Advancing Humankind Through Individual Consciousness

Contributed by Gordy Bal, social entrepreneur on a mission to regenerate the planet, shift the current dysfunctional education system and end human suffering. 

At this very moment, we are facing an evolutionary shift that we’ve never experienced before.

As gen Xers and millennials inherit mass wealth from baby boomers, we’re looking at a greater transfer of wealth than we’ve seen before: Over US$30 trillion will change hands in North America over the next 30 to 40 years.

This shift will change the world.

Consider who is inheriting this money. It’s a new generation of humanity that is more focused on building a regenerative economy.

We are coming into an awakening that has the potential to challenge the current capitalist paradigm—a paradigm that is not only causing extreme social damage to mass groups of people, but environmental damage that could lead to our own extinction.

The question we need to ask ourselves now is, will we continue to use our capabilities to destroy the planet or will we use them to raise human consciousness?

Rather than addressing the symptoms of the problems we are facing—war, poverty, climate change, excessive waste, racism, addiction, sexism—we must investigate at the root cause: our collective state of consciousness.

So, what is consciousness?

I define it as total self-awareness. We are emerging into a new type of consciousness, homo universalis. We see ourselves as deeply connected to the universe, in tune with nature, co-existing with exponential technology and leading from a place of love.

This is where we can make a true impact and begin to evolve into the next iteration of our species. This is where we embrace and encourage human psychological wellbeing. It’s where we develop the understanding that success does not create happiness. Happiness actually creates success. Wellbeing and a self-aware mindset generate more and higher-quality thoughts and ideas, creativity, innovation, lives and experiences.

We must use emerging technologies to support us, rather than enslave us. In this way, we can enable mental health, expand emotional wellbeing and enhance human cognition at a scale never before possible.

We also must prepare for automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to eliminate many rote tasks in our current jobs, potentially destabilizing work and society within the next 15 to 20 years. The new jobs will be defined by human interaction, problem-solving, and creativity, where social-emotional skills and self-awareness become vital—not just for work but in order to be resilient during the transition.

We must humanize the goals of technological advances so that humankind can flourish.

How can each one of us become part of the revolution?

We can do this by first discovering our purpose and then living our purpose.

The Japanese have a concept for purpose called ikigai, which translates to “a reason for being.” It indicates the source of value in your life and the things that make your life worthwhile. The sweet spot emerges when you find something that you love, that the world needs, that you’re good at and that you can be paid for doing.

In Indian ancient wisdom traditions, this is referred to as your dharma. Deepak Chopra once said, “When you live in the harmonious flow of dharma, the entire field of pure potentiality opens to you. You’re able to create as much happiness and wealth as you want because you’re aligned with the domain of spirit, the unlimited source of all manifestation.”

There has never been a more crucial time for empowered, creative, inventive people to participate in the advancement of humankind.

You are needed, to be here now, to be ready, awake and willing to build the future required to support and expand the human mind and heart, for this is the greatest and most impactful work of our time.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into reawakening your purpose to make the world a better place, get in touch with me at [email protected].

Gordy Bal is a social entrepreneur and the founder of Conscious Thought Revolution (CTR), a technology platform that measures and expands global levels of human consciousness.