AUTHENTICITY
This is a somewhat personal perspective, but one which, I think, applies
very much to what a new civilization is about.
It seems like I personally tend to be plugged into currents in the mass
consciousness, experiencing on my own body what is also going on for many
other people at the same time. I seem to be able to tell which way the wind
is blowing just be noticing what is going on in my own life. And often by
really paying attention to what is going on in my own life, solutions
appear that are applicable also in a wider sphere. I'm sure that goes for
many of you too.
I used to think I had the answer to everything. I had done lots of personal
development work, I had studied lots of philosophy and metaphysics. I was
secure and successful economically, making in the six figures of dollars 10
years ago. Seemed like whatever I put my mind to was happening, and I
seemed to be able to be calmly unaffected by obstacles, and always on top
of things. And, well, I was also rather void of emotion, arrogant and a
loner, not very able to work with other people.
Nowadays I rather live in a state of continuous uncertainty about where I'm
going, and I get blown around by the winds of change. I struggle a lot
more. But on the other hand, I feel much more, I'm more humble, and life
brings me many more new discoveries and delightful synchronicities. And I
have many more people around I truly care about.
I often discover the benefits of being honest, real, authentic about what
is going on. Seems like, when I stop faking it and admit to myself and
others what I perceive and what is going on, things suddenly start working.
Kind of like, if one surrenders to reality, rather than trying to make
things into what they aren't, new avenues manifest immediately.
Last week I posted a message in the New Civilization Foundation workgroup
mailing list, mentioning that I had zero money and was about to be evicted
from my house in the next couple of days, and couldn't pay the newciv.org
connection bills either. Which gave a very heart warming response of a
bunch of people offering donations and services to others who would send in
donations. Which really made me realize that I wasn't alone.
And, now, the interesting thing is that my own situation changed the next
day. Suddenly a couple of new business contacts appeared out of the blue,
and within a couple of days I had secured some lucrative contracts for
programming work for the next couple of months. And my rent appeared too.
All before any NCN donations arrived, and now that they do I can apply them
to the connection expenses they're meant for, without having to worry about
myself.
That kind of thing seems to be happening to me more and more often. The
moment I get clear and real about what I know or don't know, the moment I
state clearly what I'm looking for - suddenly the pieces appear. That often
involves putting aside my pride, my need to look good and my need to know
the answers in advance.
Now, to the bigger picture ...
For us to really work well together I think it is essential that we become
more REAL to each other. Presenting ourselves honestly as we are, and
getting to see others as they really are. If we don't state clearly and
honestly what we have to offer, and we don't state clearly what we want, we
might never connect and find out that we really do need each other.
It often bothers me that I don't know what's really going on for people,
who they really are, what they're really doing, what they really need, what
I have to offer to them. I know a large number of people, both virtually
and personally, many of which seem to be doing very interesting a useful
things. But yet I don't know what to do with most of them, other than
having positive and inspiring conversations, most of which don't
particularly lead anywhere. I think many more things would lead somewhere
if we knew each other better.
I want to know how people do things, how things really work for them, what
they did to arrive at where they're at. I know a bunch of people who seem
to be independently wealthy, but I never succeeded in finding out what even
one of them actually did to put themselves in that situation. All I
understand is some vague idea that they "made good investments" or
something. Often the most "successful" (in old civilization eyes) people
are the most secretive about what their success consists of. And the people
who happily will tell me every detail of their lives are often the ones who
haven't figured things out yet.
In an NCN setting, I'd like to know both the stuff that works and doesn't
work for you. If you are running some kind of successful activity, I'd like
to know how you arrived there, how it is sustained, what principles you
operate by. I'd like to know enough so I can either duplicate what you do,
or I can connect with it somehow.
You NCN members are very nice at sending in visions and projects and
descriptions of your activities and organizations, which is wonderful. But
I don't always know if what you're telling me is something you have in your
mind that you'd like to do, or if it is a workable installation already.
Both are valuable, I just want to know what is what. And I want to know
what isn't working yet for you. And I want to stay in touch with the
process you're going through.
Mysteriously, the people who're most talkative about what they're doing are
often the people who aren't quite doing it yet, but who would really want
to. And the people who're already successfully doing something often don't
have time to say much about it, or they're for some reason protecting their
trade secrets.
Many of us still walk around in an old civ mindset of needing to hoard what
we've got, needing to present ourselves favorably to others, no matter what
the truth is, and we look at others through colored glasses of judgment,
often keeping our judgments to ourselves, not easily telling others what we
perceive about them. Most of us feel a need to protect ourselves from
others, behind a phoney facade - not revealing too much of ourselves.
I think the new civilization involves that we allow ourselves to be more
open, more real, more vulnerable, more direct, more able to show ourselves
wholly to others, more able to experience others as they are. And I think
the self-organizing power amongst us truly emerges when we throw away most
of our personal protections, our fixed ideas, assumptions, expectations and
agendas - when we realize that we're all different, none of us are perfect,
but we all have something to offer, and we all have needs to be met. And
when we take a step forward boldly, courageously, adventurously - into the
great unknown.
We're all in the same boat. We're the crew of spaceship Earth. There's
nobody else here. I don't know exactly what we will do, but I do know that
it is all about to become more REAL.
- Flemming
PS: Discussions are welcome on the NCN Discussion List. Send 'subscribe
ncndiscuss-L' to listserv@newciv.org to subscribe.
o o
/ \------------------ Flemming A. Funch -------------------/ \
/ * \ New Civilization Network / Synchronicity Networks / * \
/ * * \ ffunch@newciv.org / * * \
o-------o----------- http://www.worldtrans.org/ -----------o-------o
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