A Shift in Time - 2012

by Richard Farmer

Greetings! 2012 has been a bench mark for a number of people for some time. Those who have looked into the future have found that around this time there is an ending of one era and the beginning of another. The Hindus, for instance called it the end of the Kali Yuga. What with Edgar Cayce’s predictions, the end of the Mayan Calendar and a multitude of messages from the beyond letting us know what we are in for, it has promised to be quite a ride!

Often with these kinds of things though, human fear hears them and interprets them as dire warnings and harbingers of complete social breakdown.

But when you add it all up, all that we can say is that it’s a time of big change. What was the norm is now heading over the hill and what is new is showing itself over the other horizon. And like most of this kind of thing, how you interpret it depends on who is looking.

What is sure is that at the moment there is a lot of financial instability around for quite a few people of all ages and ranges. The mix of the country is definitely changing with influxes of different races making up the multitude that is the UK. The “Arab Spring” is also part of this shift. The weather is all over the place. Attitudes, social and political, as well as spiritual values are all shifting. Nothing is as it was. It is always like that, change is part of the flow of life. You are changing as you read this.

So what is this new time? I was listening to an interview with Prof Michio Kaku and he was talking about this change from the point of view of physics and quantum physics. He talked about it as a change from a Universe to a Pluriverse—from a world based around one, to a world centred around community; a change in where we place value, from ‘me’ and ‘I’ to ‘we’ and ‘us’. I liked this. It somehow chimed with something in me.

I have a brother in the USA who has retired and whilst visiting him recently, it became apparent that he and many like him quite naturally give a day or two to their communities. Rather than sitting back and saying, “I’ve done my bit now you do yours”, or even, “It’s time I got something back”, their view is “How can I use my time and experience to benefit others and of course myself?” Well that is a Pluriverse view.

There is the story of the guy, I am not sure where, who got fed up with all the litter surrounding his home area. He decided to do something about it and began picking up litter. I heard him speak a few months ago and he now has a team of 150 volunteers who keep their whole town clean. Do they get paid? I don’t think so. Are they rewarded? Yes, by the ‘feel good’ factor.

I was listening to an interview with one of Britain's biggest private donators to charity. He said that it was really difficult to persuade other rich people to give to charity, but in his experience, once they did, they wanted to give more and more because it felt so good.

If we look at what has just happened during the Olympics and compare the vibe that was going on before it and then the feeling in the country during, we can see the effect clearly: the feel good factor, not just of the Olympic gold medals, but the thousands of people volunteering to make it work, to come and be a part of it, to cheer. This turned the tide from pessimism to optimism. The power of ‘we’. The message said again and again by our athletes, if you just decide to do it and put in the hard work, you can do anything. The lessons of winning, and how to lose. To be part of a team. How to be a part of something rather than stand on the outside and criticise.

I was told the other day of groups of unemployed, intelligent and creative people with a lot of time on their hands, who were getting together to rent parcels of land then finding out what people wanted to eat and then growing it and delivering veggie boxes weekly. This created such a good business that soon they were looking for more land and new places to service. The old model of farming was based around one farmer, one farm, a universal model, but this new model was a Pluriversal model. A ‘we’ and an ‘us’ view.

Another example, although different, is the Cardboard to Caviar project run by the Able Project. See - www.theableproject.org.uk/about/able-history for the full story. A great example of ‘us’ thinking which has real knock-on effects for a lot of other people and which generates a great feeling which in turn encourages others.

My point is that we can be in tune with what is coming over the hill. What is coming over the hill is, in some way, an ‘us’ model, not an ‘I’ model.

On an individual level it means doing things which nourish the whole of us, not just one part of us at the expense of the other. This is exactly the place that the fundamental views of this school is built on. Through the principles we become wholesome and hearted. Practice is not something confined to a small room somewhere but is a part of living life. Soft Limit for instance is perfectly suited to this new age, new approach, this transformation of Life.

Rather than feed out the truth, like someone feeding fish, a bit at a time to those favoured few, RDTC has always offered the secrets of Tai Chi openly if you have ears to hear and the wish to put them into practice. This is an ‘us’ and a ‘we’ approach.

On a bigger scale, the new format of the RDTC Living Summer Gathering is based around this energy. It is not me who leads it but us, a group of teachers.

In recent years building up to 2012, quite naturally, through TMW Training and through the Soul Moves Facilitators courses, I have shared the essence of my experience gained throughout my time of study - giving it away so that others may use it to help others. This is in tune with this new energy.

The new energy is that we are much stronger and more rich if we combine and help each other. The whole idea of TMW is to make not just the essence of Tai Chi easily available and affordable, but to enable others by helping them to teach people in their local communities. You too can be part of this and the new shift by becoming a TMW Trainer and nourishing your local community - again an approach which is about a world view which is Pluriversal not Universal. More about TMW Training later in this Newsletter.

So where is it that through a fear of “not enough-ness”, you withdraw from yourself, from your community and your Life? I encourage you to use what we do to begin the process right now. That “not enough-ness” is part of the old energy and when we combine forces, there is more than enough to go around.

Emmanuel, one of my teachers, once said that this shift has already happened, it’s just that those who are in power are still part of the old view. This is as true of us as it is true of them. Look and see who is in charge in you. If it is “not enough-ness”, then that is an old energy. But amazingly, if you look past that, you will see another way of doing things which is hearted, which is wholesome and community-minded, which is inclusive and not exclusive.

This is true Tai Chi in action.

Please take a look and see where you can make this change—in you, in your life and in your community. And then take a deep breath… breathe out and with that begin releasing the old shift and breathe in the new shift. Be the new shift. It is time for change. It is all about us. If the new age is going to happen, it is going to happen now - in you and in me. It is already happening in you and in me, it is just a matter of giving it some attention and letting that glorious and uplifting generous energy out.

Like the man said, the most difficult thing is getting it started but once going, who can stop it!

Be well

Richard Farmer

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