by Dr. Michael Ellis ©2010

INTRODUCTION
" If humankind is to survive there has to be a substantially new manner of thinking" Albert Einstein

We currently live in very dangerous times. There is not only vast inequity between the developed and developing world-- there is also a general poverty of spirit. We are suffering severe environmental degradation and the irreversible destruction of living and non living resources and a massive extinction of biodiversity.

In our Post Modernistic world, things are changing and there is a marked feeling of gloom and doom post September 11th. The world is governed more and more by economic rationalism and the military machine.

THE LOSS OF VALUES AND LOSS OF DREAMS

In our media there is sensationalism in the newspapers and there is no integration of news or proper analysis as news tends to serve political purposes and is therefore politically biased. There is no public voice. Even in Universities there seems to be no integration between different specialities and information is narrowly focussed.

It is a fragmented schizophrenic society.

Five weeks ago the keepers of the doomsday clock, sighting worries over lagging armament efforts for security of existing stockpiles and terrorism advanced the hands nearer to the midnight hour.

There needs to be new ways of thinking, acting and being, placing priority on the interconnectedness of all life. This realisation means that any loss of life affects us as the ripples are bound to affect the whole family of human kind. In this paradigm, suffering and loss of life diminishes us as the collective human psyche.

THE RATIONAL, IRRATIONAL AND SUPRARATIONAL

In our society people express themselves in rational, irrational or supra-rational ways. Generally the establishment frowns on the irrational and the supra-rational. In our society there are groups of people who are willing to be visionary enough to stand up and be counted and affect positive change in their environment by linking through the common ground. This is the new turn of the spiral and emphasises wholistic and new ways of thinking and being.

The political mood of the world is conflict and confrontation. Problems are analysed to the nth degree with weighty thoughts. But despite our rationalism and technology our lives as human beings are controlled mainly by the emotions of the lower and mid brains creating a global crisis of greed, exploitation, anger and stupidity, which the Buddha called the three poisons.

The Global Economic Rationalistic System maintains economic growth at any cost and there is vast inequity in the world where millions and millions live in poverty and illness and others in comparatively excess wealth and material benefit. In our Western society we need to be informed as to the truth of what is actually occurring and we need a new awareness and new consciousness or spirituality which understands how everything maintains itself at the expense of everything else. This new paradigm is based on cooperation and openness.

There are huge changes occurring in our global society. At the recent World Economic Forum in February 2002, the scientists predicted a grim future replete with unprecedented biological threats, global warming, and the possible takeover of humans by robots. The Quantum Revolution which has given rise to the biogenetic engineering and the computer could also create a two tiered world with an artificially created genetic super race ruling over the masses somewhat like the scenario envisaged in Brave New World.
We also have to realise that, as David Suzuki has said, we have taken over 40% of the major biological imprint on the planet which can be a recipe for species extinction.

OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS

It's no wonder our young people are angry. Their lives are changing, but they feel there is no future as they feel there is nothing left. There are no values to live by. There is nothing stable, congruent or certain. Our young people nowadays grow up so quickly due to the influence of the media, particularly television. Parental care is lost as parents go out to work under the increasingly stressful working environment.

The conservative values once upheld by religion, are gone. People do not believe in institutions which dis-empower them. As Erickson, the psychologist has said, it is the political and theocratic elite which take advantage of the masses through manipulating their infantile desires.

ALBERT EINSTEIN WROTE
'A human being is part of the whole that we call the universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences in himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.'

FEUDALISM AND OVER-SPECIALISATION

We have to move away from the feudalism of our modern society in which people are disempowered by the system and by the nature of the institution . People are losing there dreams and yet this Millennium has been called the Millennium of the Mind. The new consciousness places value in an absolute sense on human potential. This is essential in a world which appears to be biologically out of control.

THE LOSS OF OUR DREAMS

Our sciences whether they be ecological, physical, medical, philosophical are out of control because they are overspecialized as scholasticism was in the Middle Ages when they tried to count how many angels could stand on the head of a needle.. Our society is very rational and left brained. We need to become whole brained, compassionate with an understanding of a total view .

THE RENAISSANCE PERSON OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The new culture is one which enhances the whole brained complete human being approach to ourselves, to our society and to life in general so that we can rectify injustice and poverty of spirit around us in order that we may create a better world.

AIMS OF A NEW RENAISSANCE CULTURE

Such a culture would contribute towards the next great global step acknowledging the common ground of humanity and its connectedness with all of life.

21st Century Aims for a New Culture are:

• To give people hope for a sustainable and positive future.
  
• To mentor our young people.
  
• To explain there is a common ground and that faith and truth matter and that science is not the only raison d'être in the world.
  
• To understand the power of the mind to create its own reality.
  
• To understand that there is a truth within the depths of ourselves which is congruent and which joins us in a way which expresses our diverse but unified humanity.
  
• Ralston-Saul, Erickson, Einstein, Jung, and more recently Vacklav Havel have all expressed this way of thinking.
  
• Vacklav Havel , President of Czechoslovakia has said "if humanity is to survive, we need a massive change in consciousness".

THE THREE PILLARS FOR CHANGE IN SOCIETY ARE

Openness: A global thinktank bringing together all aspects of thinking from scientific to spiritual. "Humanity is poised in a unique point in history, literally the dawning of a new era of global cooperation." Dr. Michael Ellis

Empowerment: Developing an authentic sense of planetary citizenship - "a global citizen":

Sustainability: Confronting planetary issues which endanger humankind and all life with which humankind is in symbiotic about relationship. Taking responsibility for our extended global human family and all of life.

THE PARADIGM SHIFT

The paradigm shift means that what was once the peripheral is now central. The new paradigm expresses a new spirituality and consciousness of oneness with which all life maintains itself at the expense of everything else. In other words we are all connected and not separate.

THE TURNING POINT

The big turning point is an integration of spirituality with ecology and technology. We need to see ourselves as inextricably connected - mind, body, spirit, society and the environment. We have to take a holistic approach.

THE HEALTH OF THE INDIVIDUAL

The Charter of the World Health Organisation sees the health of an individual in society as tied up and inextricably related to human rights, human justice, lifestyle change and reduction of stress. The aim of the new society is to promote a renaissance of conscience, consciousness and ethics which sees the dignity of the human psyche as paramount.

THE GLOBAL THINK TANK

The challenges are entrenched conservative restrictive approaches and overspecialisation. We need to see our global problems as being inter-related and interconnected. As a culture, we have to see ourselves empowered by the world wide web, as a global think tank, a global watershed, bringing together humanity's best mind, a convergence of the spiritual, scientific and humanistic. The aim is the creation of a planetary peace culture.

WORLD SCIENTISTS WARNING TO HUMANITY - SIGNED BY 1,600 LEADING SCIENTISTS INCLUDING HALF OF ALL NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS REPRESENTING 71 COUNTRIES. 18TH NOVEMBER 1992.

'No more than a few decades remain………we the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all of humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the Earth and life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.'

THE PLANETARY PEACE CULTURE

CAN WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Can we contribute towards the ongoing creativity of the universe? Can we understand our interdependent relationship with the living world and that we are now the guiding principle of the planet? Can we see ourselves as living cells in a living universe breaking through the final frontier to contribute towards new evolution which will now continue through conscious awareness. Can we develop a new self image of responsibility expressing a deep linkage to the world of nature and the cosmos itself. Are we able to start now by proclaiming the need for the new philosophy of interdependent oneness in order to rescue our planet from profound degradation?

WE REQUIRE A CRITICAL MASS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND AWARENESS

Imagine yourself as a visitor this planet arriving through many star systems and you come to this gleaming white solus and there bathed in an infinity of indigo is this wonderful blue green pearl that we call the planet Earth.

The first astronauts realised that the planet Earth or Gaia was an integrated meshwork of life and was a biosphere in its own right and that every single entity of life on that surface was connected in an inextricable network of fine threads, meaning and significance.

The Ancient Hopi prophecy states that 144,000 Rainbow Warriors representing all the different creeds, cultures and beliefs of the world will come together with one mind to save the animals and the plants. The loss of the biodiversity that is occurring now at an extinction rate greater than that which occurred with the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

It is the purpose of the new global culture to understand that behind the diversity of spiritualities and religions, ways and cultures on the planet there is a common connected ground which we can call the common ground. This common ground connects us within the universal consciousness of understanding and wisdom……..that is the essence and the roots of what it is to be a human being.

HOW CAN YOU START TO CHANGE AND CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS THE FINAL STEP OF HUMANITY?

In the heart and core of every single human being and within the essence of the universe, there is an unfolding and evolving reality that is now being understood by Process Systems theories in philosophy and physics.

We can contribute by realising the problems in our modern society and the misinformation that is put in place by the mass media. We can stand up for your uniqueness, creativity and individuality by contributing to a sense of belongingness and togetherness in society. We need to understand that we are all connected through love and cooperation. We can make a difference!

Wa can cooperate by advancing these ideas to the community at large by realising that we individually and as a group can create a better world, aware of the harmony and interconnectedness of all life.

We can contribute by seeking for that which is within and exploring our inner values, our intuition, our empathy, our rapport, our sensitivity, our perceptions and our creativity. We can become aware of that which is creative and empowering in our lives and which takes the limits off human potential to see that we are significant people in our own right.

We can do this through coming together in groups, through understanding, through learning and humility in order to experience the essence of existence.

We can do this by exploring integral ways, which are clearing, loving, integrating, connecting, cooperative, sharing and nurturing.

We can do this through forms of meditation, yoga, exercise such as Tai Chi, concentration, prayer, visualisation and our own form of creativity, love of art, music, culture, and true civilisation.

We can do this together by creating a new civilisation, a new way of being and enhancing our relationship and connectedness with the whole family of humankind.

We can do this by reversing illness and dis-ease on the planet, by taking responsibility for our health by practicing self care and preventative medicine and by speaking out against the exploitation by transnational companies, biogenetic companies and pharmaceutical companies.

We can fight against the injustice of the system which sees the human being as collateral damage and money as the basic religion by which the world revolves.

We can contribute towards this second Copernican revolution by seeking that we ourselves as human beings are the direct inheritors of the cosmic life force.

Our health, creativity and intelligence are directly tied up with how we look after our minds and our bodies.

We can do this by taking preventative action. We need to see that learning and education are part of an ongoing life process and are not just money making opportunities for corporations which try and take our power away from us. We can become a force of citizens by sharing information in order to change our lives.

We contribute change through dialogue and enhance our being through our own facility and the community through appropriate nutrition, exercise, yoga, supplementation, mutual sport and natural inner empowerment to create for ourselves unique and valuable lives that can influence not only Australia, but the whole world.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE?

In the mission that we are creating in order to change and fulfill our potential, we have to ask each of ourselves what is our unique mission in this lifetime while we are here and what do we wish to contribute to fulfill our own uniqueness and ability.

What is within us that motivates and propels us towards goals which seem ever more eluding. We therefore need to define our targets.

We need to create around us an abundance of happiness and environmental support which fulfills our own unique needs. We have to understand money as being n energy itself and that wealth needs to be used appropriately and not squandered.

We need to see ourselves in an abundant universe where our mission is to solve the huge problem of inequity in order to create a more fulfilling global society.

What impoverishes the developing world also impoverishes us, the developed world.

The suffering that occurs in one part of the family of humanity, influences the other part. National barriers are no longer an exclusion for the wider involvement of humanity. We are all connected not only through global problems that we face which are pollution, greenhouse effects, ozone hole increase, the destruction of biodiversity, overpopulation, loss of living and non-living resources, but we are also affected in our very hearts and minds by what occurs to members of our family in the Middle East, Russia, India and Pakistan and through all the trouble spots of the world.

We have to think peace, and delegate our peace positively around the world in order to make change from the field of exploitation and competition into a world which is cooperative.

We need to see ourselves as being part of a great family where each woman is a great mother, and each man is a great father.

THE NEW SCIENCE AND THE NEW SPIRITUALITY

'We are at war with the silent army that we do not even recognise, and we now are on an extinction curve, faster than at any time since the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.'
Al Gore, Earth in the Balance.

'The possibility of a species wide destruction creates for the first time the necessity of a species wide ethic.' Erickson.

Unless we can link our consciousness and awareness within the context of science, our survival capacity will be severely limited despite all rational solutions. Our biggest problem is our inability to get along with each other and our constant necessity to compete with each other in a milieu of dwindling living and non living resources.

The environmental crisis and the crisis of deepening poverty for many of the world's people are indivisible and enormous changes of attitude are required if we are to survive.

The dramatic changes in world population, resource utilisation, and energy consumption hold major implications for the environment. Virtually every aspect of Earth's ecosystems are affected, threatening the continual survival of the human race and all life as we know it.

The institutions and values are now being embarrassed in discovery that they are contradicted by
1. the systems theory of a conjoint evolution or unfolding of mind and matter.
2. the interconnectedness, interdependence and interaction of ourselves with each other and the world around us.

Will we move ahead on the basis of this knowledge that we have uncovered, enlivening a positive change to a positive future or will this knowledge be suppressed in line with the old world view and its institutions?

'If wars are started in the minds and eyes of men, then peace must be started in the eyes of men.' UNESCO

Klaus Toephler, Director of the UN Environment program, Nairobi, Kenya in the United Nations Environmental Study 2002 Report states, 'the Planet is poised on a precipice and time is running out for making tough, economic and political choices that can pull it back from disaster. These choices are critical for the rivers, mountains, forests, oceans and other life support systems upon which current and future generations depend.'

This report, made by contributions from more than 1,000 scientists associated with UNEP shows within 30 years,
3% of the Earth's surface will be absorbed into cities
55% of the global population will suffer severe water shortages
11,000 plant and animal species will be dead or dying
30% of the biodiversity will be erased by the middle of the century
There will be increased emissions of carbon dioxide doubling to 16 billion pounds per year since the 19th century.

The planet will be a desert with urban crowds of people inhabiting large regions perishing from thirst and water borne dis-ease.

'The highest wisdom has but one science, the science of the whole, the science explaining the whole creation and man's placement.' Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Within our collective lives, the more we reinforce the new paradigm idea and experiences within ourselves as individuals, the greater we have an effect on others so that we can all have a positive effect at any one time.

Many Great Humanistic Leaders say, changing the world begins with changing one's self. The greater consistency of change and evolution for the better within our own lives, hearts and minds and being, creates the common ground reality. The more people you may positively effect (to become causes themselves) and the stronger the impact we have at any one time influences everything around us.

The above aspects of empowerment summarise what it means to be truly empowered and to help empower another. There is cause for us to be facilitators of empowerment, first within ourselves, then within the hearts, minds and bodies of others. There are so many creative ways we can work out our roles as facilitators of change. While we cannot overlook the mysterious impact of community change involved in our sharing of ideas and experiences, we have a unique and unprecedented opportunity presented to us at this stage of human history through the power of mass communication and information technology.

LET US START WITH OURSELVES

The purpose of this small booklet is to enable a force of people for change to grow in substance and in number in order that we all may create numerous, holistic and realistic visions of our heaven on Earth. The time is now!

We have to take action to maintain our voyage throughout time and space and to establish the harmonious energy required during this time of great challenge and change.

As a group we have a mission to sustain the planet in order to give our future generations a beacon of hope for a sustainable and beautiful future.

'Movements and non governmental organisations are now officially accredited with predicting the energy crisis as early as 1969, creating alternative fairer energy and sustainable development strategies and forcing issues of disarmament and peace, human rights and social justice on the national and international agendas.'
Hazel Henderson, Politics of the Solar Age.

'We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable resources of air and soil all committed for our safety for its security and peace, preserved from annihilation only by the work and care, and I would say the love we give our fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate and half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half slave to the ancient enemies of man, half free in a liberation of resources, undreamed of until this day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such contradiction when their evolution depends on the survival of us all.'
Adlai Stevenson, 1900-1965, Democratic US Presidential Candidate, 1952 and 1956.

MIND - BODY MEDICINE

The study of psycho-neuro-immunology is the study of the whole human being. As a further extension it becomes psycho-social-neuro-immuno-endocrinology - the inseparable connection between the human being, society and the environment (human ecology).

We also have the vast advances in social sciences which see mind / body medicine as being pre-emptive in its ability to heal and cure by enabling people to have self mastery and control through meditation, relaxation, exercise, visualisation, biofeedback and self hypnosis.

More scientists are now taking the holistic view of the way things are connected in systems and process theories.

Dr Robert Muller, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations and the first Chancellor of the United Nations University of Peace, has said

'The human species is making enormous progress. It has a worldwide, almost cosmic knowledge of space and time, and has global auditory, visual and communication abilities. It has global hands and feet, through industry and transportation. Through the Internet, it has a global brain. A global heart is nascent. A global soul or spiritual renaissance is underway. However, humanity is still in a primitive stage in its craving for immediate material satisfactions, craving for power, money and possessions.'

'The next stages will be those of morality, ethics, distinction between good and bad, extraordinary wisdom and fulfillment of life, a harmony with Earth, her elements, her nature and other species, her heavens and the unfoldment of time which we call evolution.'

'We are witnessing the birth of a new age - the age of right global values as we take a gigantic step forward in human and planetary evolution.'

'The revolt against global business is part of the overall process.'

Scientists are becoming more aware of the birth of a new global consciousness. The new theory is that on any planet having life in the cosmos, one species sooner or later evolves to a point of gaining a total knowledge of the planet on which it lives. It will then be in its power to either advance or destroy the biosphere and all of life with which it is in symbiotic relationship. Humanity has now reached a stage where it needs to acquire a new evolutionary wisdom which respects nature, the Earth and its basic Laws. We are no longer our own objective, we have become the caretakers, the trustees, the shapers of future evolution, the stewards of the cosmos, and an integral part of it.

'We have an incredibly important evolutionary role and responsibility.' Robert Muller

We seek to educate all humanity about the miracle of life, the art of living and the human fulfillment for happiness. Education is paramount as it is a process of looking at the totality and becoming again what we were always - human beings.. We are all interconnected as a huge extended family, reaching out to the cosmos itself. In this respect, we seek to cultivate within all human beings, cosmic and universal knowledge by looking at our place in time, the miracle of individual life, human groupings, the human family, and the universe and our planetary home.

In the final analysis the main source of education is the media. The Dalai Lama has stated that in the sphere of international relations a sense of greater or shared responsibility is particularly needed. We need the news media to promote a more peaceful and better world and that there are numerous institutions around the world who are aiming to create this kind of peaceful and better world. This is despite the fact that so much sensationalism relating to dictators and wars and man made disasters are on the front pages of the daily news papers.

We need to incorporate these profound elevating and optimistic conceptions into our everyday life, giving us all a sense of hope that we indeed may determine our future as co-creators with the universe.

GAIA

It was James Lovelock who saw the planet Earth as being not an inanimate object, but a living matrix, a biosphere, full of life, interconnected and maintaining itself, so that all lifeforms could exist in symbiotic connection and evolution. With this process of growth and evolution over the past millions of years, from the seeding of the primal genome has come a vast array of flora and fauna, leading eventually to the self reflective consciousness located in the brain of the human being.

Not many people understand or can grasp the fact that each human being contains all the vast oceans, mountains, seas, forests and life on the planet. Nor do they realise, that our consciousness, given the right stimulation and encouragement, can reach out to the universe itself unfolding and nurturing the very existence of enlightenment.

Gaia indeed is like a giant organism. Human beings are like cells in the body of this organism. Gaia is the cause of life, corralescing and contributing with vitality and energy to the synergy of the whole.

Indeed the tropical rainforests of Brazil are the lungs of the planet, the seas are the blood and the roots in the trees are like a circulatory system for the planetary body flushing, cleansing and purifying the system.

The whole planet breathes by contracting and expanding with a gravitational pull and the seasons and cycles mirror these changes by the recuperation of Autumn to the inevitable awakening and birth of Spring. From a crystal lotus core or heart of the planet arise scalar waves of universal force that run latitudinally, longitudinally and diagonally around our planet. These lines of force are like meridians that carry the life-force within the human body and they interact and integrate the biosphere into an integrating and synergic matrix.

A MEDITATION

We see ourselves as beings of light, individual cells in the vast framework and meshwork of Gaia. We see ourselves as being part of the range of all living creatures and entities on Earth from whales to butterflies, from single cells to chrysanthemums, all merging together as a single living being, covered in light and iridescence. We feel the sustaining Earth's atmosphere nurturing us, pouring into our bodies and lives, enhancing and exhilarating our very being. We are awakening to be part of this project of creativity and love, nurturing the whole of our star system and reaching out to nurture the galaxy itself. As part of this meshwork of life, we feedback into ourselves and optimise our lives in every conceivable way bringing together the new life and all the various ecological processes that enable us to create a more sustainable living planet.

We see all our nations and our communities and our politicians coming together in a giant thinktank to create oneness as we evolve from a basic caterpillar to a wonderful flying creature. Our collective intelligence is an enormous tree of life. Even though the tree itself is 99% inanimate being consisting of inactive wood, the sap rises through many tiny channels fuelling the greenness of the branches and leaves. There is that incandescence and livingness which makes the tree eternal. That is what we human beings are, eternal beings, quantum fluctuations on a quantum field of life and reality which makes up and contains Gaia herself, the living planet.

As we look at the planet Gaia in our minds, we see our planet nurtured by this blue ocean of love and life. Our consciousness arises in order that we may embrace the circle of our family of humanity and the biosphere in a circle of light representing wholeness and completion.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS FOR INVOLVEMENT

The new renaissance culture aims at enhancing and empowering individuals in order that we can create a better world. It emphasises particularly the primacy of the individual through promoting release of stress through relaxation and meditation and also group and community support that people may have mastery of their lives and be catalysts for change in our local and global community. We follow the dictum, 'Think Globally - Act Locally'. Each person has tremendous power.

When the word 'we' is used, it is used as a cooperative 'we'. It means that as a collective humanity, we wish for this positive remarkable change in ourselves and our society.

We now have the opportunity to use 100% of our brains rather than 2%. We therefore wish to enhance people through information rather than misinformation and create a process, which leads to education for life, not for the sake of the growth of bureaucratic organisations and transnational companies. Our aim is to create a network of cooperation, compassion and the unfolding of humanity where we acknowledge our inextricable relationship with the planet earth or Gaia and our universe.

We support the individual in making changes in their life and focussing on their mind, emotions and spirituality so that they may become whole and self fulfilled human individuals.

We also support the creation of international peace and environmental conferences which emphasise the global approaches required to create a unified, sustainable and positive future.

QUESTIONS

We wish to talk directly to the individual member of our community and tribe.

As an individual human being, do you have sufficient rest and sleep?
How is your nutrition and what kind of household goods and cosmetics do you use?

The vast majority of illness and stress in our society results from lifestyle. We need to realise that the type of food that we buy in our stores is mainly processed and often completely devoid of any essential nutrients and vitamins. Added to this is the huge rise of cancer in the past ten years caused by the growing amount of pollutants, pesticides and chemicals in our household products and cosmetics.

Pollutants in our environment have created a massive increase in the incidence of cancer, just as the fat in our foods and unhealthy lifestyles have created an increase in heart disease, due to obesity and raised cholesterol.

Key scientific medical trials have shown that yoga, a vegetarian diet and meditation can reverse heart disease in one year (Dean Ornish program). Dr David Spiegel in 1989 did the key study which showed the effect of psychosocial intervention on patients with metastatic breast cancer. This was a double blind trial and showed that the intervention group which was taught simple relaxation, self hypnosis techniques, communication matters and group support at the end of twelve months had less anxiety, less fear, less depression, better pain control and improved quality of life. The follow up also showed that those in the intervention group showed a doubling of survival time. It seems that an effect of improved quality of life, seems to equate with improved survival.

Are you having quality of life and are you enjoying your life? If not, what can you do to improve your life so that you are taking responsibility for and promoting your own health.

Relaxation and meditation help to undo the harmful effects of stress. Like exercise, meditation increases significant reductions in illness in every single disease category, and as a result of this, insurance companies in the US and Europe are starting to offer substantial reductions in life insurance premiums for up to 30% for people who practice a designated form of meditation regularly.

You have a choice in the kind of meditation you wish to do. You have a choice in the kind of spiritual path you wish to follow.

Some varieties of meditation and relaxation exercises include:
1. progressive muscle relaxation
2. concentration of the breath in mindfulness and yoga exercises
3. mantra meditation
4. transcendental meditation
5. mindfulness meditation
6. visualisations, affirmations and imagery

All this kind of work is inner work where the person is trying to reach the conscious and subconscious mind and have more mastery and control over themselves and give themselves the empowerment that enables them to change and enables our society and environment to change for the better. A certain mount of deep muscle relaxation and rest is important for relieving stress and clearing the mind.

Deep muscle relaxation is profoundly important for health due to its effects on many body systems and in general meditation has an effect on the immune system enhancing it, enabling the person to respond to all stresses with greater poise.

The Faculty of Consciousness

Stanislav Grof said we can have access to every single entity and consciousness in the universe. We have that facility of being. We also have to understand that as well as that potential power, we also have within us, pure consciousness. Silence is an extremely potent carrier of presence in the access to pure consciousness and awareness of the self and total being,

It is important to be aware of the gaps between and underneath the words. Even in noise there is always silence in between and underneath the sounds. This is the living realisation of your consciousness and enables you to access with awareness the deepest inspiration and creativity that you are capable of.

Humanity's future lies in our ability to access the sub-conscious that we may actualise our creativity into manifest sustainable inspirational forms.

As we begin to follow this path we begin to ask questions such as:

Who am I?
Where do I come from?
What is the purpose of my life's journey?
What is my mission and quest?
How do I reconcile these ideas and questions with living in the present?

Then we have to realise that the present in fact encompasses the totality and that we are all related and connected.

Are you recording your dreams and eating organic food, drinking pure water, relaxing, breathing fresh air, having walks, meeting friends and being with the family?

Do you also move and have exercise?

Moving the body is essential for maintaining mind and body communication. The body is like a self sharpening razor which will maintain itself if it is operated in a proper fashion.

Do you do yoga or jogging, aerobics, tai chi, dancing, Aikido, Feildenkreis etc?

Do you take care with your nutrition?

Do you try and avoid eating refined starches and sugars which are empty calories as they may cause emotional upsets in people?

You may need to avoid dairy or wheat. You may need to increase your fruit, salad or vegetable intake and increase the amount of fish in your diet so that you have more unsaturated fatty acids which are really good for increasing the functioning of your brain.

Do you eat your meals at schedule and do you chew your food properly?

Do you also ensure that your living and working environments are healthy and clean and illuminated with daylight?

Wellness is promoted by an environment that is supportive physically and personally.

Do you experience participation what the greater whole?

Do you have people, pets, plants to relate to?

Do you have a special friend or partner who is very close to you that you can confide in?

Do you have a connection with a group of people who you feel you belong to?

Do you have connection with the infinite intelligence and consciousness of the universe itself?

Conversation, laughing and talking and being hugged is a good way to enhance your wellbeing as is singing or playing an instrument. We need to be opened up in order to express our sense of happiness and truth in our lives.

WORKING WITH SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

A lot of people around you are depressed. One in five people are depressed and young people especially are prone to depression and suicidal thoughts. This is probably because of the food that we eat and the fact that we live in such alienating and anomic communities. Cities are very anonymous places. People feel lonely and do not know how to satisfy their urges and desires for emotional fulfillment and activity. The body and mind are constantly seeking for new gratification's and an untrained mind is never still because it wishes to grab onto one thing or another. In our society young people aren't taught how to still the mind and how to have mastery over their lives. They are not taught how to feel joy, pleasure and beauty or experience the subtlety of things. This is a society of instant satisfaction and gratification. This is why young people are often street wise at a very young age, although this may often be a veneer below which is the sensitive human being.

To what extent can you help the needs of people around you by being setting an example?

We are in a system which is geared to planned obsolescence which delights in the band-aid approaches in order to gain money to satisfy the needs of a powerful elite. We live in a society which is economically rationalist and has concerns only for the economy and sees people as necessary fodder for collateral damage for the large transnational companies.

We have to understand that as individuals we are important and that we can make a difference to this planet which is being eroded and destroyed by greed, exploitation and a lack of knowledge of the interconnectedness of things.

This is why we need to stand up and be counted. We need to tell people about what they can do and how they can bring out their truth and stop getting ill. We need to work for a more open and skillful society. We need to create more dialogues and more awareness of the happiness and beauty in life.

What can we do?

We can have meetings and seminars. We can talk to other people. We can grow herbs, plant trees. We can take in animals, feed the birds, swim with the dolphins and play with children. We can walk or run along the beach and explore the exciting wilderness of the World, be it in the mountains, the desert, forests, or lakes. We can immerse ourselves in nature and gain great insight into the mystery of the universe through this. We can share our own stories, make poetry, sing an dance and laugh and play as we work together as a cooperative and nurturing community.

We have to celebrate our existence in our ability to be consciously knowing.

Our aim is to go out to the community to promote healthy ways of living, thinking and being that we may contribute towards a more wholesome society. We seek to empower the individual and give them the knowledge that they may create mastery of their lives and seek for alternatives if they are not happy with what they are doing at the moment.

We ask people to speak out against economic rationalism and injustice to the poor and disabled, seeking for an education for all and particularly concentrating on preventative and health promotion activities.

We seek to enhance the sustainable framework of society in industrial and environmental practices. When buying goods and products please check to see that these products are environmentally sound, biodegradable, recyclable and not over packaged.

We also support responsible business and labour ethics, good work relationships, equal opportunities and organisations with a good environmental history.

Our aim is to get education and healing into the community so that they are aware of what is going on locally and globally. This will enable people to stand up to create a positive change in order that we will survive into the future in a sustainable way.

Albert Einstein said 'we cannot solve the problems of the world with mechanisms but only be changing the hearts and minds of man and by speaking courageously.'

As an expression of new culture, and the new society, we make a plea for men and women to open their hearts and minds to what it really is to be a human being.

We need to help construct a new vision of peace by developing a peace culture. Humans cannot work for a future they cannot imagine. Our task is to devise a vision in which we can all have faith. Peace is a mode of behaviour, a deep path of commitment to the principles of liberty, justice, equality and solidarity amongst all human beings. It is a harmonious partnership of humankind with the environment.

Spy Satellites can probe to the square foot of any nation and yet secrecy is present in international affairs and in our everyday lives. We must encourage openness which will put an end to the fear and distrust which causes wars and internal dissent and revolution.

We also aim to encourage governments to recognise that there are new items on the global agenda and we encourage international cooperation towards peace. We also wish to look at the protection of the life support systems of the planet, the protection of the diversity of species and the sustainable utilisation of resources.

We look towards institutional and legal reforms using international and regional organisations and national governments as well as NGO's, scientists, industry and the public.

In particular it is the grassroots of the voices of the community of committed citizens, which will lead to the greatest change. Our voice will lead to changes in the nature of cooperation between government and responsible institutions and individuals. We seek changes in certain forms of international cooperation based on our significant commitment to this process.

We have to lift humanity out of its blindness, confusion and alienation and contribute towards the awakening of goodwill, right human relations and the cultivation of universal values.

We will foster the development of an international consciousness based on a wide knowledge of science and the arts and especially knowledge of the human species, its evolution, history, strengths and weaknesses. We also foster a respect for the sanctity of all life on Earth, and a dedication to the highest aspirations of the human spirit.

We stress the part that you and me, that is the ordinary individual and citizen can play in contributing towards a world without war. We stress that the individual person cannot survive without a stable society and owing to the interdependence of nations an individual nation cannot survive without a stable, global system.

Humanity has reached a turning point and its ability to choose the future wisely depends upon the existence of a well informed awakened, and enlightened public opinion.

DR MICHAEL ELLIS MBBS MRCP DCH MACNEM NPAA BA (Hons) Dip Grad (Nutr Med) Dr Michael Ellis Chief Editor, Co Publisher and Creative vision behind The New Paradigm Journal www.newparafigmjournal.com is an English trained Doctor with over 20 years of General Practice experience both in the UK and in Australia. He has higher qualifications in general medicine and paediatrics. He has a special interest in mind/ body medicine and in optimizing the physical, mental and emotional health of the individual. He is the Australian co-representative of The Institute Of Noetic Sciences oin California. He has been practising Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism for 30 years.
As well as his medical qualifications, Dr Ellis also has an Honours Degree in Literature, Arts, Philosophy and Social Psychology. He also has Naturopathic qualifications.
He is Founder of The Centre For Change www.centreforchange.org and Co Founder of The Medical Renaissance Groupwww.medicalrenaissance.org
The Centre for Change in the Third Millennium is an open forum and ongoing dialogue for humankind on key issues affecting sustainable survival and the search for solutions. It is a global 'think tank', a global 'watershed, bringing together humanity's most inspired and creative thinking - a convergence of the spiritual, scientific and humanistic. The aim is the creation of a planetary 'peace culture'. Dr Ellis has a keen interest in the plight of the ordinary GP and is concerned about creating a more sustainable future for both doctors and the community. Because of this, he established The Medical Renaissance Group www.medicalrenaissance.org in Australia in 2001. The Medical Renaissance Group aims to bring together the global community of doctors and community to lobby their respective governments for the creation of a healing culture which places priority on the health of the individual rather than on the illness of the individual. In this respect, it supports preventative, nutritional, mind/ body medicine and Wellness Medicine and sees healing as being a unique partnership between the doctor and the patient.
Dr Ellis has conducted seminars on Globalization, and Wellness at the Post Graduate School of Medicine Swinburne University, Melbourne.
He can be contacted on mindquest@ozemail.com.au and michaelellis@alumni.swinburne.edu or on 0414 543 397. He practices Nutritional and Environmental, Integrative , Mind Body and Anti Aging Medicine in Kalorama Victoria.