REMARKABLE PEOPLE, barbara marx hubbard

1993 Thresholds interview

The Age of Co-Creation

Hubbard: I mean there is a major shift in the relationship between humans and God, from the passive creature child to the active participant in the process of creation. We are the co and the Creator is the creator. We are the first generation to be conscious of evolution, and responsible for guiding our evolution on a planetary scale. Conscious evolution occurs on three levels. The first level is a deeper intuitive knowing of the pattern -- attunement, guidance to the process of creation, both personally and for our species. The second way is through science and technology. Were learning how nature works. We can build new life forms. We can clone embryos. We can build new worlds in space. We can change bodies. We can create new organisms. This is literally physical co-creation. It has now happened. The third way is socially. We must become co-creators because were affecting our social environment by everything we do -- how many babies we have, what kind of cars we drive, how we handle our waste. We have become co-creators with nature and natures God in handling our social as well as our physical environment. Co-creation occurs because we are created in the image of God and now is the time when the Godlike powers are being given to the human race. If we misuse those powers we will go through an Armageddon-type scenario because self-centered humanity cannot inherit these full powers of creation. They are too destructive. All throughout history there have been individuals who have shifted from the separated self to the unified self, but now, because of the power, there has to be a much larger number of people making that shift rapidly. And thats why I call it the Age of Co-creation.

Thresholds: How do you propose that people learn how to be responsible for this power that we have?

Hubbard: Well, there are many different ways in which it is happening. One is the whole New Thought movement. Thousands of people are attracted into a spiritual growth practice to attune to the inner divine. In Unity and Religious Science and Christian Science millions of people are learning about the indwelling divine and how to relate to it. Through the environmental crisis and the feedback from our environment that we will destroy our life support systems, were scrambling to understand how a whole planetary system works, how to preserve species, how to get the feedback from nature and not destroy this natural system. With the advent of global television, were aware of whats happening throughout the planet. Were aware of hunger, starvation, disease, violence, torture. So on the social level, were learning by feeling with other members of our species as well as other species, like the whales and the endangered species, that we have to be responsible. The new information is flooding in from many, many quadrants. Even deeper than all of this is the fact that nature raises consciousness and freedom through the formation of a more complex and harmonious order. Nature raises consciousness through more complex systems, as from molecule to cell, single cell to animal, or animal to human. Theres no doubt that planet Earth is a living system. Its complexifying, Teilhard de Chardins phrase, rapidly. Were all members of this one complexifying body. By the very nature of the organism that were part of, we are each being connected into the larger whole. We tend to be more aware of our part in the whole now by natural evolution.

Thresholds: How do we bring up the next generation to have some kind of vision of that, and to be a part of the whole? One of the things I see as a problem is that in the public school system you cant even talk about God or bring up anything that is considered to be religious. How do you see education fitting with bringing about a vision for the future?

Hubbard: Well, I think there is just a terrible lack in our educational system on all levels. I mean, when you think of the public schools and the degree of violence and despair and drug abuse, that is a serious social disease. Were going to realize that only through educating the person can our society evolve. Policy changes at the governmental level, Social Security and social welfare programs alone will not suffice. There has to be a shift in our understanding of the value of the person. Education is going to have to focus on values and responsibility, and how to be responsible for your health, for your relationships, for your diet, for your vocation. The current educational system just doesnt do it! Usually things evolve through success. So the children who are fortunate enough to be in schools like Montessori or Waldorf schools or [those] who go to schools like I saw today [Unity Church in Overland Park, Kansas] with 200 children who are in Unity Church Sunday school [experience] a powerful effect. Their parents are in New Thought so they are getting it at home. As more and more parents are sensitive, of course the children will be getting it that way, too.

Thresholds: In your address at Unity today and in your book, you speak of the importance of people discovering what their personal vocation is and really fulfilling their destiny. What do you think is the best way for people to do that early in life?

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interview with barbara marx hubbard - School of Metaphysics