Follow the Impulse — The Next Level
‘Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.’ Carl Sagan
Have you ever felt a strange pull towards something that you are not able to define or name?
What was it that called explorers forth to explore beyond the normal, the known, the horizon, and allowing nothing and no one to hold them back? The pulse of a heart beating the constant reminder to follow the impulse, not knowing what you are looking for, yet, knowing there is something to discover. Scientists like Einstein and Da Vinci spoke about how this impulse, conviction, and curiosity led them to their discoveries.
Some feel the seduction and call of the unknown, forbidden fruit, and rhythmic tones of what wants to become known. A vibration, inner knowing, gut feeling, and sensation, rather than a form.
Others need credentials, guarantees, proof, theories, explanations, permission, maps, and/or instructions.
Some begin strong. Others end strong, as they have second winds. Yet others prefer and have the momentum to shape, construct, anchor, develop, follow through, maintain, sustain, integrate, keep in place, strengthen, explain, teach, improve, and expand what has been started, or discovered.
Some prefer to initiate, others to follow, and yet others a blend of the two depending on the situation.
Some are inspired by adventures, and other by the familiar.
Some are energized by innovation, and others find fulfilment in tradition.
Human beings have been gifted with free will and the power of choice. We can decide which wave we would like to keep in place, contribute to, or bring into being. There are no right, or wrong choices in this regard.
We all have a unique place in the web of life and make an unrepeatable contribution to the world, no matter what drives, inspires, and makes us feel totality alive. The validity of our experience and perspectives is not something we need to defend, prove, justify, or explain.
Imagine we all wanted to experience exactly the same? Imagine we all started strong, or we all wanted to keep things in place, or we all finished strong? There will be no life!
Fortunately life and existence is filled with infinite expressions, forms, shapes, nuances, subtleties, shades, tones, textures, colors, rhythms, dimensions, permutations, configurations, and combinations.
Creation is absolutely incredible; luxuriously generous in its expressions, delightfully mischievous in its mystery, and lavishly diverse in the meaning human beings find in their experiences.
In 1995, in the Global Brain Awakens: Our Next Evolutionary Leap, renowned physicist and futurist Peter Russell inquired, ‘Where are we most likely heading?’ He made a questioning statement that not only mesmerizes and makes us think, it also sheds light on something mindboggling. Imagine this for a moment: ‘If anyone had been around four billion years ago, would they have ever guessed that the volcanic landscape, the primeval oceans, the strange mixture of gases in the atmosphere would steadily evolve into such improbable and complex beings as constitute humanity?…What unimaginable developments lie ahead, not only in thousands of millions of years’ time, but in just one million years?…’
Closer to the present moment, most humans alive during the 19th Century most probably had no idea what would emerge, be discovered, invented, or experienced in the subsequent 20th and 21st Centuries. Can we even imagine what lies ahead a 100 years from now?
Are you curious about that? Does that excite you, or create anxiety? Maybe you are neutral and completely happy with focusing on the present moment. All is well, regardless of your response.
What about this wisdom shared by American Writer Edgar Allan Poe, during the first half of the 19th Century? ‘We stand on the brink of a precipice. We peer into the abyss — we grow sick and dizzy. Our first impulse is to shrink from danger. Uncountably, we remain.’
Here in the 3rd decade of the 21st century, will we cower, or will we take the leap? What type of future will we seed? And like Rudolf Steiner, Austrian Social Reformer, proposed, will we be people who have some idea that something has to be prepared for the future in human soul?
Our ancient future is catching up on us. We are breathing life into the future (the next moment) with every breath we take. And yes, after a time of homeostasis, we are entering uncharted territories and can expect new experiences. What version of ourselves is called for now?
Life is in constant flux and flow. Eras change. Human behavior changes.
A blast from the past
The ancients tell an interesting story, which reveals an interesting pattern. Join me for a quick journey into our distant past.
Kindly note that characteristics of time periods, generations, awareness, and specific dates, are still debated in many disciplines, and hence applied to demonstrate, rather than to represent factual information.
Welcome to the Palaeolithic or Stone Age. A new culture arrived. The first human art appeared, and evidence of spirituality and culture has been discovered. Men hunted and women gathered mostly vegetables. Towards the end of that age agriculture was born. Domestication of some animals started, and the first records were kept.
This age was followed by the New Stone Age. The first villages started to appear at the end of this period. Trade and agriculture became established.
Thereafter, the Neolithic Culture flourished, during which humans discovered the usefulness of travelling by boat. Communities were built on the shores of lakes, by rivers, and near the sea. With plenty food available for the first time, men were able to go farther afield, and warfare increased. Coastal and deep sea navigation made trade possible.
The flowering of the Neolithic culture became evident during the next age. New ideas were springing up everywhere, brought about by trade and communication. A variety of food crops were cultivated, and all standard farm animals were domesticated, except the horse. Villages began to grow into towns. As new ideas prolificated, people discovered how to work with copper and gold. Both weapons and ornaments evolved quickly, and the first symbol systems, precursors of writing, appeared. Some tribal cultures developed into civilizations, yet societies were relatively egalitarian and peaceful. The first major challenge to this emerging civilization appeared towards the end of this period. Nomads travelling in horse-drawn carts and chariots appeared from the steppe. To withstand or incorporate these new tribes, the settled cultures had to change.
*These discoveries based on archaeological finds.
During the next stage, recorded history began. All achievements of the previous age were grounded supported, and integrated as a permanent part of human life. The civilization of Egypt was established during this period, in a form whose characteristics were to remain unchanged for four thousand years. How odd is that? Though new peoples moved in, and names, languages, and dynasties changed, the cultural continuity was clear. In Northern Europe, the megalithic cultures were building monuments of stone that still inspire awe today. The cultures of the south needed this strength. To withstand incursions of the horse people, they had to fortify their cities by developing armies and war leaders. More and more power passed into the hands of men.
The age of conquerors and warriors followed. Humanity had begun in cultures in which the female principle of the universe was worshipped and emulated. The women were respected and not exploited. Yet, as wave after wave of invaders moved south and westward, with them came the value of might over right. The discovery of bronze gave men much better weapons, and the Iron Age that followed made them even more effective. This age encompassed most of what we know of ancient history. Great civilizations arose, with mighty temples and walled cities built by slave labor and defended by armies. Empires rose and fell. The Roman Empire was founded and began to expand. Descent is traced through the male ancestral line.
We are alive at the end of the next age that started around AD 172, characterized by suffering and martyrdom, struggle and confusion, but also with great creativity and imagination, which causes constant conflict and duality. There has been a strong motivation to seek spiritual knowledge, yet humans allow the past to haunt them and to breed new wars. Self-sacrifice is mostly demanded from women. Although an artistic age, serving the collective consciousness carries a heavy price tag in loneliness, poverty, discrimination, and lack of appreciation.
As the Information Age gathers strength, the mist is busy clearing. We prepare for the next age, namely AD 2320–4469. What themes will dominate the next age? What will it be like? We are already in the sub-age of the Age of Aquarius since 1962.
Will it be more utopian, with racial tolerance and gender parity?
Will we be able to transition in life beyond labels, roles, functions, and stereotyping?
What new human abilities will emerge? Will we experience our unseen and energetic senses?
How will we organize ourselves and live?
Here, near, far, and beyond
Closer to the present moment, the past 5 centuries have its own story to tell about how humanity developed. Each era had different and unique intentions, drives, experiences of life, skills requirements, orientations, and threats.
The world of the farmer during the Agricultural Era, in the 17th century, was ‘here’. Physical strength and fortitude, living in harmony with the elements, and being attuned to Nature, were skills required to thrive.
The world of the factory worker, which the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century required, was labor intensive and quantity focused. It expanded worldviews from ‘here to near’. Completely different skills were required, such as precision and repetition, which in turn needed management and control.
The world of the information and knowledge worker in the Information and Knowledge Age in the 20th century, also called the age of reason, expanded our worldviews from ‘near’ to ‘far and beyond’, with the coming of the internet and advances in technology and communication. Skills required were attention to detail, sequencing, logic, and analysis.
The world of the age of awareness, also called the conceptual age, in the 21st century and the 4th industrial Revolution as some labelled it, expanded our worldviews to be ‘integrative’ and ‘beyond the obvious’. With continuous advances in Science, Technology, and Communication, the concept worker and skills favored are design, perspective, meaning, and narrative, amongst others.
Generational Shifts
Likewise, if we care to put on the generational lens, we notice that each new generation brought a gift to the world. Yet, we will notice that many hold a previous generation’s aspirations, ways of being and doing in place. And likewise, others are visionaries, and maybe perceived as ahead of their ‘time’.
The Maturists were shaped by life pre-World War II, namely of rations, droughts, economic hardships, and recovering from World War I. They were inspired by home-ownership, and ideal leadership was authoritarian commanding. Top down communication styles impacted their leadership style, which was that of command and control.
The Baby Boomers were shaped by a growing economy, recovering from World War II, and the hardships of the preceding generation. Safety and building up the world gave rise to many industries, such as the property boom. Ideal leaders were commanding thinkers with a leadership style of get out of the way. Job security was a driving force.
Gen X was shaped by global politics and being more open to diversity and embracing differences. Global thinking, goal oriented, human potential, knowledge, and independent problem solving were key aspirations. Ideal leaders were coordinated doers. Work-life balance and building a career became important.
Gen Y is shaped by the technology revolution and the wonders of a networked environment, its all about experience. Motivated to maintain a personal lifestyle, freedom, flexibility, meaning and purpose are important. Ideal leaders are empowering collaborators, with a collaborative problem solving and decision making style.
GenZ shaped by High Tech and Communications, Social Networks, and Connectivity, making the world a better place is the gift they bring to the world. Rebels with a cause, evolutionaries in mobility, whilst maintaining personal relationships, they want to consciously shape the future. Self-expression, security and stability is important to them. Ideal leaders are inspiring co-creators.
We notice a notable natural procession from possessions to products and services to knowledge to experiences to expression.
Place of Integrity
We carry the seeds of our development and natural procession within our cells. A masterpiece, waiting within us. is ready to be awakened and revealed, if only we get out of our own way.
Incredible creative and aware beings, we are able, through intention, to take what we learned from life(maturity) and use that as fuel(passion) for our creative self-expression(personal identity). Likewise, through concerted action, we are able to consciously co-create embryonic, liminal spaces for our next level of being and organizing ourselves to emerge and unfold.
Our own personal development journeys as human beings demonstrate this procession and natural development cycle. We come into this world as a babe, and transformed into a toddler, with different abilities from lying down in our cot, or in the arms of our mother/parents. From there we transformed into child running around; discovering, and learning. As a teenager, belonging and expressing ourselves became important, and then as a young adult we find our place in the world.
Some duplicate the same cycles as their parents and older generations, and become a regretful, unhappy, disgruntled, disillusioned adult, and/or a critical and controlling parent/boss/manager. Just to have a midlife crisis realizing we have outgrown our boots and situations, and beginning to question and search for meaning, fulfillment, and a sense of purpose, as surely, this can’t be it?
And then we start all over again, like a babe, finding the feet of this new version of self, crawling, exploring, creating, expressing, sharing, and so on, in an ever- evolving world.
Sadly, some think we stop growing, developing, awakening, and transforming once we finished formal studies and begin a career. Our journey through life is one that does not stay constant, as it is forever evolving, expanding, and transforming. A life-long learning and discovery journey, there is always another level, dimension, sensibility, ability, and version to be discovered.
As Madeleine L’Engle and John O’Donohue so wisely shared, a self is not a finished thing and not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is constantly unfolding and becoming. The human experience is, then, essentially creative.
Untamed, this is when we act from a place of integrity, and when we are congruent with living our own truth. Acting and responding from a place of wholeness, authenticity, sovereignty, impeccability, we no longer need to validate, defend, explain, justify, or prove ourselves. And we are able to experience the time of our lives! Our recent Gateway to the Possible Podcast, Untamed — the Time of our Lives shares interesting perspectives in this regard. It is available here.
Levels of Awareness
A quick journey into the human brain demonstrates the different parts of our brain are associated with a particular kind of awareness that developed as these brains evolved. The most ancient, the reptilian brain, with the primal drive to survive, it is programmed to breathe, eat, and breed. Its motto is, I eat and I kill, therefore I am.
Around 200,000 years ago*, with the discovery of cooking, the limbic brain, with the primal drive of safety, established authority. It is all about beliefs and emotions, feeding, mothering, safety, self-worth, and mating, its motto is: I hoard and I mate, therefore I am.
Fast forward to about 50,000 years ago*, humanity awakened to the potential of the neocortex, which is all about knowledge, science, language, speech, ethics, philosophy, aesthetics, music, poetry, and comprehends linear time. Its motto is: I think, therefore I am.
Then around 6,000 years ago*alphabetic writing, mathematics, and city-states transformed the human landscape, as a new level of consciousness evolved. Seen as the system integrator of our biological supercomputer, the drive of the prefrontal is to create and to discover. It assists us to lose our sense of separateness and to experience a sense of timelessness, wholeness, interconnectedness, and beauty. Its motto is: I AM, therefore I am.
*The dates mentioned is still under intense debate today. As shared by Anthropologist, Alberto Villoldo
It is clear that epochs were not an improvement, replacement, or continuation of previous ones…The purpose is not to fix what is no longer working, wrong, relevant, or outdated. Each gifted humanity with completely new and different qualities, just like every new generation brings something new to the world. Similarly, our level of awareness evolved from’ I eat and I kill, therefore I am’, to ‘I AM, therefore I AM’. Thus, raising our awareness, expanding our experience, and awakening new human qualities and abilities, we contribute to the procession of life.
A Turning Point
Transcending from a linear to a holographic, exponential thinking and worldview, we notice that there have been more innovations in the last 150 years than in the preceding 2000 years. With the explosion of technological advances, our awareness and perception of life is expanding and speeding up rapidly, as we are able to perceive and take in more information and become aware of emergent human intelligence.
The human narrative and landscape is expanding and evolving, as it did in previous eras. Imagine a book has only one chapter, with that chapter being repeated several times… It would not be fun, or meaningful to read such a publication. Imagine the same old same old, with no storyline, nor character development…That is not the purpose of a story, or a book.
It is clear from world events that a turning point and transition into a new era is taking place, a new narrative for humanity emerging, and new levels of awareness unfolding. Which in turn will require new ways of being, and upgraded mental frames of reference, worldviews, belief systems ( not referring to organized religion), and mindsets. Mental constructs, such as outdated and limited opinions, perspectives and point of views, can hold us captive in the past and infantile regression. Our eyes and feet are facing forward, not backwards.
What is stirring within us to be recognized?
What awakening awaits us now?
What abilities and sensibilities are busy emerging?
What will the next wave of awareness be like?
Follow the Impulse
Whereto from here? Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French Jesuit Priest, Scientist, Philosopher, Teacher, and Paleontologist, believed that the future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.
Life pulses through, around, within, and from us. Coming back to basics of being human, we can reconnect with this impulse. We are gifted with incredible awareness, abilities, sensibilities, and intelligences to create a spark:
The raw potential and power to ignite, engage, and adventure!
The raw potential and power to connect, forge relationships, and nurture!
The raw potential and power to discover, analyse, and learn!
The raw potential and power to build, create stability, and foster growth!
No matter which resonates, energizes, inspires, and is authentic to us, there is nothing to fear when we listen to the whisper of our soul, which is heard only by us, and when we respond to the impulse. We all have a unique way of becoming aware of this whisper and impulse. It will show the way and we will feel the pull without being able to define, nor to name it. Cognitive awareness will follow and take on form at the right time.This is when we act from a place of integrity, as the next level in being human is completely natural to us. It is clear from the processions of previous ages, generations, and our individual development.
Having joyful reverence for life, and declaring YES to Life in all its expressions once again, we open ourselves to the natural flow of life.
John Stuart Mill, a Philosopher, in On Liberty, published in 1859, reminded us of the wonder of being human and our inherent impulse. He believed that human nature is not a machine to be built after a model, and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree, which requires to grow and develop itself on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces which make a living thing.
Lead your own Metamorphosis
Let curiosity lead you…
Explore the possibilities with childlike wonderment…
What is calling you forth?
What is not holding you back?
What burns for expression in and through you?
What wants to be known through and to you?
What does inspiration feel like in your body? Invite it in and let it in. Let life flow through you. Notice any sensations when you inquire about this.
What and who are you gravitating towards?
It will give you tremendous joy, and make you come alive, energized, and forever curious!
Follow the Impulse! Follow the Bliss! Follow the Joy!
Energy, matter, and meaning…Life is an interconnected procession. Its time to take our place in the web of life and emerging patterns. Yet, we easily focus on form, structure, and doing before we explore this new way of being and what the emerging energy feels like.
Gill Edwards so powerfully expresses it. She says that the new paradigm tells us that focus and intention are crucial. Consciousness determines the collapse of quantum wave functions, which in turn determines what happens in the outside world.
Our task, as conscious co-creators, is to align our vibrations with our Emergent Self. This is possible during our Quests and Adventures for Wisdom. We explore and experiment with new ways of being, feeling, sensing, thinking, relating, creating, working together, contributing, sharing, exchanging, learning, and perceiving. You are welcome to reach out at welcome@thepossibilitygap.com if you are curious and would like to know more about The Quest, which consists of 8 tracks.
Notice which patterns your are repeating and holding in place…
Pay attention to those individuals who cross your path and who cause you to reflect on your journey.
Turning points announce themselves through a variety of vague symptoms: such as deep restlessness, a yearning with no name, inexplicable boredom, the feeling of being stuck. (Gloria Karpinski)
Set your course.
Follow the signs. Capture synchronicities and serendipitous events and encounters. Notice subtle attractions, out-of-place observations, out-of-character behaviors, unfamiliar sensations, unexplainable irritations, surprising ridiculous, spontaneous outrageous, and joyous responses.
The seed of the next level and our Future Self lies dormant within us. It germinates in our subconscious and ripens in our consciousness. An expanded version and form pushes through our awareness when we are ready.
Embrace the Next Level.
Align yourself with what needs to be rather than what has fallen out of sync. Let go of old paradigms. Be enthralled with anticipation of what is to come while enjoying the moment before you. Welcome the new.
Sail the seas of your imagination. Bring some fun and play back into your life. Connect with your imaginary friend from childhood.
Sing to your inner child who is still alive within you:
Different places, unknown faces, I open up to worlds anew. There is so much goodness, beauty, love, and abundance waiting for me as I leave behind what I once knew! (Inspired by Alana Fairchild and paraphrased)
Old School meets New Cool?
Richard Tarnas, a Cultural Historian, in Cosmos and Psyche shared that ours is an age between worldviews, creative yet disorientated, a transition era where the old cultural vision no longer holds and the new has not yet constellated.
It is quite a conundrum. Introducing the new into old structures is not viable, as these old structures are not able to hold the emerging new. It was not created for this purpose. Hence, it being wise to take a fresh approach in this regard by creating a transition zone, thus an in-between, liminal, embryonic, flow space, where we can retreat for a while to explore and experiment with the new and where we can co-constellate new patterns and experiment with them.
Readiness meeting opportunity, the purpose of such a transitional process is multi-fold. Besides it being energizing, rejuvenating, and inspirational, it enables us to take the leap, stay relevant, align ourselves to emerging patterns, navigate shifting paradigms, whilst we set the tone for the future and are able to respond to opportunities arising, disruptions, and unexpected events in an aware, connected, and prepared way.
We all benefit from such a space and process, no matter whether our purpose and contribution is to hold a current system in place, or if we are called to constellate a new pattern, or if we are here to create or act as a bridge to for other to be able transition from one era/paradigm to a new one, with ease and joy.
It is important to notice that it is a both/and scenario. One era/paradigm/system does not instantaneously replace the preceding. They co-exist in harmony, until the emerging new has been established.
Christopher Alexander, Design Theorist and Architect in A Pattern Language reminds us that when we build a thing, we cannot build it in isolation, and that it must also repair the world around it and within it so the larger world becomes more coherent, more whole; and the thing which we make takes its place in the web of nature, as we make (constellate) it.
And the day came when the risk to stay in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to bloom. Anias Nis
What Business Impulse is ready to hatch?
Ready for the Leap? To embrace the Next Level?
Called to Constellate the Next Level?
You are welcome to connect with us at welcome@thepossibilitygap to explore the possibilities to join in The Leap, during which we constellate 8 new patterns and The Next Level from an organizational and business perspective.