We are on the threshold of The Shift year, 2012. The Shift has been described as a portal of human development marked by the end of the current World Age (5,125 years) and reflected in the Mayan calendar. That calendar ends on 12/21/12. The Shift in our development is a movement from third to fourth dimensional consciousness. What does this mean? How will life look? Let’s explore these questions across three areas of relationship — the one within (with ourselves), the ones between us (personal/familial), and relationships between nations (as world citizens).
Third dimensional functioning can be described as judgmental, self-serving, and technological. In contrast, fourth dimensional consciousness looks like this — holistic, caring, compassionate, and intuitive. Perhaps the most prevalent concern about The Shift is whether it will bring especially difficult times. In a recently delivered teaching, Paramahansa Nithyananda posed this interesting question. Will The Shift bring Armagedon or Enlightenment? His answer was fascinating. He said that on this higher plane of vibration (fourth dimensional), those who grasp at life, seeking to control it and relying upon their thinking capacities will experience Armagedon. However those who live life flexibly, seeking to experience and appreciate it, and who live from their heart center will experience Enlightenment. Life will be what we make it to be and how we believe it to be.
Now let’s apply this wisdom to the realm of relationship. What will relationships look like in fourth dimensional consciousness and how will we grow our relationships? First let’s look at the most central relationship in our lives, the one with ourselves, and ultimately with our Higher Self. How will we grow this relationship? Eckhart Tolle has written and lectured much about the distinction between egoic functioning and Presence (living from Spirit). As currently physical manifest beings, I believe that we can grow our egoic functioning. This will require us to learn to better parent ourselves. (For a full picture of this concept and a great discussion of it, I highly recommend listening to a recent radio show I did with my colleague Barbara Conelli, PhD. Simply go to my website, click Audio Links, click Chique Radio, then click on the show “The Art of Self-Parenting” and enjoy!) To parent ourselves means that we slow down, become conscious of living in our body temple and make wise, healthy choices for ourselves. It requires that we learn to self-soothe and self nurture, and to validate ourselves so as to live in a personally grounded and peaceful way.
Growing in relationship with self also means that we will learn and practice the experience of Presence. This is the pure feeling of blissful aliveness, of being (in contrast to doing). It frees us from the shackles of time (past and future), and of identity (role). Feeling into this state gives us a glimpse of who we truly are in most alignment with our Higher, energetic/spiritual Self. Thus self-parenting and Presence are the two key ways that we will grow in relationship to ourselves as we develop into fourth dimensional beings.
How will we grow relationships with others? How will we grow these relationships on a higher vibrational plane? The answer I believe flows from the two keys I proposed in growing the relationship with ourselves; that is, self-parenting and Presence. When we are capable of parenting ourselves, we do not seek out relationships with others to meet our deficits. Fourth dimensional relationships will be more about unconditional love. I believe that this higher vibrational experience of love is not a verb, not something we do, but a noun, a state we are in. From this capacity to self-parent we can practice Presence which is where love lives. This is the only way that we can experience love in relationship to others.
True love is not of the ego and therefore can be experienced with regard to any person and anything. Thus fourth dimensional love will not require or be bound by relational contracts, nor will it be categorized by relational role. There will be no place for the dramas of betrayal and feelings of jealousy. Love is love. Fear is fear. I believe this foundational distinction will become more clear to us as we grow into higher consciousness.
Lastly, how will we grow our relationships as world citizens, between nations and cultures? Once again, like the movement of water when a pebble is tossed into a pond, the flow of living love will emanate from our relationship with self outward to our capacity to share this state of being in our personal relationships, and then to those others living in the world. In fourth dimensional consciousness we will see ourselves in broader context, as world citizens and our home base as Mother Earth. Thus we will feel a connection and kinship with all other humans as an Earth family. We will live on this planet with deep respect for Mother Earth, like all indigenous peoples, and we will understand our interdependence both with each other and with nature. National boundaries will soften; land ownership will be seen as sacrilegious, and resources will flow freely, eliminating lack and wars.
Does this seem far-fetched? Pie-in-the-sky? Deliriously delusional? I suggest that we all really attend to the increasing state of dysfunction and division in the world today, and to the painful contrasts resulting from our history. I suggest that we get conscious about our choices and face our fears instead of continuing our mindless addiction to projecting them onto others. I suggest that we get serious about who we are and why we are here. The oldest and wisest cultures all knew of the coming of this time. They knew the gravity of our choices at this most important time of vibrational change and sacred opportunity. We must grow our relationships with Self, with others, and with all of life.
The weight of the world is not upon you, only the weight of your own choices. You are more powerful than you can imagine or believe. Deepen your devotion to growing in love and to your own wellbeing. Remember the pebble in the pond. You are the pebble. Will you live Heaven on Earth? Will yours be a pond of joyous Enlightenment? Live from you heart and watch the magic happen.
