It’s clear the world around us – our culture and institutions – is changing rapidly, in ways both big and obvious, and small and subtle. Are these changes, and our own future, part of a much bigger cycle of universal growth, renewal, and updating?
In this companion conversation to the contemplation Why Things Are the Way They Are, Aviv Shahar discusses the contemplation with the team that produced it, gathering insights into what inspired them to take this unique approach to considering the expanding universe and our own possible role in shaping a new future.
What is a contemplation? Why is it at times a more effective approach to understanding the mysteries of life all around us? Join us for this exploration.
As we talk about evolution and growth in many different ways, it’s not just out there, it's something inside each one of us. We can consciously play as big a role as we want to play. I hope people come away with the feeling and the sentiment that it opens up a whole new vista, or perception, about what is happening - and how each person can be a part of it.
Mona Martin
I have always been attracted by the mysteries of what I did not know, what’s been lost, what’s been hidden.
It drove me to set my feet on a path to find out how things work, what caused them, how are they connected…
How did they happen, what does it mean for the human being, how did we get to where we are today - and where exactly are we today?
…… a delightful pathway of discovery that does not end.
Paul Stone
I started playing piano at 5, having been enticed into practicing by my parents. Throughout my life I’ve been passionately interested and engaged with the domain of music; this has ranged from listening to and studying intently many kinds and styles of music and, as I’ve grown more seasoned (matured), composing, arranging, recording and engineering new music.
I believe that music, and other art forms as well, can offer translation and transference of refined essences and qualities. Helping to create ecologies or atmospheres where a special kind of nourishment, healing, and enlivenment can be experienced. This is the background and context for appreciating my experiments with creating and playing Essence Music. My engagement and endeavor quicken and deepen. I know that there are others similarly compelled and called to these regenerative realms, where everyone involved is enhanced and elevated. I hope our paths may cross!
Patrick Summers
A seeker of the special places. Early on I used to enjoy sitting in certain churches after the service had ended and sensing what felt like fine, special atmospheres. Something was around I could feel but couldn’t see. The same with walks in nature and wilderness. The serenity and sense of healing felt connected to something deeper and finer in the earth, trees, flora and fauna. A type of energy? The planet’s soul?
I also began to sense what might be called the special places within, the inner lives and capabilities that can help us perceive and connect to finer sources of light and healing and knowledge all around us. Across the planet and into the universe; we’re all connected.
So many journeys of discovery. Shall we proceed?
Aviv Shahar
I seem always to have been on a journey - as a student of life. It is my experience and belief that there now are new capabilities, faculties, and perceptions that are activating and coming online to help humanity emerge and transcend the predicaments of our civilizational crises.
There are many of us, spread all around the planet, who have been waiting for this time, a bit like sleeping agents from the future, alertly waiting for an activation signal that calls those who are ready to step into service in small and large ways. For me, that signal now beckons. I am ready for a new emergent future.
