Kundalini Splendor

 Recognizing the Secret Community
from the Interfaith Observer
December 15, 2017

Recognizing the Secret Community

by Deborah Moldow

A vast spiritual community is emerging all over the world. It has no name. It has no church or temple and no scripture. No one sees it. And yet it is among the most potent forces for evolutionary change on the planet. You are a member because you are participating in the spiritual renaissance that is underway, whether or not you are aware of it. And it is here to stay.

As we awaken to identify ourselves as planetary citizens, members of a diverse human family deeply rooted in a global web of life, this sense of oneness begins to pervade our worldview. We see our heritage, culture, nationality, and religion as gifts to be enjoyed rather than a source of our tribe’s superiority. This expanded vision has a profound impact on our inner life that is showing up as a new spirituality.

The emerging spirituality is not a new religion, since its members include devout practitioners of a wide range of the world’s beautiful religions along with humanists and atheists. It stands on the shoulders of the interfaith movement of the past century and the explosion of access to scriptures and practices that were once held in secret or confined to groups in the know. In the 1960s and 1970s, Eastern spiritual concepts came into popular Western culture through such modern interpreters as Alan Watts and Ram Dass, while renewed interest in Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi grew. Popular music sang out messages of peace and the Beatles spread the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, telling us that “All We Need is Love.” The young Dalai Lama began traveling the world with his infectious smile and emphasis on simple kindness. Eastern health technologies such as acupuncture and yoga gained popular acceptance and, far and wide, people began to meditate. East meets West.

In the meantime, North was meeting South as indigenous cultures began to encounter one another in fulfillment of the legendary Eagle and Condor prophesy, which says that the uniting of the masculine and feminine energies of North and South could bring about a next level of consciousness for humanity. At the same time, respect for indigenous wisdom was growing, especially in the face of looming climate change, runaway pollution poisoning our air, water and soil, and other challenges caused by modern civilization’s disregard for our natural habitat. The recent historic stand at Standing Rock to protect water for future generations increased solidarity among indigenous peoples and those willing to stand with them to honor the Earth.

Our worldview was perhaps destined to change from the moment we saw the first picture of the Earth from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, dubbed “Earthrise,” showing our stunning blue planet rising from the darkness of space. And the new physics is helping us to peer into the mystery with a radically new sense of consciousness pervading all reality.

From all directions, our eyes are opening to one planet, one people, one life in a universe that teems with purpose.