People living in the industrial world, especially in the USA have been encouraged to live in a comfortable conceptual box that allows us to ignore our interdependency with the rest of the world. Starting with the philosophical/cultural base of individualism and materialism in all it's forms, and engaging in extreme consumerism, we have been seduced by the box. Contributing to this is the fact that the threats we now face are not seen as immanent (that is, immediate – like within the next few minutes). We are not evolved to respond to threats that we don’t see as actual having an impact right now.

This is exploited by propaganda in all its forms (marketing, public relations techniques, etc.) and we are collectively faced with the question, which to believe, a threat that is marginalized by most mainstream media or the encouragement to stay our current comfort zone (remember Bush’s “go shopping” speech after 9/11)? I think the vast majority of people will choose the comfort zone and send someone else to defend it – e.g. Iraq war.

The success of any expansion of consciousness will depend on our ability to tell people that they can still be comfortable while changing the world. Otherwise it will be marginalized through the exploitative efforts of the current comfort zone machine, and things will get much worse before they get better. Just like all successful religions, the expansion will have to appeal to the need for a large portion of humanity to have a promise of a better life now or in the next one, without having to sacrifice much.

This is not meant to be pessimistic, because humanity has stepped up to the plate before (I think), and can do it again. The idea that we can do better is good one. Each individual who understands this is challenged to live it as much as possible and to promote it through actions and words every day. In the social network model of marketing we can individually influence the collective and larger scale efforts can influence the individual. Expanded consciousness needs a PR firm.

So the question – what is awareness advocate to do?

Well, I believe the question of what/who controls and is responsible for destiny is the challenge of our time. I have to admit that I am trying to maintain a bit of optimism here in the face of an extremely difficult challenge. Looking at the alternatives: to become pessimistic for me means extreme cynicism and existential angst, no purpose, nihilism, hedonism etc. I’ve tried all that, and through it I was becoming quite an awful human being.

I read a quote from Paolo Freire in the latest issue of Sun magazine – “Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful.” I was siding with the powerful in my cynicism (or more euphemistically – realism), which I never intended. So here I am on Zaadz making an effort to turn toward some hope and to join in something that may help us take responsibility for our destiny so that future generations might have a fair shake at it. While I am not wealthy by 21st century American standards, I am certainly wealthy compared to the vast majority of human beings on earth and compared to the entire history of humanity. So, the question is what to do about that? What kind of courage must I have in order to live up to the responsibility that my privilege seems to require of me? Do I sell my house and live amongst homeless? Do I buy a Prius? Do I support Hillary or Barack? This is why I’m here to get some help in sorting all this out.

Do you believe there is a chance that human beings can control their destiny?

Lost -- meaning either I don't know where I am going or I know where I'm going but don't know how to get there.  The former I feel less often, the latter is fairly constant, particularly in the collective sense.  For instance, I live in a city where there is significant homelessness, yet their are thousands of abandoned houses.  We live in a world where there is genocide, yet we don't know how to stop it.  We know that wars are an outmoded way to solve conflicts, yet here we are fighting wars.  I work on policies surrounding people with disabilites.  We know that for most people having a signifincat disability means a life of extreme poverty and powerlessness.  We know what needs to be done, yet there are tremendous barriers to getting there.  So, the question is do you keep trying to find a way? To get unlost?  The only sane anwer is yes, and the process of moving the bar forward means that being lost is a constant state of being. Finding solutions and breaking through barriers maintaing the potential of progress toward the next level, othewise why get up in the morning?