We are at the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, witnessing the death of the old and the birth of the new. As Jung noted some eighty years ago, “It seems to me that we are only at the threshold of a new spiritual epoch.” We are the midwives not of a physical birth, but a profound spiritual birth, as Teilhard de Chardin makes clear, “We are watching the birth, more than the death, of a World.”

            We are at what Ervin Laszlo calls the “tipping point,” where we head toward mass extinction or a sustainable future. Can we head any further down the “path to breakdown” without it being too late, or will we wake up and head down the “path to breakthrough”? It may just be that we are already far enough into the birth process that there is no turning back.

How can we not move toward “breakthrough” when we are more conscious every day that we are deeply connected to each other? Conscious activism in every realm is evident. The desire for a peaceful and sustainable world is influencing the way we think, act, and the way we are growing.

The eventual result of this imminent birth process, as Laszlo describes it, will be “a consciousness that recognizes our connections to each other and to the cosmos…a consciousness of connectedness and memory… [that] conveys a sense of belonging, ultimately, of oneness… a wellspring of empathy with nature and solidarity among people.”

People around the world are embracing world-shaping trends that are leading the way in this birthing process. Laszlo says, “An individual endowed with planetary consciousness recognizes his or her role in the evolutionary process and acts responsibly in light of this perception.” He defines planetary consciousness as “the knowing as well as the feeling of the vital interdependence of and essential oneness of humankind, and the conscious adoption of the ethics and the ethos that this entails.”