Pillars of Consciousness

Love - Trust - Cooperation – Surrender - Unity

The new energy of spiritual light as it enters the body of the earth, brings with it a new consciousness of how human beings are meant to relate to each other, and also how social and political structures are meant to function at their highest and most effective level.  Both individually and collectively, the new society created by light is based on an ethic of love and service, manifesting within every area of human experience.

This ideal of service has been held by societies for as long as democratic principles have been in the air, and yet the highest ideal of service can only manifest when it is infused by love.  Only when love predominates in the human heart over all other motives, can a world be created in which no man, woman, or child is left with needs that are neglected or rights that are forgotten.  Similarly, only when love is non-exclusive but embraces all, can it widen to embrace every creature of the Earth and the Earth itself.  In its truest and purest expression, love must seek to nurture all, for only in this way can it acknowledge and honor the essential sacredness and oneness of life.

The ‘pillars of consciousness’ that form the basis for a new and sacred society are being founded, today, in the presence of greater spiritual light.  They are the qualities of consciousness that may be applied in all situations within both personal and collective life.  These 'pillars' include: love, trust, cooperation, surrender, and unity.  They are amplified by the properties inherent in light itself, yet must be responded to by human beings who choose to express and embody the new consciousness within their daily lives.

Love

The first pillar of sacred consciousness is Love.  Love already exists within the human heart and is a foundational principle for life among others.  However, its universal quality and connection with Divine love are what makes of it a powerful force for healing and transformation.  Love that is generated by an awakened heart seeks to nurture all, to embrace all, and to extend Divine blessings to all creatures of the earth.  The manifestation of such love is the true purpose for the creation of human souls. This purpose involves extending God's love everywhere and to everything so that Divine blessings may be heaped upon the earth and so that the division between spirit and matter may cease to exist.  Such an outpouring ends forever the discrimination and prejudice that have been so present throughout human history toward segments of society selected on the basis of race, creed, color or other distinguishing feature.  It also eliminates similar prejudice or indifference toward the non-human inhabitants of the earth whose lives have been taken for granted when it suited human goals or purposes.   Neither kind of ignoring can take place in the presence of Divine love, for this love is extended to every life as an embodiment of the sacred. Its presence engenders respect for all beings, including those at lower levels of self-awareness, and its activation within the human heart can finally establish an era of peace.

Trust

In addition to love, a sacred society depends upon the second pillar of consciousness – the existence of trust, not just in the capacity of the human self to determine solutions to existing problems, but in the capacity of the human self united with the Divine to do so.  Through this union of the human and the Divine, each aspect of society can evolve into its true and sacred form, and each can be joined in a harmonious way with all others.  Trust in the Divine to lead and guide the way is necessary in order to heal the rifts that have existed among individuals and between nations.  These rifts have existed for as long as fear has been present as a primary motive within human consciousness. Trust in the Divine is also needed to move into a future in which true equality can take place, based on the oneness of man within the oneness of God. 

Trust must exist in relation to Divine goodness and love, and also in relation to humanity's capacity to perfect itself and to become free of all motives that interfere with love.  For this to happen, the purification of human consciousness must move to a new level.  There must be a desire for greater purity, and also a desire to allow one's life to be uplifted into the ideal of love and of service to all.  Only when this becomes possible will lesser motives be diminished, and the heart's true expression become able to guide human conduct.

In the past, trust in the Divine may have been present within individuals and among certain groups, and yet their conclusions about what course of action to follow in any given situation or how to view things often differed.  A unity of perception can only arise as a result of the purification of each heart so that one’s individual priorities are not the sole concern, but the welfare of all can be felt as deeply linked with one’s individual goals.  Without this kind of alignment, interpretations of the Divine will continue to create division.

Cooperation

Cooperation is the third pillar of consciousness - the manifestation of love in action as human beings join together for the benefit of the greater good. For a long time now, competition, not cooperation, has been the dominant influence within advancing societies, shaping economic and social structures and creating a sense of 'me' above or below 'you' or 'them'.  Accompanying this orientation has been the belief in scarcity - that there was not enough of whatever was needed or desired to go around.  This competitive struggle for limited supplies and the pitting of one against another to achieve individual goals has been a natural outgrowth of our separation from the Divine.  Such a separation created difficulty in cooperating more fully for the benefit of all and grew out of several things: our fear of others, our fear of not having enough, and our belief that because there was not enough, it was inevitable that some have more and others have less.  On a global level, whether applied to the pursuit of material wealth, the sharing of the earth’s resources, one’s economic or military status vis a vis others, or any other collective aspiration, the idea of competition enabled us as individuals and as nations to reach toward separate goals, often at the expense of others. On an individual level, our unique aspirations toward fame, success, wealth, and power have often brought us to the same place.  Wherever we look, the model of competition has always involved someone 'winning' and someone else 'losing', or someone doing 'better' and others doing 'worse'.

In the presence of Divine love, this model is replaced by one of cooperation in which all must win in order for any one to win, and no one can lose without the rest losing as well.  Such a view of cooperation is based on the understanding of our underlying unity with others, and also on the premise that within the province of Divine consciousness, there are ways of achieving any goal so that it addresses the needs of all.  Within groups, cooperation becomes the extension of love in action so that infused by the guidance of sacred consciousness, the needs of all can be satisfied without any being excluded.

Surrender

Surrender is the fourth pillar of sacred consciousness.  The choice for surrender can be made both by individuals and by societies and influences every aspect of how life is lived. Surrender involves the willingness to be guided by Divine wisdom and will instead of by one's own personal will.  It involves the bowing down of the heart before a higher authority. 

On a collective level, the dramatic exercise of self-will has been seen repeatedly throughout history where an individual or group of individuals claimed authority over many, and where their personal will became the predominant basis for decision-making, even when this did not address the needs of the population being governed or ruled.  Power, in this context, is typically demonstrated over a 'sphere of influence' – a group, nation, or population that an individual or group of individuals affects through their decision-making and over which they exercise control.  Such a 'sphere of influence' can exist among nations, within communities, and also within smaller groups such as families.  When a 'sphere of influence' is large and the exercise of personal will great, there exists the maximum opportunity for the corruption of power and the abandonment of the welfare of a people.

In a sacred society, ultimate power and authority are no longer vested in the human level of will and expression, but rather in the Divine level which guides human action.  This can only happen when willing surrender to the Divine has become a quality of consciousness that is widespread, when reverence for the sacred is equally common, and when communication with the Divine and with Divine guidance has become the property of the many, not just the province of the few.  It is this latter, in particular, that eliminates the need for a new, spiritually-based power structure to act as an intermediary between the human and the Divine.  Instead, it acknowledges within each individual the capacity to experience a direct relationship with the Source of life, by whatever name that Source is called. 

Without surrender, there can be no merging in unity among peoples, and no basis for society moving in the direction of greater cooperation and love, for personal will would continue to operate as a barrier and means of separation.  Surrender involves the free choice of the heart to cede one's ego-based desires in service to a greater good that is desired even more.  Here, the feeling is one of reverence and allegiance to something larger and truer than one's personal self, creating the sense that surrender does not involve loss, but rather gain.  Looked at in this way, the heart feels enlarged by the possibility of letting go of identification with the smaller self in order to become one with the Divine. It sees such movement as an expression of love, and seeks to remove all barriers to love's expanding presence.

Held within the heart's knowing and within the consciousness of trust is the understanding that surrender will not place one in essential conflict with Divine authority, with two sets of desires needing to find a way of merging - the personal and the Divine.  Though the outer self may at times protest, the inner self conveyed through the wisdom of the heart knows that all priorities and values that are most essential to one's inner being will be upheld, and that the fulfillment of individual wishes and dreams can occur while at the same time advancing the cause of the larger world in which we live.  

When such an intimate connection with the Divine and with Divine guidance becomes possible for each and every member of society, a new way of life can emerge for humanity - one in which each person is perceived as part of a sacred circle of life, and in which each may take their place both as a member within this circle, and also as a leader when called to do so.

In such a society, leadership shall have an altogether different function than it has in the past.  Those who are called to serve will do so through their ability to exist in sacred communion with Spirit. Their ability to serve will depend more than anything else on their capacity to attune to the greater good or the good of the Whole, and not on self-empowerment or on action that stems from more personal motives or ambitions.  For those so called, personal interest will have become absorbed into the realm of the higher Self so that true service can exist in purity of expression and in an atmosphere of Divine love.

Unity

The fifth pillar of sacred consciousness, the experience of unity, is the result of each of the other aspects of consciousness, and is based on our capacity to recognize our own soul-nature and, out of this, to realize our oneness with all that lives. 

Unity is the natural outgrowth of the perception of the sacred core that resides within each being. Its reality makes possible universal respect and an honoring of the Divine life within all.  The perception of unity arises out of a consciousness shift that allows each one to recognize the greater body to which they belong – a body that includes all other souls and the earth as well.

Unity is established on the foundation of perceiving the Divine within all.  Though it can be established solely on human grounds, based on common experience, history, and need, at the root of our humanity is the sacred core of our divinity, and so, in the end, one leads to the other and rests upon the other, creating the firm foundation of a universal bond.

Leadership, Service, and the Absence of Ego

True service can only be arrived at when egolessness begins to be possible as a spiritual teaching and practice, and when the way of the ego is seen to have grown out of the need for dealing with fear and helplessness as humanity felt itself separated from the rest of life.  As a result of this separation, dissension, conflict, and many forms of self-protection have arisen among people and between nations in order to guard the interests of the self or of the national-self.  In contrast to these motives, egolessness is especially important within the leadership of groups, where service in relation to the greater whole must replace the self-interest, ambition, and competitive motives of the past, and trust in the Divine reality that upholds life must replace the need for self-protection.

To the extent that separation is no longer present within consciousness and love for all replaces fear, to that same extent will it be possible for the ego to relinquish its position of dominance and for the ways of conflict and control to become things of the past.  Only within the mantle of the sacred can this take place with peace and cooperation as outcomes.  Similarly, only within the mantle of the sacred can the principle of love take root within the heart so that the consciousness of unity can be established as the true basis for peace. 

Viewing Others as Souls

Sacred consciousness views each inhabitant of the earth as a soul - a being created with Divine and holy intent, emerging out of the vastness of the One with the purpose of expressing that One within form. Such consciousness bows with reverence before the principle of sacred life, and honors it by ensuring that the manifestation of such life shall be preserved and protected.

For those who serve the people within a public body or in any other working group, sacred consciousness makes possible the harmonization of different interests within the embrace of the One, and the fullness of cooperation which can only take place when each member of a group recognizes all others as souls.  Such unity is based on several principles which begin to stir within the awakening consciousness: 

• First, the understanding that each human being contains a spiritual core of divinity.  This principle establishes a common Divine heritage which can be recognized not only by the mind, but by the heart as well.   

• Second, that life reflects a holy process of unfoldment representing the expression outward of the Divine within.  This understanding underscores the importance of individual freedom, requiring social structures that not only guarantee basic individual rights concerning action and behavior, but also  rights concerning the inner unfoldment of each individual soul in peace and freedom.   

• Third, that consciousness can be unified within any group when all members of the group are able to join at the soul level and when the group 'soul' can be felt by all. This occurrence can unite the different interests of nations as well as individuals, and bring together all separate goals so that they serve a common good. Such harmony becomes possible in the presence of Divine love which can ensure that the needs of all can be met, even if outwardly, their purposes seem to be very different.  The harmonization of diverse interests takes place because each of these interests contains a partial truth at its core and has validity in its own right.  Seen within the context of a greater whole, these partial truths can come together without requiring that any other truth be let go of. 

The ‘harmonization’ of interests within a group or society ultimately takes place through a meeting of souls at the level of the soul.  This process of alignment is both a spiritual principle and a practice based in light.   ‘Alignment’ allows each participant within a group to attune to the overriding sacred purpose of the group and within that awareness, to find their own stream of life, meaning, purpose, and direction.  Alignment is made possible by the coming together of spiritual dimensions which allows those on the physical plane to operate within the oneness of God and light, not as separate individuals.  It presumes the existence of an overriding Divine purpose for each group, no matter what its outer purpose, and holds that the sacred essence of a group can define its direction and focus, allowing it to more completely serve both the purposes of its members and humanity as a whole.

Alignment with others as souls and with the Source of light is the foundation upon which consensus within groups and between nations can be established. 

It is through the incorporation of sacred consciousness at all levels that each individual stream of thought, feeling, and purpose can be gathered together into one unified stream.  

Embracing the New

There are many problems on the world stage waiting for resolution – longstanding conflicts between nations with seemingly irreconcilable goals; worldwide poverty and hunger; the presence of crime and corruption on a large scale.  In relation to these profound global dilemmas, for as long as the underlying unity of man could not be established within each heart, cooperative solutions could also not find a firm footing within human consciousness, nor could conflicting interests be reconciled.  In order for this to happen, all participants in a discussion must be able to leave their self-protective concerns behind and come to the table of the sacred with an open mind and heart, willing to listen and to respect the views of others.  Such tolerance has been rare on the world stage, for the foundation in consciousness had not yet arrived.  Though such a time is still not fully here, its beginning tendrils of awakening are making themselves felt, and the motivation to locate elements of the new consciousness are being pursued more vigorously than ever before.  As a result, human beings are having insights and openings that will bring this new consciousness into being, and groups and nations are experiencing a new breath of life.

The energy of love, brought forward in the presence of greater light, is today bringing new hope to people.  While such hope has not fully manifested in the creation of new social structures or ways of relating on a collective level, it is gaining strength within the human heart as it seeks to heal the schisms that have divided people and that have been so prominent on all levels in the past. 

The new currents of light are creating a desire for unity and an end to dissension and division.  They are creating an intolerance of deception and the desire for honesty and integrity among leaders.  These ideals are presently moving through human consciousness as hopes and dreams.  However, when hopes and dreams reach a critical mass, they become outer manifestations reflecting inner states of being.  In this way, society is presently being changed from within, not through the exercise of will, but through the subtle changes taking place within the human heart which wants more, longs for more, and believes that more is possible.

The development of a new society based in sacred consciousness emerges out of these incipient longings.  It grows as each individual grows in their changing perception of what is real and what is important.  As light expands upon the earth and hearts awaken to the new energy, what had seemed impossible before now suddenly becomes possible, and a new way of being that would have appeared as fantasy some time earlier, suddenly becomes accepted as natural and even inevitable.

This inner transformation is working within individuals and societies even now.  It is working to create the pillars of sacred consciousness within each heart so that the heart is made ready for the changes that will come as a result of expanding light.  Love, trust, cooperation, surrender, and unity are, today, visible as seeds of awareness growing within the deeper self. Given the increased nourishment by spiritual light and the heart's opening in loving response, the new pillars of consciousness will grow in importance until they become the foundation upon which new structures can be built.  At that time, the fundamental inspiration to create ways of being that reflect and promote the new consciousness will come into existence, and a sacred world, built on the unity of the human and the Divine, will become a possibility at last.  This is God's promise to mankind, and it is the promise of God's light upon the earth which seeks to bring this about.

-- Julie Redstone

(c) 2008

Light Omega

PO Box 9301

No. Amherst, MA 01059