Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The influential author and cultural philosopher Charles Eisenstein recorded a five-part series of conversations with Orland Bishop, a mystic who is active in many anthroposophical circles and initiatives. A summary of their first conversation.
The beginning of the series of conversations deals with the key factors that influence the evolution of human consciousness. According to Bishop, when a certain quality of consciousness arises in a large number of people at the same time, it creates a collective field of consciousness that subsequently interacts with other world energies. Everything that happens in the individual also manifests itself as a spiritual atmosphere in the world. Every thought and every action that arises from self-reflection, non-violence, and peace work creates a space of hope in the collective consciousness in which war, for example, does not find fertile ground.
In this context, Bishop poses the following questions from a phenomenological perspective: What moves life forward? What patterns and synchronicities can be recognized in the big picture? He notes that the creative intelligence of life always learns from its own mistakes rather than repeating them. These creative conditions also exist in our human bodies. Independent of the mind, there are forces within us that continuously develop our consciousness. According to Bishop, an important organ in this process is the heart, which receives and conducts blood. In this process, it not only receives information from within ourselves, but also from the outside world.
For example, wars, regardless of whether we have experienced them ourselves or not, are stored in our bodies as memories. Our ancestors who died in war have not simply left the earth; their souls are still present and remind us of the suffering and loss that war brings into our lives. Reinforced by today’s global media and mass communication, this causes a shift in the collective consciousness toward the importance of peace. Nothing is ever lost on this earth, says Bishop; everything comes back into a cycle through creativity and light.
More at Charles Eisenstein. Those interested can view the English-language course material and work on it independently.
Translation Charles Cross
Image Orland Bishop, screenshot of the course
