What is your vision?

Q: What is the vision that inspires your work? What are you trying to do?

A: Change the world. It's a bold thing to say, but it's true. My work is dedicated to nothing less than a total revolution in human consciousness—a revolution that has to happen for all of our sake. Because if something fundamental doesn't change—and change fast—we're faced with a calamitous future. There are too many of us on the planet and its resources are being tragically overused. Humans have the power to create and destroy life in a way that up until recently only gods were capable of, and yet our moral, ethical, and spiritual development is lagging way behind. This is the context in which I'm trying to help people to see their own experience because then the whole business of spiritual and evolutionary development becomes very relevant—indeed, it becomes urgent. When you begin to let in how big this context really is, you will recognize that the extraordinary potential of your own personal transformation and its need to be actualized is absolutely non-separate from the predicament that we're in as a race. Ultimately, this world crisis is spiritual. It's a crisis of consciousness.

Q: Why do you say the world's predicament is a spiritual crisis?

A: Well, because it's obvious that no individual or group consciously chose to pollute or overpopulate the world. But simply because of a lack of awareness, a small-minded and self-centered perspective on the part of individuals and entire cultures, we have created the crisis that we are in. And it's not that we don't have the practical means to address the problems that we face, but we're still looking at these problems from that same old perspective that created them. So there is a leap that desperately needs to be taken by a significant minority—a leap in consciousness, a moral leap, a spiritual leap. We need to evolve our consciousness beyond this lower level of development, this small-minded and self-centered perspective, to a much higher and more all-embracing view.

Q: If it depends on individuals, how can this kind of shift happen on a scale that will really make a difference?

A: Those at the leading edge are going to have to take this leap and chart the way to the future. And that means us—you and me, right here, right now. You see, if you're even thinking about these questions, that means that you are part of a privileged minority. Most people on this planet do not have the freedom to even begin to think about these philosophical and spiritual issues because they have to devote all of their time and energy to simply surviving. The small minority of us who do have the time and circumstances for introspection are in a very fortunate position and could make a real difference. But what is crazy about this picture is that we won't do it. Why? Because we're too busy worrying about ourselves. The tragic irony of the postmodern mess that we're in is that so many of the most highly evolved and privileged people on the planet are lost in an emotional and psychological relationship to life that's very primitive—a swamp of narcissism and self-concern.

So this is our evolutionary challenge. We need to find the heart to see our own spiritual yearnings in the biggest possible context, in such a way that is going to compel us to lift ourselves up out of narcissism and self-concern. We need to find the courage to come together and face the challenges before us. And to do this, we need a new spirituality. We need a new enlightenment.