The Illusion of Separation [Infographic]

The Moving to a new society and a new consciousness Illusion of inspired by and in harmony with Nature Separation Many of today's problems find their root in a corrupting worldview of how the world works which is woven into our Western culture at deep and partly unconscious levels creating an illusion of separation that sets us apart from each other and Nature, causing all sorts of downstream problems: control-based thinking, status anxiety, individualism and egotism. The socio-economic model of capitalist consumerism is a downstream effect of this flawed logic. The time has come to get radical and deal with The Illusion of Separation. But first we need to understand how we got here. THE RISE OF CONSUMERISM What is the underlying cause of this insanity? 20th century: UK and US consumer behaviour starts to be manipulated for political and economic motives. Freud and his cousin Edward Bernays view the unconscious forces within the human psyche as a continual threat to social stability. Democracy with a sinister undertone of social manipulation is born: citizens become consumers to pacify and manipulate through psychological research and social planning. Consumer demand is propped up by artificial desires driven by egotistic whims. 1980s: Debt-fuelled consumerism becomes the easy fuel for economic growth, Deeply ingrained into our Western psyche is a flawed philosophy about how the world works. It projects life as innately selfish and competitive. The control-based logic underpinning this flawed socio-economics finds its roots in a Neo-Darwinian perception of life within a dog-eat-dog world. hand-in-hand with an erosion of public services, rising individualism and the mainstreaming of an artificial 'good life'. Superficial egotistic desires are fed through materialism: debt slavery, increasing depression and anxiety across the West along with an erosion of ethics and ecology. An attention of having, wanting, owning, consuming. DOG-EAT-DOG COMPETITION Can we see beyond the battleground? Neo-Darwinism: Today's dominant view of life is based on a Neo-Darwinian logic of separateness, struggle, selfishness and competition. The survival of the fittest is applied to human sociality, infecting organisational behaviour and underpinning our capitalistic logic. The organism is viewed as separate from and in competition with its environment. This is a left-brained way of attending that grasps at things in order to define and categorise an otherwise fluid, dynamic reality. Crises: The more we see the world through threat-tinted glasses the more our illusion of separation imprisons us and the more we commoditise and control our world in a vain attempt to overcome the fear we induce Capitalist consumerism is not the mother of all problems, it is a downstream effect of a deeper corruption woven into our collective psyche. through our own egotism. Enter the social, economic and ecological crises in our midst. NATURE UNCUT Life beyond the battleground No separation: The doctrine of Neo-Darwinism is rooted in an ideology of separateness and competition. Yet in real life nothing is separate from its environment. Everything in Nature engages through energetic and material relation (semi-permeability) with its surroundings and the world. Reciprocity: The scientific objectification of Nature imposes hard-line definitive Far from life being driven by innately competitive, power-hungry relations, we find reciprocity, receptivity and responsiveness as core to life. Our future lies in our ability to work with rather than against the inherent grammar running through Nature. boundaries on an otherwise fluid and connective Nature, creating a sense of separation of 'things' from their lived-in context. In reality, there is always a reciprocity between body and world, and the more playful, tolerant and diverse the organism and ecosystem, the more resilient it is, the greater its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and thrive in uncertainty. THE ORIGINS OF OPPRESSION How did patriarchy, aggression and egotism come to dominate? God vs. Goddess: Ancient indigenous cultures had a deep sense of empathy and community with each other and the natural world around them. With the Agricultural Revolution ca. 6,000 years ago a new kind of intelligence developed - an ego explosion. From 4,000BC to 1,000BC Europe was transformed from largely equalitarian to patriarchal, hierarchic, violent cultures, with private ownership and slavery the norm. This shift came with a transformation in mythology. God became divorced from Goddess, Heaven separated from Earth, and humanity separated from Nature. Desacralization of Nature: e take up of the written word, currency, patriarchy, Judaic monotheism, urbanisation and domestication all went hand-in-hand with an increasing sense of separation of self from other and Nature, along with a more dominating ego and active left-brained awareness. The Middle Ages saw paganism co-existing alongside Christianity but with the rise of scientific positivism and materialism within the Age of Enlightenment, these last Humanity was divorced from Nature, and Nature was desacralized; objectified with the cold rationalising lens of scientific positivism into nothing more than a mechanistic set of bits and bites to be manipulated for human betterment. vestiges of Nature's sacredness were dispelled. LIVING BEYOND ILLUSION An awakened way of attending The time is now: Any transformation in socio-economics without an accompanying change in attitude and underlying attentiveness to life will not last long. It is time to deal with the root cause of our current crises - the mother of all problems - our inner and outer ability to embrace reality beyond illusion. New way of attending: By presencing life, getting into the zone and opening up to the power of Now, we embody our being in the world through a mutual embrace of body Opening up to the sacredness of Nature in our midst provides the foundation for a culture of reverence to form, where we transform towards working with the grain of Nature. and world. This is what phenomenology explores, a full-bodied awareness where our ego-psyche permeates with the deeper wisdom of Nature. We experience a spontaneity born from stillness within each evolving moment. THE IMAGINAL REALM Accessing our psychic quicksilver within Inner nature: With a relaxed state of receptive awareness, we may open up to the depths of our inner nature through sacred imagination and insight. Within us flows a soulscape where our spark of spontaneity spawns authentic co-creativity. Soul, body and Nature: The imaginal realm is not directly detectable through our bodily senses. Nonetheless, this realm is both imaginable, and a real and potent presence in our everyday lives. With stillness, silence and empathic resonance, we may attune with the imaginal realm and open up to our deeper ground of being. This is to harmonise with Nature's wisdom, the origin of true sustainability and from which right thought, word and deed flow. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD Leading beyond illusion The path of individuation: Fear-based leading Courage-based leading Each evolving moment in our midst offers us the chance to empathically reach out beyond the ego-self with love. Here we find the fresh yet ancient logic flowing through Nature, a logic of reciprocity, of service to something greater Authoritarian Emancipation Leader-follower relation Co-creative relation Motivated by power Motivated by love Compassionate culture Pioneering than oneself and the beginning of true leadership whereupon we tread a path of life-long journey of Blame culture Risk-averse Adversarial Inspirational Competitive Empathic Knowing Thyself, what Jung called a path of individuation, authenticity through love. Command and control Improvisational A new way of leading: There are powerful forces at play that benefit from large swathes of the Leadership is about crossing the threshold, the death of old habits and letting go of old mind-sets so that we can embrace the new, opening up to new beginnings with courage beyond fear and egotism. populace inured to consumerist fear, lust and envy, but we are our own jail-makers and jail-breakers. We need to activate a new way of leading; a new way in attending to ourselves, each other and Nature, characterised by a shift from fear to courage. THE NEW PARADIGM Humanity inspired by and in harmony with Nature It's up to us: Listening with complete presence, paying attention without urgency, simply treating others as we wish to be treated ourselves - this is to live in love, to truly love ourselves and in-so-doing attend lovingly in all our relations. The good news is that, as we open up to the inner and outer depths of ourselves and the world around us, we gain awareness of Nature as a powerful source of inspiration, and begin to realise the answers to our pressing challenges are all around and within us. The paradigm shift: Antagonistic Narcissistic Materialistic Ego as master Dominator Participatory Empathic Soulful Ego as assistant Partner The new paradigm is inspired by and in harmony with Nature and is our beginning where we live up to our name as Homo sapiens - wise beings. This is a fundamental shift from fear- based living to heart-based living. -> Patriarchy Separation Reciprocity Inclusion The Illusion of Separation Listen to the podcasts to learn more: Created by: @GilesHutchins Full playlist: http://bit.ly/1GJ31TL @lliyanaStareva Expioring the CauIse of our Get the book here: http://amzn.to/1yyTAfl www.thenatureofbusiness.org www.iliyanastareva.com OLESHUTONNS