Top down, bottom up, inside out and outside in simultaneously. I would say our innate love of life and beauty is driving change.

What we see today in our world, in nature, in our communities, in in our selves drags us farther from both. We're homesick. We forgot and we want to remember. We're preparing too much for a future that may no longer exist, and we want to live in the now, well.

Having established that change comes from both within and without, which correlates to bottom up and top down, it may be good to consider how it happens from each perspective. On the individual level it seems it's a matter of depth and inspiration, one person may have a profound on the collective as we know. On the other hand there are groups who are already doing great work, and one may be touched by the way oneness has already manifested either in those groups or even their effect on the collective.

Depending on what you think of as top and bottom it works both ways with the individual and the collective. Those rare individuals who inspire others may be ordinary and unrecognized, so in that sense it may be "bottom up" but then by their way of being or other activity they are certainly taking the lead and it may be said to be "top down" as well. When it comes to oneness, ultimately the idea of heirarchy doesn't really make sense, and the idea of democracy would be related to the application with the collective. There may be leadership in some form, but the point of course is everyone and everything is involved.

As for who or what is driving this change, any authentic change comes from an innate intelligence, which I suppose would be called something within by many. However in oneness there can be nothing from without, since it's all inclusive - so it doesn't even make sense to distinguish inner and outer that way. Of course it may be something that has to be rediscovered, but that just mean we stop excluding it from our way of being.

Hello again Lisa. You bring up a good point about working on the shadow. From a perspective of oneness, you might say it is all within since oneness is all inclusive. But yes, the important thing is how we do it. Individually, we may engage in some kind of introspection - but as many who read this are no doubt aware there is the idea of being mirrors for each other when it comes to working on the shadow collectively. An inquisitive attitude is needed, and perhaps the key is to not be caught up in the way we identify with our experience, framing it in personal terms (being a better person) and just kind of see for the sake of seeing. It seems from this kind of open perspective insights naturally come, and by not holding it in a predefined context it has the potential to serve as a transformative catalyst.

Hi Lisa and Mark,

I like this line of inquiry...about the shadow. What a rich topic, and truly apropos to the question of 'inside/outside' change.

Mark, it seems what you're saying is that having an observer self that looks on without holding judgment (i.e., keeping an "open perspective") is a good thing when we're working with our shadow.

I think this has real practical application(s), and one of them regards how I view myself as I'm participating in this material world full of distractions, temptations, promises of fulfillment through acquisition, etc.

It would be easy to allow a new-found insight into how, say, my consumer behavior is contributing to the problem rather than the solution, and feel guilt or shame about continuing to be a consumer.

My super-ego could get the better of me (and has) and I could easily beat myself up for lusting after the latest techno-device or wanting to take a profligate vacation somewhere. I "shouldn't" do something so wasteful, but somewhere in me I still want to...so tension builds, perhaps unconsciously, as I repress my un-lived desire...into the shadow.

At this point, you might be seeing my pilgrim ancestors' ghosts floating around these words...What do I do with those "bad" thoughts?

I have great respect for Jung, and one thing I've liked is his quote "It's better to be a real fragment than an unreal whole." We're here to learn to become whole, not try to be perfect, but on the way to wholeness we're fragments of both good and bad, and cultivating an observer self who can look on myself without judgment, and allow myself to be who I am, rather than who I should be, has been of great help.

Indeed, as I've become aware of these shadow parts of myself and allowed them, they've lost much of their charge, and I can accept them as just parts of my conditioning.

This was a long response, and I'm not sure how additive, but Lisa, you said all thoughts were welcome! :-)

Hi Lisa,

I think the idea of being mirrors really extend past interpersonal interactions. The thing is we may achieve some psychological clarity with such introspection prompted by personal dynamics, but that is still coming from a perspective of identifying as a separate individual. Of course this can have a harmonizing effect in terms of intrapersonal integration, but when it comes to oneness I think eventually it's a matter of stepping beyond that and into the world at large.

Rather than identifying with another human being or even another life form, (although animals can be a nice step for something different, just to awaken a sense of compassion maybe) it would be good to consider using the whole of life itself as a mirror. I understand in Chinese Medicine the body was traditionally viewed as a landscape, and of course we know different stages of a persons life can be seen as seasons of the year. So we can also view the world as one body like our own, and history can be seen as a developmental process like our life. I think more and deeper change can be realized when we start seeing things in terms of this kind of natural rhythm.

Mark, that's an intriguing idea..to focus on the whole of life as a mirror, as opposed to a using an individual. I'd think both are necessary, however. I can't help but feel that in our journeys toward oneness, we're all on a stepwise process that defies absolutes or linear approaches. Viewing the world as one body like our own clearly could be an important practice/meditation. And, as Lisa says, recognizing that each time an individual gives rise to an 'irksome' feeling in us, the likelihood is that we're reacting to a projection of our own shadow onto them. I love the idea of taking my learning where ever I can find it...personal or collective or cosmic. :-)

That being said, I may be mis-understanding or under-appreciating your point. Am I missing or distorting something in what you are saying?

Lisa, I can certainly relate to your experience. Indeed, I think working with this dynamic is a very important way for many of us to make progress in our efforts to "live oneness". If conflict separates us, and we're in conflict with someone because they irk us, and if we recognize that what irks us about them is something about ourselves that we don't want to own...and then we withdraw the projection acknowledge it...then we've contributed to building peace in a meaningful way, both within ourself and undoubtedly with the other person...and thus it ripples outwards. As they say, peace begins with me!

Hi Alan,

Yes I think both relating to other people and relating to the whole have their place, but in terms of oneness it simply makes sense to consider the latter. In relating to other people we learn we are the same in our humanity, but in relating to the world we see we are part of the same One and a microcosm of the whole. After all, it isn't just about social change - there is the ecological dimension as well as spiritual, and I think the lesson for us is by understanding the greater scheme of things it can better inform us as to social change, (or, for that matter individual transformation) since that is included in the whole. It is certainly possible to achieve a measure of peace by relating to/through the personal consciousness, both individually and collectively, but I think it just goes to reason that the potential of deeper change lies in understanding our deeper nature.

From this perspective we see why more than one spiritual tradition say it is really an impersonal consciousness, and that also speaks to the question posed in the topic of why it may be asked who or _what_ is driving the change. From the personal perspective it may sound like it is cold and distant, but in fact if it is more inclusive clearly it is more compassionate.

I think it is time to be the change. Stop thinking about it. Stop tring to figure it out. Just be and feel and reach out. Give your love away, who ever is in your imediate surroundings love them. That is all we need to do. Stop wasting energy tring to become, just be, what ever we need will be there when we need it.
april