This topic drew my attention. How about you? Exploring it first rests on how we define “success.” Traditionally success meant doing all the “right” things, like knowing the right people, going to the right schools, being from the right families, getting the right jobs, etc. This is the DO-HAVE-BE model. “Do” the right things, and you will “have” lots of stuff, and “be” happy. As Dr. Phil might ask, “How’s that working for you?” For most, it isn’t. This is where the confusion and frustration sets in. If we did it “right” and we’re still not happy, did we fail at success? Or is “success” itself and the ladder it rests on, somehow flawed?
Recently I saw a video of a talk given by an East Indian spiritual teacher who was discussing 2012. He referred to popular fears about earthly demise. He explained that those cultures which are based upon “thinking” and “clutching” will experience great depression and that those which are based upon “Being” will experience bliss and enlightenment. That is, cultures that live as BE-DO-HAVE will enjoy where we are headed. (BE authentic, Do from your Being, and Have abundance in all ways.)
Author Gregg Braden has expressed a similar perspective. He explains that we are now experiencing a dimensional shift in consciousness, from the third to the fourth dimension. We have lived in third dimensional consciousness for 2,000 years. This dimension is marked by judgment (good vs. bad), by putting the self before others, and by competition, lack consciousness, and technology. We are now experiencing the lower and middle fourth dimension of consciousness marked by holistic understanding, care and compassion. He states that we are heading for the higher fourth dimension of intuition, unconditional love, less attachment, more appreciation, and rewards to heart-centered people rather than money to the ambitious. So we are really taking a dimension and a half leap in a very short span of time. The current shift began in 2001. The years 2008 and 2012 are key hinge-point years; and by 2020 the world will be a different place.
So is “failing at success” really evidence of our maturation of consciousness? A movement from a focus on “doing” (the DO-HAVE-BE model) to one of Being (the BE-DO-HAVE model)?
I recently saw the movie “Social Network” and I feel that this movie reflects what we are exploring here. The movie portrayed the problem of intellect over heart. It showed that speed eventually implodes into a heartless abyss. It revealed that intellectual brilliance becomes a weapon of its own destruction if coupled with low self-worth.
The way of human evolution clearly will require us to develop our capacity to love, ourselves & one another, and indeed all of life. It will require us to dim our ego and see from that place of inner Divinity, our spirit. Watch for the metaphors to teach you what you must learn. I’m sitting writing by lamplight as it is late at night. Hearing a sound outside, I instinctively turned off the lamp to see in the darkness outside. Turn down the ego so that you will have the eyes to see. And you will likely see that “success” itself has failed us.
