"The nature of man's being determines the nature of his actions, and the nature if his being comes to manifestation first of all in the mind."

Aldous Huxley

Sometimes it seems silly and frivolous to sit around contemplating the great philosophical questions over a cappuccino when people are dying all over the world from malnutrition, war, and insufficient or non-existent health care. On the occasions when the headlines glorify our species' blood lust one too many times, even the most committed seeker is tempted to: (1) believe that spirituality is simply a bourgeois pastime for weak-minded optimists; and (2) contemplate a new life as either a gun-toting nihilist or an apathetic drone happily tethered to the Matrix. It is these moments when the ultimate question emerges: Is the quest for spiritual awakening attainable or even desirable when the hypocrisies of government, the arrogance and conceit of our leaders, the fear and timidity of the masses threaten to destroy our very existence?

Let's get really real. The world didn't mess itself up. If it is sick and confused it's because we're sick and confused and see the world through our tinted lens. Working to correct the outer problems without acknowledging the inner causes is like putting a band-aid on cancer. Our longstanding mistreatment of the Earth, our fellow humans, and other living creatures is due to a gross misunderstanding of who we are and the true nature of reality and will not be eliminated as a result of stronger legislation, better treaties, or corporate watchdog groups. Nothing is going to change in this funky world until we change--from the inside out--and spirituality is both the art and the science of inner change.

But hasn't religion tried to change humanity for the better for thousands of years and failed miserably? How can spirituality possibly be the answer? Most of the world's religions tell stories that outline the rules about how we need to conduct ourselves in the outer world so that we please God and get good seats in the after life. Eat fish on Friday, keep kosher, don't drink alcohol, adhere to the caste system. It seems so simple--do the right thing now and wait for the reward when we die--except that it doesn't make any sense and it doesn't work. "Good" people who play by the rules suffer and "bad" ones go unpunished everyday. Why would it be any different after death?

Nestled within these religious tales, however, is tremendous symbolic, esoteric content that focuses on the inner life, the underlying "oneness" of experience and the interconnectedness of all things. Aldous Huxley called this "the perennial philosophy." We call it "The One Life Principle." As history shows, the dualism of exoteric religion--there's us and then there's God, we're Christians and they're Jews, my kid's smarter than your kid--leads to one-upmanship, war and a state of perpetual suffering. Unity consciousness, on the other hand, by its very essence promotes and manifests compassion, understanding, love and respect. If we are all parts of one whole, then there is absolutely nothing that is not sacred or integral to Life--no one who is unworthy, wrong or dispensable. If there is only "One Life" then each and every one of us is the center of the universe with the power and the responsibility to create heaven on earth. If we're serious about wanting to change this mess of a world, then waking up to the truth of our nature as indestructible sparks of God and embracing our world as our own creation, is not only not frivolous, it's mandatory.