Spontaneous Evolution

Last night I saw Swami Beyondananda and purchased the book, Spontaneous Evolution his alter ego Steve Bhaerman wrote with Bruce Lipton.  It looks like an excellent chance to dialogue on the evolution of the prison system.  Even if this is a conversation solely between the book and myself, I feel good about it being in the common.

In the introduction they lift up the biological example of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.  Both have the same DNA but are receiving and responding to a different organizing signal. From within the dying cells of the caterpillar, a new breed of cells energy called imaginal cells emerges and creates an entirely new form.

Those of us deeply engaged in awakening the potential of our prisons to become a healthy, healing environment contributing to the betterment of our collective human story on this planet, are the imaginal cells, it is from us that an entire new form will emerge.  Our prayers send the signal and collese the energy the (our) imaginal cells need for the transformational process.

As Swami Beyondananda enjoys saying, "we are the answer to our own prayers!"  And even as we may not have an articulated vision for what that answer might be, we offer up our prayers.  We can trust that the information for the new way forward is in our collective DNA.  Every spiritual tradition calls us to move from fear to love, this is the overarching evolutionary process of human life. All life forms seek their free flowing nature.

As we pray for the prisons to become places of healing and peace we are taping into the deep evolutionary nature of life it self seeking its own true nature.  As we pray for the prisons we are activating this natural desire and energizing the millions of imaginal cells seeking the new way.

As we pray for the prisons, we naturally shift away from old beliefs focusing on the worst in people, and begin to believe in the possibility of transformation for everyone and every institution. The stronger our beliefs, the greater the opportunity for this shift to occur within our lifetime.

Radical change in mindset (for example shifting to a belief that slavery is immoral) has taken centuries, and decades (shifting belief that tobacco is unhealthy), and now years (global warming). In our interconnected world we can shift very quickly towards fear and love (9-11).

Prisons as a special kind of health care delivery is very possible, we have the information, we have the creativity, we have the skills, all we need is the desire.  Prayer takes the desire hidden in our hearts into the collective field. Prayer is an act of empowerment, for such an effort will only manifest as a result of the shifting of our collective will.