by Mary Rocamora, M.A.
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Traditionally, we have left our deepest spiritual and societal healing in the hands of those with the highest moral authority or those who have the charisma, courage and vision to galvanize people into movements that change the world. We have been inspired by these individuals from afar while we went about our egocentric pursuits. The recent deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa have given us a moment in history to realize once again the magnitude of the loss of such individuals. More stunning, though, was that millions were joined in global mourning, thus at least temporarily stopping the chronic state of separation for those of us who were moved.
This is an intersection in the road for us human beings. We can assume that it was the impact of these deaths, so close together, that broke our hearts open for the moment. Or, and I suggest this is the case, there is something else to be learned about ourselves in this event. I see that something natural and powerful within those of us who mourned found expression, that it was our individual choice and willingness that moved us to participate. I want us to pause and reflect on the power of our willingness to participate. I can envision the impact our willingness would have if we could learn to sustain and focus it on voluntarily ending all the myriad dimensions of separation in the human family. This simple openness to willingness is in us as in Diana and Teresa. They are perfect examples for us to identify our own opportunities.
The glance we avert that attempts a connection, the animus and fear we feel toward those who are “not like us,” our indifference to the horrors that go on every day in the world borne out of being overwhelmed by it all -- these are but a few examples of levels of separation we engage in every day. The depth of the separation is caused by the collective ego -- a fundamental position of me vs. you. More and more people seem to be willing to move away from that mind-set, but there is a great disorientation about what we can do.
If we merely donate to Diana’s charities or Mother Teresa’s order, we will be doing more of the same -- making world problems someone else’s responsibility. By realizing that the desire to donate symbolizes a deeper desire to do something, to be a part of a movement for change that comes from the heart, we could each move toward these issues and not just walk away.
These recent deaths and the spontaneous outpouring of love, admiration, grief and sorrow, demonstrate that it is possible to end the separation right now. In order for each of us to commit to do our part, we must have the conscious intention of moving directly into arenas we have relegated to the spiritually gifted. With a deeper recognition of our true capacity and the willingness we have that can be expanded, we could allow love to come through the kaleidoscope of our unique talents into areas where we feel drawn.
This should be a huge wake-up call for the leaders in the human potential movement. The human potential leadership has been selling various forms of “the experience,” some buffet of insights and inspiration that leave us feeling good temporarily. Almost all of what is currently offered keeps us egocentric -- how my life will be enhanced, how I can have a successful love relationship, etc. The population targeted is white, educated and affluent. What used to be new in the New Age movement is now part of the establishment. Also, many of its teachers are ego-bound themselves, focusing on how they can make a lot of money, increase their following and expand their influence and power. This incongruence only reinforces the separation.
There is no overarching vision driving the personal growth industry that is powerful enough to move people beyond their personal issues toward taking meaningful action. Even those teachers who have access to profound wisdom have yet to develop new, powerful methodologies that address the collective separation directly -- either they assume archaic spiritual practices are still viable or they don’t realize that all spiritual work must now focus directly on the separation.
It is high time we realize that hierarchical models such as teacher-student, therapist-client, inspirational speaker-audience, minister-congregation are antiquated, as are processes rooted in a pathology framework. Psychological models, theories, religious beliefs, philosophical systems, concepts and ideas, -- anything that is one step removed from our direct inner experience -- are also outmoded. This calls into question the relevance of traditional degrees and credentials. They are simply not enough to intercept a global crisis where the collective ego is out of control.
In order to shift focus from me to humankind, what is required now is that we grow up psychologically and spiritually. We need new processes to help us transform ourselves into ordinary visionaries who instinctively know what is ours to do and motivate us to simply go to work. Personal transformation leads naturally to moving love out into life and supports us to trust completely in the authority of our own inner knowing. This means working hands on, drawing others by example: demonstrating integrity and an ever-growing capacity for love.
Peer facilitators with powerful methods must emerge to serve the depth of personal transformation that is now needed. Peer facilitators convey that those they are assisting have the same capacity as facilitators do for demonstration and induction.
These are the requisites for new processes that carry the specific goal of directly impacting the separation.
1. Love. The work itself must have no separation inadvertently built into it. The motivation for creating the process must be to draw people toward a sustainable inner state of love that would naturally move them to take their place in the healing of humanity.
2. Universality. New methods must have universal applicability, transcending gender, ethnicity, race, nationality, and ultimately, language. All segments of the population must be solicited, included and embraced.
3. Inner authority. Spiritual maturation begins when we end our dependency on spiritual and psychological authority figures that we invest with superior wisdom. When we recognize that each person carries the road map to mastery, then the ability to discern what is true is invested in one’s own inner exploration. This exploration reveals what is unique to each person and representative of a universal template. For example, my patterns (old beliefs and emotions) may have characteristics unique to me, but all patterns trap or confine awareness and that is true for all of us.
4. Qualifications for facilitators. Facilitators’ only prerequisite is that they know the inner map because they have walked the entire journey many times. They do not need to be fully realized beings; they simply need to know the way and be sufficiently developed to demonstrate it by their quality of being.
5. Natural method. New methods should follow the natural access way in the field of awareness. This is done through induction, by asking people what feels like pattern to them, what presence feels like to them in this moment right now. Induction strengthens everyone’s ability to discern their current inner state and trust in the authority of their own felt-sense of what is true right now. Utilizing inherent qualities of free awareness also promote naturalness of accessing: curiosity, willingness and the feeling of rightness are such qualities. Methods need a precise lesson plan to achieve rapid, sustainable results. Weekly homework assignments and exercises allow a person’s progress to build on itself and keeps curiosity, willingness and paying attention in focus.
6. Mastery. Clearing away old patterns and ego manifestations is only the first step, not the achievement. The emerging work must focus on moving directly and irrevocably toward a state of mastery where we are so filled with love that we simply cannot contain it. Our awareness training has reached beyond me and is now deeply free to move into a state of receptivity, allowing us to forge invisible alignments with awaiting challenges, which, when they manifest, use our unique talents and overwhelm the separation with love.
A current example that demonstrates this is happening with several of our advanced students and others who we could describe as ordinary visionaries. In a state of presence and receptivity, a student is compelled by a feature on TV about a woman whose face has been terribly disfigured and her sight destroyed by battery acid during a robbery. She has lunch the next day with a second student, who also saw the piece and was moved. Together, they go to visit the woman to assess her situation and see what they could do to help. More people find out about the students’ interest in helping this woman, who is an incredibly courageous and inspiring person. They begin to contribute their gifts as well. A prominent top-notch plastic surgeon volunteers to rebuild her face. A hospital donates its resources for the surgeries. The Lions Breakfast Club has already donated a corneal transplant, but it will be rejected unless the eyelids are rebuilt. Money is gathered for her living expenses. This is all moving on love, spiraling out from the center of this woman’s need and her own capacity to love, picking up all that is needed as it is needed. Each and everyone involved feels honored and overjoyed to be able to be a part of restoring this woman so she can again parent her child and be able to earn a living. So far, the student that started all this has asked no one for anything -- everything was volunteered.
7. Demonstrations of Love. An ordinary visionary, then, recognizes instantly when something comes along that has his or her name on it. The visionary knows that engaging this project or service will be light, magical and expansive -- that the love generated will be its own reward. As the visionary starts drawing others’ attention to what has been engaged, those who resonate with it will move to add their unique contribution. The love spirals outward, continuing to attract others. This is the blueprint for impacting the separation. With this blueprint in our field of receptive awareness, we can more easily see what else is ours to do. Our individual demonstrations would show that anyone can do this, and it can be done voluntarily when we are focused on our willingness to participate.
One such methodology is the Transformational Journey course work that I developed in early 1993, inspired and assisted by Carlton Salter. The writing process felt like I was simply being the “secretary for awareness.” That led to development of the Transpersonal Journey courses in the succeeding years as more was seen about the work and its effectiveness, and as students were hungry to deepen and expand their capacities. This course work has the qualifying characteristics for impacting the collective separation directly, as should other forward-looking methodologies developed to satisfy the requirements of this larger vision.