In 1980, I gave my son a book about physics for his 15th birthday. I had not thought to read it myself, but one day he left it in the bathroom, and I opened it for a quick look while I soaked in a warm tub. The book, Gary Zukav’s The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (Morrow, 1979), proved to be more than an interesting read. Zukav had managed to synthesize the current knowledge and wisdom about the new physics, and weave deep philosophical questions into the fabric of what could otherwise prove a dry and stuffy subject. I was captivated by the power of this landmark book to raise questions and stimulate the search. The Dancing Wu Li Masters remains a classic read for all, as it provides one of those rare bridges between scientific elitism and the divine.
The process of writing the book carried Zukav on, as well. His ongoing work in the realm that had opened for him eventually produced another important book, The Seat Of The Soul (Fireside, 1989). Another classic, The Seat of the Soul considers the evolution of the human soul and the impact of that evolution on a thirsty world.
How did you get started with all this subject matter and work?
Gary Zukav: It’s difficult to say, but most likely where I am now started when I was writing The Dancing Wu Li Masters. When I was writing that book, which was the first book I wrote, about a subject I knew nothing about and never studied, I discovered that as the book took form it began to have an intelligence and life of it’s own. I also began to see it was funnier and more comprehensive than I was, and seemed to have a broader overview than I did.
So as I worked on this manuscript, I decided I would like to live my life the way this was being written, which was in collaboration— spontaneously, joyfully, intelligently and compassionately. This was my first experience of non-physical guidance, although I didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate that. But I set the intention, and that intention has come to pass over the years. It’s been 22 years since that book was published—and now my life is lived most of the time just that way.
What led you to take on that particular topic at that time? The Dancing Wu Li Masters was one of the very first books about new physics written so laymen could understand it and could see the connection with consciousness.
Zukav: That was grace. I cannot answer that question any other way. I became interested in a subject, physics, that had never interested me before, and I discovered quantum physics, which was much different than I ever anticipated it to be. It was stimulating to me, and was profound in its philosophic implications. I decided to leave a gift of what I was discovering for others to enjoy, so that I could move on to new areas of inquiry.
I’m wondering if you can speak of any parallels or connections or bridges you traveled over in the course of that movement, with the beginnings in the foundation of The Wu Li Masters, to the expansive and eloquent world vision in The Seat of the Soul.
Zukav: It was one continuous course, from discovering that I had what I would now identify as non-physical guides and teachers to assist me, on to a more accurate elaboration of what that means. That came with The Seat of the Soul. This book is about evolution and souls. Most people don’t think of evolution and souls going together, but they do. Everything in the universe is moving toward ever increasing perfection and awareness, and we are, too, and we are souls. The relationship between the lives we live and the souls we are and evolution is the content of The Seat of the Soul.
When you talk about this evolution as creating in us new perceptions and new values and leading us to new goals, do you feel we have a new perception that the universe is alive, wise and compassionate?
Zukav: That perception has always been present for some, but never in the history of our species have all of us been coming to that perception, all of us meaning eventually 10 billion beings on this earth, and that’s what’s happening now. From an evolutionary point of view, it’s happening very fast—within only several human generations.
We are now expanding beyond the perceptual capabilities of the five senses. Together, they form a single system, and the object of detection of that system is physical reality. While we were limited to that single system of the five senses, we found that physical reality was the only reality, even though people spoke about psychological and emotional realities, but generally thought of them as a by-product of physical reality.
But now we’re all becoming able to directly experience what the five senses cannot provide for us. In other words, we’re developing another sensory system. That’s why we’re becoming multi-sensory, meaning more than one sensory. We have the five senses—we won’t lose those. But we’re also developing another sense—intuition. Intuition is something that’s been discussed as long as there’ve been humans. For the most part, five-sensory humans look at intuition as just a curiosity. But multi-sensory humans don’t. They look at it as the central core and faculty through which they obtain information about the world.
Is this development of intuition new, or is it something this species is returning to?
Zukav: It’s new in the sense that all of us are becoming multi-sensory individuals. There’s always been empowered multi-sensory humans—every religion we’ve ever had has been based on and named after them. And there have been cultures based on multi-sensory principles. This is true even in the West. We talk about a heaven and hell that exists after death. This is like a shadow rumor of what multi-sensory humans are coming into the full experience of in non-physical reality, which is the home from which we came and the home to which we shall return.
The native cultures are based on the relationship between the seen and the unseen world, and regularities that exist in each, and certain individuals such as shamans are able to utilize the unseen world to affect causes in the seen world. And in the East, such as the Buddhist and Vedic traditions, there is an understanding of karma. But never before has our entire species shifted from one that is essentially limited to five senses.
While we were limited to five senses, we understood power as the ability to manipulate and control. For example, the ability to get fire from a lightning strike and bring it into a cave so it wouldn’t get rained on. All of that is manipulating and controlling the environment. After millennia of that we have telecommunication satellites, surgery, lasers, big agriculture—that’s how we’ve evolved until now.
But the pursuit of external power is now counterproductive to our evolution—it only produces violence and destruction. We have a new understanding of power as we become multi-sensory, and that is the alignment of the personality with the soul. That’s real power, and that’s where our future lies, if we have a future. It is in learning to develop authentic power to align the individual personality with the soul. This is what the multi-sensory humanity does in order to survive, just as a five-sensory culture manipulates and controls it’s environment in order to survive.
What is your perception about why this multi-sensory shift is occurring now?
Zukav: This is the first generation. The shift is happening very fast. Now is the beginning, now is the ground floor. Now is the genesis. The only other event in the history of humanity that matches this one in its magnitude is the first genesis—the creation of humanity. We are now experiencing the creation of humanity again, another humanity. Superior models are not replacing us. The new humanity is emerging inside us, one by one.
And do you have a sense of why that might be occurring at this juncture in human history?
Zukav: I have a sense that the juncture you’re referring to is much larger than can be defined by human history. My focus is on “what shall we do� What does the future bring? What is the vocabulary for the new species that is able to express accurately authentic power—the alignment of the personality with the soul? It has to do with creating a world that is based on harmony, cooperation, sharing and reverence for life. It has to do with creating that through responsible, conscious choice that creates consequences that the chooser is willing to assume responsibility for.
Given those parameters, and contrasting those words with the current physical realities on this planet—in terms of war and bombing and human tragedy—how does one apply these principles to the large-scale disasters currently occurring and erupting with great frequency?
Zukav: The only way is to apply these principles to your self, and your life, to realize the magnitude and significance of your presence on the Earth, and to realize the power of your creativity to act consciously and responsibly. In other words, you cannot force harmony on others, or sharing and cooperation. You cannot make another person reverent, and if you try to do so, through manipulation and control, you are not acting from authentic power.
I wonder if you’d elaborate on your earlier comment: â€If we have a futureâ€?
Zukav: Our future is not written. Mine is not, yours is not. No one’s future is written, and no one, not even non-physical teachers, can know what you will decide next. It is possible for us to destroy ourselves or our species, just as it is possible for one to create a painful life for one’s self. But it is also possible to create a joyful life that is loving and harmonious, based on sharing and reverence. These things do not happen spontaneously. They are created. That is the lesson of the earth school, that we are creators and we create each moment. Intention is perfected by knowing, and we choose our intentions. Choosing intention is choosing creation.
Giving the multi-sensory nature of the current evolutionary explosion, is this occurring spontaneously, or is there a particular way humans are opening to this experience? Are there things extant in the culture stimulating this opening, or are there exercises people are doing that are creating a higher likelihood of multi-sensory perception?
Zukav: Multi-sensory perception is entering spontaneously across cultures, age-groupings, races, sexes and across economic levels. It’s not something that has to be made to happen. We are becoming a multi-sensory species. That is the birth of a new humanity. What we do with that is not given. The creation of our reality depends on our choices.
Could you speak a bit more about authentic power and the way that would manifest in an individual’s life?
Zukav: Authentic power is the alignment of the personality with the soul. The soul is that part of you that existed before you were born and exists after you die. It is that part of you that is harmonious, that longs for harmony and cooperation, for sharing and reverence for life, and as you create your life with those intentions, you align, through the power of your will, your choice, with the life your soul wants to live.
The experience then is one of continual gratitude and joy, even when things are difficult. You’re grateful to be alive. But once you begin to see from the perception of your soul, you begin to see that things that happen in your life have a meaning that is only for your benefit. Nothing is random. But from the point of view of a five sensory personality, this is impossible to understand.
A five sensory personality will ask: â€Why did I contract AIDS?†and “Why was I molested as a child?†There are no answers for a five-sensory personality. But from the perspective of a multi-sensory personality, you can see your life as a larger, unfolding picture that includes experiences before you were born, and other lifetimes. You begin to see that this picture is coherent and meaningful and is leading you in the direction your soul wants to move—toward greater perfection and harmony and greater freedom.
Do you have exercises or ways to help people perceive with their soul eyes as opposed to their five sensory eyes?
Zukav: There is my book Thoughts From The Seat of the Soul: Meditations for Souls in Process. And Linda Francis and I have retreats, Universal Family, which allow the experience and practice of this perception. We also have a foundation, Genesis, which is created for the purpose of spiritual growth.
For more information on Gary Zukav, go to his website www.garyzukav.com or e-mail: [email protected].
