Please note that this page contains archival material.
The latest works are Beyond Every Teaching, The Ladder of Awakening, and Root Meanings.
Seven Waves of Change: Preparing for Reinvention
1 August 2020, v1.1.4 (First version 9 June 2020)
This article is an offering of Love, conceived in meditation and created in deep conversation with the whispers of life. May it serve the transformation of human consciousness that is underway and provide a small measure of clarity for these complex times.
The world is in a period of intense, unprecedented transformation, and there is no returning to the way things were before the Coronavirus pandemic. The process is clearly evident in the United States of America, where COVID-19 has disproportionately affected communities of color, and where displays of solidarity around the Black Lives Matter movement are multiplying after centuries of social and economic injustice. People of all backgrounds are seeking liberation from systems of oppression that are built on divide-and-conquer, colonizing, life-denying belief systems. At the same time, a number of world leaders have recognized that environmental degradation has magnified the effects of the Coronavirus and are calling for economic recovery plans that address greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, pollution, and other adverse human activities.
The multitude of changes that are now occurring are deeply interconnected, and the biggest changes are still to come. In meditation I saw that the pandemic and the worldwide protests for social justice are two related waves of change that are part of a larger process of life pushing humanity out of ways of living that have become increasingly dysfunctional. Moreover, I intuited that five additional waves of transformation are making their presence felt. Although we may experience these waves as disruption, they are conspiring for our benefit. We are witnessing, and participating in, the birth of a more compassionate and empathic humanity that prioritizes well-being for all humans and, indeed, all of life.
The seven waves of change are global in nature and will, over time, evolve economics, industries, governments, and communities everywhere. These waves overlap and enhance one another. Their arrival spans a period of nine months – between November 2019 and August 2020 – and they will continue to push and pull humanity throughout the decade. Once the waves have run their course, the pillars of a more awakened civilization will be in place. Meanwhile, the institutions of society will have to make an existential decision: those that are able to adapt to the new pattern of humanity may continue in evolved forms that are appropriate to the times, and those that fail to shift will decline and disappear.
The following scenario is intended to help us to align our lives with the far-reaching changes taking place, and thereby contribute to this global transformation in ways that minimize further suffering. While the details and the timeline will depend on countless everyday decisions made by billions of individuals, the overall sequence has impressed itself on my consciousness. After a weeklong discernment, I sense that these waves are an adequate representation of how life itself is advancing and that if 10%, or more, of the population aligns with this movement in 2020-2021 there can be justice for all by the end of the decade. The changes can be accelerated in the measure that we join our hearts and minds, and our prayers and intentions, in loving, inspired action.
The Waves of Change
Wave 1: The Coronavirus Pandemic
Wave 2: Social Justice Rising
Wave 3: The Beginning of Widespread Self-Liberation
Wave 4: The Rejection of Poverty as Morally Reprehensible
Wave 5: Institutions Evolve, Institutions Decline
Wave 6: Demonstrations of Unity and Conscience Lead to Peaceful Changes
Wave 7: Emergence of Novel Forms of Evolutionary Governance
Wave 1 • November 2019 – September 2021: The Coronavirus Pandemic
The pandemic has disrupted the activities of “business as usual” long enough to open up a space for the emergence of new possibilities that are deeply inspired. As a result of the pandemic, people all over the world have tasted life without air pollution, millions of people are now working from home, and local communities are embracing resiliency, to name just a few of the many benefits. On the flip side, substantial populations have been experiencing the terrifying economic and health impacts of the pandemic, especially communities of color, people locked in poverty, and those living on the margins of society who have been systematically ignored. This disparity has contributed mightily to the second wave of change.
Wave 2 • May 2020 – May 2025: Social Justice Rising
The Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the planet have initiated a multiyear movement of movements that is surfacing contemporary and historical injustices and holding the systems that enabled them to account. These systems will be tried in the court of public discourse and the underlying patterns of cruelty and unconscious behaviors will be clearly seen. Unconscious biases are becoming widely recognized, and these will be largely eliminated within three generations. Other forms of individual and collective unconsciousness will be identified and addressed. Every nation, and institutions of all types, will be required to reckon with their own deep-seated inequities and begin learning new practices and values that they will one day embody.
Wave 3 • June 2020 – July 2022: The Beginning of Widespread Self-Liberation
A growing number of people are opting out of the structures of society in which they no longer have confidence. Examples include parents who question the motives of the pharmaceutical industry and people who believe that their governments are misbehaving while failing to protect their safety and well-being. At the present time (June 2020), I see intuitively that 5% to 7% of the population in some of the world’s most powerful countries is withdrawing support from the institutions that they perceive to be failing. As people self-liberate in greater numbers, they are forming networks with the potential to birth alternative systems. Some of these alternatives will gain widespread support and grow into new forms of governance in the years to come.
Wave 4 • July 2020 – 2023: The Rejection of Poverty as Morally Reprehensible
Poverty results from an obsolete social operating system. We can build societies that are regenerative and flourishing, which value and invest in the education, health, and well-being of all while rewarding individual creativity and initiative. A thriving society requires that each of its members is well-nourished, healthy, and adequately resourced. These basic conditions give rise to synergies in which individual and collective prosperity surpass what is possible in cultures that accept impoverishment. Around the world, poverty is killing, maiming, or otherwise harming hundreds of millions of people, and humanity will reject the institutions that sustain it as perpetrators of genocide. We will know that the species has evolved when poverty is no more.
Wave 5 • July 2020 – 2027: Institutions Evolve, Institutions Decline
Governments and institutions of all types that do not cultivate inclusiveness, compassion, wisdom, and consciousness will be unable to resolve the complex tangle of social and environmental failures – from entrenched racism to violence against women to climate injustice and every form of inner and outer pollution. These dysfunctional systems will weaken as they demonstrate their inability to govern wisely or provide the services that are expected of them. While many governments, NGOs, and corporations will find ways to adapt to higher principles, especially at the local level, the institutions that are too cumbersome or slow to evolve will decline and eventually turn into compost for a new generation of conscious organizations that honor life.
Wave 6 • July 2020 – 2028: Demonstrations of Unity and Conscience Lead to Peaceful Changes
The emerging trend of defunding and dismantling police departments in the United States is an early sign of wholesale structural changes that will reshape our world. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others, combined with massive and largely peaceful protests, are pressuring officials of to implement needed restructuring. As momentum builds, peaceful expressions of unity will surround the structures of society that are misaligned, and many of these will choose to change or disband. In countries where people do not have the right to express themselves, the change processes will take longer; however, as these waves are global, all countries will experience the power of the peaceful.
Wave 7 • August 2020 – 2029: Emergence of Novel Forms of Evolutionary Governance
As the dysfunctional structures of society decline, resign, or fail outright, a groundswell of networked actions and inspired creativity are producing viable new solutions that will replace the outgoing models. These new forms will coalesce into local and regional institutions that are adapted for the 21st century. An emphasis on bioregionalism will help to ensure that human populations harmonize with the natural environment and that administrative boundaries align with the living systems of Earth. In the coming years, new and more awakened forms of government will implement policies and practices, rooted in wisdom and the lessons of history, that are socially just and ecologically sound… for all generations to come.
Conclusion
These seven waves of change have been forming for decades, and the seeds of new possibilities have, in many cases, been present for generations. The immense need for healing societal traumas, both ancient and ongoing, can no longer be ignored. The movements that are rising now build on the work of millions of souls who have suffered and struggled before us. We stand on the shoulders of giants, including indigenous cultures that maintained their traditional wisdom for over five hundred years in the face of genocide and persecution. Alas, a multitude of wounds remain unrepaired, and these words are an insufficient acknowledgement of the accumulate pain. And so I offer my love and prayers of the heart for the healing of one and all.
The time is coming when peace and justice will prevail on Earth. That day can arrive sooner, and suffering can be greatly alleviated, to the extent that we align our energies and actions with the movements of life. These waves of change provide one map of where we can invest in the processes of planet-wide transformation, starting right now, right where we are, in our personal lives and local communities. As one in ten people come into resonance with this path that life is offering, the new, more equitable world can take shape within the decade. Although we may not comprehend all of the complexities or foresee the surprises ahead, we can trust that we have the support of life itself.
There is much good work to be done. The coming times will be all the more joyful as we choose to evolve together.
Header Image from Pikerepo