Charles Eisenstein

The radiance of that which wants to be born illuminates the shadows, bringing them into the light of awareness that they may be healed.

The situation on Earth today is too dire for us to act from habit__o reenact again and again the same kinds of solutions that brought us to our present extremity. Where does the wisdom to act in entirely new ways come from? It comes from nowhere, from the void; it comes from inaction. When we see it, we realize it was right in front of us all along. It is never far away; yet at the same time it is in a different universe__ different Story of the World.

The power of attention is much greater than the force of self-restraint.

From our immersion in scarcity arise the habits of scarcity. From the scarcity of time arises the habit of hurrying. From the scarcity of money comes the habit of greed. From the scarcity of attention comes the habit of showing off. From the scarcity of meaningful labor comes the habit of laziness. From the scarcity of unconditional acceptance comes the habit of manipulation.

I would like to propose that the reason our actions have been so manifestly unsuccessful in steering the world away from its present collision course is that we have not, generally speaking, been basing them on any true understanding.

The present convergence of crises___n money, energy, education, health, water, soil, climate, politics, the environment, and more___s a birth crisis, expelling us from the old world into a new.

We sense that __ormal_ isn__ coming back, that we are being born into a new normal: a new kind of society, a new relationship to the earth, a new experience of being human.

To be fully in service to something one has experienced as real is the essence of leadership in a nonhierarchical age. A leader is the holder of a story, someone whose experience of its reality is deep enough so that she can hold the belief on behalf of others.

Why are we so desperate to escape the material world? Is it really so bleak? Or could it be, rather, that we have made it bleak: obscured its vibrant mystery with our ideological blinders, severed its infinite connectedness with our categories, suppressed its spontaneous order with our pavement, reduced its infinite variety with our commodities, shattered its eternity with our time-keeping, and denied its abundance with our money system?

The world is on fire! Why am I sitting in front of my computer? It is because I don__ have a fire extinguisher for the world, and there isn__ a global 911 to call.

The state of interbeing is a vulnerable state. It is the vulnerability of the naive altruist, of the trusting lover, of the unguarded sharer. To enter it, one must leave behind the seeming shelter of a control-based life, protected by walls of cynicism, judgment, and blame.

Addiction, self-sabotage, procrastination, laziness, rage, chronic fatigue, and depression are all ways that we withhold our full participation in the program of life we are offered. When the conscious mind cannot find a reason to say no, the unconscious says no in its own way.

Each experience of love nudges us toward the Story of Interbeing, because it only fits into that story and defies the logic of Separation.

When both sides of a controversy revel in the defeat and humiliation of the other side, in fact they are on the same side: the side of war.

We are all here to contribute our gifts toward something greater than ourselves, and will never be content unless we are.

It is quite normal to fear what one most desires. We desire to transcend the Story of the World that has come to enslave us, that indeed is killing the planet. We fear what the end of that story will bring: the demise of much that is familiar.Fear it or not, it is happening already.

The holistic acupuncturist and the sea turtle rescuer may not be able to explain the feeling, 'We are serving the same thing,' but they are. Both are in service to an emerging story of the People that is the defining mythology of a new kind of civilization.

We are not just a skin-encapsulated ego, a soul encased in flesh. We are each other and we are the world.