The Shift to the New Reality
Excerpted from The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness
B Y   O W E N   W A T E R S

THE SHIFT IS the mass awakening of humanity's heart. This transformation of consciousness, the greatest one ever recorded, first became apparent in the mid-1960s and has been building momentum ever since.

The Shift is a collective transformation consisting of the sum of each individual's step forward into the New Reality. Each person, in their own time, is moving forward into a new stage of consciousness, one which brings a wider vista and an awareness that springs from the heart.

In the early 1960s, just one in fifty adults had reached this new awareness. Today, according to extensive surveys, more than one in four adults in the United States and Europe have moved into the heart space which forms the nucleus of The Shift.

The New Reality is not something vague. It is as real as the notes on a piano keyboard. It has a specific frequency, as this book will reveal. Each stage of human consciousness resonates to a specific note within the musical octave. This new stage of consciousness resonates to the note F sharp. When a person's consciousness reaches a frequency that resonates with F sharp, then - and not before then - they discover unconditional love and the ability to envision a future filled with hope and peace.

The New Reality is about discovering your true potential, about living your highest joy and serving others in the way that best fulfils your highest purpose. It's about cooperation instead of competition. It's about becoming a whole person in mind, body and spirit.

The Shift to the New Reality brings to each individual a sense of greater freedom, greater joy and personal fulfillment.

The Shift to the New Reality is all about heart-powered consciousness.

Are You A Cultural Creative?
Over fifty million Americans fit the definition of a newly emerging type of humanity, a culture that hardly existed prior to the 1960s.

In a 1990s study of more than 100,000 adults in the United States, Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson reveal that a huge 26 percent of these adults have made a comprehensive shift in their worldview, values and way of life.

In Europe, the story is very much the same. A 1997 survey conducted in fifteen European countries shows figures that are very similar to the United States.

In their book, The Cultural Creatives, Ray and Anderson summarize the typical values of this new, leading-edge group of people that they call Cultural Creatives. The Cultural Creatives are people who love nature, respect the Earth and are deeply concerned about the environment. They like to develop close relationships with each other, and to help and encourage other people to develop their abilities. They care about personal and spiritual development, and want more equality for women and all cultural groups.

Cultural Creatives would like to develop a new way of life. They are cynical of media-fed information, and want to find a new political philosophy that works in today's reality. They are not materialistically driven, and typically have their finances and spending under control. They like traveling to other countries to get to know new cultures and they want to develop a sense of community where they live. Authenticity is important to Cultural Creatives - their actions have to be consistent with their words and inner beliefs.

This means that if you are searching for better quality of life, less stress, better health, and a simpler lifestyle that includes more spirituality, then you are one of a growing number of people who have already become a part of the greatest social transformation of all time.

Historical Perspective
In the early 1960s, there were too few Cultural Creatives to appear as a distinct group in popular surveys. At that time, American culture was split evenly between two cultural groups - the Moderns and the Traditionals. Moderns reflect an ethic which actually goes back as far as the Renaissance, when European Protestantism freed the population to pursue a self-empowered work ethic rather than continuing to give their power, freedom and sense of initiative away to authority figures.

The ethic of Modernism is that newer, bigger and faster is better. Time is money, they believe, and people with more knowledge and wealth are perceived as having higher status. Almost half of American adults today are Moderns. Their self-empowered principles over the centuries have brought progress to civil freedoms, democracy, justice and equality. Moderns tend to believe that their way is the only way, and they tend to reject the values of other groups as being incorrect.

The positive contributions of Moderns to society can be appreciated when you consider the quality of life which existed before the Renaissance. At birth, in those days, your fate was sealed. You were born into a certain social, ethnic and racial group at a certain location. You were never likely to travel more than 50 miles from your birthplace during your lifetime. What work you could perform and whom you would marry were predetermined. You would be compelled to believe certain doctrines, as dictated by rulers, priests and elders.

Traditionals belong to a culture which, historically, reacts against the changes brought about by Moderns. They wish for a return to an older, simpler time, and they oppose modern trends such as equality for women. They believe that patriarchs should again dominate family life, that all men should be proud to serve in the military, and that their moral values should be forced upon others. In post-World War II America, Traditionals formed half of the adult population. Today they number less than one-fourth of the adult population. Many have passed away, while some have converted into becoming Moderns or Cultural Creatives.

Characteristics of Cultural Creatives
Within the Cultural Creatives are two distinct sub-groups: the Core group and the Green group. Almost half of the Cultural Creatives form the Core group consisting of leading-edge thinkers who focus on inner personal development. Those in the other sub-group, the Green Cultural Creatives, focus externally towards ecology and environmental issues.

The trend-setting, Core group is typically into alternative health care. They often work as health care practitioners, and most of them want to develop more inner awareness. They shun the materialism of the Moderns as well as the intolerance the Traditionals have towards other groups of people.

Cultural Creatives cross all types of demographic groupings. They can be of any adult age category; they can live anywhere, and have any spiritual or religious affiliation. The ratio of women to men is fairly equal in the Green group, while the Core group contains 67 percent women.

People with a New Age philosophy comprise less than 10 percent of Cultural Creatives. There are as many New Agers within the ranks of the Moderns as there are within the Cultural Creatives. Many New Age Moderns are men who are still chasing the boys' toys of modern technology and are still in the process of settling down to find a deeper meaning within themselves.

Compared to other groups, Cultural Creatives read more books and magazines. Half of them are regular book buyers. They watch less television and are particularly unhappy with the quality of television news. They support, and become involved in, the arts. They like well-made, durable products, natural food, personal growth and alternative health care. They have a holistic attitude, believing that body, mind and spirit should work together. Their homes are often buffered for privacy by old-growth trees and large shrubs. Inside, these homes are typically decorated by craft pieces, books and original art pieces which have special meaning to them.

The vast majority of Cultural Creatives want a caring quality in their relationships, and they believe that every person has a unique gift to offer the world. They want to help other people, and they believe that society should have a lot more respect and reverence for nature. They want to find their purpose in life and make a contribution to society. Most of them believe that a divine nature completely permeates throughout the world. They also generally believe that people have some sort of psychic ability, such as precognition or an awareness of spirit guides.

Cultural Creatives are silent trailblazers. Most of them have no idea that there are millions of people just like them with the same values and lifestyle. When they discover that more than 25 percent of the adult population share their values, they are truly shocked and surprised.

They are a newly emerging type of humanity. They hold the seeds of a new, sustainable culture, a culture where 'quality of life' replaces 'standard of living.' Imagine how transformative their effect on society will be when they evolve into networking, voicing their values and forming representative movements.

A Society Poised at the Tipping Point
Cultural Creatives have grown enormously as a social group in recent decades. In the early 1960s, they represented an estimated 2% of the U.S. adult population. By the mid-1990s, 26% of the U.S. adult population - 50 million people - had shifted to a new worldview.

Author Paul Ray sees society today as facing a 'tipping point,' where the old culture is ending and society is poised to tip over into its new form. He says that through getting in touch with our inner selves, we will regain our passion for life and un-clutter from the trappings and diversions of the old reality. He sees society finding a way past the overwhelming spiritual and psychological emptiness of the old reality.

It is obvious that we are in the midst of truly momentous changes. A massive cultural shift is in progress, and a dawning new reality is taking shape in the minds of possibility thinkers everywhere.

© 2006, Owen Waters, All Rights Reserved.