9 CONSCIOUSNESS Waking Up To Being Awake

9  CONSCIOUSNESS Waking Up To Being Awake

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3 5.1 ‘‘There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.’’

4 A In the same way a butterfly emerges from a cocoon, we are a global society emerging to be something beyond what most of us can imagine. Our cocoon of collective ignorance and accumulated planetary resources has served us well through our development, but it is now time for us to emerge as genuine Earth stewards creating a sustainable world that serves all sentient beings.

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6Buckminster Fuller was one of the first people to recognize this forthcoming paradigm shift, and he did all that he could to live his life as an experiment and demonstration of the new emerging human while sharing all that he learned along the way. He was what we now label an early adapter or perhaps a visionary implementer who recognized the unity of all and lived his life in support of all sentient beings.

7We can be truly grateful for Bucky and people like him who were—and still are—willing to take risks that are beyond what most people are even willing to imagine. He showed us what is possible when a person realizes that he does make a difference and then takes action on behalf of as large a group as possible.

8Bucky knew that he would probably not eliminate global starvation, illiteracy, homelessness, and disease in his lifetime, but he continued to campaign for these and many other causes until he breathed his last breath. He also recognized that we really don’t know what we are emerging into, but he did his best to predict what problems would be most challenging to future humans. Then, he created solutions to those issues for us—the future generations, many of whom he would never meet.

9 This is the model of the butterfly evolution that the human species is becoming. This is the next chapter of our blossoming, and there is no evidence in the behavior of past generations that gives any clue what will emerge, much less what will create success. This is, however, the only way we will survive and thrive as a species, and we are fortunate to have had a few people like Bucky to show us the way we can consciously transform our lives and our global society.

10 Prior to Bucky, many other people preached a similar message of abundance, love, peace, joy, and cooperation, but they were not popular and much less effective in changing things. These men and women were harbingers of the future, but they were usually overlooked or prosecuted for stirring up trouble. There were more such outlaw troublemakers in the past, but most of them were not in the public spotlight.

11 Bucky would have suffered that same fate had he not made a conscious decision to create his ‘‘56 Year Experiment’’ to discover and document what a single individual could accomplish in one lifetime. If he had not made a conscious effort to document his achievements (not because he had a huge ego, but to prove to us all that it could be done), this book would not exist and even fewer people would benefit from his modeling of how a fully responsible global citizen behaves.

12 Today, however, we know much more about ourselves and our environment, but we have no idea what our next stage of human evolution will look like. There is nothing in our past that gives us the slightest glimpse of who we are becoming. We are an emerging species, and Bucky recognized both the transformation and the unknowable nature of the outcome.

13 He did realize that our shift was primarily one of metaphysical consciousness that would then be become manifest in our physical environment. Because of this, he worked mainly with physical artifacts (inventions) to demonstrate the metaphysical principles that he realized would be key to our successful emergence into the light of a new era. From his focus, we can all learn a great deal, and for that focus we can all be extremely grateful.

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14 ‘‘Very very slow changes humans identify as inanimate. Slow change

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16of pattern they call animate and natural. Fast changes they call explosive, and faster events than that humans cannot see directly.’’

17 A Change is inevitable and ongoing. Nothing is the same as it was a moment ago. Even the page you are reading is changing and morphing, but that change is so slow that we label the page of a book as inanimate. Leave that book outside in the rain or too close to a fireplace, and the change becomes very obvious as the book disintegrates from exposure to water or fire. We continue to label the paper as inanimate be it in the form of a soggy ball or ashes, but it no longer appears as the page of a book.

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19If something is changing somewhat faster but still slow enough for us to see the transformation, we label that type of thing—be it a human or a flower—as animate. We say that it is living even though the physical matter that composes it is constantly changing, just like the physical substance of the book page.

20All matter and energy is continually flowing; yet some things are considered living while others are not. All things are composed of the same atoms and molecules, but we make a clear distinction between living and not living, between animate and inanimate. Although this is a manmade classification, it does help us to define our reality.

21Buckminster Fuller points out that we also classify faster changes such as an earthquake, a car crash, or a birth as explosive. We can see and experience these changes, but they are so dramatic that we label them as volatile, unstable, and unpredictable. They are, however, simply changes happening in a shorter amount of time. With a broad enough perspective, they are also predictable. Most humans do not, however, possess such an expansive perspective.

22Those first three categories of change are filled with phenomena that we believe we have some control over. The last category, however, is composed of the changes that really matter, and we humans can’t even see or experience them directly. These are in the realm of the phenomena Bucky referred to when he stated,

23‘‘99.9% of all that is now transpiring in human activity and, interaction with Nature is taking place within the realms of reality which are utterly invisible, inaudible, zinsmellable, and untouchable by human senses. The invisible reality can only be comprehended by metaphysical mind, guided by bearings toward something sensed as truth.’’

24These are the ‘‘realms of reality’’ in which the majority of important action and activity occurs, and we don’t even notice it. We humans believe ourselves to be so superior, but we can’t comprehend most of Universe. We believe that we know how to manage our lives and our planet, but we’re living in a preschool consciousness where we don’t recognize some of the most obvious changes even though they’re right in front of us.

25How many times have you commented about a new picture in a friend’s home, the color of your coworker’s new coat, or your colleague’s latest hair style only to learn that ihe change you just noticed took place weeks or months ago? And how many times have people complimented or criticized you about something they believed to be new when it was actually weeks old?

26We’re all guilty of being on both sides of this collective unconsciousness, but we don’t realize just how rampant it is. We also don’t realize that we really don’t notice any of the important changes and that we’re really not in control of anything.

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28‘‘Our children and our? grandchildren are our elders in universe time. They are born into a more complex, more evolved universe than we can experience or than we can know. It is our privilege to see that new world through their eyes.’’

29 By John Robbins

30 Guest Commentator

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32What that remarkable statement has continually given me is a reminder that the innocence of young people is not a fault to be corrected, nor an ignorance to be educated, but a strength to be celebrated. Sometimes it takes courage to be innocent. Sometimes the truly daring thing to do is to be naive. Bucky’s words remind me that my cynicism can be a trap, that my suspiciousness and defensiveness and know-it-all-ness can blind me, can keep me from awe, wonder, and amazement.

33Of course it is our task to guide our children so that they may live with respect for themselves and respect for others. But Bucky reminds us that our function is never to seek to impose our limited and limiting beliefs upon them, but rather to help them to develop so they may give the gifts they are here to give, and to receive the gifts that others have for them, as well.

34My son, Ocean Robbins, has been a superb teacher for me in this respect. He builds on all that I’ve accomplished. He and I are stunningly compatible in our values and visions. But he goes places I could never go. Like all our children, he is not here to fulfill my expectations, nor to follow any agendas I might have for him. No, he has his own dreams and aspirations. He has his own path to follow, his own sorrows to learn from, his own joys to be nurtured by, and his own love to share.

35When I become too cynical, I forget that our children and our grandchildren are conscious in ways that are beyond me. They carry the seeds of the future. They come into the world endowed with new possibilities, new understandings, and new energies.

36If we can align ourselves fully with them and learn from them, they may be able to accomplish things we cannot. They may be able to correct the errors of past generations, including our own. If we can truly live by the wisdom Bucky is offering us, our children will not only be free to be themselves. They will bring a new breath of life into the world.

37 JOHN Robbins'work and information can be found on his website www.johnrobbins.info.

38 By Ocean Robbins

39 Guest Commentator

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41I see this quote from the perspective of both a youth and an elder. As a youth, I grew up with parents who believed that I had a purpose and a perspective that they could support and learn from, and that their job was to help me to give my gifts—not to force me to conform to some expectation they might have held for me. My dad told me time and again that he was proud of me for all my accomplishments but that he would love me just as much if I were autistic.

42So I felt a deep knowing that I could be me, whatever that turned out to be, with whatever foibles and brilliance might emerge, and that my parents were utterly devoted to supporting and appreciating the manifestation of my unique insights and true path. I can say from firsthand experience how precious it is when elders truly see and stand for the unique gifts and journeys of each new generation.

43Today I am also a dad. My identical twin boys, as it turns out, actually are autistic. They have their own unique brilliance and their own very significant struggles. And I have the opportunity, now, to love them just as they are, with all my heart.

44My children’s wisdom sometimes doesn’t show up in forms that are readily accessible to me. But when I let go of my hopes and fears, my ambitions and my goals for them, and when I settle into the deep truth of what is so, I am filled with an appreciation that is ineffable and eternal—and that changes my life.

45So as much as I might want to teach my children all the things that matter to me and to transmit my values and insights, I am learning how much I gain from being present with what matters to them. I am finding a sweet depth of connection that we can share when I let go of trying to drag my children into my world and instead accept their sweet invitation to be a

46companion in theirs. In this process, I am learning about real love, about release of expectations, and about a quality of presence that is changing my life.

47As a mentor to thousands of young leaders worldwide, this quote inspires me to reflect that in a constantly changing world, many of us have opinions, beliefs, and modes of analysis that function rather like a computer’s operating system. These help us to interpret the overwhelming array of information that comes to us, and to filter, digest, and determine appropriate response to stimuli.

48Many of us, however, are interacting with the world using operating systems that were built when we were kids or even that were passed down from previous generations. We tend to settle into familiar habits and over the years can become increasingly inflexible. We need constant updates to our operating systems in order to stay present with a constantly changing world, as well as with our constantly evolving selves.

49Children and young people are often not only more adapted to the world into which they have been born but also more open to updates as they take in new information or learn to perceive in new ways. This porosity and adaptability has much to teach all of us. I believe that growing up doesn’t inherently cause us to lose flexibility, but that if we don’t keep stretching and changing along the way, it gets harder and harder as we move through life. In this, young people can always be our teachers.

50OCEAN Robbins is author of Choices For Our Future and The Poxver of Partnership and founder of Youth for Environmental Sanity (YES!). He has facilitated gatherings for thousands of leaders from more than sixty-five nations, is a recipient of many awards including the national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service, and speaks widely at conferences on university campuses. To learn more, visit www.oceanrobbins.com.

51 By Lynne Twist

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53Guest Commentator Buckminster Fuller, or Bucky as he was affectionately called, was one of our children’s favorite dinner guests. One evening at dinner our daughter, Summer, who was around eight years old at the time, made a profound comment. I’ll never forget Bucky looking at my husband Bill and me saying, ‘‘Never forget that our children are our elders in Universe time.’’

54From that day forward I saw everything differently: my children’s deep wisdom, my role as their mother, and my personal responsibility for future generations. It was particularly poignant when my first granddaughter, Ayah, arrived. Born in 1999 at the end of the twentieth century, I realized she could potentially inhabit three centuries in her lifetime, given female life expectancy trends. I can’t imagine what she will witness and experience in her lifetime.

55Ayah and her brothers come from a rich ethnic and cultural heritage that is so different than the family in which I was raised. My grandchildren are being nurtured as global citizens by conscious, loving parents who already knew what I learned in my 30s: that our children and grandchildren are born already lenowing and learning at warp speed the mastery of complex technology and sophisticated communication tools. This is the order of the Universe and it is incumbent upon us to learn from younger generations as well as to share the wisdom gleaned from years of experience.

56Besides being a grandmother, one of my greatest joys is to inspire, empower, and create shared learning opportunities with the millennial generation. The current generation of twentysomethings blows me away with their commitment to making a difference with their lives, accompanied by their intelligence, a spirit of ‘‘Yes, we can,’’ and their intuitive knowing that we only have one planet and we are one human family.

57Lynne Twist is Co-Founder and Board Member of The Pachamama Alliance. She is author of the award-winning book, The Soul of Money, and President and Founder of the Soul of Money Institute. Lynne is also a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, and consultant, who has devoted her life to service in support of eradicating hunger and poverty, empowerment of women and girls, global sustainability and security, human rights, economic integrity, and spiritual authenticity. She has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and trained over thirty thousand fundraisers worldwide to be more effective in their work with social profit organizations. For more information about her work, please visit www.soulofmoney.org and www.pachamama.org.

58 By Marilyn Schlitz

59 Guest Commentator

60 Bucky’s life was dedicated to the service of humanity. As an

61 iconoclast, he challenged assumptions that many take for

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63granted. One area of which he was highly critical was main- stream education, where the emphasis often is on rote learning rather than creative problem solving. He once noted: ‘‘All chil

64dren are born geniuses. Nine hundred ninety-nine out of even' 1,000 are swiftly and inadvertently degeniused by adults.’’

65 As a visionary and social reformer, he argued that there is a

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67growing need for the development of skills and competencies that will allow students to successfully meet the challenges of our changing world. Bucky felt strongly that in addition to enhancing their academic performance, students need to master new skills that will prepare them for their place in the evolving universe. Being able to adapt to changing circumstances is essential for students who are growing up in today’s complex world.

68Today those who seek to empower twenty-first-century students are charged with creating a pedagogy that prepares them to be global citizens. It is a time when students need to learn how to think, feel, and respond to the world in new ways. In this process, they must interface constantly with new information, diverse cultures and ideas, and challenges that require both critical and creative thinking. Helping students to cultivate their adaptive intelligence allows them to discover that haw we know is at least as important as what we know. For Fuller, who was able to see the world from different points of

69view, this is fundamental for creative new insights and adaptive behaviors.

70Fuller hoped for an age of ‘‘omni-successful edzication and sustenance of all humanity.’’ Recognizing the need for systems thinking, Bucky knew that what would be essential for success in this new era includes greater cognitive flexibility, comfort with the unfamiliar, appreciation of diverse perspectives, the ability to hold multiple points of view simultaneously, creative problem solving, and a capacity for discernment that relies on both intellect and intuition.

71Each of these skills requires an appreciation for how worldviews—both our own and those of the people we are interacting with—shape our thoughts and actions. For educators in the twenty-first century, there is a growing awareness that students will interact daily with people who hold different perspectives, whose life circumstances and personal experiences inform their worldview in profoundly different ways. As students come into relationship with their social and physical environments, they develop habitual ways of viewing themselves and the world around them.

72Human perceptions are filtered by the ways we view the world. Our worldviews influence every aspect of how we understand and interact with the world around us. Worldviews profoundly impact individual and shared goals and desires, shaping perceptions, motivations, and values—both consciously and unconsciously.

73Worldviews inform human behavior in relationships and choreograph individual and social reactions and actions every moment of the day. They shape our habits of introspection, analysis, and communication, influencing the questions we ask, how we make meaning of our experiences, and ultimately the ways we live and learn.

74In response to the need to understand worldviews and to encourage what Bucky called omni-successful education, the research and education team at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) created a curriculum on what we call Worldview Literacy (WVL). This involves the capacity to comprehend and communicate an understanding that information about the world around us is perceived and delivered through the filters of our personal and cultural worldviews.

75It is the understanding that beliefs are embedded within individual and collective frames of reference and that other people hold different worldviews. Knowing that our worldviews or models of reality are largely unconscious and that jointly engaging in practices that raise our awareness of the beliefs and assumptions we hold can allow each of us to better navigate encounters with differing perspectives.

76At IONS, we have created an experiential pedagogy designed to increase students’ awareness of their worldviews. In this way, we open conversational spaces of exploration for students to explore their own beliefs and assumptions. In the process, students are encouraged to approach diverse worldviews with curiosity and wonder, in service to creating the deeper collective understanding and more effective sensemaking required to navigate life in the post-industrial, globally interconnected world.

77As an experiential curriculum, WVL facilitates exploration of the pivotal role that worldview, perspective, or point of view plays in perception, information processing, and behavior. Students are encouraged to reflect and share their worldviews while gaining tools for understanding the worldviews of others. The goal is to use direct learning and guided self-reflection to help teachers and students cultivate meta-cognition, including awareness of worldviews, cognitive flexibility, and a capacity to hold conflicting information, as well as social and emotional skills involving perspective taking, connectedness, and prosocial attitudes and behaviors.

78As Bucky noted, our children are coming "into a more complex, more evolved universe than zve can experience or than we can know. It is our privilege to see that new ivorld through their eyes." We’ve seen that the WVL project holds promise to equip

79students with the tools and skills they need to become global citizens in the twenty-first century.

80We believe that when students develop an embodied sense that their own worldview is inextricably linked to their culture, region, religion, upbringing, environment, and personal experiences, and when they understand that everyone they meet is also inside their own worldview—then they will be better able to embrace the perspectives of others. This understanding can generate a greater connectedness, compassion and empathy—hopefully leading to more and better options for discovering and creating mutually desired futures.

81Appreciating worldview is vital to the kind of complex thinking that Bucky advocated. Presaging the worldview literacy curriculum, Bucky noted that: "The most important thing to teach your children is that the Sun does not rise and set. It is the Earth that revolves around the Sun. Then teach them the concepts of North, South, East, and West, and that they relate to where they happen to he on the planet’s surface at that time. Everything else will follow.’’ In this way, our children can learn to navigate successfully in various environments, both social and geographic.

82Acknowledging and mastering worldview provides a set of skills that can liberate students from the kind of mind-numbing education that Bucky was rightly critical of and that limits our ability to be multi-dimensional people. In this way, future generations can help guide the future of humanity, seeing the evolving world with creative new eyes.

83Marilyn Schlitz Ph.D. is the President and CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is a social anthropologist and a researcher who has worked in laboratory, clinical, and field-based settings. She is the founder of the Worldview Literacy Program.

84A Buckminster Fuller lived much of his life in ‘‘universe time,’’ an often-unimaginable place I often describe as having one foot in ‘‘normal physical reality’’ and the other in the realm of infinite possibility. That’s how he was able to stand in front of an audience for hours on end presenting his ‘‘thinking out loud’’ lectures.

85He was not just sharing what he had learned from personal experience. He was also allowing the wisdom of the ages to flow through him with a childlike innocence that endeared him to audiences worldwide. And that wisdom of the elders that flowed through him also flows through those who appear to be the least experienced members of our crew onboard Spaceship Earth.

86They have chosen to be born into this unique period so that they can teach us how to build Bucky’s vision of ‘‘a world that works for everyone.’’ They have the skills and the tools to transform our planet and our species from war, competition, fear, and scarcity to a genuine heaven on Earth where peace, cooperation, love, and abundance are the norm for all sentient beings.

87To most adults, this would appear to be an insurmountable undertaking, but to the youth it seems natural and normal until they become indoctrinated into modern society and take the path of being ‘‘productive citizens.’’ That term now generally refers to getting a ‘‘good education’’ and a ‘‘good job’’ so that one can earn a ‘‘good living.’’

88Bucky often translated the term ‘‘earning a living’’ into ‘‘earning the right to live,’’ and that shift is more evident today as the gap between the ‘‘haves’’ and the ‘‘have nots’’ continues to expand. In the world of infinite possibilities that our children and grandchildren can envision with their open hearts and minds, this disparity does not simply disappear—it never existed.

89Their ‘‘more complex, more evolved universe’’ is one of interconnection, interdependence, integrity, intuition, imagination, and illumination. It is the reality that philosophers have dreamed of since the dawn of time, and it is here right now. All we need to do is learn from and respect the wisdom of the innocent, naive, bright youth who have come here to our tiny, fragile Spaceship Earth to herald the dawn of a new era in which everyone shares the bounty of our abundant Universe and our precious planet.

905»4 ‘‘No human can prove, upon

91 < awakening, that they are the

92 k J person who they think went to bed

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94the night before or that anything they recollect is anything other than a convincing dream.’’

95 A Buckminster Fuller was a pragmatist who was always seeking indisputable proof. However, after decades of examination and contemplation, he came to the same conclusion as many mystics—human existence is most likely a waking dream with great consistency, but most of us are unaware of that continuity. He often reminded his audiences that we can’t even prove that the person who wakes up in the morning is the same person who went to sleep the night before. We can’t guarantee a continuity of self at any time, even during the hours of sleep.

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97Even though most of us believe that our lives are a single ongoing experience, we can’t absolutely prove that one moment is connected to the next or to the one before it. We also generally believe that we are our bodies or the work that we do, but a quick internal assessment proves that assertion to be untrue. Science has now proven that every cell of our bodies is completely replaced every seven years, so I am not currently the same physical being who wrote this sentence in 2011.

98When each of us stops to consider what we are doing with our time, more and more people realize that their careers don’t make a difference in the world or with other people. Some have only come to this realization when they found themselves replaced by a machine or another person. Just like the cells in our bodies, people in specific jobs are interchangeable. We can be replaced by another person who is not even on the same continent as the work that needs to be done. Some jobs can even be replaced by a machine.

99This conundrum often leaves people pondering the challenging question, ‘‘who am I.’’ Thankfully, Bucky spent many years considering this taxing question, and one of his most interesting answers he shared focuses on the concept he labeled ‘‘pattern integrity.’’ Bucky said,

100‘‘A pattern has an integrity independent of the medium by virtue of which it receives the information that it exists.

101Each individual is a unique pattern integrity. The pattern integrity of the human individual is evohitionary and not static."

102In other words, we are each a distinctive ‘‘something’’ that is continuous, unique and evolving. If we were able to tap into our knowledge of that something, we might be able to argue the point that we are the same person who went to sleep the night before.

103This is not completely true. Each of us is the same pattern integrity upon arising, but we have experienced and learned new things while we were asleep. Many people label these learnings and experiences as dreams, and those ‘‘dreams’’ change who we are and how we behave in physical reality. Thus, we are the same in some ways but very different in others.

104It is believed that some people have achieved such ‘‘awakening’’ or ‘‘enlightenment’’ during a single lifetime. They knew their true identity deeply enough to maintain a continuous stream of consciousness through all aspects of their lives including sleep. Although he usually spoke humbly of himself as ‘‘an average healthy human,’’ Bucky may have been one such person.

105He was certainly clear about his mission here on Earth and he maintained his focus regardless of external circumstances. He also provided us with a great model of one human functioning as fully as possible in order to stay awake and contribute as fully as possible to the common good.

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106 ‘‘If the success or failure of ? this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do, how would I be? What would I do?’’ By Lisa Matheson

107 Guest Commentator

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109There are three posters hanging on the wall of our family room where everyone—family, neighbors, the posse of teenagers who are constantly hanging around, guests—gathers when they are in our home. They are simple posters, purchased through The Buckminster Fuller Institute. They didn’t cost much, but have, for me, been worth their weight in inspirational gold. My favorite of the three, and the one that has become my personal mantra, is this quote by Bucky.

110These posters went up on our wall in 2004, but it was much earlier that their words began to influence me. I was in my early 30s and was sure that I was missing something important, that there was more to life, not so much in terms of what I could have but in terms of what and how I could contribute. I was relatively successful at almost everything I had ever done; things had always come easy for me in sports, in the traditional path through business, in life. But, despite it all, there I was, smack in the middle of what I called my early- mid-life crisis.

111It was then that I first ‘‘met’’ Bucky. I began studying with a group whose focus was on the work of Fuller and how it integrated with our core ideas around scarcity and abundance, education and science, money and business. Although by no means a mathematician at any level, I came to understand

112the basics of Synergetics, of synergistic results, of stability in universe.

113At one of these group events in Tucson, Arizona, in the mid-1990s, I looked around me and saw an amazing collection of people from all over the planet. They were doctors, teachers, successful business people, mystics, athletes, and housewives, all fascinated by Bucky’s work and where it might take them. There were only a few, however, who appeared to be integrating everything we were learning from Bucky into their dayjobs.

114Dr. Cheryl Clark, and my husband-to-be, Michael Healey, were both extremely interesting thinkers and educators—she in the criminal justice system in the State of New York and he in private business. What made them attractive to me at that moment, however, was that they were beyond Bucky enthusiasts. They were Bucky implementers, and I started to hang out with them.

115Fast forward through a number of years of collaboration with both Cherie and Michael, as we sorted through how the science of Synergetics applied to social dynamic, and I had my ‘‘aha.’’ I finally ‘‘got’’ what I would do if ‘‘success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do.’’

116Social Synergetics™ is what emerged. It is the application of whole systems thinking to social organizations, structures, and relationships. It is a structure for solving any and all problems and doing more with less. It is a framework in which any content can work better, with less expenditure of resources.

117The provenance of the term is this: SOCIAL = the interaction between people + SYNERGETICS = the study of systems. Put the two together and you have ‘‘the study of the systems of interaction’’—how we relate to others one-on-one, in groups, on teams and in organizations.

118From what I could see in the corporate world I interacted with each day, a new way of thinking, one that provided stability through the inevitable and omnipresent forces of chaos and change, was desperately needed.

119But, I was not a traditional educator. I did not want to be at the front of the room. I was not patient enough to stand up and teach the way others could.

120What I was good at, however, was what I call the ‘‘back- end.’’ I am an idea synthesizer and a toolmaker. I can distill complex ideas down into visual and word patterns that are easy for audiences to digest. I can make sense of complexity. So, in collaboration with Cherie and Michael, I began to work on tools that would help people in organizations, whether they be corporate, social services, education, or not-for-profit learn to think synergetically.

121Social Synergetics™ is still in its infancy, relative to Bucky’s Synergetics. But it is fascinating to me. It is motivating, energizing, exciting. I feel completely aligned, every day, with it being my answer to Bucky’s challenge.

122Most of all, I experience a whole-being physical-emotional- mental-spiritual ‘‘charge’’ when people we work with get their ‘‘aha’’ around stable systems, around a model for thinking that helps them in a way that no other coaching or development work has. When they discover which of the points on the tetrahedron, or which vector has been the weak link in their project, in their management style, or in their business model, they make an exponential leap forward and know exactly what to correct. Their success is very exciting to me.

123My husband wants to renovate the family room. He and I have become passionate collectors of local artisans, and he is starting to ask what piece will go up on the on the wall after the renovations.

124Bucky’s posters will. There is an energy to his words, to the quotes in these posters, that inspires me daily. When people come to our home for the first time and stand in front of them, I can see that some understand what Bucky is saying and others maybe not so much. But, I do believe that his words make everyone think just a little bit differently.

125LlSA Matheson is the co-founder of Social Synergetics™and the President of its parent company, Water Communications, Inc. Lisa has over twenty-five years experience as a communications and training consultant, designing professional development programs and learning tools for corporate clients, as well as non-profit organizations. She is the co-author, along with Dr. Cheryl Clark of DOING LIFE!® A Life Skills Program for Recover)' from Addictions and SMART Choices! An Accelerated Life Skills Program.

126A Buckminster Fuller constantly asked himself these questions because he truly believed that the success or failure of our planet and all human beings depended on how he behaved and what actions he took. Those of us who take a similar position are finding that we can in fact make an enormous difference in the lives of others and in the evolution of our species. And a by-product of such a seemingly altruistic way of living is that the person being generous, kind, and grateful to all others receives benefits well beyond what she expects.

127Bucky found this to be true time and time again, and he came to simply accept these supposed gifts from Universe that some would label ‘‘miracles’’ as an everyday occurrence. In other words, by constantly acting on behalf of all humankind, he was able to live a life filled with love, peace, joy, and abundance. That is not to say that he did not have many challenges and struggles, but he did not judge these aspects of his life as negative. Instead, he simply saw them as more opportunities to learn, and he was soon moving beyond one challenge to something even larger and more beneficial to everyone (including himself and his family).

128Using trial and error, he quickly learned that he could course correct for anything that did not produce a ‘‘positive’’ result and that the larger the challenge he gracefully accepted, the less he had to sweat the small stuff. For example, when someone like Bucky (or you or me) takes on the challenge of housing or feeding all humankind, things like his relationship with friends or family or where he will live become minor issues. We don’t have time to focus on such issues when we’re saving the humans, and they seem to simply take care of themselves. In other words, the seemingly huge issues in our lives become minor irritations when we come from a larger perspective as Bucky did.

129When acting ‘‘as if’ the success or failure of human beings is your responsibility, you naturally act more responsibly in all areas of your life because you know that your every action (whether witnessed by another or not) does matter and will make a difference. This is the law of cause and effect, and the Buddhists call it karma.

130Working from this perspective, we realize that everything matters—be it picking up a random piece of litter, saying thank you to an angry clerk, or giving an inspirational talk to thousands of people. It all counts toward the success or failure of what Bucky described as ‘‘humanity’s final examination’ to answer the cosmic question, ‘‘are humans a worthwhile to Universe experiment'?’’

131This is something that we each need to answer for ourselves, and things work best if we consider the question and respond remembering that the success or failure of this planet and human beings does in fact depend on how we are and what we do, right here and right now.

6.

132 ‘‘God is a verb.’’By David Spangler

133 Guest Commentator

134

135Like many geniuses, Bucky Fuller has left us an extensive and wonderful treasure of quotable statements. Picking one is like being asked to choose one’s favorite food amongst a buffet of culinary delights where each item has its own unique flavor and attraction. It’s a task both difficult and enjoyable at the same time.

136In my case, I chose Bucky’s statement that God is a verb in part because it succinctly expresses my own experience of sacredness and in part because if we could all appreciate this one simple fact, it would go a very long way to diminishing if not outright removing many of the religious conflicts that in one way or another continue to divide our world. And, I believe, it would enable us to recognize God in this world, seeing sacredness not as a transcendent reality somewhere ‘‘out there,’’ but as something inherent in the processes that enable life to exist. We would then be in a much better position to recognize our own sacredness.

137Nearly a hundred years ago, Dion Fortune, an Englishwoman who was one of the leading teachers in the Western esoteric tradition, said something similar. She said, ‘‘God is pressure.’’ This also captures the same sentiment to which Bucky was directing our attention, that the sacred is an activity, not a thing. Further, it is not simply the activity of bringing universes into being but the activity that allows all other activities to proceed. When I walk, when I talk, when I engage the world in creative activity, all this is possible because of the activity that is God. Sacredness is a doing.

138In spiritual circles one can often find a great deal of effort expended in discovering what it means to be sacred or in becoming sacred. But this assumes that sacredness is a condition that we can discover and enter. When we understand, as Bucky did, that it is a doing more than a being, then our attention goes to how we are acting. God appears in our actions, in our behavior, in our doings. The sacredness manifests in how we engage the world. We can sit and ‘‘be’’ all day long, and the world will not be the better for it. But when any one of us engages in the process of sacredness—in the activity of a comforting smile, a friendly word, a kindly action, a loving goodwill, a compassionate helpfulness—then the world can feel the presence of the sacred in its midst.

139My own work focuses on the development and practice of an incarnational spirituality, a spirituality that celebrates our human personhood, our connections to the Earth, and our physical lives. Such spirituality deeply honors the perspective of sacredness that Bucky articulated in this simple quote. Its purpose, too, is to make it possible for us to look at ourselves and to look out at our world and to see in all the processes that surround us the living presence of sacredness. Even more importantly, it presents an image of a sacredness with which we can partner in accessible ways.

140For instance, if I feel I have to be a fireman and wear a fireman’s uniform to fight a fire, then I may stand by uselessly while my house burns, waiting for real firemen to arrive. But if I understand that being a firefighter is a verb, then I can grab my garden hose and fight the fire even though I don’t have the uniform or the title.

141If God is a noun, how can I be sacred? How can I act in sacred ways in my world? How do I become a god myself? But if God is a verb, then any of us can ‘‘do’’ Godliness and in so doing, make the sacred visible.

142I believe our world needs—even requires—us to do sacredness if we are to have a positive future. Bucky understood this, I’m sure, and it informed his creative ability to open new doors and unveil new possibilities throughout his life. The world awaits the rest of us to do the same. After all, we are verbs as well.

143David Spangler is a spiritual teacher, a Former co-director of the Findhorn Foundation in northern Scotland, a Lindisfarne Fellow, and one of the founders of the Lorian Association. He is the author of Apprenticed to Spirit, Blessing: The Art and the Practice, Facing the Future, and Subtle Worlds: An Explorer's Field Notes. He teaches classes online and publishes a monthly email essay, David's Desk, and a quarterly print journal, View From the Borderlands. For information about his work, his books, and his publications, please go to www.lorian.org.

144A For Buckminster Fuller, God was much more than a noun—a being that created and supported human life. Although he believed that organized religions were detrimental to the evolution of humankind and the success of all people, Bucky was a very spiritual person, and his concept of what we label God is as an active inner and outer intelligence that is well beyond words.

145God is all pervasive and undefinable. It is within the physical being we called Bucky Fuller and is within each of us. It connects us with one another and explodes in the bounty we experience as life on Earth. It cannot be created or destroyed, is infinite and therefore is something most of us cannot wrap our minds around.

146Bucky often attempted to understand and explain the phenomenon we call God, but he was rarely able to do so in his writing. His live presentations were far more successful as he was able to source and transmit an essence that some have labeled as Source, Greater Intelligence, Great Spirit, Higher Power, or Christ Consciousness.

147Many people would leave his marathon ‘‘thinking out loud’’ lectures after four or five hours saying, ‘‘That was the most amazing experience of my life, and I have no idea what he said.’’ Years or decades later, individuals recount how much just being with Bucky had transformed their lives.

148As Barbara Marx Hubbard recounts in her Chapter 1 commentary for this book, Bucky once told her that ‘‘he wanted to support my writings. When I asked for an endorsement he wrote:

149‘There is no doubt in my mind that Barbara Hubbard, who founded the Committee for the Future and helped introduce the concept of futurism to society, is the best informed human now alive regarding that movement and the foresights that it has produced.’

150What he meant, I believe, is that both of us had a Christ experience that revealed to us the evolution of humanity from a self-centered, creature human to a whole-centered, spirit-centered universal human, at one with the Processes of Creation and Nature.’’

151This ‘‘Christ experience’’ is the essence of conscious awakening that Bucky and other spiritually adept masters transmit to us. It is given to them, and they are empowered to pass it on to each of us in support of our waking up and moving closer to complete enlightenment. The verb God within each of us will continue to be active and activate that awakening within others until we as a species take that next evolutionary leap into a form we cannot yet imagine. Then, like Bucky himself, it will continue working to bring us to the next level of consciousness.

152 Consciously Empowering Others

153 Chapter Summary

154 5.7 ‘‘I don’t know anything about

155 the subconscious, and I have no right to deal in it. And so I have to deal in the conscious, and there has to be an attempt to communicate the experiences.’’

156

157A Buckminster Fuller often spoke and wrote about realizing how little he knew, especially as he grew older. He may have claimed that he knew nothing about the subconscious, but he was clearly able to access a consciousness that is more comprehensive and potent than most of us intentionally know or experience.

158That awareness—which he shared in his writings, lectures, and inventions—models something infinite and beyond the scope of the human imagination. Still, like Bucky, each of us attempts to imagine it and give words to our imaginings. We write songs about it. We make art to share our experience of it. And if we get overenthusiastic about it, we try to convert others to our way of seeing and understanding this subconscious/ unconscious.

159Others usually resist such proselytizing, and Bucky learned that early in life. After some years of attempting that strategy, Bucky realized that it would never work, and he stopped trying to convince or change anyone. Even though he had had many profound experiences connecting to Source and had

160been given the ability to communicate a Source experience to others, he allowed people to find him rather than advertising his gifts.

161Realizing that he could not change people and giving up even trying is the mark of a genuine spiritually awake individual. They are humble yet willing to fully give to those who show up. They help people to awake to the fact that they are awake within a waking dream that we call reality. And they never seek fame, wealth, glory, or power for themselves.

162Life for them is what Helen Keller famously labeled ‘‘a grand adventure’’ when she said, ‘‘Life is either a grand adventure or nothing.’’ People like Bucky and Keller are the true consciousness teachers and leaders, and they have been empowering others to follow in their footsteps for generations. Bucky received one such empowerment from Albert Einstein, and he gave many empowerments to those who wanted to learn and grow with him.

163It was never his intention to be put on a pedestal or even to be recognized as a wise expert. He wanted to simply be who he labeled himself—‘‘a comprehensive, anticipatory design scientist’’ and an ‘‘average, little man.’’ May those of us who are similarly blessed with the conscious recognition of who we are continue to mindfully and generously share this awakened heart with all who seek it.

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