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A new metaphysical formula from a quantum physicist: do-be-do-be-do. BoBu
recently went to the first Emerging Arts Festival in Crestone, Colorado, therewith
to get a taste of where young people's interests are heading -- or, we should say, young people of a certain
bent.  And behold, it was back to the future time, with Shamanism, Japanese taiko drumming, New Tribalism and Hopi
prophecy being featured, all of which are rooted in antiquity. To be sure, there were also new indie films, lots of
cutting-edge new music, and a way cool DJ from New Zealand named Grouch, but
the emphasis and main interest was clearly on the former as we, of all ages,
gathered to try and make sense of our seemingly-senseless times and find a path towards a saner
and more sustainable future. An
African shaman from Zimbabwe, Mandaza, told us about the 36 kids he was personally
supporting at home. He also spoke movingly of his efforts to avoid his
spiritual path and what happened as a result of his resistance. Then he reminded us about the lost art of sharing,
forming community, and how to let go of ego and become more aware of our being, experiencing
our cellular connection to air and water and earth -- very important if we
are to survive the coming environmental challenges. Many
spiritual traditions as well as individual seers sense enormous changes coming
our way. Much of the speculation is constellated around the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012, as well as predicted
galactic shifts that could affect the Earth; everything from increased solar
flares to a reversal in the magnetic poles has been posited.
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Since we also seem to be living in a time of potential if not likely systemic breakdowns -- economically and politically in the U. S., in particular, though a disconnected-from-reality
dysfunctionality seems fairly globally pervasive as we deny the fact that the Earth's carrying capacity has limits, or that
we need ethics in public and private life -- BoBu thought it might be fruitful to go back to one of our older wisdom
traditions, that of the Hopi Indians, to see what they think is coming. Louis Jarvis, a local spokesman
for one of the living Hopi elders, Grandfather Martin, came and spoke to a gathering of young and old in Crestone, as part
of the Emerging Arts Festival. He started off by saying that the Mayan calendar didn't indicate the
end of the world, merely the end of a cycle of time called a baktun, or roughly 26,000 years. A fascinating facet of Louis' talk was that the Hopi consider anyone on a
genuine spiritual path as one of them.  Conversely, anyone who is ruled by greed or anger or lies is considered a "false Hopi," even if they
are genetically Hopi. The essence of the Hopi wisdom about our collective future is that while we're in transition from
the present Fourth era to the Fifth, there will be a period of purification during which those on a truly spiritual path --
or those who live in areas called "spots on the fawn" -- will be taken into another dimension and thus be saved
for the future. They claim that this has already happened in the past and will happen again. Since this belief is common among various traditions, including Christianity,
it seems worth saying that the emerging science of quantum physics now supports such seemingly-esoteric suppositions as other
dimensions. Quantum theory in fact even demands such suppositions, in vivid contradistinction to materialist physics.
(See BoBu's review of physicist Amit Goswami's book on a phrase he coined, 'quantum activism'.) It seemed synchronistic
that we were reading Goswami's book at the same time as the Crestone Emerging Arts Festival was held. (And it is Goswami's
insight about doing-being-doing-being -- action in the world combined with regular daily periods of inner quietude -- that
he has condensed into the memorable formula do-be-do-be-do.) Without or before quantum theory, many metaphysical propositions seemed like so many fairy tales -- or else nonsensical.
But now, just when we need it the most, quantum physics comes along as a way of helping us see physical objects and reality
as so many possibilities, not as the reified objects and subjects we have hitherto mistakenly identified. To paraphrase
an old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going -- to a new way of seeing reality, a la quantum
consciousness." It's as if the cosmos is
putting a palpable pressure on us -- as well as giving us new tools of the science of mind -- to grow up, give up the old
ways, and become enlightened. As our Fourth World materialistic values and concurrent, underlying worldviews implode,
we can use our new skill set to become . . . who we really, finally, authentically are: manifest God/Buddha/quantum consciousness itself. Paki S. Wright July/August
2011
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