This is an image of Peter’s Projection map, created by German historian and journalist Arno Peters. Peters says that his new map projection fairly and accurately represents “area.” Proponents of the map also say that it is non-racist, taking the U.S. from the center of the map where it has historically been placed on other maps.

The resistance we feel at the suggestion that we are the power to reimagine our lives and our world is an effect of our learning from within the system that we are coming to identify as the separation. Beliefs which suggest that forces beyond our control, like the economy, history, and race, are what make our world is reinforced to such an extent that we have come to regard them as facts. “Facts” within the belief system of separation are synonymous with truth. It has been impossible up until now to suggest an alternative perspective about how physical reality is created. An alternative view, that we create reality with our thoughts and beliefs, is one we are taught not to entertain.

But it is becoming more difficult to abide by the belief in separation as the systems and institutions that are based on it are rapidly deteriorating.  This deterioration is facilitated and accelerated by the growing awareness of and embracing of the alternate beliefs that have previously prevented the people of the earth from seeing themselves as one.

One of the separation beliefs that we have been taught and have come to regard as fact is that we, the people of the earth, are all different; as a result, we are all having different experiences. These differences can generally be reduced to and based on race and sex, religion and class, history and political persuasion; few would argue that the majority of us do not interpret our experiences based on these differences.

Women all over the world, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation can confirm that being female does, in fact, set them apart from men; most would concur that most of their experiences are a result of being born in a female body. The people of Africa will agree that because of the legacy of colonialism and neo-colonialism that their experiences differ drastically from the people of Europe. The Aboriginal people of Australia and New Zealand will point out the differences between their experience with settler colonialism and that of the Palestinians’ experience with the same system.

Certainly we expect a Seattle anarchist’s life experience to differ from those of a Bible Belt republican. Surviving the holocaust and surviving Jim Crow are two different survival experiences. A 45-year-old Navajo male, living on the res in Arizona has a different life experience, not to mention life expectancy, from that of a white male, the same age, who is the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation.

To suggest to any group that the differences that shape their lives may be ones taught by the belief in separation seems preposterous. It is certain to draw much criticism and anger.  Such a suggestion seems only to ignore the facts, and at best deny the suffering, and the occasional advantage, that many experience as a result of these differences. But what if all of these differences that separate people and their experiences apart from one another are only beliefs? Do belief systems not have mechanisms in place to insure their survival? If we know now that we have been taught and believed, and most of all practiced, for thousands if not millions of years the belief that we are not the creators of our reality, why should there be so much resistance to becoming aware that we have been taught the belief we call the fact of “difference?”

It is extremely discomforting to become aware of being lied to, and disappointing to become aware that we have been taught to lie to ourselves; but we cannot have it both ways.

We cannot be the creators of our reality and use “difference” as a justification for why our lives or our world is the way it is.  In this case, the case of a total and encompassing shift in consciousness, we can choose unity or we can choose separation, all or nothing. If we choose nothing and the separation, then we continue on with the existing reality of conflict and discord over the edge of the cliff, to where this dominant belief system has guided us until now. If, however, we choose all and unity, we can proceed to the creation of our lives and world anew, guided by the awareness that we are all creator beings who, even with all of our differences, are having the same experience, the experience with the belief in separation.

Related Posts