Despite our present polarization and alienation from one another, there are some underlying shifts taking place in the world that should force us to come together in mutual support and creativity. Terry Patten is our escort and guide to how we may become evolutionary activists in this era of exploding crises and intense transitions. He gives the following advice regarding the marriage of political action with spiritual practice. He says,”[We need] an ability to be in touch with a happiness that isn’t rooted in conditional reasons – a radical happiness and that’s consciousness itself . . . That’s the joy, goodness, beauty, and truth of existence that’s at the root of everything. A profound spiritual practice is necessary because only people who are rooted in that unreasonable happiness are going to be equal to the challenges that lie ahead.” He also describes heart intelligence as a capacity for cooperation and altruism but not idealism. He says heart intelligence is more powerful than anger and exhorts us to understand that “we are in this lifeboat together and the fiercest thing we can do is to say, I’m living in a new republic of the heart. I’m a revolutionary. You are not going to separate yourself from me. I refuse to be in separation from you. That’s the fierceness. That’s the voice of love.” And that’s the kind of power this moment in history requires.
