Chapter Two: Paradigm Shifts Then & NOW

Why Paradigms Matter. Ideas drive results. People’s beliefs color their feelings, triggering basic emotions which in turn drive their actions. Actions that stem from a simple, complete and accurate paradigm result in personal fulfillment, harmonious relationships, and economic prosperity. Actions based on false, incomplete and inaccurate paradigms, however well-intended or passionately defended, are the cause of widespread misery, suffering and deprivation.

. . . a fatal information deficit explains the current worldwide leadership deficit and related budget deficits. In a dangerous world where psychological and economic warfare compete with religious extremism and terrorism to undo thousands of years of incremental human progress, a healing balance is urgently needed. 

Restoring a simple, complete and accurate paradigm applied to leadership and relationships now could make the difference between human survival and the extinction of the human race (or the end of civilization as we know it). Patricia E. West (Rethinking Survival)

——-

In this chapter, I put on my scholar hat to start off, defining paradigms and describing how and why they shift. Then I switch gears, going deeply personal to share the of process of bringing myself out of silence and disconnect by recapturing the language for myself, then writing about how you can do the same for yourself.

Basically, paradigms operate as filters on perceptions. Kuhn’s well-known work on paradigm shifts is reviewed, then correlated with the current times.

Repeatedly over cycles of time, when an existing paradigm (generally accepted worldview) no longer meets the needs of changing social, political and economic times, another one which better satisfies popular demand arises. After a challenging time of resistance and turmoil, the new eventually prevails and replaces the old.

Christ’s birth and related fall of the Roman Empire marks a massive shift. Martin Luther’s challenge of the Catholic Church’s monopoly over social and political power, education and beliefs is another example. So is the time of crusades, when a secular paradigm based on empirical science evolved to accommodate shifts in commerce, governance and the rise of the University.

Key to understanding paradigm shifts is an understanding of how language morphs over time. In a subsection titled The Tower of Babel Dilemma, I follow the devolution of the English language, where most value words come to be defined by both one thing and its opposite. This results in communication breakdowns. People speak at cross purposes, using the same words, but without common agreement upon their meanings. Tragically, despite the best of intentions, they often miss each other coming and going, not recognizing the disconnect.

This dynamic is sometimes intentionally exploited for purposes of deception and manipulation. For example, four key terms coopted by globalists are considered. The first is Unity. Globalists use it to promote an exclusively empirical science-based, en-forced rigid consistency of behavior and beliefs: superficial uniformity and conformity. Whereas, in contrast, the full-spectrum quantum definition of unity pictures a multi-layered unified field, where a common center at the hub of the Life Wheel is linked in an infinite loop with diversity on the spinning rim at the surface of the Wheel.

Second is a triad of words: the combo of problem, reaction, and solution. Alex Jones (among others) describes their abuse as a method of manipulating (“nudging”) public perceptions/behavior towards a predetermined, in this case sinister, anti-human outcome. Solution, of course, has come to be associated with Hitler’s genocidal “final solution,” and as such, has to be rescued here and placed in the pristine, positive context of the Quantum Solution.

Ironically, the globalist mindset, and strategy of bending words, twisting meanings to squeeze humanity into an inhumane materialistic cage, IS the real problem. And as will be explored indepth in the next chapter, the Quantum Paradigm will become the Quantum Solution to counter and quash the anti-life globalist one-world order agenda.

*****

Here, in my scholarly mode, are the sections on paradigms borrowed from Rethinking Survival.

What is a Paradigm?

According to Webster’s, a paradigm is “a pattern, example or model.” By extension, the word refers to “an overall concept, accepted by most people in an intellectual community, as those in one of the natural sciences, because of its effectiveness in explaining a complex process, idea or set of data.”

“Intellectual communities,” however, don’t have exclusive ownership of paradigms. Everyone, whether consciously or not, operates on beliefs about how the world works and their place in that world.

Nor are all paradigms created equal. Some are enduring, long-lasting, satisfying and life-affirming, corresponding with human nature. Others are more superficial, like passing fashions or fads, imposed at the level of programming and enforced to suit an agenda – even if contrary to collective well-being.

The formal rules of those belief system(s) are learned, often by rote, in secular and religious schools. Often secular and sacred rules don’t agree. To make matters worse, formal rules usually don’t match the informal rules taught through the examples of family and public role models. Policy and practice don’t mesh. Herein lies much of the conflict and strife in daily life.

To this point, in Rethinking Survival I commented:

“. . . democracy is a myth in the technical meaning of “myth” — a representation of the way the world works and how individuals fit into it. But it’s also a myth as the slang usage implies: false and fictitious. It’s not true to our common experience. Theory and experience, policy and practice are seriously out of synch. They don’t match. For the most part public policy is wishful thinking: at best, empty window dressing; in the worst case scenario, a distraction and cynical cover up.

“Usually people are content to muddle through. This can get us by in good times. In times of danger, however, muddled thinking becomes a threat to survival. Making beliefs conscious, reconciling them with experience and choosing from which system to operate is the first step towards mental health and personal peace. How to function safely and effectively in a world that’s out of synch is another issue altogether.”

The Theory of Paradigm Shifts

As a graduate student, I was taken with the idea of paradigm shifts, and did my homework for the Educational Policy seminar on the Future of Universities.

Thomas Kuhn’s seminal 1962 paper on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions describes the way prevailing worldviews shift. An accepted worldview falls out of favor as it increasingly fails to answer new questions and meet new needs. A more satisfactory alternative eventually emerges to replace what no longer works.

Established authorities, however, have vested interests in preserving old ways. So the shift initially meets fierce resistance. The new replaces the old only as new leadership comes into power.

Breton and Largent’s 1996 The Paradigm Conspiracy includes a meticulously researched summary of paradigm studies. It elaborates on the deadly effects of the current, highly toxic control, dominance and (money) addiction culture responsible for tanking the world economy.

The authors describe the transitional, limbo state during which the old science is producing grievously counter-productive results, but a new one has yet to emerge with sufficient clarity to gain popular acceptance. When trying to solve problems caused by a limited and limiting worldview, the common intermediate mistake is to ratchet up efforts to enforce the very standard which is causing problems, making matters worse.

Relying on Kuhn, Breton and Largent describe old-paradigm practitioners’ defensive reactions. When they can’t explain why things are going wrong, they find “trouble-makers” to blame and come down on them hard. If things don’t work, the solution is to take away more rights, stifle more creativity, intimidate more people, build more prisons, and bring back the death penalty. More fear keeps people in line.

According to them, the biggest threat — “the enemy” — to the control and dominance paradigm is the soul, meaning “inner identity” — “who we are” . . . “our internal guidance system.” For, “only when we’re sufficiently disconnected from our inner compass will we follow outer demands.”

So, in order for the control paradigm to operate efficiently, authorities (even those who profess a belief in God) functionally negate the soul and creative individuality — the inner levels of the timeless Quantum Paradigm.

When sufficiently motivated and courageous, rare individuals can “buck the system” or simply unplug from the exclusively materialistic control model, but at great personal price.

“How can we get healthy when our society is sick?” these authors ask. “As it is, our social systems reward soul-negating habits — those that blast our innate worth, creativity, and spirituality — and penalize people who put inner-directedness first.”

Their conclusion: a full-scale paradigm shift — not just sporadic personal change — is essential. “The social system piece can’t sit this one out.”

The Paradigm Conspiracy details the catastrophic results of falling away from a complete worldview — being constricted and restricted to the surface outer shell. As painful as this picture is, a careful reading is highly instructive. It substantiates both the urgent necessity and the immense value of reopening ours lives to the full spectrum of our creative potentials.

It should be noted that adopting the emerging Quantum Paradigm as an organizing model of experience isn’t literally a shift. Restoring it now isn’t so much a paradigm shift as a return to what Aldus Huxley called the timeless, perennial philosophy which the world’s major wisdom traditions share in common. 

For “science” is far broader than the current, narrow practice of “empirical” science. The root word simply means “with knowledge.” It’s neither time nor place-bound. It doesn’t limit the ways or levels from which knowledge can be gained. It doesn’t exclude anyone from accessing knowledge. Nor is anything which can be experienced written off as taboo to the open, observing mind.

Paradigm as Map

Overall, it’s important to remember that the quantum Life Wheel is not to be taken literally. It can be described, but not argued: only experienced.

Like a map, its presentation is symbolic. Its purpose is to assist the life explorer in making a safe journey through unfamiliar territory.

Map-making is a tradition handed down over the centuries by the most experienced and skillful practitioners of physical and psychological navigation. As we continue to evolve and increase our intuitive as well as intellectual powers, the state of the art will likewise improve.

But the quantum Life Wheel fully described in Chapter Three is just a map. Nothing more. Nothing less. It cannot explain the richness and complexity of human experience any more than reading a map of China is a substitute for actually traveling there and having direct experience, being with the land in all its seasons and variations.

Nevertheless, most people prefer to study the maps, to rely on the experiences of those who have gone before, in preparing for any journey. Chances of making the most of opportunities along the way and arriving safely at one’s destination are greatly enhanced by the availability of an accurate map. As medieval Europeans who believed the world was flat needed new maps that included the Americas, we are similarly in urgent need of a rounder, fuller concept of life now.

The map maker’s job is to find a way to summarize vast quantities of information in a structure clear and simple enough to be immediately useful to the lay user. While simple and direct, the quantum Life Wheel serves as a useful map for those willing to learn the basics.

For example, the following figure illustrates what Joseph Campbell called hero’s journey inward through the Chapel Perilous of testing and temptations. It bears close resemblance to similar biblical examples, including the forty years Israelites wandered in the desert after leaving Egypt before worthy to enter the promised land, and the temptations of Christ during his forty days and nights in the desert.

Historically, we have entered another such time of purification and testing. Those determined to prevail — who have the courage and common sense to shift to the Quantum Paradigm and to act accordingly — are the most likely endure and ultimately survive. Restoring the quantum Life Wheel to public awareness now provides the urgently needed model upon which to generate genuinely positive action.

Those who succeed in integrating it into conscious, daily life and implementing this vision have the means for spinning the wheel of history right — altering the quality of their personal lives and restoring a hopeful direction to future events.

Campbell’s Fourth Function of Myth

In a dialogue documented as The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers repeatedly touch on definitions of myth, which are quite similar to those of paradigm. They describe the importance of circles and wheels in ways that almost, but never quite, put the Quantum Paradigm picture together.

Like Einstein, Campbell was very close. All that was necessary was to reassemble the pieces (radiant mystery, powerful unconscious energies harnessed by reason and cultural rites of passage) in a new way and place them within the appropriate levels of the Wheel.

Of the four basic functions Campbell’s ascribed to myth, the Quantum Paradigm fills three of the four.

He calls the first function the mystical one. “Myth opens the world to the dimension of mystery, to the realization of the mystery that underlies all forms.” In the context of the Quantum Paradigm, this includes the middle and innermost circles of the Wheel. The levels of experience which rest within the material surface rim remain a mystery to most because they’ve been rendered “unconscious” by prevalent cultural norms.

The second function is cosmological: concerning the physical universe and how it works. Technically, this is the domain of science. Though mystery may be inherent in the workings of the universe, scientists don’t claim to have ultimate answers as to how much less why it came into being.

Einstein’s theory of relativity falls into this category. The Quantum Paradigm, which sets the three variables of his famous formula into dynamic motion partakes of, but is not limited to, this second function.

Campbell called the third function sociological, supporting and validating a particular political theory or social order. Variations abound throughout history. Characteristically, they’re divisive, driven by either-or, “us-versus-them” worldviews. According to Campbell, “this sociological function has taken over in our world.” He called it “out of date.” It’s becoming increasingly dysfunctional to the extent of actually threatening life on planet Earth.

Examples include the ancient Chinese (perhaps modern leaders as well!), who believed China was the center of the world. All other nations were inferior and barbaric. Later, British colonial rulers prided themselves in the belief that the sun never set on their empire. For the most part, they assumed the Chinese were pagan primitives.

Historically, Jews believed they are God’s chosen people. On the opposite side, Hitler’s belief in Aryan supremacy fueled the Nazi holocaust. American historians justify their country’s dominance and political actions with the belief that the United States is “exceptional.” In opposition, radical Muslims believe their prophet calls them to exterminate all but their own kind.

Theorists of the Marxist/Communist persuasion deify victims — social outcasts, the poor and downtrodden. They demonize the prosperous and clothe vengeful, opportunistic destruction in the guise of “liberation” theology.

Campbell had little use for negative, victim mythologies. “Freud,” he said, “tells us to blame our parents for all the shortcomings of our life. Marx tells us to blame the upper class of our society.” But he would have none of it.

He cited the Indian idea of karma, both personal and collective, which is compatible with the I Ching worldview. “Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.” Out of context, this may sound harsh. But from the Quantum Paradigm perspective, self-responsibility born of profound inner self-awareness is the seed of positive action and the beginning of hope.

Campbell’s fourth function of myth is pedagogical, meaning instructive of how to live no matter what the circumstances. It underscores restoring harmony with the timeless laws of nature and instilling respect for the common humanity of everyone on the planet. As a matter of survival, he advocated this as the function with which everyone today must align. The Quantum Paradigm is an exact fit with this fourth function of myth. It has the powerful potential to serve as an alternative remedy to myopic, fragmenting worldviews.

The Prado Painting

Circa the mid-1960s — when I was barely 20 years-old — Mom had a hankering to see Europe. She twisted my arm to keep her company. How could I resist? In England, at the restored theater in Stratford-on-Avon, we saw wonderful performances of Shakespeare’s final, “resolution” plays, The Tempest and A Winter’s Tale.

But what she really wanted see was Spain. I recall a bull-fight, which was the pits. And the Alhambra in Grenada, which I remember as a monument to extravagant wealth and abuse of power. (The tour guide told us that Caliphs blinded musicians so they could entertain the ruler and his harem’s pick-of-the-night, unable to witness their revels.)

But, in the midst of the mundane and forgettable, one extraordinary event stood out. At the Prado Museum in Madrid, I lingered in front of a huge medieval rendition of the Old Testament creation story, pictured as an enormous wheel.

As I recall, this oil painting took up a whole wall in a secluded corner of the museum, standing quite apart from the main collection of famous art to which most tourists flocked. While Mom did the tour, I stood transfixed, mesmerized — GLUED in front of this masterpiece. My inner mind flagged it: REMEMBER THIS! It’s IMPORTANT!

I’ve since tried to find it listed, but to no avail. Probably it’s better that way. The literal details of my memory may or may not be accurate. But the impression it made was correct, powerful and long-lasting.

The colors were gilded with gold-leaf that made the wall seem to glow in the sunlight that streamed in from high windows above. The effect was ethereal. The painting seemed to shimmer and vibrate, as if it were actually alive.

At the center hub was God the Father, white-bearded and blue-robed, stern-faced and alert, an observing yet active Creator. His right arm was outstretched, index-finger pointing towards the surface of creation’s wheel. The gesture was the same as in Michelangelo’s famous ceiling mural at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, “The Creation of Adam.”

Pie slices of biblical history revolved around the hub in chronological order. Each was a self-contained picture depicting a specific story from Genesis in exquisite detail.

When I stood up close to the painting, traveling visually around the circle to study the separate sections one-by-one, each was complete in itself.

But miraculously, when I stood back at a distance, the painting as a whole left the impression that the progression of events was actually going on simultaneously — all at the same time.

It gave me a hint of what creation looks like to an enlightened soul, one to whom time is only an illusion. I could almost understand why scriptures call God “omniscient” — able to know all things of all times, at once, start to finish.

It also gave me a hint of what “time-travel” and “time lords” are about. With an overview of creation, an enlightened being established at life’s center (like the fictional Doctor Who) could quite feasibly extend out in any direction, travel to any time and place in the universe in the mental tardis of a perfected mind. Why not?

In retrospect, the Prado painting was a first taste of what would evolve into the image of the Quantum Life Wheel.

The Tower of Babel Dilemma

There was quite a while when I didn’t speak with people, other than to exchange empty greetings and conduct routine business. I was so disillusioned, attempts to communicate about anything of substance seemed futile.

During this time, working with the Book of Change kept me in touch with the deeper, better side of myself and the universe. As this work led me to reestablish meaningful connection with others, my aspirations turned towards seeking ways to share this life-saving gift with others.

If the best I had to offer humanity was the same book which had served to keep me whole, how could I persuade others of its value? Whether intentionally or not, what I have come to call The Tower of Babel Dilemma – the degeneration and fragmentation of the English language – is a formidable obstacle to effective communication. Glib labels and false assumptions associated with the book led to out-of-hand rejection. “Foreign.” “Ancient.” “Unscientific.” “Unchristian.” “Pagan.” “Superstitious.” “Difficult.”

It seems to me that language has devolved into quite the opposite of the English I’d learned to love and respect in high school. There, we were taught to regard language as the premier tool of logic. When used with Sherlock-like diligence, applied with the powers of keen observation and heightened awareness, it could solve mysteries — not only to detect the crimes of evil-doers and the nefarious plots of humanity’s enemies, but to illumine the mysteries of life and the universe.

Turned inwards, used with self-honesty, language is essential to cultivating self-awareness. For the truth-seeker, language is a necessary vehicle of information both on the inward quest and on the return journey outwards to share results.

But even people with the best of intentions use the same words to mean very different things. They miss each other coming and going, only vaguely aware of the disconnect.

Tracking the meanings of words, I was fascinated to find that their devolution is systematic. In some cases, the same word actually means not only one thing, but its exact opposite as well. The “positive” word is an important example. Webster’s dictionary lists seventeen (!) contradictory uses.

Instead of being used as a means for unifying human beings, language is often degraded into chaotic paralyzing noise – a weapon for stirring up animosities, division and confusion.

So I set about to build the all-important groundwork for communicating about The Book of Change. I needed to rescue the language – restore it from its debased status as a smoke screen spun to camouflage self-serving intent. To this end, I outlined chapters for The Yoga Dictionary: Answering the Tower of Babel Dilemma. 

As a reminder, the biblical story describes defiant humanity’s fall from unity into confusion and separation:

In Genesis, a united humanity speaking a single language and migrating eastward, came to the land of Shinar שנער‎‎. There they wanted to build a city and a tower “tall enough to reach heaven;” God, however, disapproved of such behavior as disrespectful, scrambled their speech so they could no longer understand each other and scattered them throughout the world.

The Sixty-Four Essays are an off-shoot of this project. They’re meant to be used, as is the Book of Change itself, to cultivate mindfulness. They bring attention to the complexity of basic value words we too often take for granted and the critical importance of establishing a shared common ground of understanding.

Here is one example, especially pertinent to The Quantum Solution:

32. COMMUNICATION

He who is learning to paint must first learn to still his heart, thus to clarify his understanding and increase his wisdom. — The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, quoted by R.L. Wing.

Painting in China made it possible to manipulate the veil of appearances so that it might be pulled away to reveal the hidden essentials of reality and lead the observer into an experience approaching “truth.” Both art and the I Ching employ a triggering device that makes conscious that which has been buried in our unconscious. — R.L. Wing, The Illustrated I Ching

My pen is my bokken, sword of discrimination, ruthless as it follows certain lines of thought onto the page and ignores others into nonexistence. My pen gives life or death to words. My pen cuts through partial truths, slashes weak verbs, and sparring and paring, uncovers a rare, gemlike image. . . As my mind’s chatter settles ever more deeply, my pen can follow a thought like a bee tracking nectar. — Connie Zweig, Becoming a Warrior Writer

THE FRONT

Roots of communicate suggest sharing, to make common. Webster’s defines communication as the act of transmitting, giving or exchanging information. The means can include signals, gestures, and writing as well as speaking. The word is also used to describe the means of information changing hands, such telephone, telegraph, radio, or other systems. It’s also used to describe routes for moving troops and materials. In the arts, it connotes expressing ideas and sentiments. In mathematics and science, it includes symbols.

The definition has no shadings of meaning to indicate the multitude of verbal and non-verbal levels of information exchange, acknowledging a broad spectrum spanning cellular synaptic connections and inarticulate body language on one extreme to non-local, telepathic messaging at the other. The definition of communication also lacks nuances that indicate motives for communicating or whether information shared is complete or accurate.

Bad-faith extremists babel. They intentionally miss each other coming and going. Seemingly powerful extroverts (extreme-yang aggressors or oppressors) abuse communication tools as overt weapons of propaganda, intimidation and subordination. Speech is used to overpower and control. Seemingly helpless introverts (extreme-yin targets or victims) use language (along with silence) as covert weapons of self-protection or retaliation. Words are used to placate, distract or mislead.

In The More You Watch the Less You Know, TV veteran Danny Schechter observes that there’s a media war going on to win the hearts and minds of viewers. It’s going on in education too. Insiders disempower people with the potential to threaten empire-building plans by feeding them partial information piece-meal. Potential leaders are co-opted by rewarding them for knowing more and more about less and less, calling the outcome “expertise.” The right hand/brain can’t know what the left is doing.

It takes cooperative interdisciplinary work, linking not only related academic specialities, but also the levels of law, to discover solutions to apparently unsolvable economic/ social/political conundrums. The most essential community-building service sincere leaders can provide is the dissemination of accurate, hopeful information that promotes positive action. As people of good-will intentionally transcend extremes, cultivating balanced mesovert communication skills, they are developing a base of values shared in common, along with means by which communities connect to share vital information.

Especially in the arts, however, it isn’t the writer who inspires. Words are just catalysts. They precipitate inner knowing, causing it to rise to the surface of conscious awareness. It’s the result of synchronicity. When the writer, reader, time and topic are in synch, then, Bingo! There’s a connection — communication.

THE BACK

The opposite of communication is silence, the absence of giving and/or receiving information. In a social context, ignoring others is a sign of mistrust or disrespect, a denial of their value, trustworthiness or sincerity. In meditation, however, silence in the inner sanctuary of the mind is the respectful attitude of receptive humility. In this context, cessation of dialogue is prelude to at-oneness.

A perversion of communication is cacophony. The overwhelming amount of data now available from an increasing number of sources causes information overload. City streets and public places are filled with loud, harsh noises that shatter the nervous system. This extreme causes the mind to shut down in self-protection.

xxxx

A second example is SLAVERY, the shadow opposite side of the FREEDOM coin. Both are key to the nation’s past, present and potential future identity. Americans who got lazy, fell asleep at the switch and now find themselves blindsided by globalists’ subversion of the American dream, are being reminded that freedom is not a static condition that can be taken for granted. It must be earned and redefined, one person at a time, every generation at a time. This has important implications for the dynamics of the intentionally orchestrated “immigrant invasion,” which if allowed to escalate into an atmosphere of fear, anger and reprisals, is a smoke screen distracting from an even greater danger: self-destructive civil war.

15. SLAVERY

Tyrants do not feel power, they feel frustration and impotency. They wield force, but it is a form of aggression, not authority. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent that individuals who dominate others are, in fact, enslaved by insecurity and are slowly and mysteriously hurt by their own actions. — R.W. Wing, The Tao of Power

Self-defense is meant more to indicate “defense against the self ego.” It is our own selves who make mistakes, our own clumsiness, errors in judgment, lack of awareness and mindfulness that cause us to get hurt, whether it be from a fall from losing our balance or in reacting poorly when being attacked in a fight. — Stuart Alve Olson, T’ai Chi According to the I Ching

There were slaves when [the Declaration of Independence] was written; there were still slaves when it was adopted; and to this day, black Americans have not life, liberty, nor the privilege of pursuing happiness. . . agitation is requiring America to reexamine its comforting myths and may yet catalyze the drastic reforms that will save us from social catastrophe. — Martin Luther King, Jr., The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

THE FRONT

A slave is a human being who is owned as property, absolutely subject to the will of another. It’s a bond-servant divested of all freedom and personal rights. Slave also refers to a person who is completely dominated by some influence, habit, or another person. By extension, slavery is the owning or keeping of slaves as a practice or institution. It is also the condition of being a slave, in bondage and servitude. It is the condition of submission to or domination by some influence or habit. Slavery can also refer to hard work, drudgery or toil like that done by unwilling slaves.

Just as freedom was not guaranteed forever when Americans won the Revolutionary War, slavery was not totally abolished when the North defeated the South in the Civil War. Not possible. By I Ching standards, it’s a mistake to attack a problem at the largest level before solving it at the smallest. So long as selfish individuals dominate others or submit fearfully to intimidation, there will be slavery on the large scale. So long as individuals lack the self-awareness and discipline to overcome self-destructive addictions, social institutions will slip backwards into states of tyranny.

So long as people remain insecure, unconscious and unconnected to their higher potentials, they will find excuses to exploit whomever they can. Men and women exploit each other. So do adults and children. So do whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians. Exploitation isn’t a racial or gender-related characteristic. It’s an energy dynamic, a symptom of mutually destructive imbalance. Extreme-yin (timid, introverted) individuals attract extreme-yang (aggressive, extroverted) ones, until extremes finally learn from one another and find balance.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry once observed that the American Civil War didn’t end slavery. It’s as pervasive now as ever. Slavery has just mutated into more invisible and effective chains, those of mind and attitude, more cost-effective and convenient to overlords than before. Laborers are still exploited, but under the illusion of freedom, corporate slave-drivers no longer have to pay for their board and lodging.

Given gender stereotypes, women are statistically the most exploited population. Maria Shriver recently interviewed then-Secretary-of-State Madeline Albright, who was fighting to expose and stop a lucrative international sex-slave market. Things aren’t improving. A 1997 UNICEF report documented that sixty-million women have gone missing. The slaughter of six million Jews is regarded as a holocaust. How shall we change our ways or atone for ten times that number of unnoticed, unmourned women?

THE BACK

Contrary to the popular cliché, ignorance isn’t bliss. It’s slavery. Liberation and enlightenment are the opposites of slavery. Externally, liberty posits freedom of choice, movement and speech. Internally, it implies freedom from limitations, including ignorance, fear and greed. Both are the product of persistent effort and ongoing maintenance. They can never be taken for granted.

A perversion of slavery is anarchy, where no one either leads or follows, no one either rules or serves. Man-made disasters such as civil war and natural disasters including floods or famines bring out the worst in many, everyone fending for themselves. Untrained, people revert back to animal instincts in order to survive, respecting neither law nor social order.

xxxx

UNITY is third a important value term to which political candidates and globalists alike claim ownership. Hint: like freedom, peace and change, pristine Unity is an inside job. It begins from within, and one person at a time. Occultists tragically misled and compromised have abused this word, unknowingly turned into instruments of the darkside, ironically deceiving themselves and others that they’d seen the light. At great peril do we allow this word to be abused, or let ourselves be confused about its true meaning.

60. UNITY

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. — Martin Luther King, Jr., The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The scientist or the artist takes two facts or experiences which we separate; he finds in them a likeness which had not been seen before: and he creates a unity by showing the likeness. . . . All science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses. — Jacob Bronowski, quoted by Todd Siler in Think Like a Genius

I have always felt that one of the simplest and most apt metaphors for an organization as complex as the United Nations is the Rorschach inkblot test. What one person sees as the hope of a world free of war, famine, poverty, and disease, another interprets as a global boondoggle comprised of uncaring civil servants threatening the cherished concept of state sovereignty. — James Holtje, Divided It Stands: Can the United Nations Work

THE FRONT

The Latin root of unity means oneness. Webster’s first definition is the state of being one, or united; oneness, singleness. It means something complete in itself, single, or separate. It can be the quality of being one in spirit, sentiment, purpose; harmony, agreement or concord. It can also mean uniformity. It can refer to an arrangement of parts or material in a work of art or literature that will produce a single, harmonious effect. It can refer to constancy, continuity, or fixity of purpose or action.

The difference amongst these definitions reflects a general cultural confusion as to the optimal relationship of the individual to nature, society, and the creator. Effective, consistent action depends on an integrated concept of self and a comfortable relationship of each part with the whole. Thinking carefully about what unity means — as well as what it doesn’t — is a necessary prelude to ultimate success in life.

Accepting the I Ching view that accomplishments begin with the smallest unit, unity is first to be attained within. It’s common to say, “My mind’s not made up” or “Get it together.” The familiar saying, “The right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing,” could also be phrased, “The left brain doesn’t know what the right brain is doing.”

When Westerners say, “I’m of two minds on this,” it reflects confusion, ambivalence or lack of discipline. However, the martial arts advice to have eight brains and eight hearts refers to the height of attainment. It suggests the ability to intentionally shift internal gears to meet any situation. From the totality of unified mind, the ideal I Ching master focuses from above while acting through each of the energy centers according the immediate need of the time.

The motive, the “why” of psychologies and meditative practices is the same: to unify fragmented, antagonistic functions of mind, personality and behavior. The intended result, the “what” they plan to accomplish, ranges from personal self-mastery to inner peace and/or functional relationships. The purpose or action plan, the “how,” is diverse. Some practices start from the outside with behavior and work in. Other methods start with the mind, ideas and attitudes, and work outwards. Still others work in both directions simultaneously, which is possible in communities where work and self-awareness training go hand in glove.

In Quantum Paradigm context, external diversity complements inner unity. The core of life’s concentric circles, like the hub of a wheel, remains still as the outer rim revolves, constantly changing and in motion. Meridians, like spokes of a wheel, link center to surface, connecting and organizing the wheel of life in a dynamic unity.

It hardly matters how the goal of inner unity is attained. Once one is focused and all the facets of inner energy are coordinated by a single-minded purpose, the pieces of life’s mosaic fall into place, forming a coherent picture. Then life becomes a work of art, like a poem or a song.

Albert Einstein –equal parts musician, philosopher, physicist and world citizen — searched lifelong for a unified field theory. The Book of Change embodies the universal code he sought. For centuries, we’ve failed to recognize the clues hidden in a venerable text that has the potential to lead us to solutions desperately needed NOW. Restoring this treasure to the general culture would provide a fully functional, Quantum Paradigm from which positive, life-sustaining results can be generated across-the-board.

THE BACK

Regimentation and conformance are perversions of unity. Though nature flourishes in diversity, and like snowflakes, each individual is a unique variation of its kind, in extreme social contexts variations are suppressed and punished. While this unnatural state might be appropriate to unnatural situations like war, it’s antithetical to personal well-being.

Technically, because all things are connected, it’s possible to dabble in the dark worlds of demons and departed souls. However, though these realms do exist, it is dangerously unwise to explore them without a specific, positive purpose and a white magician’s guidance.

xxxxx

Using the Life Wheel to Clarify the Meaning of Value Words

Moving it up a notch, the quantum Life Wheel can also be applied to solve the Tower of Babel Dilemma. Plug conflicting definitions of key concepts into the various layers of the wheel. One example is an essential but overworked and badly abused word: LOVE.

Another example from among many images represents a phrase closely related to the founding of the U.S.A.: common sense. In this figure, the words of Tom Paine are plugged into the quantum Life Wheel:

Positive Change

I survived the desert of high school years, knowing things would get better. After all, my pious Aunt Esther promised me that life gets better every year. Taking her literally, I could hardly wait to see how fantastic I’d be by age 70.

I’m still a work in progress. Many of the questions asked in early years have been answered. But every time I revisit scriptures, or query about an immediate challenge and apply a familiar reading to a new situation, I go, “Oh! That’s what it means!” And I shift, changing with the times as I continue to adjust and grow in my understanding. This is my concept of positive change.

The key is to know where to look for positive answers. Like O’Henry’s short story, “The Purloined Letter,” what seems to be missing may be hidden in plain sight, while clever people continue to search in unlikely places.

Like Einstein, who intuited that the Unified Theory had to be there, but continued to look for it in the wrong places, we’re reluctant to think outside the box of our familiar paradigms. Rethinking our comfortable but dysfunctional assumptions might be painful. But, as Einstein warned us, the stakes could not be higher.

The key to the Unified Field Theory wasn’t to be found in ever more intricate math equations, with which Einstein tenaciously continued to experiment to the very last. It was to be found elsewhere, in the repository of the timeless perennial philosophy, preserved in yogic scriptures recorded in a distant time and place.

Just so, the key to current predicaments is hidden in plain sight, where no one has previously thought to explore. It has been here all the time. It requires seekers who see with fresh eyes to recognize its value and say, “Oh!”

I’m now convinced that the Quantum Paradigm is the ultimate answer to the ancient ultimate question, “What is that, knowing which, all else is known?” It’s the literal proof that humans are made in the image of the Creator — the microcosm resonates with the macro. I AM that I AM.

As OA put it, “God don’t make no junk.” In this context, the command, “Ye must be perfect like your Father in Heaven” makes perfect sense.

Just as Einstein had the Unified Field Theory, but didn’t know it, each and every one of us is perfect in potential: made in God’s image. But we’ve forgotten.

And tyrants want you to sleep on. They’ll do anything to prevent you from remembering that you’re inherently okay. Because once you do, as Einstein did, no one can intimidate, control or dominate you. You’re aware that nothing anyone has for sale can make you more perfect. Nor can anything that anyone threatens to take away alter your essential okayness.

It’s your inalienable birthright. A given.

The Quantum Paradigm is the viable basis upon which to build valid self-esteem. It’s the key to personal freedom — freedom from the slavery of ignorance and fear. It’s the rock-solid foundation of functional democracy. It’s grounds for rethinking what freedom really means and how to implement its promise.

One minor caveat: it all depends. While we all have the option to remember who we truly are, most of us are like Lambert, the sheepish lion. It takes a smack with a two-by-four upside the head before we’re finally ready to wake up. Often it takes the form of a life-threatening danger to those we care for. A personal health crisis will also do the trick. So will job loss, financial ruin or a run-in with natural disaster.

But, like Dorothy stranded in the Land of Oz, when you want dearly enough to return “home,” you can click your heels whenever you chose — and come to find out, you’re already there.

Confucius wished for another seventy-five years of life to deepen his understanding of The Book of Change. But, like life itself, the I Ching and its offshoot, the Quantum Paradigm, are inexhaustible. A bottomless well.

May you come to good terms with the old-new perennial philosophy in whatsoever form works best for you, Dear Reader. May you take its wisdom seriously, act on it, put the fragmented mosaic pieces of your life back together, and benefit as much as possible during the life-span you’re allotted.