The Occupy Movement:
Right on Time!
by Patti Gera

The uprisings of 2011 are Creation’s resounding call for all of humanity to awaken to a new level of existence—one where we work together to co-create a world that works for all life.

In December, 2010, our world began to rumble with an energy unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. In Egypt, at the beginning of what would become known as the Arab Spring, people began to peacefully assemble. They stood in their collective power and demanded better circumstances. The Arab Spring was followed by the Indian Summer; and then on September 17th—in the heart of our global malaise—the American Fall, when Occupy Wall Street emerged. By October 15th, encampments had sprung up all over the US, Canada, and the world.

In just ten months, we the people had achieved a worldwide presence. The overall message? We are alive, and our high-limit switch for social and environmental injustice has been reached.

To the spiritually awakening individual who has been striving to hear and live in harmony with Creation’s heartbeat, this Movement comes as no surprise. We have either remembered or discovered through study that this was written in the stars long before any of us were born. It has been foretold by several ancient prophecies and revealed through modern science. Humanity is evolving to become aware of the nature of itself—the nature of all life—in ways never before imagined.

This Movement may be surprising and bewildering to those who have not experienced either the pains of what our present existence creates, or the direct call of our awakening natural intelligence. In the great picture of all life, however, it is long anticipated and right on time.

Many have called the Movement unorganized and lacking focus. Mainstream media—mostly corporate—has portrayed it primarily from the view of those who are the holders and abusers of power that the Movement is rising up against. The real story is being told through alternative and social media. If you haven’t discovered either, or if your circle of Facebook friends don’t include many or any awakening individuals, then you may well be outside the loop of truth.

You will be missing the amazing stories of vulnerability, of existential angst, of shocking facts, of vision, co-operation, and hope within this Movement that make up a good portion of the most important work humanity has ever done. You may be missing much of the opportunity to have what’s happening reach your own soul and to awaken, comfort, and inspire the human your soul inhabits.

In my opinion, there is not a person alive today who cannot resonate with the core truths of this Movement. Nature shows us that we are hardwired for what the Movement is calling for: compassion, equality, and co-operation. If we doubt that, then I propose that we think, for a moment, about our own lives and the times we have been most happy.

The world we have created together is not on the path of the core truths of life. We are confused and disoriented. Most of what we think is “real” is not, and much of what we think is fantasy is our possible future. What result, do you suppose, would we get if each of us on earth were asked to vote for one of two potential scenarios:

World A: Hierarchy, rules, competition, unfulfilling livelihoods, stifled creativity, growing instability, depression, physical dis-ease, family violence, feelings of separation, jails, poverty, famine, dehydration, malnutrition, oppression, environmental destruction and wars, or

World B: Equality, values, co-operation, fulfilling livelihoods, unbridled creativity, growing stability, emotional and physical well-being, the love of family, a sense of community, universal abundance, plentiful nourishing food and water, empowerment, a thriving environment, and world peace,

How would the votes stack up?

The uprisings of 2011 are Creation’s resounding call for all of humanity to awaken to a new level of existence—one where we work together to co-create a world that works for all life.

To me the values and demands of the Movement are not confusing, they are all-encompassing. All-encompassing is big. It can overwhelm and even frighten us. We are not used to looking at the whole. We are not accustomed to an existence based on truth. We are not used to believing that anything is possible. We feel separate and alone, having forgotten that we are all one. We feel like the idea of working together to imagine and build the world we really want is a pipe dream.

I say it’s not a pipe dream. And many more—a group that numbers in the millions scattered all over our globe—agree with me. I know this, in part, because I am connected to this worldwide evolutionary community through the internet, and I have a felt experience of it every day. I also know this because there is a feeling of truth about it inside my own being that comes through my very core. The evolutionary community is very big and growing every day, as more and more of us begin to remember what life means. Will re-imagining and building a world that works for all life be easy? No. We’ve got an awful lot of undoing to do—both inside and outside ourselves.

But really, what else is worth doing? Shall we continue to perpetuate the madness our world has become until we drive the human species and most, if not all, other species into extinction? What if we were to actually poison planet earth beyond repair? What if, by both actions taken and not taken, we kill an entire planet capable of teaming with beautiful, delicious life…forever? Just who, or what, do we humans think we are?

Those of us who have embarked on our own personal journey of awakening know that it involves a LOT of uncomfortable moments. Facing the truth about ourselves—how our egos have overpowered our souls, and blinded us to what it really means to be alive—can be excruciating. But we also know that even when hope and faith were just tiny slivers of light in the distance, we felt more alive than we did before our journeys began. Many of us have now reached a point where we have transcended the ego’s grasp far enough to experience life with ever-awakening vibrancy. We are transcending the realms of fear, competition, and inner lifelessness to enter the realms of love, co-operation, and inner vitality. We are building the muscles that allow us to stand in the power of the truth of our souls, with love. We now know how good it feels and we want it to be contagious.

Our anarchist brothers and sisters, the instigators of the uprisings where the rubber has hit the road, have taken a little different path. They are deconstructing our reality from the outside in by exposing the environmental and social injustices that have resulted from our collective unconsciousness. They are a vent for the fear and anger that lives in all of humanity, whether all of humanity realizes it yet or not. They put themselves courageously on the front lines to face the power structures that are wreaking havoc with our world. They get pepper sprayed, physically and verbally assaulted, portrayed as rebels without just cause, and even jailed. They do it because they can see the logical outcome of our current trajectory and they cannot stop themselves from acting out for the greatest good of all present and future life. They are the canaries in our coal mine.

To me, the Occupy Movement is a combination of the awakening of inner and outer peace that Creation is wired for, and its message is THE message for our times:

1. Many (possibly most) of the ways of our world, in current format, neither work now nor can be sustained. If we continue in this vein, humanity will exhaust and/or poison the very resources that sustain life. We will wipe ourselves out and take many, if not all, other species with us.

2. The extent of suffering on this planet has already reached the point of extreme. Many, many, of our human family members are already suffering greatly—all life is suffering greatly. Relief is needed NOW. This is not about creating more agencies to put more or different band aids on casualties, though we do need to ensure that those who are suffering now receive empowering aid in the short term. This is about getting to the true roots of the problems to bring an end to casualties.

3. At the lead of our current collective reality are a very small group of people who, for generations, have been masterminding the direction of humanity. They have hijacked virtually all of our governing and economic systems for their own pleasure and gain, without honour and respect for the well-being of the whole. Their actions are cunning, adept and—when viewed through awakened eyes—criminal and inhumane.

4. Humanity has all but completely disconnected from its natural intelligence—the intelligence that gives us meaning, purpose, and the knowledge of how to be in right relationship with each other and our planet. Our disconnection is what has enabled these unbalanced and destructive abuses of power that the uprisings now aim to disable.

5. Courageously facing many truths is absolutely required, NOW! It will undoubtedly be difficult and even painful, as our illusions of life have grown to such a grand scale that they are deeply entrenched and very difficult to see. It involves facing the very intimate truths of our personhood and individual realities, and the shared truths of our relationships and collective reality.

6. A reconnection to our natural intelligence—predisposed for compassion, equality, and co-operation—will see us through.

The Occupy Movement and the uprisings that preceded the Movement are the container in which the seeds of a world that works for all life are sprouting. I believe that if we are alive, we hold an inherent responsibility to get involved in whatever way makes sense for us. We need to connect with the urges of our souls and apply our talents, skills, and perspectives. Our world needs all of us right NOW. This is not a resistance or even a revolution. This is evolution.

Is the Movement a little unorganized? Yes. Can it be frustrating? Yes. The process of humanity awakening to its true nature and power is just a babe. In the grand scheme of the cycles of creation, chaos is the announcement of creativity seeking form. Over time, through shared and expanding ownership by we the people, the Occupy Movement and everything it spawns will naturally move on to and through the creational cycle of refinement, synthesis, integration, fluidity, and grace.

We must all accept our responsibility to show up. We must open our minds and our hearts. We must recognize our propensities for fear, judgment, and competition when they arise, and work to transform these shadow traits into love, curiosity, and co-operation.

We must recognize that each of us has a perspective that belongs to us and only us; and that this perspective is neither more nor less relevant than that of another. We must remember that each and every one of us is doing the best that we can with the tools that we have at any given moment. That we need to listen, to care, to bring our gifts and potential forth—and never forget that our very world is, RIGHT NOW, in our very hands.

Note: Occupy camps may have been evicted in many cities but the Movement is alive and well. Connect with them online: www.facebook.com/occupyregina, www.facebook.com/occupy.saskatoon, and www.occupysaskatoon.org.

Patti Gera is the Founder of Truth and Dare, an emerging entrepreneurial adventure in holding spaces for experiences that inspire and support personal awakenings and the emergence of conscious co-creative community. www.truthanddare.ca, (306) 653-2993 in Saskatoon.