The Evolution of Consciousness

with Robert Dilts and Stephen Gilligan

A major challenge facing our current generation is that the world has changed tremendously in the past century, and even faster in the past decade. Our technology, society, interpersonal relationships and environment have transformed dramatically. Since September 11, 2001 it has become obvious that our world has crossed a threshold into a completely new territory. Such changes are bringing about fundamental alterations in our personal and collective consciousness and social patterning.
Many of the deep metaphors and archetypes we live by and which guide our experiences (often at an unconscious level) are in a state of flux. The archetypes that no longer fit must be updated and adjusted; some falling away, others entering a state of transition, and still others arising for the first time. Our current generation is like a band of pioneers venturing in new territory where nobody has gone before to provide a map.
Times of growth and transformation in our lives are usually accompanied by the need for evolution and “awakening.” To achieve this evolution, our mental maps of who we are and what is possible in the world must become broader, and we must perceive old limitations in a completely new way. We need to break through our old mind set and “get outside of the box,” learning at the level of what anthropologist Gregory Bateson called Learning IV—evolutionary change and the creation of something “completely new.” This new consciousness must both “transcend and include” our previous knowledge and awareness.
New skills and resources are needed by those who are willing to explore the unknown and face the unknowable.
This seminar will combine Stephen Gilligan’s work in the area of self relations and the generative self and Robert Dilts’ developments in the area of third generation NLP in order to explore skills and methods for reflecting upon and participating in the evolution of consciousness; our and that of the larger system or “field” of which we are a part. Some of the topics will include:

Self Awakening—Centering, aligning and connecting with the “source of your resources”
Developing the abilities of:
Confidence—Belief in our own inner resources in times of uncertainty
Trust—Staying centered while venturing into the unknown
Faith—Accepting the unknowable
Getting outside of the box—States of “not knowing,” “uptime” and “active dreaming”
Learning III and IV: Exploring identity and beyond
Readiness to let go of the old world
Flexible and mature survival strategies
Weak signal detection
In-course correction
Frameworks and questions that awaken new possibilities
Updating the archetypes and metaphors we live by