What Is To Be Done?

The following originally appeared on satyogainstitute.org 

The above title is a famous one, written by Lenin to guide the forces of the then-coming Communist Revolution in Russia. Now we face another revolutionary situation, far more wide-ranging and multidimensional than the merely political factors that the Bolsheviks faced. We now need a celestial revolution, one that is transcendent, cosmic, and ethically impeccable. But the world today has not yet discovered its Lenin. We need an adept revolutionary guide -- and the will, on the part of a new global cadre of revolutionaries of consciousness, to live according to pure, egoless, revolutionary self-discipline.

Our new Lenin will have to be a Lennon as well, one who can sing the spontaneous melodies of our souls, their yearning and their suspicions, our lack and our love. Our Lennon/Lenin must also be a quantum Buddha/cosmic Christ/eternal avatar of the nameless Tao. Our guide must be one who dwells in silence, and sees the One Self in all. In fact, our Lenin must be the Si-Lenin-ce in us all.

And our Marxism must pertain as much to Groucho as to Karl, with graceful godly humor to balance the godless seriousness of the karmic dialectic, free of any tendency to Stalinism or stasis. Our new approach must be more Om-Unism than communism, beginning from the Absolute Source of primal cosmic radiance that explodes into multiplicity, that remains an underlying unity of formless presence, deathless love which triumphs over fear and pain and time itself.

In order to help provide some concrete direction to the revolution that is already underway, and that is being driven by consciousness itself, it may be useful to our future guides to outline some of the more important structural features of the current historic moment.

The following ten theses should not prove controversial, but they can create a starting place for celestial revolutionary discourse and transformative action.

1.  The world is already caught in the vortex of apocalyptic events. We are being sucked into the oncoming singularity. Our only alternative is to dance, like the archetypal Shiva Nataraj, Lord of the Cosmic Dance, upon the demonic dwarf of the ego, and pass through the ring of fire fearlessly, as yogis being purified in the sacrificial flame.

2.  These events cover the entire spectrum of what we call reality. There is no escape. Denial is not a viable strategy.   

3.  The societies of the world are all disintegrating. None is immune. We must create new communities, based on higher organizing principles than greed and the power drive, that are now driving us over the precipice of extinction.  

4.  The global financial system is undergoing a complete meltdown. This will soon make all money worthless. We must create new economies based on gift-giving and selfless service.   

5.  The Western empire is locked in a death struggle for military-political hegemony over the planet and its resources with opposing powers led by China and Russia. If unchecked, this clash of titans will lead to global thermonuclear war.

6.  Climate change is developing much faster than scientists have predicted, leading to increasingly massive food shortages, sea level rise, drinking water shortages, spread of diseases, further mass extinctions, death of the oceans, and other plagues. Other kinds of cosmic activity are also affecting our planet, including solar flares that will disturb our global electromagnetic grid.

7.  Seismic instability is increasing, which will bring about more Fukushima-type events, releasing lethal amounts of radiation around the planet. Human error will inevitably lead to even more failures of nuclear reactors and other kinds of radiation-release events (such as the launch failure of nuclear-powered space vehicles, the bombing of nuclear reactors, and other terrorist events). The increasing earthquake and tsunami activity will, of course, destroy many more population centers as well. Gaia is on the move, shaking the fleas off her back.   

8.  Mental illness is increasing, including mass psychosis. Shooting sprees and other insane acts of violence, including suicide, are becoming pandemic.   

9.  The mass media are filled with disinformation, leading to ever more alienation, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and psychotic lashing out against society.   

10. Civil unrest is rising as economic depression worsens; police crackdowns, martial law, extrajudicial executions, and loss of freedom and human rights everywhere is inevitable.

In addition to these bleak elements of our current state of the world, there are, however, other factors, that may be more controversial, but should be considered with an open mind. Let us reflect on the following seven factors:

1.  There is already underway a radical shift in worldview, from the atheistic, scientistic, materialist paradigm to a new quantum holographic paradigm of interconnectedness, higher dimensionality, paranormal potentials of consciousness, zero-point energy, a field theory of conscious intelligence underlying the cosmos, and a general return of spirituality in new forms.   

2.  The widespread sacred ingestion of entheogens and shamanic plant allies is affecting the quantum wave function in unpredictable and extraordinary ways.   

3.  The practice of meditation by ever larger numbers of people around the world is contributing to the creation of a unified field of love energy and the invocation of avataric potencies that can be downloaded through cerebral mechanisms.   

4.  The presence of extraterrestrial vehicles in the skies (and under the oceans) around the planet is ever more widely recognized. Whether they are hovering like vultures over the dying human species in order to take over the planet after we destroy ourselves, or whether they are acting subtly as allies and angels to encourage the rising of our consciousness to a level in which we can meet them on an equal level, without fear or aggressivity distorting our perception, to receive their help, is an open question. It may be that there are more extra-planetary powers than one, who are competing in their intentions for our planet's future.   

5.  Other extradimensional entities are also becoming more evident, ranging from elementals and orbs to subtle non-humanoid life forms that usually inhabit only the outer reaches of space, as well as other kinds of light beings and discarnate entities both angelic and demonic.  

6.  The vortex in which we are being attracted to what the late Terence McKenna called the Transcendental Object at the End of Time implies distortions in what we have considered the laws of nature toward novelty and the axis of the miraculous. Dormant potentials of consciousness are now being activated, and growing numbers of children are being born who have such mutations already functioning.   

7.  It is becoming ever more clear that the fundamental substance of reality is consciousness, not matter. The implications of this shift in paradigm are only beginning to be explored in depth. But it is clear that we are in the midst of a Great Awakening.

All the above elements of the current situation lead to the following set of seven premises that can be the basis of our response to the question of what is to be done:   

1.  The ultimate cause of our suffering, and of the current world situation, is the human ego. Our core revolutionary act must therefore be to annihilate our own ego, to transcend its false consciousness and realize the true and real Self, which may paradoxically be a selfless self, an emptiness, a kenotic self, a boundless openness, a pure presence. This is the underlying assertion of all forms of theosis and of yogic science.   

2.  We must live in accord with internal commands of the Self, once we have been able to purify the consciousness of egoic mental chatter and distortion of cognition. This purification and self-transformation must be brought about through some form of intensive meditation practice and wholistic lifestyle. In the meantime, we should live in accord with principles of human behavior that are universal and that have stood the test of time.   

3. Such principles will include non-violence, non-greed, non-attachment, non-lying, non-acting-out of egocentric impulses, and dedication to attaining higher consciousness and living trans-egoic lives.   

4. Let us create relationships on the basis of shared higher values and universal perspectives that encourage unity, synergy, and positive action.   

5.  Let us create communities with a shared spiritual core of meditative practice, egoless service, and universal teachings of love and timeless presence. These communities must share ethical norms and ecological practices and should strive to be self-sustaining through a transitional period of social breakdown, and who create links with other such intentional, ecological, transformational communities and encourage sharing of harvests and know-how, cultural events and mutual service, among such communities.   

6.  Let us act boldly and not wait until it is too late to begin such revolutionary community building.   

7.  Let us act as instruments of the Supreme Intelligence, and not fall back into religions of worship of others, but become worship-worthy, true avatars of divine love and purity of heart.

This is what is to be done. Now who will volunteer to do it? Each of us must go first, and offer what we have to the service of all. A spiritual community is important as providing a refuge, a safe place to grow and blossom as consciousness, and to synergize our efforts toward maximal effectiveness. There will be many pitfalls along the way, and great integrity will be needed. All our virtues must be developed to the full. But in such an effort we shall be fully living, fully engaged with the Great Mystery, and proactively creating our own destiny, not waiting for events to overtake us.

We have tried occupying Wall Street, to no avail. Now let us create new streets without walls. Wall Street will fall of its own dead weight. Let us choose life, not strife; let us choose the unknown, not the known exhausted ways of the past; let us open the new frontier of sacred communities of those whose third eye is open and clear. Let us create real Om Unism on our planet and give Gaia a good reason to allow us to continue our project of conscious existence as beings of peace, benevolence, and loving unity.


Namaste,

Shunyamurti

Image by agitprop courtesy of Creative Commons license.