Can you imagine a future where your steak is manufactured in a lab?

Where automation aids our every move, including our morning commute? Do you imagine a world where our rivers, lakes and oceans are filled with micro-sensors relaying important data to our personal computers?

Do you dream of a world where 3-D printing will enable you to print anything you desire—including an organ or appendage in need of replacing? Where microscopic organisms are created in high schools and universities around the world?

Do you dream of a world where machines are ubiquitous to life on Earth?

According to Peter Diamandis, author of Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think, this is the world we already live in.

Diamandis outlines a strategy for bringing the planet to a state of abundance—a strategy, of course, driven by technological innovation.

Diamandis raises the point (and provides the evidence) that technology holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of some of our world’s most pressing global challenges. Whether it is water, food, energy or population, Diamandis argues that the exponential acceleration of our technological advances ensures that we will indeed rise to meet these challenges. In fact, many of these technologies already exist.

And what are the technologies that can deliver abundance to our world?

Biotechnology and bioinformatics, computational systems, networks and sensors, artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing, medicine, nanomaterials and nanotechnology.

I won’t delve into the details of each (you can read the book to learn more) but I do wish to offer an argument for trepidation in adopting these technologies without proper consideration of the nature of our nature.

The nature that I’m referring to is our reality as spiritual beings.

Hollywood has already done us the favor of providing an amplified window of what a future with unchecked technology and machinery could look like, and given the inevitably of our continued technological growth, it might not be that far off the mark.

It is therefore crucial that as we continue in our technological evolution, we ensure that those advances are harmonized with a deep sense of spiritual awareness—as it is this awareness that will keep us grounded in our humanity.

While Peter Diamandis refers to the advances in science, I believe that we are currently in the midst of another field of exponential acceleration: the conscious evolution of human enlightenment.

Spirituality is about essence. About who we really are.

Spiritual teaching is as old as human beings. All of our religions are formed around spiritual texts (that have been horribly misinterpreted over the years), so this growth isn’t about any new information coming our way.

It is rather about personal empowerment.

What I am suggesting is that humanity, while evolving technologically, is also evolving spiritually. At an exponential rate.

There are movements, similar to the technological movement, that offer other solutions to global challenges.

As people connect to their innermost selves, they begin to shed behaviors that don’t serve them any more. The result has inspired revolutions that can be found in communities throughout the world. (This is by no means a comprehensive analysis, but rather a capsule into a few key movements.)

Raw Food

The raw food movement is inspiring change in our eating habits. As outlined by Diamandis, our diet currently has the most negative impact on our environment. It takes 1,500 gallons of water to raise a single pound of beef. The carbon footprint of raising cattle is significantly greater than all the automotive transportation combined.

It is time we change how we eat.

And people are doing just that. Consuming organically grown, high nutrient, plant-based foods (superfoods), is a revolution taking shape from the west coast to Indonesia.

Who needs petri dish meat when sustainable solutions already exist—by simply changing what we eat?

And just as introducing a new technology to solve a major problem initiates a domino effect that actually works to solve many of our global challenges, the raw food revolution offers our physical bodies the enzyme-rich nutrients that contribute to our spiritual growth.

After all, we are what we eat, and when we eat properly, we chemically alter our ability to see the world as it truly exists. As we truly exist.

Yoga

Yoga is another revolution taking the world by storm.

While yoga has been oft-parodied for the Southern California-yuppie-mom aesthetic central to gym culture, the reality of this revolution is that yoga is becoming mainstream, and more people are developing a personal practice that is aligned with the deep spirituality this ancient art holds.

Meditation through movement.

Physical asana is a gateway to deep meditation, which is the true path to self-realization. And that is the ultimate end of the yogic practice.

Indigenous Wisdom

One of the grossest misinterpretations of our world is that it is linear. History propagates this perspective. We view ourselves as moving along a line from past to future, and this is how we perceive progress.

It is simply not true.

On every level of our physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual world, we find life moving in cycles. Examples aren’t needed, simply observe your own life to find evidence.

We began this great journey in the form of light. And this is where we will return. This is spiritual evolution. This is ultimate wisdom.

Of course, this awareness is not new. In fact, we in modern times are only slowly acknowledging this wisdom that has been ingrained in humanity throughout history.

But what has previously been a slow acceptance is now increasing in scope and scale.

The message is coming through from our ancestors, whose voice is loud despite not having a physical presence in our world. And the message is simple.

Return to nature.

This nature consciousness is awakening in many forms.

Psychologists are writing books about the benefits of time in nature, for child development and mental health. Educators are recognizing the value of bringing the classroom outside. Urban planners are designing cities to accentuate green belts. Medical practitioners are developing herbal and homeopathic remedies to treat illness and disease.

And the environment is finally taking a front seat in our political and social activism.

To me, these developments are as much about our spiritual advances as they are our technological ones.

When we live in harmony with our nature, we live in light. When we live in light, we live in love. Love breeds compassion and service. Love is collaboration and connection.

Love is a solution to our global crises.

Finding Passion

This is a point Diamandis makes—small groups of individuals are wielding great potential for enabling massive global change. No longer are major corporations and large governments solely responsible for the provision of our resources, material and social.

Information technology is opening up the doors for the redistribution of power, and this is minimizing cost and maximizing efficiency in developing solutions to global challenges.

But this reality also has relevance on the spiritual plane.

Human beings are no longer fooled into believing their future is dependent on the financial security that large corporations and big government promise.

The result of which is a human race that is aligning with a more pure sense of purpose. People are working for themselves and working within their passions. Those passions often involve service, deep artistic expression and a sustainability or conservation ethic.

An aligned individual performing divine work is an immeasurable benefit to the planet.

Symbiosis

This blog is a call for collaboration.

While the technological advances of our society offer incredible potential in delivering humanity to a state of abundance, the ultimate effectiveness of these solutions relies on the simultaneous evolution of our spiritual and conscious selves.

We cannot rely solely on technology to answer our questions—for if we do, we will not find ourselves with answers, but rather a whole new complex set of questions.

We must rise up as individuals alongside technology to maintain the necessary balance our world requires.

We must drive the path of technology as conscious beings living in spiritual harmony with our planet.

Then we will be truly abundant.

Brad Korpalski has never taught yoga–well, maybe once.  He does however practice daily, and loves yogis.  He has spent the last 9 years connecting children to the natural world, as an outdoor educator, and currently leads a balanced life from his home in Bali– with his wonderful family.

 

 

 

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Ed: Brianna Bemel
Assistant Ed. Caroline Scherer

Sources: via david hecht on Pinterest, via Shena Pamella, via h.koppdelaney.