in the extremes of black and white, but in the middle ground of grey. There is no wrong, no right. There is no one way. We can agree to disagree, to live and let live, and support diversity in respectful, open societies where the goal is to achieve equality for all.

In my mind, Covid is acting as a spotlight on already existing problems and is providing an opportunity. We are being called to build our collective house on a solid foundation, to rebuild from the ground up. To come together, in love, with respect and compassion, and embrace our strongest, highest values. We have to abandon our current reactive fear response, to accept the pain and discomfort, and then to support healing as a global community. In faith, we can trust in the process of life.

To rebuild from the ground up, we have to abandon the us or them attitude and tear down the walls we’ve been erecting that separate us. It has to be all of us, as one humanity. We can all transcend suffering through the power of our own thoughts, words, and behaviours. Thoughts are powerful, and no matter what your life circumstances, you have the freedom to choose yours.

I know the consciousness movement is growing. I can feel it. We have the power to transcend, to let go our fears and the ties that bind and embrace our true nature. One step, one word, one action at a time. I’m calling out to my followers to dig deep and find your inner strength, then reach out to one person and ask them to do the same. I’m calling on everyone to do their part.

So yeah, I’m feeling called to transform through transcendence.