"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves." -Mahatma Gandhi.

Increasingly compelling statistics stress that we are closer than ever to dramatically altering the earth to the point of making it uninhabitable.  We can't solve these kinds problems with the same kind of thinking that caused them. This time in history calls for a revolution. 

Yesterday's revolutions demanded that individuals stand against the prevailing political system that oppressed them.  External tyranny required external action, physical force and often violence. A political system that valued individual liberty emerged from these conflicts. In many countries of the world the struggle for freedom persists. For those of us lucky enough to live in places where we have basic, democratic freedoms, there is need for another kind of revolution. This revolution is a personal one – an individual struggle with what dwells inside, not what exists outside. The only change I can make is in myself – a shift in my consciousness, not that of those around me.

This revolution enables action from a place of selflessness that rises above concepts of judgment, right and wrong, yours or mine, to pure action in the moment – creative, fresh, and free from previously defined habits or conditions. They arise from my understanding and clarity of consciousness about what the situation calls for, not about my personal desires.

Ordinary consciousness maintains a single point of view; revolutionary consciousness extends to embrace more. Pursuing the aim of dissolving my default answers and my monopoly on truth, I stop “voting along party lines” and begin making decisions based on conscious personal research. Direct experience informs my understanding, rather than secondhand news, slogans, and abstract concepts.

This new revolution requires no pipe-bombs to throw nor buildings to storm… This quiet revolution begins with discovering the depths of the everyday mundane; it begins with an exercise of the mind, how we look at things and how we think about them. When I look at something I see not only the object in front of me, but its whole existence stretching into the past and into the future as well. Imbued with a knowing into time, I am aware of the people who created and transported the object; the raw materials reveal themselves with their long histories.

Looking at the world this way, it becomes a living mystery, with seemingly static objects exploding into four-dimensional form. Previously obvious and simple facts take on an ever-changing quality, concluding that labeling something as bad or good fails to deliver the same feeling of 'truth' that it once did. Bedrock positions on controversial issues liquefy, giving way to a more humble curiosity about another perspective.

Each individual's experience of the revolution will be unique, but the changes required are the same: reformation of consciousness. The following exercises are designed to introduce the kind of thinking which is the task of free people. They are simple and easy to follow; they can be performed in any setting on any object. If these can be performed on a regular basis, they begin to bring a new life to the seemingly mundane. The answers become less important and the process in which my thinking takes becomes more important.  If I do these exercises, when I encounter a new situation I will find a new flexibility in my thinking and feeling. As this practice develops my experience of the world can become richer, my relationships with people may deepen. I will react with less violence and more from a place of compassion, as intuitive understanding of the other becomes more common to my experience.

For copies of these exercises click here.