Good to be here on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It feels like there is a celebratory mood all around.
I woke up this morning thinking about someone who was a dear friend, Barbara Marx Hubbard. She was a conscious evolutionary, truly. And for the last years of her life, she lived here. And those of us who lived here at the time and came here got to know her. And she was a friend to us, certainly. She was a friend to me and a friend to Sunrise Ranch. And we were a friend to her. It was a wonderful relationship.
Barbara certainly gave her gifts here. She was always thinking about how she could help, how she could pitch in on our common endeavor.
She called what she was about—and what we are all about as human beings—conscious evolution. And we would hear her talk about it from the Big Bang up through the millennia. And if you were around for that, that is very familiar. Barbara said that it is our Planetary Mission to let the conscious evolution of humankind unfold through us.
I want to focus on that term, conscious evolution. Conscious evolution carries the implication that our evolution as humanity is occurring through consciousness. There is an implication to that, which is that it takes conscious participation to allow it to happen through oneself and through us collectively. It does not happen just in spite of ourselves. It happens because we are aware of it. We are deliberate about it. There is intentionality, which is the will of Creation, the urge of Creation that is occurring through consciousness. And we are feeling it, open to it, and giving it expression.
So, are you one of those people who have emerged consciously in this lineage that goes back through time, whether it is to the Big Bang or whatever you want to trace it to—this lineage of evolution that is now manifesting consciously through you and through those who have awakened on the planet?
You might say others are being brought along. But if it does not emerge consciously for some, how does this all work, given that, by its very nature, it is a conscious evolution? And so, it may be that we have had the experience of that urge of creativity, the urge of evolution knocking at the door of mind and heart, compelling us to entertain it, to feel it, to let it in, and to let it drive our lives and be the purpose of our lives, to give expression to that urge, to let it blossom in the expression of our lives.
Today we are celebrating the United States of America. I do not have to add that we are not a perfect country. For those who do not live in America, we know that. So, do not think we are so foolish not to. We are not a perfect country. And our flaws are evident in this day, blatantly so. As the song says, God mend our every flaw, till all success be nobleness…
The urge of conscious evolution is competing in hearts and minds for prominence with a lack of nobleness that is present in the human experience—with a self-preoccupation, and ultimately something that, when viewed collectively, is self-sabotage. Looked at as a competitive matter, it appears as though one person is getting the better of another. But viewed collectively, it all adds up to self-sabotage for us as a race—self-driven, self-preoccupied, self-centered activity that undermines us all. And yet we are here to give expression to the conscious urge to flourish, to fulfill the reason why we are here. We are not here only to flourish ourselves, but to let this whole planet flourish, and to live and act in such a way that we provide for the flourishing of all things.
We have that unique ability as a species, unlike any other species on Earth. All species are vital. We give thanks to the bees. Without the bees, where would we be? And all the other species on the planet are part of this flourishing. And yet we are proving, often in negative ways, the kind of impact that we as humanity can have on this planet.
And if we can have it for our own self-serving purposes that lead to self-sabotaging as a race and as a planet, we could also exercise those tremendous powers of consciousness that we possess to provide for the flourishing not only of ourselves and humanity, but also of this planet.
So, we feel that urge. It is an urge to receive into ourselves that tremendous impulse of Creation, to feel it, to know it in mind and heart, to express it and embody it, and to let it do its perfect work in the world.
That work involves the form of things. There are forms to be created, whatever those forms of life may be. And yet ultimately, what we are bringing is not just a matter of external physical form. It is a matter of the power of consciousness being at work through our consciousness. Because it is at work through our own consciousness, it is at work in the body of consciousness for all humanity.
This is relevant to July 4th. I hope you felt the lineage of conscious evolution through the reading. There was a casting off of the bonds of institutionalized religion that has tried to impose its own strictures on the spirituality of humankind.
The Founding Fathers and others of that day were clearly feeling their primal spirituality. They were not expressing a fondness for institutionalized religion. They were feeling what is at the heart of religion, and what is behind religion, which is something intrinsic in all people and in the whole planet—this urge of Creation. And with that came a big No. No, we do not want your state church. We do not want somebody telling us to worship or even that we have to worship.
I love the fiery spirit of those people. We are all probably familiar—at least in this country; I am not sure about other places—that another word for your signature is your John Hancock. There is a reason for that. They had created the Declaration of Independence, and they knew their lives were at risk should they sign it. And John Hancock took out a pen and was the first to sign, with a big, bold, and beautiful signature. He paved the way for others to follow suit and sign also. What a man of courage!
It is interesting how they were creating space for something that they felt was possible. Yes, they felt the possibility of what humankind could do and what people in this country could do. They were not so much focused on telling people what to do as they were focused on taking off the strictures so that their inner urge could find free expression. There was no guarantee that it would happen, or that it would happen accurately. There was no guarantee that people in the country would not revert to all of the self-sabotaging ways of culture in Europe, where most of the people who came here came from.
But they were not telling people what to do. They were focused on tuning into their own inner urge and expressing their own creativity, and in that, they were providing an example for others and creating a situation where the strictures were gone from a governmental standpoint. And yet, human nature being what it is, even with those strictures off, there was this constant reversion to something else, something that was not about the conscious evolution of humankind. It was about self-benefit and the domination of others. It is almost like people could not help themselves from what became some of the worst sins of this country, the way the indigenous people of this country were treated. Not always and not in the beginning, but eventually they were treated in a way that led to devastating results.
And the same is true with the Black Africans who were brought over as slaves. Some were enlightened enough to realize that it had to end. And others saw the great economic benefit there was in exploiting another person. And so, they persisted, especially after the invention of the cotton gin in the late 18th century. They went at it vigorously, with cotton. And for the mass production of cotton that escalated dramatically in the first half of the 19th century, they needed slaves to make all that happen, or so they thought.
But here we are in this day. Looking back, it is clear that at the time of the American Revolution, there was a pivotal point in the unfoldment of conscious evolution. Exactly how conscious everybody was is up for discussion. There were limitations to what they knew and what they expressed and what they did. And yet that urge was there, emerging consciously to whatever degree. And looking back, we can see the critical nature of what was happening. It could easily have gone another way.
They did not have to do what they did. They did not have to succeed in what they did. But because they felt the urge within them, they could not stop themselves. There were those who led the endeavor, and there was the common, everyday person who took part in this fight for freedom, hardly being paid. This is the common patriot of the American Revolution. Amazing what they did! We do not celebrate that very much. But so much came down to that common person who believed in what they were doing and fought for it.
It is easy to look back and see the significance of what happened and to praise those who were part of it. The question is, do we see the significance of our day? We do not have the benefit of hindsight to look back on this day and understand its significance in the passage of time. But something of tremendous consequence for humanity is afoot.
America was at a juncture then, 1776. The juncture today is not defined in the way it was then. There is no foreign power in America to overthrow. And yet there are the limitations of consciousness and the assertion of human power that tends to inhibit, preempt, and replace the intrinsic power of Creation in the experience of people.
There is something to be thrown off that is not a foreign power, something perhaps internal, something in the culture at large, something that gives the message that the way forward is outside you as an individual, outside us as a people, that it relies on money, that it relies on technology, on political power, as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, even now.
So, it is up to us to tune into the creative power in ourselves, to hear it accurately, and to give it the highest expression possible for us as individuals. What that might be for any person is up to them. But I think it is a fair question: what is the highest expression of the urge of conscious evolution that is within you and within me? How do we bring it out into the world as clearly as possible?
I would like to reference someone else who was an expression, an embodiment of conscious evolution. This is from the first chapter of John in the New Testament.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:1–5
In him was life. It can be assumed here that John is speaking of Jesus, and perhaps he is. But is that not true of anyone who is awakening to the urge of conscious evolution? In him, in her, is life.
The spark of creation is in you and in me. And that spark, that light, is the life of men. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. The life in us is the light of the world that we bring to the world when we give liberated expression to who we are.
It is so when we shout it from the rooftops, from the highest place within us as a human being.
It is such a simple saying: In him was life; and the life was the light of men. Not in social media, not in the government, not in money, not in technology, not in politics. In you and in me is life. And that life in us, when allowed to be expressed and embodied in the world, is the light of humankind, the light of conscious evolution.
I just finished listening to Paul and Jesus by James D. Tabor on Audible, a remarkable book from a biblical scholar who did an intensive, deep study of the apostle Paul. And most of what he based his work on is from the New Testament. It is right there in black and white. But he put it all together. It is there for anybody to see.
If you see what went on, it is shocking. Essentially, Paul’s version of Christianity superseded Jesus’. There was the lineage of conscious evolution, and with that, the spiritual evolution that Jesus brought to the world, coming out of the Jewish people, and coming out of the children of Israel before them, and from Abraham at the dawn of civilization. And Paul preempted all that with his own fantastic imagination about spirituality, and then imposed it on his followers. And then it was picked up by the Christian church in a way that cut off the lineage that Jesus was carrying forward. You can read Tabor’s book yourself or the books of the New Testament. It is clearly documented.
Thankfully, this is a long road we are on here. And we are dealing with powerful forces that are behind it. And those forces cannot be stopped by anyone’s vain imagination about anything, including their spirituality and what they are seeking to impose on everybody else.
There is a power to this lineage of light. There is a power to the urge behind conscious evolution, which is the urge of Creation and the urge of the Creator. And so, we are here today knowing that urge, and knowing that nothing can stop it, and that we are an expression of it. Like the time of Jesus, and the time of the birth of America, we too are at a critical point in the unfoldment of conscious evolution on Planet Earth.
We are on a long road to fulfillment, joy, abundance, the prospering of this planet, and the fulfillment of the original purpose for humankind. We are here in the garden to dress it and keep it, as it is put—to provide not only for our own prospering and our own abundance and for the prospering of all humanity, but to provide for the prospering of this planet.
There is no other way this works. There is no way to provide only for our own prospering and ultimately have that work, as individuals are busy proving out over a lifetime. And there is no way for us as humanity to get this all to work for ourselves and then, what, abandon the planet for Mars? It does not sound like a plan to me.
There is something to fulfill in and through ourselves that nothing can stop. It only takes our conscious participation, our being with what is actually happening, undistracted by human drama. And surely there is lots of it—all those things that invade the space and have the consequence of distracting the human mind from the awakening that it is participating in.
We can be undistracted and be with what is emerging consciously. When you are with that, what you find out is that there is a never-ending stream of creativity that wants to flow not only out there, but in and through oneself and with others. Let us be with that, as a person. And then together, let us create this space where that is happening and known through us collectively. We are knowing that as a community of people, bringing that into the world.
They Knew They Were Pilgrims
A Reading Composed of Voices From the Birth of America
So they left that goodly and pleasant city, which had been their resting place for above eleven years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.
— William Bradford
We must be knit together in this work as one man… We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body… For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.
— John Winthrop
Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith… a voyage to plant the first colony… [we] do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic.
— The Mayflower Compact
There goes many a ship to sea, with many hundred souls in one ship, whose weal and woe is common… all the liberty of conscience that ever I pleaded for turns upon this: that none be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, nor compelled from their own, if they practice any.
Forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.
— Roger Williams
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
— Patrick Henry
We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the events of a few months.
— Thomas Paine
These are the times that try men’s souls… Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
— Thomas Paine
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
— The Declaration of Independence
Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.
— George Mason
Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint… a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either… but to extend it by its influence on reason alone.
— Thomas Jefferson
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
— Thomas Jefferson
I must study Politicks and War, that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy… in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine.
— John Adams
I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
— Benjamin Franklin
The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period.
— George Washington
They say he will return to his farm.
— Benjamin West, court painter to George III
If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.
— King George III, in reply
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— The Declaration of Independence