Conscious Evolution Barbara Marx Hubbard http://magical.eden.com/readingroom/consciousevol.html interviewed by Jerry Snider Originally Published in Magical Blend Magazine Issue #62 October 1998 One of the architects of New Age thought, Barbara Marx Hubbard has devoted fifty years to defining and creating a positive future. During that time she has befriended, learned from, and mentored many of the most notable personalities in the field. In 1984 her name was placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention as candidate for Vice President. Though Geraldine Ferraro got the nod, Hubbard's idea of an expanded role for the VP represented a new wave of practical, political thought that promised a positive vision of the future, without reverting to the empty sentimentality of Reagan's "It's Morning in America." Her idea was to establish a Peace Room through which innovations, successes, and breakthroughs would be tracked with as much sophistication as a War Room tracks enemy threats. While mainstream politics may have passed on Hubbard's ground-breaking idea, the development of the internet has created the opportunity for a nongovernmental approach to the Peace Room, which Hubbard's Foundation for Conscious Evolution (www.cocreation.org) is busy developing. In her latest book, Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential (New World Library, Novato, CA), Hubbard combines her vision of the Peace Room with a tour de force exploration of evolution's ultimate plan for our species. Based on science and filled with practical optimism, the book is a call to arms that promises to light a fire under the New Age movement not seen since Marilyn Ferguson's Aquarian Conspiracy. Could you give us some background about what led you to the role of futurist and New Age icon? Barbara Marx Hubbard: When the U.S. dropped the bomb on Japan in 1945, I began a quest to look for a positive image of the future, equal to the destructive power represented by the bomb. Through that search, I began to become acquainted with what I consider the founders of a positive future: Abraham Maslow, Teilhard deChardin, and Buckminster Fuller. Abraham Maslow talks about untapped human potential that seeks creative function. Teilhard said that the planet itself is evolving toward a higher complexity, greater consciousness, and greater freedom. And Bucky said we have the technology and resources to make it work for everyone. I was then a housewife in Lakeville, Connecticut. I had five children whom I loved dearly, but that wasn't enough. Something was turning on inside me. My own passionate desire to evolve had awakened. And as I began to tap into the nature of that impulse, I began to discover the cosmic connection between the internal pattern, or code, of the individual and the evolution of the species. And once that turned on, I experienced what I call vocational arousal-I got excited; I got turned on. It was the beginning of a second life in which I moved from self-reproduction to self-evolution, a step that I later realized was part of this new evolutionary pattern. Teilhard deChardin's view that this whole universe is evolving toward something and that it has been from the beginning made me realize that one ought to be able to see what it's evolving toward by looking at the past. In the past we had these quantum jumps-from nonlife to vegetable life to animal life to human life. Each one of these quantum jumps occurred with greater complexity, which allowed for further integration and further subjectivity, leading to greater consciousness and freedom. Finally, I met Buckminster Fuller, who told me that the human mind is designed to know the design. We know how nature works, because we are nature. And through our deeper knowing, we can understand how to utilize our technologies and our resources for the regeneration of this planet and the eventual emergence of our species as a universal species. So I coined the phrase at that time that we're entering the period of Conscious Evolution. I see this period as the fulfillment of the human species. One of the most fascinating observations you make is that you believe our great religious figures were evolutionary throw-forwards, that they represent what humanity is to become. Barbara Marx Hubbard: That's right. They were quantum jumps in person. The potential of our species manifested in persons such as Jesus and Buddha, but because we weren't ready in consciousness to take that jump ourselves, religions were formed to try and hold on to it. The result is that all the cultures of the world are patterned with an impulse from great, advanced souls of what's coming-not what's past, but what's yet to come. Right now, millions of us are popping into a more universal, unitive, cosmic consciousness naturally. All the religions led the way to this threshold, but none of them can carry us across the threshold. The way we get across the threshold from the creature human stage to the cocreative human stage is through the person manifesting his or her whole nature-a nature that is at one with the process of creation. You say that the growing edge of this evolutionary movement is now the "social potential movement." Barbara Marx Hubbard: Right, the social potential movement comes up out of our human potential. We have already seen millions and millions of people changing from within-you know, the forty-four million "cultural creatives" that Paul Ray has pointed out, whose value systems are changing toward greater holism, integration, spirituality, and sustainability. Out of the efforts of those people, who are scattered throughout society, there are now social innovations, models, and projects that embody the emerging culture and show us what we can be. I'm suggesting that we start identifying, mapping, and connecting those social innovations that are breakthroughs, until we can see a picture of a self-actualizing society. When we can see the vision of that, we can move toward it. In our organization, we have created a web site called CoCreation (www.cocreation.org), and we're inviting people to enter their life-improving projects in various fields. Then we're developing a design team to identify breakthroughs that are already changing the system, such as microcredit loans, innovations in health care and the environmental field. If you start collecting the breakthroughs in a matrix that shows how they are already connected, I believe we can help catalyze a quantum jump. What gives me hope is that this is a fifteen-billion-year trend. We did not make this up; rather, we were made up by it. Now, perhaps it's possible to abort it, but as my friend Norman Cousins pointed out, it's arrogant to be so pessimistic to think that we could actually stop the process of creation. There is the possibility of going extinct, but we're the first species ever to face consciously its own potential for extinction. I think the force is with us. What is required is that we attune to it. And the most important thing is for all the people who are attuning to it in their own lives and in their work to be more resonant with each other, because that creates a resonant field. How many people will it take to create a field of consciousness that shifts the dominant mindset of Earth? Barbara Marx Hubbard: It's probably not a majority, but a critical mass, enough to create a morphogenetic field. And it's important to realize that this field has already been prepared for by all the religions and all the ethical systems that have been developed, such as Love Your Neighbor As Yourself, Do Unto Others As You Would Have Done Unto You. This is not a new idea, but it's moving from the mystical into the operational. In contrast to the fifteen-billion years of evolution, our recognition of having a conscious role to play in the process is only fifty years old. You point out that it is only within that span that we have seen the emergence of the three factors that have the potential to propel us toward a universal humanity-a new cosmology, a new crisis, and new capacities. Barbara Marx Hubbard: That's correct. The new crisis began with a new capacity. The explosion of the atomic bomb signaled an unprecedented power. If we didn't evolve into a more conscious use of this power, we would self-destruct. More recent is the new cosmology. When a culture has a story everyone understands, it gives direction and meaning to that culture. Our new cosmology of an expanding universe began in 1929 (the year I was born) with Hubble's discovery of an expanding universe. But it was not until the sixties that science actually discovered radiation from that first explosion. Then, it was as if our birth narrative began to reveal itself in that decade. Why is the discovery of an expanding universe synonymous with our birth narrative? Barbara Marx Hubbard: Because each of us as an individual person is a culmination, or a fruition, of the fifteen-billion years it has taken to create us. Our atoms, our molecules, our cells, our organs, our early brain, middle brain, neocortex-all of that is a microcosm of the story of our cosmic evolution. We are the universe in person. It's really a lovely image to think that this is how the universe shows up-as a person. When you look at your eyes in a mirror and wonder where those eyes actually came from, remember that they came from the first pulse of light in the early seas of Earth. You are the story. That's number one. Number two is the fact that your motivation and your passion to create is the story evolving through you. So this view gives us a tremendous sense of identity as participants in the cosmic creation. The third reason that Conscious Evolution is beginning now is that the crises have reached the potential of global catastrophe. And remember that these crises are being caused by our success, not our failures! The fact that we can keep so many people alive; the fact that we understand the atom, the gene, and the brain; the fact that we can industrialize and help people live in comfortable homes-all of that is causing the problem. So the crisis now is such that if we don't learn Conscious Evolution, then the very powers that could evolve us will destroy us. And I think that's becoming pretty obvious. But you say that's typical of the birth stage; it's true of a child in the womb. Barbara Marx Hubbard: Exactly. If a baby were to continue growing in the womb, it would kill the mother and the child. Similarly, if our species continues to grow at its present rate, we will kill ourselves and we will damage our mother, Earth. However, if we're going to go through a quantum change, then we can look at this entire period as a crisis of birth. And I mean this quite literally in some respects. It's taken these billions of years to create a planetary system with an intelligent species that is able to coevolve with nature and to realize that we've hit a limit to growth, so we have to understand the management of a whole planetary system. We have to stop polluting. We have to shift to renewable resources. We have to learn to distribute food to the whole system. We have to learn how to handle our own waste. This is what a newborn baby has to learn. A newborn baby doesn't like it, and neither do we. But it's a natural process. It's natural that we hit a limit to growth. It's natural that we're getting feedback from the environment that more of the same will destroy us. It's natural that millions are now awakening to that feedback. And certainly in the environmental arena, even though we're not doing enough, there is a vast awareness now. Yet, the complexity of the system is not easy to understand. Nobody really knows how to make a whole planetary system work. Why should we? We never had to do that before. So, we should be compassionate with ourselves, because we're learning as we're going, just like a newborn baby. Nobody on Earth knows whether we're going to make it through. There are dire predictions of breakdown, and then there are fewer people like myself who see that there could be a graceful path through this. But it makes a huge difference to accept the possibility that we can have a peaceful path through this, because if you don't think it's possible, you're not going to act on it. So I say that it's very important in this crisis that we see the possibility of passing through it toward a future that is desirable, rather than a future that is constricted. How would you describe these "new capacities" you're talking about? Barbara Marx Hubbard: I would say that the new capacities include an emergent, more unitive consciousness that's ancient in its roots, but modern in it's cumulative effect. More people are moving into that connected state of consciousness than ever before. That's number one. Number two are the emerging capacities in the health and healing area. There are daily breakthroughs in alternative health. There are breakthroughs in understanding the aging process. Nanotechnology promises to rebuild cells atom-by-atom. And there's the whole biological revolution, which promises to enable us to change our genetic code, overcome defects, and clone. What you see in all of this is human intelligence penetrating into the process of life design. I think we'll find that our range of new capacities-spiritual, technological, and social-will lead to the emergence of a universal species. And it is our generation that will give it birth. In fact, we are being forced to birth it by the crises and capacities we have been given through the genius of the past. We have to use our gifts now. Barbara Marx Hubbard: We have to use our gifts. But I do believe that if we get through this period, we will have discovered the ability for what Eric Chaisson calls "cosmic consciousness and species' immortality." We become cocreators not only on this Earth, but in the solar system and eventually in the galaxies beyond us. One of the areas we haven't discussed, which I think is important, is how the Women's Movement can be seen as steering us away from a procreative society to a cocreative society. Barbara Marx Hubbard: If I had to single out the most obvious of all the signs of Conscious Evolution, it would be the shift from procreation and maximum numbers of children, to what I call cocreation. We are the last generation to be able to be fruitful and multiply up to maximum and survive. One more doubling is ten billion people, and they expect that within forty years. It can't happen. So the energy that women have exerted to have enough babies to ensure the survival of the human race is already becoming liberated. This same nurturing energy is rising in women as the desire for self-expression, for self-evolution, for life purpose, for chosen work, for creative expression in the world. And this creative expression is being channeled through a new feminine archetype that I call The Feminine Cocreator. She is someone inspired by that spiritual force to activate her own unique creativity in such a way that she can give of that creativity to the world, and by so doing she gives birth to her full potential self. The way you give birth to your full potential self is by discovering your inner calling, your vocation of destiny, and surrendering to it through creative action. That is the path of the cocreator, and it's a relatively new path for women. So women right now are at a pioneering phase. It's a phase comparable to those families that crossed the country in covered wagons: they had no help; they had no foundation grants; they had no Social Security or health insurance. They just had their live bodies to throw against the elements. It took tremendous courage then, and it take tremendous courage now to be a social pioneer. That's the generation we're in, a generation that's calling forth the courage to pioneer a new world, rather than traversing a greater physical world. [Top] [Home] Magical Blend Magazine P.O. Box 600 Chico, CA 95927 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
