BRENT MARCHANT: French philosopher Rene Descartes made a name for himself in 1637 when he put forth the notion "I think, therefore I am". This simple observation succinctly encapsulated, for the first time in an easily understandable way, the sense of self-awareness that we've all embraced as self-evident.

It also played a central role in the growth of rationalism and the emergence of the scientific revolution, developments that enabled us to better understand our world and that laid the foundation for the wide array of inventions and technologies we now enjoy. It helped birth the prevailing Cartesian paradigm for the planet, a worldview that has persisted to the present day.

As beneficial as Descartes' postulate has been, however, it has also become synonymous with some of the current paradigm's shortcomings. The act of 'thinking', for instance, the basis of Descartes' statement, is directly tied to the concepts of intellect, logic and reason. Now, in and of themselves, these qualities can be quite useful in our lives and in our world, but they can also be problematic when allowed to become dominant, even dogmatic, as has been the case for some time. This is especially true when they're relied on too heavily; they thus trump such counterpart qualities as intuition, emotion and feeling, elements that are equally important to the vitality of our humanity but that regularly get shortchanged by their overbearing partners. The energy at work under such circumstances is seriously skewed, crying out for balance.

To strike a proper balance, we need both sets of qualities to be in energetic harmony with one another. Intellect, logic and reason, the hallmarks of masculine energy, need to be in line with intuition, emotion and feeling, characteristics of feminine energy. But when one type of energy is relied on excessively, the other becomes constrained, and a serious imbalance results. One need only look at the current state of the planet to see how that can play out. The dominance of aggressive, logic-driven masculine energy, implemented at the expense of its tempering feminine counterpart, has placed us in peril on a number of fronts, including the environment, economics, politics and social issues. Such male dominance has pervaded all our institutions, too, keeping the influence of the feminine at bay. Surely we have made some progress at changing things with the gradual re-emergence of female energy into the world, but we still have a long way to go, especially since many still erroneously view the qualities of feminine energy as 'illogical' and 'unreasonable'.

So how do we rectify this situation? Albert Einstein once observed, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." It's an insightful statement that, I believe, sums up what's wrong with the current worldview-and how we can fix it.

On the surface, Einstein's observation gives us a straightforward, albeit theoretical, framework for solving problems, but its implications go beyond that. Note how his statement references 'thinking', the very act that has come to characterize the Cartesian paradigm with its emphasis on intellect, logic and reason. So often we unquestioningly tell ourselves that we must 'think' our way through our problems, relying almost exclusively on brainpower to do so. But, as a result of this, we place so much emphasis on the rational qualities that we exclude other sources of wisdom and enlightenment that may help us out of our troubles. Thus, in making this statement, Einstein not only gave us an approach for solving problems; he also clued us in on the inherent flaw in the structure of the current paradigm and how to repair it: That we need to go beyond our current thinking-which, ironically, places so much emphasis on the literal act of thinking, with all its attendant energetic qualities-to get ourselves to where we want, and need, to be.

To set things right, it's clear we need to restore the energetic balance by allowing the feminine qualities to have more influence. Intuition, emotion and feeling aren't the enemies of intellect, logic and reason; they're their dance partners, and they need to be allowed to join in that magical dance as equal partners. But how, specifically, do we restore that balance? I believe that studying the principles of 'conscious creation' (sometimes known as 'the law of attraction') can do much to help us realize that goal.

Conscious creation is a philosophy that maintains we each co-create the reality we experience with the assistance of our divine collaborator (God, Goddess, All That Is, the Universe or whatever other term best suits you) based on the beliefs, thoughts and intents we maintain. And those beliefs, thoughts and intents arise as a result of the input they receive from our intellect and intuition, qualities that are respectively indicative of the aforementioned masculine and feminine energies. A proper blend of male and female forces makes the process work, and getting in touch with that balance is essential for developing solutions to the challenges we now face-solutions that go beyond the thinking that created those challenges in the first place, as Einstein spoke of. Such actions also transcend those that have come to typify the nature of the Cartesian world, allowing the emergence of a new and more suitable paradigm.

To that end, to get us in the proper frame of mind, I'd like to suggest a new catchphrase to characterize the nature of the new world into which we're emerging. "I think, therefore I am" may have been fine for the Cartesian paradigm, but we've moved beyond that now. Thanks to the act of thinking, we've come to have a good grasp of our own self-awareness, so we can now move past that and instead focus on what it is we do as sentient beings. And, according to conscious creation principles, what we do is create the reality that surrounds us in all its magnificent resplendence. Therefore, I'd like to propose that we adopt the title of this piece, "I exist, therefore I create", as the catchphrase for the new worldview. It speaks to a new way of thinking that goes beyond just using our gray matter.

In future pieces, I'll discuss how conscious creation/law of attraction principles can be employed in our lives, particularly how it can be used to promote the kind of energetically harmonious balance I spoke of earlier. I'll discuss the concept from both theoretical and practical standpoints, drawing upon concrete examples and personal experiences. I'd like to hope we'll all get good at it in the process. And, if we're successful, we just might be able to solve those problems of the old paradigm, paving the way for a new one to come into being.

Aug 11, 2010 - 1:26 PM

Paul Clark -

I often say people don't need convincing anymore that 'something' has to be done - the world is now clearly at the 'what to do?' point - and you are answering that so beautifully!