by Darren Starwynn
How powerful is our consciousness?
At some times in the past when I was feeling down and burdened by difficult experiences I wryly comforted myself by saying to myself “Well, if I am so powerful that I can screw my life up this much, imagine what would happen if I put all this power toward creating something I really want?”
Yes, kind of funny but also serious. In my view most modern human beings expend vast amounts of our prodigious inner power battling and sabotaging ourselves and each other. I’m sure that if aliens visited us from a more enlightened civilization they would stare at us in disbelief for doing that on an ongoing basis!
Just how powerful is our consciousness when applied to a good and worthy purpose? Let me share some stories with you about that. I hope these touch you.
The most recent one was just last weekend. I was leading a healing workshop at the Unity in Marin center in Novato, California. When I drove up there last Thursday to prepare the air was smoky and irritating due to the massive wildfires raging nearby in Napa and Sonoma counties. I had to run an air purifier in my bedroom to sleep well that night due to all the air pollution from the fires. I checked online to see what the air quality forecast for the weekend was, and it showed even worsening air quality in Marin on Saturday.
We had the opening session of our workshop on Friday evening the 13th. During that session our group of 20 people meditated together, shared healing energy and did a series of consciousness-elevating exercises.
To my surprise, when I drove back to Unity on Saturday morning the skies were quite clear, and I could barely smell any smoke. By the time we ended our workshop Saturday afternoon it was hard to tell that there were any fires near Novato! I was even able to take a long walk the next day without even smelling any smoke.
Since Monday, however, the air quality has again worsened around here, and there are new fires even closer.
Was it a co-incidence that the air quality in Marin County drastically improved during our higher consciousness workshop, and then worsened again after it was over?
Next story. Back in April of 2010 the worst oil spill in U.S. history happened in the Gulf of Mexico, called the Deepwater Horizon spill. I remember that engineers and scientists were struggling for more than four months to try to contain and seal the spill far below the Gulf without any success. The force of the oil was just too strong. At least 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf, causing widespread environmental devastation. The well was finally sealed on September 19, 2010.
During that time I was at another healing workshop in Tucson, Arizona with a spiritual master named Zhi Gang Sha. At one point on Saturday, September 18th I was speaking with another student about the possibility of our group doing some kind of healing work for the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. I decided to go up to talk with Dr. Sha and ask him what he or our group could do. I spoke with him privately for a few minutes and found that he was not familiar with the news about the oil spill. After I briefly explained what was happening he said he would give a blessing for that area. The oil spill was successfully capped the next day, on Sunday, September 19th. Another co-incidence?
Here’s the final story I will share. Have you read the book Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto? That is the book where he shows photographs of frozen water crystals. Some of the water had been exposed to positive, loving messages and some to negative messages. The photographs of water crystals exposed to the positive messages clearly show more beauty and grace. In that book Emoto also told a story about a murky, polluted lake in Japan. A group of Shinto priests and practitioners stood in a circle around that lake and chanted sacred phrases for hours. According to Emoto, by the end of the chanting session the water looked markedly clearer.
You can choose be inspired by these stories or debunk them, or just say “who knows?” I am offering them because I have no doubt that human consciousness does strongly affect our environment. The obvious way is that un-consciousness, which means operating in disregard of the inter-relatedness of all life, has led to all manner of man-made environmental damage, destruction and extinction of species. The less obvious way that fewer people acknowledge is that our consciousness can directly affect the weather and the Earth.
Do not feel helpless. You and I have the power within us make a significant impact on our Earth and all the painful things that have been happening recently. We can reclaim this power by putting aside our doubts and fears as much as possible and coming together with others who want to make a difference. To me the path is: raise my consciousness, and then take action.
The Earth has been rapidly evolving. The New Earth is the higher dimensional Earth that is emerging. It is already here and the Light is already intensifying on our planet. Yet we can still deny it and keep focusing on our old reality. By doing this we perpetuate a discombobulating tug-of-war between the old and the new, the unreal and the Real.
This can be a crazymaking process and it often is. Just know that the victory of the Light is assured. What is most important is how much each of us are experiencing and enjoying it now. As my humor guru Swami Beyondananda so aptly says:
“I can assure you that peace is coming on Earth. I just sure hope we humans are around to enjoy it!”
There will be more events here in Marin for people who wish to come together in consciousness to uplift and bless our environment. If you would like to be part of this movement of consciousness, take some time to tune into your higher guidance about what you can be and do. Come together with others to meditate, pray, chant and do acts of service for the people and animals that have been affected.
I have created a new Facebook group called Healing our Earth through Consciousness – Sonoma, Marin and Region. I invite you to join us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/133400617311762 On that page you will be alerted to consciousness-based service opportunities and events.