R(evolution), Compassion, and Jump Time

Soul Collage “One” by Cindye Sablatura

Science and Spirituality

I have always believed that science and spirituality are not mutually exclusive entities and that eventually, the two would meet. There is a growing body of fascinating research that is connecting the dots between these two fields. Neuroscientists and physicists are at the forefront of much of this discovery.

 It might surprise you to learn that later in his career, Charles Darwin believed that compassion gave a society an evolutionary edge. In his book, The Descent of Man, Darwin predicted “sympathy will have been increased through natural selection; for those communities, which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best…” Contrary to what we have been led to believe, compassion is not weak. It actually gives us an evolutionary advantage. 

Then there is Einstein who declared, “The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.”Energy fields shape matter. That we are influenced by the energy fields of others is being borne out in research. For example, one study showed that a single happy person makes the people around them happier by 34%. They, in turn, make the people around them happier by 15%. Physical contact isn’t necessary to achieve this effect. Some of the most fascinating research is being done on a phenomenon called heart-brain coherence by Dr. Joe Dispenza, a neuroscientist and researcher, in tandem with the HeartMath Institute. Heart-brain coherence occurs when the brain and heart achieve a state of integration and synchronization, often through meditation. As a result, one’s biology becomes more unified, following a beat or rhythm. When your brain gets orderly, you get orderly…including your heart. Heart coherence actually radiates a detectable electromagnetic signal into the environment several meters around you. Where this gets really interesting is that when Dispenza hooks up groups of meditators to EKG’s at his workshops, he found that these meditators go into heart coherence at exactly the same moment, a group field effect. The HeartMath Institute found that these patterns of heart coherence between humans mirror electromagnetic patterns found in the solar system. Pretty cool.

Jump Time

Now let’s talk about jump time. Dawson Church, in his recent book, Bliss Brain, reminds us that many of the historical leaps made by humankind over the past 300 years such as ending slavery, the civil rights movement, women’s rights, and child labor laws, involved making historic leaps in compassion. We are currently standing on the threshold of such a doorway. A portal, A paradigm shift. When a threshold of compassion is reached, Church believes that human societies could look different in years, not decades. He calls this “jump time” where swift and enormous leaps can be made biologically as well as in consciousness. Church believes that we are leaving behind a standard of behavior that we used to define as normal and that compassion can accelerate jump time.

Meditation and Evolution

Meditation can be an important ingredient in our evolution, helping to move the needle toward compassion. The number of meditators in the world used to be 1%. A survey taken by the National Center for Health Statistics showed that the number of meditators increased from 4% to 14% of the population between 2012 and 2017. This is a significant increase. The number of young meditators between the ages of 4-17 years old has increased to 5%. Since we influence the energy fields of others, more meditators can help us to reach the tipping point in history to evolve our species. We have a role to play in accelerating jump time.

In prehistoric times, “caveman brain” was initially necessary to ensure our survival. This brain was about survival, suspicion, and rivalry. It was outward-focused, with the purpose of identifying potential threats. “Enlightened brain” is about compassion, empathy, cooperation, creativity, and collaboration. It is a leap in consciousness. Conscious people work from the inside out, not the outside in. They learn how to direct their thoughts and feelings, and by selecting where they direct our attention, they actually upgrade their brains.

We now know that the brain keeps physically evolving throughout life. In stress, the brain exhibits beta waves. In meditation, we learn how to sustain the brain’s alpha waves, which correlate with a relaxed state and are also the predominant waves of heart-brain coherence. With consistent practice, meditation actually physically shrinks the brain’s stress networks, the ones that are activated in caveman brain. By cultivating our capacity to meditate, we are helping to steer the collective consciousness out of stress and towards compassion.

You are not alone. When you meditate, you attune yourself to millions of others who are likewise attuned. Insight Timer is a meditation app that will show you how many others are also meditating at the same time as you are. When we meditate, we are all tuning into and resonating with the music of the universe and each other. We unleash new potential. We create a new normal. 

Two books I recommend to understand this phenomenon are Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon by Dr. Joe Dispenza, and Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity, and Joy by Dawson Church. Dispenza has been studying the brain and spirituality for years and now has doctors, universities and scientists coming to him and asking to join in his research. Church, one of the founders of EFT tapping for emotional release, has used scientific data on meditation to combine the most effective meditation methods into a 20-minute meditation he calls EcoMeditation. Even people who have never meditated before are experiencing some amazing results from just one or two sessions of EcoMeditation. More on this in a future post.

Power Over vs Power With

We all have a role to play in contributing to jump time, but I truly believe that women have a key role in evolving our species. It has become obvious that our male-dominated culture of dominance and aggression is no longer serving our evolution. Social researcher Brene Brown draws a distinction between “power over” and “power with.” “Power over” is characterized by leaders who believe power is finite and must be hoarded and protected. “Power with” is characterized by leaders who believe power becomes infinite and expands when it is shared collaboratively with others. “Power over” is meant to divide, destabilize, leverage fear, dehumanize, and devalue decency as weakness. “Power with” leverages connection and empathy to unite and stabilize. Its focus is to empower people, not to keep power. Decency and servant leadership are valued. It adopts empathy-driven policies that place human value at the center. 

We are standing on the precipice of jump time. It’s time for a r(evolution) of compassion and higher consciousness. Our future depends on it.