Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is one of our Living Spiritual Teachers and a leading Sufi spiritual writer on the needed shift in consciousness away from an ego-centered model of consumerism and economic growth. In this book, he tallies up how well we are doing in caring for the planet. The news is not good: "the possibility for a real global shift has passed: humanity has failed to take responsibility for creation." In essays written from 2004 to 2012, Vaughan-Lee takes note of what has happened to the new paradigm for mending the good Earth.
The light that is within each of us enables us to become co-creators of an evolving world. In 2006, Vaughan-Lee wrote with optimism about the awakening of the world through global oneness and a return to simplicity. But in the midst of these positive steps, he sees in humankind a refusal to awaken "from its sleep of forgetfulness." As guardians of the Earth, we have forgotten our purpose and as a result, pollution is killing the planet.
Our greed and our desire for more has led us to "standing on the edge of an abyss, this crisis of climate change and ecological devastation." Vaughan-Lee sees us now living in an era beyond the "tipping point." We have chosen to live in darkness and we have abandoned our sacred connections with the good earth. The few shards of light that remain can still help us to witness this development and to explore our dreams as pathways back to the light.
