Twist Again

C'mon let's twist again...
Originally uploaded by hortensia violencia.

I went to a party this weekend and found myself a bit dismayed by a conversation a few of us had after our rousing game of charades. In the living room we sat around the fire as one woman tried to explain that she no longer knew what hope was. To her the world is peopled by deeply flawed humans, basically no different from the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages. Another woman spoke of her total distrust of government, yet another of how we now all carried deep seated anxiety. Yet, we all agreed that human beings have a remarkable capacity for goodness. This last point brought to life perfectly when I noticed that while we all talked doom and gloom, at the other end of the house they danced to “Twist Again, like you did last summer.” Tears came to my eyes. Such dear women, approaching and past 60-oh-my-god years old, could still dance in simple delight.

I gave no reply Saturday night. I simply listened. Today I’d like to offer these comments from Eckhart Tolle.

A question to Eckhart Tolle: Do you believe that humanity is ready for this transformation [into a “New Earth”]?

Tolle: Yes. I see signs that it is already happening. For the first time there is a large scale awakening on our planet. Why now? Because if there is no change in human consciousness now, we will destroy ourselves and perhaps the planet. The insanity of the collective egoic mind, amplified by science and technology, is rapidly taking our species to the brink of disaster. Evolve or die: that is our only choice now. Without considering the Eastern world, my estimate is that at this time about ten percent of people in North America are already awakening. That makes thirty million Americans alone, and in addition to those people in other North American countries, about ten percent of the population of Western European countries are also awakening. This is probably enough of a critical mass to bring about a new earth. So the transformation of consciousness is truly happening even though they won’t be reporting it on tonight’s news.

Is it happening fast enough? I am hopeful about humanity’s future, much more so now than when I wrote The Power of Now. In fact that is why I wrote that book. I really wasn’t sure that humanity was going to survive. Now I feel differently. I see many reasons to be hopeful.

Another Question….In your vision of a new earth, the purpose of life involves what you call awakened doing. What do you mean by this?

Tolle: …awakened doing has three modalities, depending on circumstances and the nature of the activity. They are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. If there is neither acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm in what you do, you are out of alignment with universal purpose. You are creating unhappiness, that is to say suffering in one form or another. One way of defining the ego is simply this: a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment. What I refer to as the “new earth”—the outer forms created by awakened doing—arises as more people realize that their purpose is to allow consciousness to emerge through whatever they do.

From An Interview with Eckhart Tolle
by Kathy Juline
Reprinted from the October 2006 issue of Science of Mind magazine and posted on the Eckhart Tolle website. Go there for more.