Imagining a New World

Remember the nursery song about old MacDonald and his farm? For some reason every time I watch the news or read a headline, that song comes to mind. Here a crisis, there a crisis, everywhere a crisis, crisis. Eee Eye Eee Eye Oh!

But here's the good news. According to Barbara Marx Hubbard, futurist and conscious evolution advocate, if we study the 13.7 billion year history of the Universe, we will see that major crises preceded every quantum leap in the evolution of life. Crises stimulate innovation, synergy, coherence and transformation. They are evolutionary drivers.
  

Becoming Universal by Artful Alchemist on Polyvore

We are in the chrysalis stage of the next turn on the evolutionary wheel. No longer caterpillar, not yet butterfly. An amazing thing happens inside that chrysalis -- as the old form of the caterpillar slowly dissolves, the new butterfly DNA begins to emerge in the form of "imaginal cells."

The caterpillar, thinking it's dying, fights against these imaginal cells. But the imaginal cells continue to multiply and connect in new and more beautiful ways, eventually transforming the caterpillar despite its resistance. The chrysalis breaks open and the butterfly emerges.

WE ARE the imaginal cells - you and me and each one of us who is choosing a better way of living and being. We are literally imagining a new world into existence.

The old caterpillar form is fighting back with resurgences of fundamentalism on many levels as unstable, dysfunctional systems try to defend the status quo. It is perhaps the surest sign that the transformation has already begun.

We are the first species on this planet to become aware of the patterns of evolution AND to be aware that our own choices have the power to affect the course of future evolution (for better or for worse).

In order to succeed, we must recognize our role as conscious co-creators. We must recognize our interconnectedness to each other, to all life on the planet, and to all life in the cosmos. At this moment in time, we are the faces and hands of evolution on this planet. Let us choose wisely and claim our wings.

Dream: Vacationing on the Moon

Dream: Vacationing on the Moon by ArtfulAlchemist

Dream 1/1/2011

Vacationing on the Moon

I have taken a trip to the moon. It is like a vacation adventure. Not unheard of or entirely unusual, but a first for me. It is exciting and filled with beauty and the unexpected. For one, I can see all the planets of our solar system strung out like a ribbon along the horizon, looking much like I recall from science books. Logically, I know they wouldn't look like this or be aligned so, but at the same time I feel a rush of excitement, as if I've made a new discovery. It is so breathtakingly beautiful. The ground is covered with a cold, frosty substance that kicks up like snow with every step. I feel at once alien and totally at home. Completely out of my element, a pioneer, an adventurer. I revel in the wonder and excitement of it all.

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As the first dream of the year, for me this portends a year of exploration beyond the boundaries of my current experience. The planets have aligned to support my new endeavors. Things that I thought I knew and understood come together in a different way. As I created the art for this dream, a companion (someone I was only vaguely aware of in the dream) emerged more solidly. I think this represents a guide who will accompany and support me on this exciting adventure.

What have YOU been dreaming about as this new year begins? Post your dream stories here.