THE KEY CHANGE: From Viewpoint to View-Field

The key shift in awareness is

from self-centered viewpoint to ever-widening view-fields

CHANGE. We want it. We work toward it. We try innovative technologies, different organizations, new laws, other politicians, varied diets, fresh relationships, creative ways of working, and more. These tremendous efforts have shifted many things. The world seems perched on the edge of a major transformation. That monumental shift cannot happen, however, if one central factor isn't altered. The key change at the foundation of all others is to move from a self-centered viewpoint to ever-widening View-fields.

Most of the time, we see ourselves standing at the center of the world. As the drawing in the upper left hand corner depicts, each of us experiences life revolving around "Me." This Me is the central character in every life story. In this scenario, all change is directed toward what benefits the Me no matter how much it undermines the surrounding world. Such self-centered viewpoints spawn the greed, isolation and limitation that separate the haves from the have-nots, the powerful from the powerless, the in group from those on the fringes of society. In this structure, all change is merely a shift in appearance. The divisions that wound the world are reinforced and deepened.

On the other hand, events arise that knock the Me off center. Economic collapse, climate change, and social uprisings can push the Me to the edge of the world stage. Despite the personal trauma of this experience, a great opportunity opens before the Me. As the second drawing from the upper left depicts, the Me's self-centered view can widen into an arc of perception. Viewpoint can open to the View-field. The concerns of the individual can include the concerns of the whole. Change from this perspective can be directed toward benefiting as much territory as possible. The View-field approach spawns more compassion, connection and expansion. This key shift in outlook generates true structural change in what the Me thinks, says and creates.

As the third and fourth drawings above depict, each shift in viewpoint can widen into a broader View-field of concern. Our lives change from being all about Me to being about the role I can play in the wider world. This is not a diminishment of self. It is an expansion to a broader definition of self, a Me that lives as We.

How has life urged you to move from a self-centered viewpoint to a broader View-field? Please share your experience. It will help us all change the ways we see and transform the world we are creating.

Read more about the View-field and other patterns of change in my book 24 Patterns of Wisdom. Click here to see a preview of what's inside. Click here to see the book trailer on YouTube.

Occupy & The Primal Wound

The Occupy movement reveals the Primal Wound, the pattern of the gap that divides us. The chasm between greater and lesser wealth, power, privilege, education, healthcare and more is not just a statistic. It's a gnawing void that aches through the soul of society and every individual in it. The Primal Wound afflicts the 99% and the 1%. No one is immune from its sense of isolation and alienation, its emptiness, diminishment and fear.

Each of us has lost pieces of ourselves in the Primal Wound. We've all felt the sting of trading parts of our soul for money and security. Much of our daily lives are consumed with attempts to retrieve those stolen bits of ourselves and regain our natural wholeness. We've also been injured by the fear of deeper wounding and the resentment that others crash through our lives with little or no awareness of the damaging effects they are having.

Pepper spraying, beatings with batons and other violence perpetuated around the country is also an expression of the Primal Wound. These brutal acts are the equivalent of wounded and cornered animals lashing out to protect their territory. It erupts from the irrational fear that division and hierarchy actually benefit the 1% and those that protect their interests. They belief that living behind fearful walls of separation is better than living in the broader security of a vibrant, healthy society. This is self limiting ignorance and self sabotage disguised as glamor and distancing safety.

As Occupiers enter the public spaces of cities and town, they inhabit the voids in the psyche of society. This movement reveals the tenderness and soreness of the Primal Wound. The immediate reaction of some is to pull away. But, if the Primal Wound is not exposed to healing influences it will only fester. The infected areas will spread and consume the body of society. The healing elixir is consciousness and connection. It is the basis for mending the ignorance and disconnect that injures us.

What's your reaction to the relationship between the Primal Wound of the Occupy Movement? Please leave a comment.

You can learn more about the Primal Wound and its effects in my new book 24 Patterns of Wisdom. Click here to take a peek into the book.

Occupy Wall Street - Hidden Patterns of Emerging Power

Beneath the surface of events, hidden patterns guide and shape our thoughts and actions. What appears to be today's news arises from timeless, archetypal stories. When we see and understand the deeper patterns unfolding before us, we are better equipped to utilize the shifting tides of the moment and act effectively for real change.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are no exception. The protesters in the street shout "We are the 99%!" "Enough is enough!" "Contribute your share!" Those occupying the towers looming above mutter "Stop complaining." "You are incoherent." "Get a job." In the struggle between the voices of the masses and the fortresses of wealth, each side blames the other for the conflict. Beneath the surface divisions, however, both sides are cooperating to enact the primal pattern of the Lifeboat.

The Lifeboat expresses the tendency to separate ourselves from the uncertainty of the ever-shifting tides of living. To protect ourselves from sinking beneath waves of change, we create a protective structure we believe will keep us above the roiling currents. Yet, armoring ourselves against the sea of living disconnects us from nourishing flows of renewal. We dwell in isolation, fear the world, and contract into alienation and depression. The ocean of consciousness, however, will not let us hide forever. Surges of energy and awareness pound our defensive walls until they soften and we respond to their call.

In the Occupy Wall Street story, the wealthy 1% are doing everything they can to survive as they are, maintaining the Lifeboats separating them from the 99% who are suffering economic uncertainty. But, as Michael Moore observed about the 1%, "They can only build the gates so high." Beneath the surface of the situation, the pattern of the Lifeboat can point the way toward a solution. As long as both sides believe it is "us against them," their problems will continue. As soon as everyone involved sees their roles in the dynamic processes unfolding, methods for revitalizing economic health can be found. When the wealthy 1% acknowledge that their riches, influence and security are interdependent with the labor and wellbeing of the 99% percent, they can use their knowledge and finances to discover new methods for enriching the global economy. When the 99% acknowledge their vast untapped resources and the power of their labor and creativity, they can look into the emerging energies of the digital age and shape them into a new economy that nourishes each individual while strengthening the whole society. The beginning is looking beneath the surface and connecting with the archetypal patterns guiding and shaping the events.

Read more about the Lifeboat and other archetypes shaping your life in my forthcoming book, 24 PATTERNS OF WISDOM; Navigating the challenges and awakenings of the human journey. The ebook is available now from Amazon Kindle. The print edition will be available mid November.