Where is Spiritual Evolution taking us?

If you and twenty other people got in a tour bus in St. Augustine, Florida and then headed north to Atlanta, Georgia, and then further north to Cary, North Carolina, and then on to Philadelphia, and then New York City, and finally on to Boston, what part of the trip would be most important? Would you put Boston on a pedestal because it was the last stop?

Would you conclude that Boston was more important than Atlanta because it was the furthest part of the tour?

When we talk about being "more evolved" or further along our "spiritual path" that does not make us "better" than people who are not where we are. The object isn't to rush ourselves as quickly as possible back into the absolute embrace of oneness. We're material beings because we chose to be. We're at the place we're at because we chose to be.

Just as the point of life isn't to rush to eighty-years-old (or a hundred, or two-hundred), the point of spiritual development isn't to "get farther" or "go higher" or become "better than".

Relativity, Discernment & Judgment

Relativity does exist in our material plane, because it has to. So there are people who are better suited to certain kinds of work. There are things that would be better to do in St. Augustine and things that would be better to do in Boston. If you're looking for sunshine in February, go to St. Augustine. If you're looking for ice skating, go to Boston.

The moment you judge anything at all, you're experiencing relativity. Discernment – language itself – is all about separating one thing from another. Oneness is a great truth; we're here to explore every single facet of what "not oneness" is. Achieving oneness with our consciousness is a great achievement – it feels good. Yet it is no more exalted to achieve oneness in consciousness than it is to experience hatred – from the perspective of oneness. Because within oneness is all. All includes hatred.

It is hard to wrap our heads around it because our heads are designed to discern, separate, and judge. To experience oneness, we have to get out of heads. We have to go out of our minds. We even have to get out our hearts for full oneness, because our hearts shy away from pain and go toward what feels good. The master of oneness consciousness does not even shy away from things that hurt or feel painful.

We exalt our masters of oneness, but we do a poor job of living by their teachings – our own teachings. Our ego wants to find ways to become better than everyone and everything else around us, even if we have to be the best at being humble to do so. If you really didn't believe your way was a better way, you would change.

That's okay. Everybody's way is okay. Including the ways of violence and abuse – from the perspective of oneness.

Your Head, Heart & Body

But remember – your head and heart are not oneness. Your consciousness is oneness, but your body is not. And doesn't it make sense to protect and honor your head, heart and body? Why mistreat them or disregard them? When your heart speaks out against something – do listen! Do not rationalize it away as "unimportant in the absolute sense." That sort of rationalization is just fear talking – fear of taking action clothed in spiritual truth.

If there is any sort of blasphemy, it is clothing our absolute truths around fear and using them as an excuse to not take action in our own defense. Radical acceptance isn't about taking life sitting down. Learning to embrace your neighbor isn't about condoning things that feel wrong to you. Speak your truth and let others speak theirs. And if theirs doesn't agree with yours . . . Then you have to seek your highest calling in that moment to guide you. The only single rule I can give you for how to guide your actions is Presence.

Be Present

Be present with your thoughts. Observe them. Be present with your heart. Feel your emotions. Let them flow. Notice every part of your body and be alert for the tiniest changes in your perceptions. Use all five of your senses and then use even more of your senses. Be present with your aspirations and inspirations. Be present with your dreams when you awaken in the morning. Be present with those you cherish most. Be present with your values. Be present with your actions. Be present with your breathing.

When you are present with all of these things that I have listed (and more), you become a master of discernment. You begin to read body language effortlessly. Subtle hints in tone of voice are unveiled. The mysteries of nature begin to weave their way into your intuitive understandings. You begin to trust your intuition because it becomes stronger and more reliable. When you are fully present the things that you really want become clear. The things that need to be eliminated from your life become clear.

From my discernment, from my material-plane understanding, from my highest calling of head, heart and body – I believe presence is our highest spiritual practice. Presence is the practice of embracing life fully, as a material being with a head, heart and body. And I judge that beautiful. Amen.

So what are the next steps?

• Learning tools to become more present.
• Putting forward new cultural norms that serve the highest calling of our material and spiritual values.

For these two steps, I'd like to present to you two further articles: Learning deeply about oneself through consciousness alchemy.
Generating a living culture and leaving behind the cultural norms that are currently hurting us.

~ Raederle

The Consciousness Alchemist

Living Culture Movement

Cultural norms in America include:

• Asking a woman if you can buy her a drink in a bar
• Greeting someone with a handshake
• Having conversations over lunch or dinner
• Whistling when something is surprising (like an attractive woman or a large bill in the mail)
• Chewing on one's lip when uncertain
• Speaking in euphemisms and hyperbole rather than literally (i.e. "It went a hundred miles over her head")

For every "norm" you'll find hundreds of exceptions, but that's not the point. America, like all other countries in the world, has its own culture. It varies from city to city, state to state. Some of our norms are also the norm in other countries. Most cultures today include talking over food. Very few places have a custom of silent eating, or eating alone. These cultural norms define what we expect when we socialize. They give us an idea of what is considered "okay" and "good" and what is considered "not acceptable" and "bad." When we follow the cultural rules well, we are rewarded with acceptance by the majority of people we encounter. You're relying on them and they're relying on you – to follow society norms so that both of you can rest assured that your behavior is "good."

But what happens when social norms aren't serving you? What about norms that are explicitly hurting or excluding people?

Many books illustrate how today's norms are not as beneficial as they could be. Ishmael and The Continuum Concept are two such books which I highly recommend. Here is an illustration of my own: In today's culture it is normal to offer to share treats with anyone in the room. This tradition goes back to a time before refined sugars were so widely available. It goes back to a time when a "treat" might have been an orange, a sweet potato or a banana. A treat might have been honey-covered nuts at worst. (While nuts and honey both offer health benefits, eating them together is rough on the digestive system.) A treat today can be a lump of chemicals with no food anywhere to found within it. And while you wouldn't offer someone suffering from an addiction to alcohol a shot of vodka, it is perfectly normal to offer sugar addicts a dough-nut. This is one example of how a cultural norm hurts people rather than helping them.

Another example: Sage smudging. This is a practice taken up by many alternative spiritual communities that are springing up to honor and worship in ancient ways. But with so many people developing fume and chemical sensitivities, there are a growing body of people who can't tolerate smoke (myself included). This practice of sage smudging has beautiful origins. However, it comes from a time when the air was pristine, and chemicals were not a part of our lives. In that environment breathing in some smoke wasn't a big deal. In today's crowded cities and chemical-laden environments, adding smoke doesn't increase the spirituality of an experience. This practice (and the practice of burning incense) excludes people who would otherwise love to participate in these spirit-based events.

And, a third example: Silences are considered awkward. Whenever we're in a group, we're expected to all compulsively talk to one another – or all silently tap at our phones. This constant stream of social input – vocal or digital – leaves no room for group introspection. Once upon a time, people could go for a long walk in nature or spend the day fishing and have long silences that were about introspection and absorption of experience. Today these comfortable, introspective silences are much rarer and harder to find. Because of this, our communication is more cluttered up with idle thoughts, logistical questions, and data-based exchanges. We're spending more time talking about unexamined opinions and less time actually having experiences worth talking about. I'm not saying this is everybody, or even you, but it is a growing trend, and an unfortunate one.

Cultural norms fade in and out of dominance or existence altogether over time. In the chart below I've outlined features of the Dying Culture – the existing culture's ways of hurting us, and it's opposing force, the Living Culture – the cultural facets we can normalize to increase our harmony with one another and the earth.

Cultures	Dying Culture	Living Culture
Yards:	Lawns, non-fruiting shrubs and trees	Food-bearing gardens of rambling beauty
Love Languages:	Largely unrecognized	Used as a simple basis for how to give more effectively to one another
Food:	40% corn, wheat, soy, other grains; 40% animal products; 15% sugar, caffeine; 5% vegetables, fruits, nuts	40% vegetables; 40% fruits; 20% nuts, seeds; 5% other; 70%+ raw foods
Attitude:	Assuming Knowing that you're right	Asking Curiosity toward others
Partying:	Drinking, bars, smoking, rough-housing, late nights	Board games, fresh juices, kombucha, starting early, starting uninhibited and authentic from the outset
Needs:	Feeling ashamed for having needs	Expressing needs and having them taken seriously
Group conversation:	Competing for your turn to speak	Subtly directing others to bring out what you're curious about, and what makes them most excited
Emotional expression:	Compulsively smiling, regardless of mood	Authentic expression of emotions, including sadness and anger
Minorities:	Majority rules over the minority	Space is made for the minority to have their needs met
Radical ideas:	Shamed	Heard, considered
Creativity:	Tolerated, sometimes accepted	Nurtured, encouraged
Inspired feelings/actions:	Approached with skepticism, criticism	Met with encouragement and enthusiasm
Efficiency:	Achieved through specialization, hurrying, pinching pennies	Achieved through diversity, inspired enthusiasm, consciousness
Intuition:	Largely ignored, dismissed	Used as a basis for making sound decisions
Spirituality:	Religious dogma or atheism	Life-affirming awareness of self and synchronicities
Conversations:	Centered around movies, politics, weather, famous people, personal gripes	Centered around personal transformation, inspiring stories, healing/sustaining practices, current feelings
Experimentation:	Feared	Embraced
Therapy:	Endless sessions with little progress, anti-depressants and other drugs	Consciousness Alchemy