I recently moved to the central coast of CA, starting a sweet new chapter in my life. Upon arriving, I got a bunch of ‘downloads’ (sometimes late in the night, scribbling like a wild woman in the dark!)
Of the many streams of information that came in, one had to do with a new story on Earth. I could see that there has been an old story—a story of separation, of light vs dark, good vs bad, and generally a win-loss set up. This set up is in every human domain—money/finance, schooling, sports, relationship.. you name it. A chess board is a good metaphor for the set up—two sides engaging in an elaborate game to win the others’ pieces. A war, a fight, and with a zero sum (only one winner).
I could also see that there are tons of people on earth that are ‘awakening.’ This can be a sticky word, but for this essay I want to define it as waking up from the dream of fear on this planet—the dream of separation/us vs them/survival of the fittest/zero sum. This dream is nothing but a story, a play, a game, a program/code. But once a writer scribes a code or a story, it’s ‘out there’ and it gets played out over and over again.. until someone writes the new code.
The reality of Life is that there is infinite possibility and potential. But we need a wider view on the programs we’ve been living out, in order to have the freedom to change them, to write new code.
So ‘awakening’ can be like Neo waking up out of the matrix, but instead of continuing to fight the folks inside the matrix, imagine him pausing, closing his eyes, and peacefully connecting with Source/vast potential/insight, and listening for the kind of world he wants to create (lol, I know).
He puts his energy there, not back into the matrix from whence he came.
I used to get lost down lots of rabbit holes, attempting to understand the dark forces and fear based decisions on this planet. I couldn’t for the life of me understand war, poverty, ecocide, genocide. And I would look for the root causes, the people making these decisions, and generally want to fight them, correct them, resist them (whether with words, donations to opposing causes, you name it). ..You too?
But fighting plays into the old story, the zero sum. And, as we’ve seen: War on drugs = more drugs. War on terror = more terror. War on a virus = more virus strains and sickness. War on Democrats or Republicans = they come back stronger.
The war cycle is endless. It’s a closed loop. Because the war/zero sum story is based on an idea of separation from Life/God/One another, and the fear that results from this story (we see a de-humanized ‘other,’ and they are enemies/threats, instead of different aspects of our very Self).
So Neo needs to write a new matrix. Play a different game. What would he do if he wasn’t fighting the old matrix anymore?
Because Earth is a game. The Hindu texts knew it. They called it Leela. I recently learned that the ‘Dance of Leela’ better translates as the ‘Game of Leela.’ (P.S. I learned this from my dear friend Leela!). And what a game we’ve been playing. Highly creative, really.. and ridiculous. We are separate from God and each other, and we have to win!? Over a bad guy!? (It’s like the right hand of the same body fighting the left hand).
But once someone touches into the reality of Oneness (the actual realization of it, not just the belief), well, I find they want a new story. The old story is so…old.
I’m over it. You’re over it.
Alongside my insight about planet earth’s old story was that our new story is a win-win story. For the whole planet. Everyone wins the game. And what’s the new game? Find your fulfillment. And help others find theirs.
That’s it.
Because here’s the coolest thing about your fulfillment—it is a win for everyone else. This is so evident in the natural world. If the mushrooms are healthy, the soil wins. If the soil is healthy, the plants win. If the plants win, the water wins. If the water wins, the air wins. If the air wins, all creatures win. If the creatures win, whole ecological systems win. If whole ecological systems win, everyone wins.
Of course it works like this. It makes so much sense; we all feel it. But in fighting everything, we don’t see this possibility; we are lost in the old game, re-arranging ourselves on the chess board, afraid of losing.
So we need to rewrite things. Everything, really. And people are rewriting things. There are so many new systems coming online. But the only ones that will be valuable in the new story are win-win-win ones, with not one bit of ‘fight.’ That’s where we are headed. It’s the only game that actually works long term, because it’s the only one that reflects the truest nature of our Being (Oneness).
Some for instances, and questions to ponder:
-What would a win-win school system look like? Probably no grades, lots and lots of resources, room for all kids to find their passion, mini collaborative projects—building things together that everyone benefits from (eg. School garden, lab, market, etc). The Unschooling movement has great ideas in this direction.
-What would board games and video games that are win-win look like? I have a client working on one that is incredible. I’m also thinking of Animal Crossing and it’s brethren (I’m sure there are many I don’t know of?)
-What would a family or a neighborhood look like? Probably way more shared resources, tons of opportunities for folks to follow their interests and passions right out the front door (eg. community garden, community co-op, daycare, tech center, tool shed, craft/art studio?)
-What would art and film look like? Eg. I just watched CODA, the 2021 Oscar winner, in which the daughter’s win catalyzes her whole family’s individual and collective wins—once they glimpse it (coming out of their fear of her leaving on her own path) they start to bloom, following their own dreams. No sacrifice. No loser in the family or community. No bad guy.
-What about economics? Ecology? Engineering? Geopolitical issues? There would be no more exploitation of a country’s resources. Every trade policy would be a win-win. We wouldn’t fight carbon—rather, we would find the win-win-win of investing in regenerative agriculture and water cleanup—a holistic, all-around solution and system set up for all to thrive (not just the behind-the-scenes investors as the winners).
-Medicine? Imagine medicine isn’t about fighting anything in your system, but rather about all health systems thriving. How might antibiotics be prescribed differently? How would we navigate a new virus? What would cancer treatment be if we weren’t ‘fighting’ it?
And personally..
-What if you spent not one more minute fighting a baddie, of any kind? Not one more second of your life playing that game, but only looking for the win for you in this moment? Because that’s going to be the win for everyone else. But it has to be a real, embodied win for you. Not a cheap concept, inherited from the old game. It has to be a true, embodied feeling of fulfillment.
You are wired for this new game. It’s dormant in your system. Some say our old DNA is waking up—all that ‘junk’ DNA we didn’t understand. I think those dormant programs are for new humans, on a new earth, in a new game.
Earth Game 2.0: Everybody Wins.
….
Take Kiran’s 9 day Delicious Yes challenge here.
Also, Kiran and I are running our annual retreat July 5th-12th at Mt Madonna in Santa Cruz. Talk about win-win-win! Our retreats are fun and nourishing for all.
Lastly, I love Charles Eisenstein’s work in this vein. Check out his book The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible and his brand new essay on changing the climate story on Substack.