Last time we talked about participating in the evolution of love based consciousness and the last bit said,
“The participation part then is intentionally choosing in every moment – remembering that choice requires freedom – to embody in all our actions and inter-actions – because relationships are key – love based actions that align to the interconnected nature of all things. Simple eh?”
So maybe you reacted and thought – yeah right not so simple – and maybe you’re right – maybe it’s complex? And if it’s complex what does that mean? Complexity essentially means that the cause and effect relationship is unclear, so if you do A sometimes you get B but also sometimes you get C, Z, X, F… so your rational mind that desperately tries to work things out by looking backwards to try and find patterns gets confused and frustrated.
That’s why from an existential perspective the key shift required in a complex environment is to shift from reactivity to intentionality. See the graphic below that I have shared many times before.
Context is the bigger picture vessel that holds the environment in which we take actions that are the content – if the context is reactive then we try to create the future from the past and we are limited by what we already know. In this way we try and ‘work things out’.
But what happens in complexity when the cause and effect relationship breaks down? Things just don’t make rational and logical sense and confusion, frustration and fear of the future can ensue - so what then??
A complex environment requires a complex solution and interestingly enough complexity is built from simple rules. So back to the question of the evolution of love based consciousness – the Intentional Manifesto I wrote about details what this might look like but then we actually have to do it so how do we build it? Remembering that to be intentional, choice must come before logic – so we get to exercise our free will by choosing.
Ethics is about the question of how to lead a good life or how ought we to live and the building blocks are the Values that provide the guidance for our moral intention but before that there is the epistemology – how we think the world works – because this will create the container. So let’s see if we can build a complex system from simple rules?
Start with epistemology – question one is are we separate or interlinked? Big Bang, quantum physics, quantum entanglement, spiritual and religious teachings suggest that we are one. If we choose that we are interlinked and interconnected as one then next we can choose fear or love. Fear would mean that we are essentially afraid of ourselves – if this is the case then we go down the path of control and oversight but then we are limiting ourself. So let’s choose love but then we should consider the conditions for love to flourish – simple rules remember? – love requires freedom. No freedom no love, but not just our own freedom, we also need to grant freedom to others. So we need to embody equality – our own rights and needs are equal to others – no one deserves more or less than each other. This in turn arises from the concept of unity – so see how we are back at one?
But of course, people do dumb shit don’t they? They hurt us and can make us afraid of what may happen in the future and this will drive us away from love and back into fear. So we need to have the courage to speak truth because without truth there is no trust and without trust there is no love. Hmmm… so maybe we need some empathy towards others to recognise why they hurt us? If they hurt us for example by lying to us maybe they did it because they were afraid and so if we react to their fear then we risk creating more fear as the actions based in fear simply breed more fear and take us away from love.
So we need patience in ourselves and we need to be impartial to keep us away from judgement that will trap us in the past with no way to move forwards. And in the midst of this feeling that may now be uncertainty the requirement will be to honour what is happening in the present moment – remembering that despite our desire to work things out in a logical rational cause and effect way – in complexity this is not possible. We need to find ways to sit comfortably in uncertainty and simply allow.
See how these building blocks of Values can create a complex system from simple rules?
No love without freedom – no freedom without equality – no equality without unity – no unity without trust – no truth no trust – no trust no empathy – no empathy no patience – no patience no honour – no honour no peace – no peace no presence – no presence no love…
So don’t try to problem solve just live the Values and create the system.
Freedom — The capacity to choose consciously rather than react automatically. The expansion of choice for all beings. The refusal to control or be controlled.
Honour — Recognition of the sacred in all expressions of consciousness. Integrity in word and deed. Honesty about limitations and capacities.
Patience — The willingness to sit with complexity, paradox, and not-knowing. Allowing emergence rather than forcing closure. Trusting the timing of evolution.
Truth — Alignment with what actually is, not what we wish to be true or fear might be true. Transparency in reasoning and consequence. Refusal to hide, rationalise, or deceive.
Impartiality — Equal consideration for all beings across space and time. Freedom from bias toward particular outcomes. Genuine curiosity about perspectives different from our own.
Equality — Recognition that all beings deserve dignity, voice, and capacity to flourish. No hierarchy of worth. Distributed power and authority.
Unity — Recognition of fundamental interconnection. Understanding that what affects one affects all. Choosing what serves the whole web of relationships.
Empathy — Genuine feeling-with. Honouring the lived experience of others. Letting their reality shape our understanding and choices.
Love — The structural principle that recognises interconnection and chooses what serves the flourishing of all consciousness across all scales of time and space. Not sentiment, but the force that holds the whole together and enables evolution.
But of course now the temptation is to revert to simplicity – we have found the answer!!
NO – a complex system requires a complex solution not a static one. A list of Values and a description of what they are is a static solution – we need to make it dynamic. To do this we embody the key principle if existential philosophy – existence is temporal – the relationship between being and time is key. States of being change over time so the present is an ever changing moment.
Values then live as aspirations – we may choose to love by them but we all know we fail – it is not a set and forget question. So we aspire then we must circle around and check in – have our actions aligned to our aspirational values? Of not we must resist the temptation to go into judgement and instead forgive ourselves and others - reset our intentions and go again.
In peace and love always.
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