New Organs of Perception
Early human history equipped us to live in relatively stable environments within small communities; challenges were in the short term and nearby. Our minds thus evolved to deal with low-impact, short-term changes. The world that made our mind is now gone, and the one that we have created is paradoxically, a world of which we have developed a limited capacity to comprehend.
Most of the momentous changes in our cultural history have taken place in the past 100 years. These days, we don’t have that luxury of time to adapt as events with long-term consequences are rapidly changing around us. Hampered by an outdated human perceptual system, contemporary society still relies too heavily—and unconsciously—on ancient modes of thinking. So, how can a collective and rapid change of mind occur on this planet? In the words of neurologist Robert Ornstein, “Conscious evolution needs to take the place of unconscious cultural evolution.”
Humans actually arrived late to the evolutionary party. In an analogy that places the evolution of Earth within a single year, each day equals 12 million years. Simple bacteria arose sometime in February. More complex life forms arrived throughout spring and summer, and fish came to the party around November 20. Dinosaurs finally arrived around December 10, only to disappear on Christmas Day. It wasn’t until the afternoon of December 31 that the first of our recognizable human ancestors showed up. Homo sapiens sapiens at last emerged at around 11:45 p.m., which leaves all of recorded history taking place within the final minutes of the year.
We are in all respects, a rapid evolutionary phenomenon, and it’s going to get more rapid, which means we need to transcend the old mindset as quickly as possible before we make too many wrong decisions or succumb to mounting insecurities. Our old mind was set up to be on the lookout for insecurities and fear-inducing situations: that was our survival apparatus. Yet this same outdated mechanism has continued to be reinforced through social conditioning, resulting in limited perceptual capacity.
What is required now is a reinvigoration of vision, because everything that we have culturally achieved has been the result of human vision. The human imagination is a primary force; it allows the intervention of energies and guidance. It is both creative and destructive, and through it, we are able to manifest the world we envision. We now need to upgrade our visionary capacity, to open up more fully to inspired thoughts and guidance. To fail to do so could result in great loss for our species, because these are critical times, and we need to bring these new organs of perception into being. Wake up and smell the roses before we destroy them.
Jerry & Pat, Publishers
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