In a country dealing with debt, unending wars, worsening inequality, instability and social injustice, is it possible to bring about any real change? What's the path to contribute to the resolution of big, global problems on an individual level?
Uncertainty equals possibility. We have a lot of disruption and a lot of uncertainty right now in the world, which means I suspect we have a tremendous amount of possibility.
"Whatever is happening in the world, whether it's war, terrorism, economic injustice, social injustice, environmental degradation, it's a projection of collective consciousness. We cannot get away from that, and that also includes the kind of leaders we have, that also includes the kinds of people we have in Congress and the Senate. It's a function of the critical threshold of collective consciousness as it kind of averages itself out -- the world is as we are," says Deepak.
"When we look at the television set and we see politicians bickering and fighting, it becomes very clear that the agenda is "who's going to win the next election." It's got nothing to do with what's good for the country, then we all get lost in that," he says.
He uses the recent debt ceiling debate as an example. "I saw the President's speech, which I thought, personally, my bias was "Wow, he's making sense," and then I saw Boehner coming on and he certainly was appealing to his constituency. And that's a perfect example of the collective turbulence right now and that it gets to be self-perpetuating and then it gets to be a mass hysteria," says Deepak.
Put simply, we are all individually "total individuals." Together, we are a force that can harness a new societal integrity, with clear aligned interests, and choices that benefit the greater good rather than select individuals.
Deepak's 5 Rules to Save Ourselves and Save the World
1. Chaos and instability equals an opportunity for collective change. "Sometimes out of chaos and outrage comes a leap of creativity, or as we know from individuals who go into a crisis mode and reach rock bottom, they sometime suddenly recover because there's a major shift in their being. You can't sink any lower," says Deepak.
2. Change begins with one person, but is more powerful in groups of like-minded individuals. "Be the shift inside you, then you can communicate the shift and hang out with the people who are kind of resonating at the same frequency. In the end, things do evolve because that's the nature of consciousness--it struggles, it experiments, it fails, and it takes creative leaps," says Deepak. "I think they manifest individually, one personal resolution of duality at a time. Like a popcorn popper of individuals realizing. The result over time is the advantages to those living in unified field naturally emerges," says Dylan.
3. Working for change with others can lead to a "phase transition." " In actual systems, a phase transition would be say water boiling into steam, or a storm system that suddenly erupts," explains Deepak. "If there's a number of people behaving or transitioning into peace and love and compassion and equanimity and joy because consciousness is field, as we just said, unified field, than when it reaches a critical mass, then it affects everything."
4. See instability and change as a chance to be creative. Deepak says to look at the chaos in the world through the lens of "what is the opportunity here for us, personally and individually, but also collectively?" He says that if our media and leaders started doing that, "there would be creative opportunities that would become very obvious."
5. Ask yourself the right questions as you pursue opportunities for change. Ask yourself: "What is the opportunity? What are my unique skills at this moment? What do I really care about? Who are the people I can connect with and ask for help? Who are the people I can help with? How can I nurture the right relationships? Are they examples of people who have made a difference in this situation? The more we ask ourselves those questions and we start connecting with other people, then there's a phenomenon called collective intension, collection creativity that emerges, you know, and it's a process," says Deepak.