So here I am, one year into 10 Billion Beats – a simple vision that the world is a better place when people stand together with a common purpose instead of negotiating what divides us. Some have called this coherence.
Seeing the Earth bleed before our eyes with only blind guesses about how to stop the hemorrhage is a stark reminder of the incoherent battle we humans have waged with nature. There are no words to adequately describe watching a catastrophe unfold 5,000 feet beneath the sea. All we can do is hope and pray that a solution is found to save the gulf before so much life has been lost that it can’t recover. I have even heard this referred to as the Seventh Sign (Book of Revelations) when “the seas will turn black.” It is certainly a sign that meaningful change is needed.
Some have called this time “the great turning,” the point when humankind turns away from acting like we are the crown of creation and that everything here is for our use. Turning from the belief that we can do whatever we damn well please and turning towards becoming real stewards of creation. We are coming to realize that we are spiritual beings among many. We are accountable for our personal growth, but also for furthering the development of all others. No small task, and definitely a shift of consciousness.
You who read this are a special group. Some are searchers, some sages; everyone is making a difference. Finding ourselves now in “the turning” is unsettling as old forms fade away. It forces us to choose whether we will identify with Spirit, or with Matter. Will we step towards coherence with the Creator and all creation, or cling to personal power and separation? This is not the first time we’ve noticed this choice. This is not the first time we’ve cared about it, nor is it even the first time we have seriously sought synchrony ourselves. It is simply the time to try again.
10 Billion Beats is not a political movement, a religious faction, an ecological organization, or even a peace group. It is a spiritual endeavor. It is an acknowledgment that we are part of a living system and part of its problem. If we pay attention, we can be part of the solution.
10 Billion Beats is founded on the belief that we, as co-creators, are constantly interacting with creation and must do so consciously with positive intent. It is the “golden rule” applied to “right” and “left,” family, friend, and enemy, Heaven and Earth. Each met with the will to do good, whatever the circumstance. The drumbeat is our unifying call to coherence.
Organizing for a second time, however, is different. The enthusiasm of a new idea is tempered by the overwhelming work needed to manifest the idea in the world. Urgency is challenged by hopelessness as we watch all the problems we wish to positively impact intensify before our eyes. My hope is that you will participate again this year and that in doing so you are choosing to identify with Spirit. This remains a grass-roots campaign; you and I are the grass. Please spread the word in every way you can imagine. Spirit brought 200,000 people together last year exceeding my wildest “little engine that could” expectations. Still, much has happened in this year and more people are needed to produce the shift. This year I am asking you to help make it 1 million people drumming 10 Billion Beats with intention as if the world depends on it.
In times of great strain, we can find good reasons for our wounds and resentments, good reasons for bigger fences and defenses, but reasons don’t lead to healing. Healing comes to those who stride forward on a brighter way with nothing but faith in their purpose. We only need to read the signs in the world around us to find the motivation for our effort. With each stride through “the turning,” we choose to identify with Spirit or with Matter. Healing and coherence, or separation and pain, which do you believe?
