“Crisis offers a possibility to awaken as a participant in conscious evolution.” – Barbara Marx Hubbard

“Crisis has been a part of evolution of the species since its conception,” says Barbara Marx Hubbard. Hubbard is a futurist and evolutionary thought leader who is working with people to make it through the incredible shift that she sees coming. “Crisis precedes transformation,” she says. “Problems are evolutionary drivers, on both the personal and societal level.” She spoke in the intimate and personal environment of the Sophia Institute founded by Carolyn Rivers in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Many people have arrived at a place of spiritual growth and transformation after falling ill, losing jobs or experiencing relationship break-ups. As our social institutions are also breaking down – from the banking and financial sectors to the way food is cultivated, processed and distributed, Hubbard invites us to look for breakthroughs in the ways we connect with each other. Though individual, small choices everyday we can make a big impact on our environment and our communities.  Hubbard, who associated with Dr. Jonas Salk and Buckminster Fuller, is leading a movement to become aware of our human potential and to use it to evolve into a society that values cooperation over competition and values the contribution of each and every individual. She sees a move from isolated and self-absorbed to connected in community and conscious.

Her view of the world is a refreshing shift towards possibility and transformation of ourselves and of society. She encourages people to create hubs to openly exchange ideas and resources, and to look at grassroots level organizations that are doing well what society’s biggest institutions are not. Micro-credit lending institutions, farms and food producers who work with nature, media that educates and feeds the soul are the types of institutions emerging on a small scale. Their successes can be replicated on a larger one. . “For the first time the world has a shared problem that is awakening millions of us,” she says. Her message is one of hope. The problems are bringing about unprecedented innovation and transformation. Her message is one of hope. “Humanity is being born as a universal species,” she says. The current crises that have brought us to the point where can have the capacity to extinguish ourselves as a species is also bringing us into a deeper understanding of our inherent connectedness. “We’re one,” Hubbard says. She had a vision of a planetary rebirth and at age 82 continues to work to connect people with each other.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.