The Blind Men & the Elephant

On Fareed Zakaria’s latest show, Kishore Mahbubani (former President of the UN Security Council and current Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore), when discussing the consequences of America’s decline on the world stage, made the astonishing statement that “...for the first time we are living in a world where the experts don’t know what’s happening...I have never seen this kind of global uncertainty...” and all my antennae went on alert.

Of course the experts don’t know what’s happening—they cannot see beyond their limited area of expertise, and they aren’t looking in the right direction. It’s exactly like the blind men and the elephant: each one feels a particular portion of the elephant—the trunk, tail, leg, ear and flank—and interprets the whole based on the singular part he encounters. This narrow vision cannot even see the problem, much less propose a solution. What is needed is the interpretation of those whose vision is broad enough to encompass the whole, whose concern is neither self-centered nor self-serving.

Our politicians obviously don’t possess this vision. With the recent crisis there was an extraordinary opportunity to create real change, and what happened? Rather than changing our attitude and how we do things, transforming the world for the betterment of all, we have been scrambling to restore the status quo with all our might. It’s not gonna happen. While we are loath to admit it, the old paradigm is in its death throes.

With the world leaders all too invested in their own agendas, refusing to see the writing on the wall, and Big Money focused on grabbing as much as they can as quickly as possible before the whole thing collapses, what will it take to create the transformation the world so desperately needs? Nothing less than a global uprising. An uprising of the people—fed up with the machinations of both governments and corporations interested only in perpetuating their own power and wealth—a rEvolution whose time has come. The Evolution Revolution.

The Evolution Revolution is an expansion of Consciousness quietly taking place on the planet through those whose minds and hearts are open to a new way of being. They have evolved from homo sapien to Jeremy Rifkin’s homo empathicus, and embrace the concept of compassion in business and society. They understand our interconnectedness—and that for the few to profit while the vast majority suffers is obscene and intolerable.

Mr. Rifkin, author of The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, asks whether we can “reach biosphere consciousness and global empathy in time to avert planetary collapse.” At the rate we are going, pouring all our energy and resources into a desperate attempt to resurrect an American Dream gasping its last breath, it will never happen. An answer in the affirmative can only be found in the Evolution Revolution.  

www.evolution-revolution-handbook.com

Love Your Neighbor

The Potlatch Song

(Rap to a slow groove)

©2003 saharadevi

When I'm walkin' in the heat

and a cloud rolls by

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

And if I want something to eat

and there's money in my pocket

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

This world is like a movie

and we're each assigned a role

sometimes we're Cinderella

sometimes we're Old King Cole

We need to realize

that it's a roll of the dice

sometimes we get Beluga

sometimes it's beans and rice

But what we do with what we've got

is what reveals our nature—

are we kind and generous

or nasty and voracious?

To be livin' the good life

is not eating 'til you puke

stop yappin' on that cell phone

can't you see that you've been duped?

The American Dream

has turned into a nightmare—

humanity is in a trance

and no one is aware

*****

When I'm out on the street

and there's someone there who cares

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

And when I need a place to sleep

and I have a bed to lie on

I say "thank you"

I say "thank you"

This world is like a movie

and we're each assigned a part

sometimes we get the horse

sometimes we get the cart

We have to understand

that there's something far greater

than crystal chandeliers

and shoes of alligator

What we do with what we have

will show us who we are

will we educate a child

or buy another car?

To be livin' the good life

is not eating 'til you puke

Mother Nature's in revolt

and we're being rebuked

The American Dream

has turned into a nightmare

we're like rats on a treadmill:

moving quickly—going nowhere

We've been brainwashed to believe

too much is not enough

we're consumed by our consumption

we are drowning in our 'stuff'

So open up your eyes

and open up your Heart

let the Love flow to your brother

it's time we made a start

We're the children of One Mother

Love your neighbor as your Self

what we give to each other

is our only true Wealth

Listen: http://www.saharadevi.com/home/Evolution-Revolution-love-your-neighbor-2

Nero is Fiddling – What About You?

I’m sure I’m not the only one reminded of a burning Rome.

But how in the world did we get here?

It’s quite astonishing and more than a little appalling, especially the fact that it has now gone on for two terms.

What is even more astonishing is the fact that millions of people HAVEN’T sat-in on the streets of Washington, bringing the city to a halt in protest of the wanton rape and pillaging of our own economy and well-being (not to mention the numerous lives so carelessly disposed of) that has gone on in the name of what? Defense? Patriotism? Ego? Greed?

I had been in a small village in south India for two years when the present administration took office— ‘took’ being the operative word. And because my awareness operates from a higher perspective, I knew this would be a momentous time—serving the Grand Design in an unimaginable way.

Well. Here we are, seven years on...

It’s very simple:

This is the time of the Evolution Revolution. And in this time of profound evolutionary transformation a dramatic awakening is obviously required.

Truth be told, Americans are quite complacent. Our isolation and our wealth, together with the programming we unwittingly subject ourselves to, encourages personal striving on the one hand and self-satisfaction on the other.

And while some suggest the Trade Towers occurred to precipitate a miasma of national fear and subsequent ratcheting up of control and manipulation, according to my understanding the entire exercise has been for one purpose only:

To awaken the Consciousness dwelling within by creating events of such dramatic magnitude that individuals are obliged to think ‘there has to be a better way.’

Indeed, there is a better way—and each one who would like to see it manifest must step over the threshold of complacency, apathy or self-centeredness and begin to act out the new paradigm: an enlightened compassion based on the understanding of our Oneness.

The concept presented in The Secret, which has taken the country by storm, has a great deal to offer. Unfortunately, it is being promoted (by those with a lot to gain personally) as a tool for personal gain.

I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you—but if we want to survive and prosper, we can no longer behave in a self-centered way—we have to broaden our arena of interest to include our neighbors, our community and the rest of the world.

Each one of us currently stands in Nero’s position and with all his power.

Rome is burning.

Will we continue to fiddle until it is destroyed completely?

Each of us has the power to make a difference.
Each of us has the power to turn the tide.

Each of us can allow, accept and embrace the Consciousness of compassion and lovingkindness, and be part of the tide of awareness that is changing the world.

Not through the pop spirituality that is simply self-service in another guise.

But through unadulterated, 100% pure, undivided and undivisive, all-embracing, unconditionally loving, non-discriminating Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Personhood that shows up as Harmony, Peace, Goodness & Generosity.

After all, to legitimately call yourself a human, humanity must dwell in your heart.

Embrace the Evolution Revolution.


Listen to the Rap: http://www.saharadevi.com/home/the-evolution-revolution

Listen to 'Love Your Neighbor':http://www.saharadevi.com/home/Evolution-Revolution-love-your-neighbor-2

The Cellphone: An Instrument of the...

The thought occurred like the proverbial light bulb in a comic panel, thanks to a line in Jon Cleary’s “The Easy Sin.” In 2001, his protagonist Scobie Malone, a homicide detective in Sydney, reflects as he walks down a street filled with cellphone-using pedestrians: “Nobody, it seemed, could remain unconnected to someone, anyone, for longer than five minutes.”

I had noticed this phenomenon as well, in the London of mid-2002 upon emerging in the West after almost four years spent mostly in a small village in India.

Although I didn’t feel culture-shocked going in either direction, I had to admit to being astonished at this particular trend. What was the need driving this obsession to be continuously plugged-in in this way?

I casually dismissed it as a sign of the times: new technology, new product, hype-to-the-hilt and everybody’s gotta have it—a keeping-up-with-the-Jonesing for the latest toy, using it simply because one can—and marked it down as 21st century hyperkinetic Attention Deficit Disorder acting out

But at the moment of reading “Nobody…could remain unconnected to someone, anyone…” (emphasis mine) the realization burst into my mind like a shooting star: what might appear to be a lack of the ability to be, or to be present, or to be quiescent—all of which may still be true—might even more fundamentally be the expression of a deep-seated need to be connected, to feel as if we are related in a meaningful way—not just by the accident of birth and blood, or proximity—but a fundamental and significant connection as important as Life Itself. That this phenomenon, which I had so superficially condemned as a lack of Awareness, might actually be a sign and symptom of a unifying facet of the evolutionary process which is inexorably revealing the fact of our Oneness—and perhaps even a precursor of the inevitable telepathic ability that will arise as Consciousness evolves further .

Look at it: the need to feel connected must primarily arise from our initial separation: the cutting of the cord. That moment of physical detachment creates a need in us for re-union that leads to the frantic coupling generally culminating in marriage which we believe will provide the ultimate wholeness, but which usually just results in further frustration and dissatisfaction. Then the maddening search for completeness begins again, leading through a quagmire of worldly obsessions.

Now in the 21st Century, the sense of isolation has developed exponentially, as we have increasingly acquired the wherewithal to entertain ourselves without need for physical proximity: radio, television, video/games, computers, and email—everything can be contained in a single room if necessary and we don’t ever have to leave our home.

And even more, in a niggling, subconscious way, we feel profoundly alienated in a world that tells us we have to live life in the most superficial way—a way that is essentially contrary to our deepest Nature. Our deepest Nature, which is already connected, is not at all concerned with how we look, what we possess, or the accoutrements of ‘being cool.’ Indeed, our deepest Nature would laugh indulgently at a need to ‘be cool’ the way an adult would laugh at a child playing grown-up.

Our deepest Nature knows that we are connected in the ultimate way—that each apparent individual is part of a singular Consciousness in the same way that individual cells are part of a single organism—and has been attempting to get our attention and awaken us to this fact: We are One. One spiritual essence permeates All That Is, and we are a part of That.

Just imagine everyone in the world on a conference call at the same time. On a subtle level, this is the reality: we are all plugged in to Universal Mind—which is the ‘brain’ of our organism, the place ideas come from, and why we can experience a discomfort that is not personal but transmitted by another ‘cell’ or group of cells that is suffering.

In fact, cancer and AIDS in individuals are symptoms of the disorder affecting human life on the planet as a whole: in the same way that cancerous cells destroy healthy ones, some of us are destroying each other; and Auto-immune Deficiency is self-explanatory.

Could it be more obvious that we need to create harmony in our selves and in our world?

We are One and not only that, we are the same in the most elementary ways:

So the next time you pull out your cellphone just to connect, stop and make the connection within. Take a breath, feel your heart beating, experience the essence of Life Itself moving in you and sustaining you. Realize that that same Life is moving in and sustaining all of us, and in the most subtle and profound of ways we are more than connected: We are One.

The Harvest Prayer

(Anonymous 17th Century Sermon)


Please be gentle with yourself and others
We are all children of chance

And none can say why some fields blossom
While others lay brown beneath the harvest sun

Take hope that your season will come
Share the joy of those whose season is at hand

Care for those around you
Look past your differences

Their dreams are no less than yours
Their choices in life no more easily made

And give,
Give in any way you can
Give in every way you can
Give whatever you possess
Give from your heart

To give is to love
To withhold is to wither

Care less for the size of your harvest
Than for how it is shared

And your life will have meaning
And your heart will have peace



(This came to me in San Miguel D’Allende, 2003)

Calling All Heroes: Will YOU Be The One?

American pop culture has long celebrated the hero. From Superman and the Lone Ranger to James Bond and Men in Black, we are wild about the guy who shows up in the nick of time to save the day—and if he can turn a clever phrase and get the girl at the same time all the better.

And now the ‘Heroes’ are just like you and me. But fantasy is one thing and Reality something else altogether.

Our civilization has reached a crucial point in history—a major shift awaits us in the wings—and each one of us has the opportunity to BE THE HERO FOR REAL:

YOU are the hero the world is awaiting.

YOU are the one who can make a difference.

YOU are the feather whose weight can tip the balance.

And NOW is the time for you to weigh in.

The death throes of the old paradigm are apparent all around you: you see the evidence on television daily. But complaint and criticism of the travesty that is our present administration does nothing but enmesh the critic in the web of the travesty:

WHAT YOU FOCUS ON IS WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE

If you would SEE a change, you must BE the change.

If you see yourself as a single cell in the body of humanity, then you have the power to change the condition of that body by LIGHTING YOURSELF UP.

YOU are the hero the world is awaiting.

LIGHT YOURSELF UP!

It is not so much about doing as it is about being.

BE LOVING.

BE KIND.

BE POSITIVE.

BE COMPASSIONATE.

BE GENEROUS.

Light up your own cell and watch what happens around you.

When enough of us are Light enough, the darkness will dissolve.

Are YOU willing to be the hero? Make it so, Number 1!

On Giving

The only things we actually ‘have’ are those we are willing to give—having without giving is like inhaling without exhaling: only half the story.

Giving is always a one-way flow—the concept of energy ‘exchange’ being created by those unable to give freely. Always give with no thought of return. We are not cups that can be emptied—we are rivers that flow one-way into the ocean of Life. A river flows without thinking—it is connected to an infinite Source.

Quotes from Unnamed Masters

These inspiring quotes are too precious to risk bias based on source…


Love and God are not distinct from each other. God is Love and Love is God. It is when this Love Principle is understood that the meaning of human existence can be realized.