We must come to see that life is a pendulum swinging between two opposites – a pendulum swinging between disappointment and fulfillment, between success and failure, between joy and sorrow. And that’s life. And we never mask the life, and we think that life must be only joyous and happy and that we must live in terms of fulfillment. Disappointment is just as much a part of life as fulfillment. Failure is just as much a part of life as success, sorrow as much a part of life as joy.
 
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Montgomery Alabama, 1956

The creation of a new world, one where we as human beings live in harmony with all other living things, is already happening on an intangible level. You can help build it by nurturing your light, staying connected to the source, and caring for all life around you. By keeping your heart radically open, despite the world’s madness and harshness, for those who need care. By distinguishing what is pure and choosing it over and over. Do not seek refuge in detachment, denial, or escape; instead, attach yourself deeply to this life, this earth, this body, and the purpose of your soul. Embrace your circle of influence.
 
- Susan Smit, Dutch Author

The wise person stays behind thus they are ahead
They are detached thus at one with all
Through selfless action they attain fulfillment
 
The highest good is like water
Water gives life and does not strive
It flows in places some reject and so it is like the life force
 
In dwelling be close to the land
In meditation go deep in the heart
In dealing with others be gentle and kind
In speech be true
In ruling be just
In daily life be competent
In action be aware of the time and the season
No fight
No blame

All those voices attacking, defending, and trancing - all to obscure and defame the simple truth:

There is more than enough for everyone, all potentials exist, and all there is to do is follow one simple rule - love one another in the way you wish to be loved.

The successful ones on this path are unknown and unsung. Throughout the ages they have worked with humble simplicity, merely one person helping another through the ordinary trials of life.

Looking to "experts" will make us lose our way. The power that is and animates the universe
emanates from within each heart. All there is to do is reveal this power to those for whom we meet along the way each day.

Teach the ignorant as much as you can; society is culpable in not providing a free education for all and it must answer for the night it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.
 
- Victor Hugo, French poet, dramatist, and writer

The universe is my country and the human family is my tribe. I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy. Love is a magic ray emitted from the burning core of the soul and illuminating the surrounding earth. It enables us to perceive life as a beautiful dream between one awakening and another. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness. I deserted the world and sought solitude because I became tired of rendering courtesy to those multitudes who believed that humility is a sort of weakness and mercy a kind of cowardice and snobbery a form of strength.

- Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist

Imagine what would happen if natural processes were neurotic and self-centered: a lazy sky flickers; gravity varies from moment to moment; your mind is irrational; space is agitated; life is abortive; leaders are worthless models. Nothing works.

The wise person knows better than to be neurotic and self-centered. Potency comes from knowing what is happening and acting accordingly. Paradoxically, freedom comes from obedience to the natural order.

Since all creation is a whole, separateness is an illusion. Like it or not, we are team players. Power comes through cooperation, independence through service, and a greater self through selflessness.

- John Heider, The Tao of Leadership

Many, but not all, therapies are based on concepts of pathology, correcting personality deficits or fixing problematic aspects of a person’s thinking and supplying missing experiences often with the goal of helping them cope or restoring functionality in a society that is, quite often, dysfunctional. Some are indeed geared toward these goals with the underlying assumption that “something is wrong” and needs to be corrected, developed or supplied. To be clear, when a person comes to therapy they are often not functioning well and lots of things appear dysfunctional. The “already whole” perspective is not suggesting that nothing should change, rather it rests very deeply on the humanistic understanding that the qualities and resources one needs are readily available at all times. This is not to say that skills do not need to be learned, new ways of communicating or behaving are not acquired, patterns changed, and mental, emotional and behavioral habits reconditioned, but the client relies on their innate wisdom to guide them to the resources they need and their intuition about what they need when options are available. Self-guidance in healing IS the healing: Wholeness takes the hand of what is broken and leads her back to the wholeness of Self.

- Monique M. Verrier, from "A Psychospiritual Exploration of the Transpersonal Self As The Ground of Healing": https://rupertspira.com/non-duality/blog/philosophy/a-psychospiritual-exploration-of-the-transpersonal-self-as-the-ground-of-healing

The Native American cultures, like those of all primary peoples, revere Nature and perceive humanity as co-creators in a vast web of life. Not only the creatures who share the Earth with us, but also the Earth herself is seen and experienced as a living being to be honored and with whom to live in harmony. This intention is given voice with a traditional prayer of blessing addressed to "all our relations."

In contrast, the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries seemed a more realistic idea at the time. In fact, it came about piecemeal as entrepreneurs and inventors tried to solve problems and create or respond to opportunities in a time of huge cultural changes that, like a tidal wave, engulfed everything in its path. From religious beliefs to social structures, ideas about the universe and our place within it underwent upheaval as the so-called age of reason was birthed. As the new worldview grew to maturity, it came to consider humanity as the pinnacle of creation and science as the emerging orthodoxy, where human ingenuity could - and indeed was viewed to have the right to - tame and control a separate, passive and limitlessly resourceful Nature.

The scientific methods of this revolution were, however clever and expedient in the short term, profoundly limiting and ultimately dangerous. For in perceiving the world as merely a mechanistic backdrop to human activity and a resource to be plundered, technologies and industries separated us from Earth and our fellow creatures. At a still increasing pace, the systems of production spawned by this approach continue to deplete the Earth's natural resources; destroy Her ecosystems; and spill vast amounts of toxic materials into the atmosphere, oceans, and soils. The associated economic system stubbornly proceeds in the view that the Earth's resources are effectively limitless. It not only accepts but industrially designs for huge amounts of waste on the mistaken assumption that her resources are unlimited. And by economically counting pollution and warfare as viable contributors to national activities, it support vicious rather than virtuous ongoing cycles of development and behavior in contemporary societies.

- Ervin Laszlo and Jude Currivan, "CosMos, A Co-creator's Guide to the Whole-World"

Nobody has all the answers. Knowing that you do not know everything is far wiser than thinking that you know a lot when you really do not. The wise person has learned how painful it is to fake knowledge. Being wise and not wanting the pain, the wise person does not indulge in pretending. Anyway, it is a relief to be able to say: "I don't know."