Free-Will, Choice, and Power

Most of human history has demonstrated behavior based on perceived scarcity, conflict, and fear to an extent verging on addiction. What we have seen is an endless drama in which humanity has set up situations of extreme conflict – between light and dark, haves and have-nots, powerful and powerless – like a game of perpetual brinkmanship with itself and its planetary environment. Survival mechanisms have transformed into domination-accumulation-gratification mechanisms based on human foibles, but made to appear as progress, achievement, and evolutionary advancement of the species. Meanwhile, disastrous results are being reported as to our destructive impact on everything from human interactions to the decimation of cultures and environmental collapse.

Where is the turning point when people reach that place where they finally decide, "enough is enough," and then act on new imperatives for positive change? (Domestic violence works this way, with two people unable to reconcile themselves internally or with one another. This dynamic feeds international or civil wars that can last for many years, even spanning generations when projected across societies and nations.)

Have we become too psychologically accustomed to operating from an illusion of the separate, individual self? One can see this every day, particularly among discouraged young people who may question the assumptions of our society, but have no sense of how things could be substantially different in a positive way. What we now see in dress, behaviors, and other expressions is the unfocused angst tied to identity confusion, unresolved socio-cultural turmoil, and lack of security and hope for a future that seems worth investing in. Young people are only mirroring back what they are picking up from their families and society as a whole. This culturally reinforced sense of isolation keeps us from living in a more awakened way that further encourages emergence of a higher state of awareness and being for all, regardless of what generation one is a part of.