A realistic assessment of the situation in Europe

Honesty is the foundation for true diplomacy: a realistic assessment of the situation. Then, when you have that realistic assessment, all of a sudden it begins to become clear that it does not really matter whether you look at it through the glasses of the French perspective, or the German perspective, or the Greek perspective, or the British perspective, or any other national perspective. 

When you have a realistic assessment of the problem, it becomes obvious what is the way forward and it will transcend national interests. We are in an age where the interests of the whole clearly transcend the interest of any single nation. Wise are the nations who can see this. And there are, indeed, nations in Europe who can see this, although certainly not all who are members of the European Union.

The question that must be debated is whether these nations – that cannot see the overall interests because they are so focused on their narrow national interests – whether these nations really are worthy to remain in the European Union or become members of it. How can we ever reach any higher goal, if we have to always tiptoe around these national sensibilities or these nations that are unwilling to look for the greater perspective? 

It is exactly as it was with the kings, who would not look beyond their narrow self-interests. In many cases, these were not even their national interests, but simply self-preservation for their own position in society. Because they were not willing to look beyond these narrow interests, they could not and they would not grasp the vision for a United Europe. And of course, it is the same today.

If you are not willing to look beyond these narrow interests, then how can you possibly grasp the vision for the whole, the vision for a true European Union that is not simply based on money, but is based on a higher vision? This higher vision can come in two different shades, the Alpha and the Omega. 

What is beginning to emerge in Europe is this realistic assessment of the financial problem and the problem with the entire money system. This has not yet become widespread in terms of the willingness to question the money system itself, but there is certainly a growing awareness that new and more practical solutions are needed and therefore an entirely new approach to the economy is needed.

What works and what doesn’t work

This is the Omega aspect where through the experiences you have in the matter realm, you gradually begin to see what works and what does not work. Therefore, it is not a matter of national interests, it is not personal preference, it is not a matter of ideology or religion; it is a matter of simply looking at what is the practical solution, what works and what does not work. What will stand and what will collapse under its own weight in a shorter and shorter time span as cycles are accelerated. This awareness is beginning to grow among many European leaders and this is, indeed, a credit to those who are willing to take a realistic look at the current financial system. 

Of course, there are many other aspects of the European Union that must be looked at in the same light. Indeed, the rather forced solution, or the forced impetus, to take a look at the financial system will need to spread to other areas of society. What works, what does not work? 

There will come a point where it is necessary to question the value of nation states. For what is it you see in United States? You see one national state that has many local states that do not see themselves as individual countries, but only see themselves as defined as part of the union.

This is, of course, what we need to reach for in Europe, if the European Union is to live up to its full potential. Of course, we have a ways to go because we have so many nations in Europe that can trace their history so far back, some of them a thousand years. How do you throw away a thousand years of history in a matter of one generation? Well, it cannot always be done.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to start considering whether nation states are practical in this day and age. Is it practical to talk about nation states or is it perhaps more practical to begin to talk about regions that have such geographical similarities and similitudes that they really should be looked at as a unit that transcends the national boundaries? What is really in the higher interest of all the people who live in that region, whatever language they speak, whatever national flag they see flying over their capitol buildings.

Those who are the seers, the visionaries, the writers, they will begin to express new ideas as has already, to some degree, happened. They will see that the only way forward, based on the financial crisis, is to look for a stronger political union that is more apt at making the difficult decisions that must be made in situations that no one has faced before. Therefore, there are no models, there are no political theories or ideologies that will work. It is a matter of looking at what is practical.

The Alpha aspect of higher principles

Beyond this, of course, is the emergence of the Alpha aspect where you see that a higher union can also be based on higher principles. This does not mean religion or religious principles. This means the emergence of a universal approach to life. 

You recognize that there is something beyond the material universe. There is a mind, a consciousness that can define certain principles that are beyond what can be defined by human beings who, as even the philosophers who have grown up on this continent in various ages have said, cannot always know reality, or at least cannot know reality from a certain state of consciousness.

You might take, at least a quick look at some of the major philosophers of the world who have dealt with this problem of perception. They have looked at how people can actually know anything and how you can know what is reliable knowledge. See what the philosophers have said about this, and it might give you a different perspective on what higher awareness is. 

Where does knowledge come from? Does it only come from this world or does it come from a realm of higher awareness? If it does not come from a higher realm, then we must recognize that there are limits to what the human mind can know because the human mind is inherently subjective. If we want to find objective knowledge, we must reach beyond the human level. How do we do this? Well, we can only do so if we recognize that there is something to reach beyond that there is something beyond the human consciousness and the human level.

There are philosophers who have dealt intelligently with this, and although sometimes their language and their reasoning is somewhat obscure, it is not beyond what aware people can grasp. Indeed, there are philosophers that have been open doors for higher awareness, which seeks to work with people at all levels of society.

The long-term vision for Europe

So many times people and nations are pulled into a struggle, a reactionary pattern, because they lack the vision where they can say, as Jesus said 2000 years ago: “What is that to thee, follow thou me.” This may not have to be a religious or spiritual recognition. It can be that the nations of Europe realize: “We have a vision of what kind of nation we want to be, what kind of nation we can become. We have a goal. We are moving towards that goal and we will not let anything detract us from that goal. We will not make something in this world more important than attaining the goal of manifesting a higher state in our nation.” 

You can look at the nations that have been liberated from the Communist yoke and whose abundance has not yet come up to the level in Western Europe. You can see that the nations of Western Europe missed a historic opportunity to help those nations to a greater degree, although they have helped to some degree. Nevertheless, it is necessary to raise all nations of Europe, and it is possible to raise all nations of Europe to a much higher level. This requires a collective decision. It is a collective decision that cannot only be made by the Western nations. 

It also needs to be made by other nations where they simply need to decide: “We want the same level of affluence that we see in the Western nations. Why should our best workers have to go abroad in order to receive a decent wage when all that is really required for them to get that wage at home is that the entire level of abundance is raised, the economy is raised to a higher level?” This is possible. It is difficult for nations that have been under the yoke of Communism for so long, but it is possible. There are certainly nations that are ready for this breakthrough and that have already started breaking through and have already started raising their economies.

One of the greatest incidents of progress is that nations would recognize the value of making collective decisions. They would begin to realize that they have so far done this unconsciously, without really being aware of what they were doing. There is no limit to how far they can take this if they do it more consciously and actually come to the point of having a public debate, having those who have a vision, and then they collectively decide that this is what we want.

They, of course, take practical measures, as you have seen in the more developed nations that they have taken practical measures. It has taken them some time to implement it, but once the decision is made, the clearer it is, the shorter will be the time span before the condition is manifest. This would be a tremendous step up for Europe. It would be a step up in the European nations’ ability to serve in the further progress of life on earth and in the manifestation of the Age of Higher Awareness. 

There are nations in Western Europe that have reached the point where they cannot really grow further until they begin to selflessly serve others. There are nations in Eastern Europe that could use that kind of cooperation and service from the Western nations so that they could be raised up, so that all of Europe could come to a point where they could now truly begin to serve outside the borders of Europe. They could show that it is possible for nations to raise each other up, to raise their economies to an entirely different level. There is a model that can work. Therefore, Europe can be an example that can be adapted to other parts of the world.

From fanaticism to true cooperation in Europe

There is a need for Europe to overcome fanaticism. When people in Europe hear the word “fanaticism,” naturally the first thing that comes to mind is Nazism. It has been universally recognized that Nazism was a clear and undeniable manifestation of fanaticism. What are the elements that characterized Nazism. 

The characteristics of fanaticism

First of all, you have the sense that you are superior to other people, you are the superior group of people. Because of your characteristics, you know better what should happen on this planet. You actually think, when you are in a fanatical mindset, that you are wiser than all others, that you know better, that you know reality. You think your vision, your ideology, your religion – or whatever you have that you are holding on to – is the superior way, the only true way to look at things. 

Are you really wise when you are in this mindset? If you think that you are superior compared to other people who are different from yourselves, then are you not proving that you are in a state of consciousness where you are focused on differences that set people apart? You are demonstrating that you do not see the true reality, namely the underlying oneness of all life. If you do not see reality, how can you be wise? How can you be superior in wisdom? If your ideology is clearly defining some people as superior to others, how can that be the ultimate truth? 

Another characteristic of fanaticism is, of course, that you believe that your ideology, your worldview, defines an ideal that should happen and a threat to that ideal. Furthermore, you identify that certain people, yourselves, are working for the manifestation of the ideal condition, and other people, especially a specific group of other people, are working against this. Again, can this be superior wisdom when the underlying reality is that all life, all human beings, came from the same source and are all connected in consciousness? 

Another characteristic of fanaticism is that you feel that you have not only a right, but even an obligation, to force those other people to come into compliance with your world-view. You feel that even though this is using force, perhaps even using lethal force, it is justified by the necessity to establish your worldview as the dominant one, or even the only one, on earth. Again, can this be superior wisdom when you realize that all human beings are connected in consciousness? When you use force against someone else, you are affecting yourself. You cannot get away with using violence and force without affecting yourself. Furthermore, you do not see that the purpose of the planet is the outplaying of free will. When you are forcing the free will of others, you have first forced your own free will because you have surrendered your own free will to the system behind your fanatical worldview.

Fanaticism in European history

You now see several elements of fanaticism. The sense of superiority, the sense of an epic right and an epic wrong, the sense that you have a right to use force, that it is necessary to use force, and that you can get away with doing this, perhaps even be rewarded by some force. If you take these elements and look at the history of the European continent, you will see that, although Nazism may be an extreme outpicturing of the fanatical mindset, it is by no means the only one. 

Consider the Catholic Church. It, for the greater part of its existence, has acted out the fanatical mindset by claiming itself to be the only true religion, the only true representative of Christ. It has claimed that it was of epic importance that all people be brought into the Christian faith, and that it was justified to use violence, even killing other people, in order to further the cause of Christ. Can we say today that the Catholic Church has lifted itself out of fanaticism? 

Then, look at many other manifestations in European history. Go back to the time before the first World War and see how the three major powers in Europe at the time – England, Germany, and France – had their own version of fanaticism. They thought their nation was superior to all others and they were feeling fully justified in going to war against their neighbors and seeking to use force to establish their own dominance. Was not the British Empire an expression of the fanatical mindset? Was not the entire colonial era (where so many nations of Europe expanded beyond the boundaries of Europe and forcefully suppressed other nations) another expression of the fanatical mindset? 

Then, look at other things in Europe. Look how, for example, there was a reaction against the Catholic Church, and as an outcome of this was created materialism. Well, is materialism not also an expression of the fanatical mindset? Some will say: “When did materialism use violence to kill other people?” Well, is not Marxism an expression of materialism? It is certainly a denial of anything spiritual, of anything beyond the material world, saying that everything is determined by the conditions in the material world and by some historical necessity.

Then, look to less violent aspects of materialism, as you find it in many educational institutions. Is there not a clear sense of superiority, a clear sense that we have the only truth, that we know reality, that we know how the universe works, even though we recognize that there is an event horizon that we cannot see beyond? We still feel that we can project that we know what is happening beyond that event horizon and that there is nothing beyond the material world. Is there not a clear sense of superiority towards religious people and those who do not share the materialistic beliefs? Is there not a clear sense of superiority in academic circles where people feel that they are better than all others and that they should be able to impose their view of the world upon all others?

Is it not possible to go even further and see that many nations have a national fanaticism about the superiority of their nation, their way of doing things and how they are better than others? We can even go to the level of seeing how people are fanatical about certain football teams, about certain other sports and about so many other things. 

The use of psychic violence

What is the real essence of fanaticism? We have seen in Europe how fanaticism has been allowed to outplay itself. We have seen an extremely violent expression of fanaticism. The result of this is that most European nations have moved beyond the willingness to kill those who have different beliefs than yourself or those who are of another nationality. We have moved to a point where the threat of a war between the European nations has diminished to a level where it is highly unlikely. We have also moved to a point where it is highly unlikely that the European nations would engage in a large-scale war of aggression outside the borders of Europe. Yet, we have not reached a point where the European nations are refusing to use any kind of force outside of their own borders, as you see in the intervention in Syria, Libya and other countries. 

We can say that, by and large, Europe has transcended the desire or the sense that the use of violence is justified, at least the use of deadly violence. Of course, there are other forms of violence, including psychological violence of wanting to force other people to come into a certain view of the world. We see this in religious circles, we see it in materialistic circles, we see it in political circles. It is necessary that Europe will transcend the use of psychic violence justified by the fanatical mindset. 

The next level is where Europe would transcend the sense that there is only one truth, only one way to look at reality, and that this truth (this ideology, religion or political theory) is superior to all others. Some progress has been made in this field. There are many nations that are much more practical and not so caught up in a particular ideology or worldview.

The sense of superiority

This leaves us with the most insidious aspect of fanaticism, namely the sense of being superior to other people. This is where, even though Europe has made progress, much is still lacking. There is still a very subtle sense of superiority found not only in nations, but in Europe as a whole. There is a sense of superiority towards the less developed nations. There are even many in Western Europe who have a sense of superiority towards the nations of Eastern Europe. There are still many people in Britain, in Germany and in France who feel that their nations are superior. There is hardly a nation in Europe who does not have some sense of pride or arrogance about their own nation having certain characteristics that makes it unique or superior.

If this sense of superiority could be transcended, it would have an incredible impact on bringing the Age of Higher Awareness into manifestation in Europe. The reason for this is very subtle but profound. When you have a sense of superiority, what is the underlying psychological mechanism that gives you this outwardly directed sense of superiority? It is basic psychology that when you are projecting something out upon other people, you are at the same time projecting something in upon yourself. When you are projecting upon other people that you are superior to them, what are you projecting inwardly upon yourself? You are projecting, of course, that you are inferior in some way. If you did not feel inferior deep inside, why would you have a need to project superiority outside your own mind? Why would you have a need to compare yourself to others? 

The fanatical mindset truly is based on the psychological mechanism of inferiority that finds its outward expression as superiority. The effect is that when you go into a state of cooperation with other people, such as you have seen beginning in Europe, you can never fully cooperate because full cooperation can only be done among equals. If one part sees itself as superior, there cannot be full cooperation. If all of the parties have their own sense of superiority, how can there be full cooperation? 

There can be a state of what people call cooperation, but it is not true cooperation. What human beings look for is: “How can I get an advantage by cooperating with others? What is in it for me? What do I get out of it?” You see this in the European Union. You saw it in Britain in the debate about whether to stay or exit. You see it in all other nations as well: “What do we get out of EU? What does it do for us?”

It need not be that a nation is only looking for some material advantage, such as money or trade, but it may also be that a nation looks for a sense of superiority where they feel they are the leaders. They do not even mind paying more money out than they get in, in order to give them that sense that they are the leaders. Or it may be that they are looking to get some sense of compensation for what they did in the past, such as is, to some degree, the case with Germany. Even Germany still has a need for superiority, of feeling that they are the good guys. They are the ones who are holding the Union together, who are lifting up the Union and making it all work. 

The basis for true cooperation

Of course, there are similar mechanisms in France and in England. Many other nations have their own version of it, even though the smaller nations have overcome this to a larger extent than the big nations. This is not cooperation based on higher awareness. When you truly cooperate, you are not coming from a state of: “What is in it for me?” You are coming from a state of: “How can I serve others?” You are not cooperating with others in order to get. You are cooperating with others in order to give.

What does it take for a nation to move into this state? Well, it has to overcome the major block to true cooperation, which is inferiority. You have to come to a point where you are not seeking to do something with other nations in order to build up your own self-esteem. You have come to the point of recognition inside yourself, inside your national psyche, that you are fully acceptable as you are. You are not inferior, you were not created inferior. You cannot get this sense of self-worth, this true sense of self-worth, through a materialistic worldview.

Where should this sense of self-worth come from? It cannot come from the material world unless you are materially superior to others. It cannot come from a political ideology that sets you apart from other people. It cannot come from a religion that makes you feel superior compared to those who are on the outside. Such a religion is based on the consciousness of separation that separates you from God and separates you from all other people. 

It can only come from higher awareness. This does not have to take the form of an outer spiritual teaching. It comes from an inner recognition that no people are superior to others because all people were created with equal value, equal worth. If you can accept that you have worth from within, that you do not need to get it from this world, then you can look at other people and interact with other people without the need to feel superior.

What is the outcome of realizing that you have worth from within? It is that you realize that you do not need to create an ideal state in this world. You do not need to create the perfect world, the kingdom of God, the Utopian socialist society or whatever model you can come up with. As your value comes from higher awareness, so does the value of everything you do on earth. You are not relating so much to earth as you are relating to higher awareness. When you realize how the interaction between higher awareness and matter works, you realize that as you give to other people horizontally, you will receive more vertically.

Having genuine communication in Europe

What is it that blocks genuine communication? It is that people are trapped in a matrix of ideas, a set of ideas and beliefs where you are not expressing yourself freely. You have certain ideas in your mind where you think you have to adapt your expression to these ideas. You cannot just be yourself, you have to fulfill some kind of role, and therefore you have to evaluate everything that is being said through you with the outer mind. 

When your higher being senses that you are evaluating everything that is being said with the outer mind, it naturally steps back and respects your free will, which you have now centered in the outer mind. You are letting your outer mind run your free will instead of making truly conscious choices and so there will be no free flow. You also, many times, have a set of ideas that says that other people or society expects you to live up to certain criteria, and again this causes you to evaluate everything you do or say: “Is it correct according to the standard?” Then, you have no free flow of communication. 

How does this tie in with bringing the Age of Higher Awareness? How does it tie in with the situation in Europe? How can there be a golden age unless people from different nations, from different groups, different races, different ethnic groups, even the two sexes, men and women, can communicate at the level of the heart? What is the Age of Higher Awareness based on? It is based on an inner sense of oneness that transcends all the outer divisions that people have in their outer minds where they identify with their nationality, for example, or their race, ethnic group, sex or whatever. 

Let us look at Europe right now. When people come to identify themselves with their nationality and define their nationality being distinctly different from other nationalities, and often in opposition to them or competition with them, well, then their interaction, their communication, will be at that level of the outer mind. Then, how can they come to the point where they have a heart-to-heart talk? What does it mean to have a heart-to-heart talk? It means that you connect to a higher part of your being and you sense that the other person is also connected to the higher part of its being. Then, you sense that it is the same reality you are both connected to. When you know that you are both connected to a higher reality, how can you be fully identified with the outer mind?

You cannot unite people through ideas

Which part of the world is most likely to be able to become the forerunner for this more sincere communication? Well, it is the European continent. It is precisely the European nations who have now for decades attempted to create a greater union in Europe. This union must be based on this sense of oneness that only comes when you connect at the heart level. So far, what have the European nations attempted to do with the EU? They have attempted to create a set of ideas saying: “Look at how many wars we have had on the European continent over the centuries. Look how we have fought two world wars. Look how we had the extreme outcome of the Holocaust on our soil. We can never allow this to happen again and therefore we must find a way to cooperate, and therefore we must create a set of ideas that forces us to cooperate.” 

What created the division on the European continent? It was ideas! There was war between the Catholics and the Protestants. There was war between East and West. There was war between Nazis and those who were not Nazis. You have seen so many times that ideas – sets of ideas – were elevated to the status of being more important than the individual human being! You have seen how these ideas have created division, war, conflict. Why does it make sense, how does it make sense that creating another set of ideas will resolve the conflict? It makes no sense. 

The more aware people can envision that there will be a more genuine communication, and that there will be an awakening and a stepping forward of the many people who are ready for this level of communication. In every country, there is a growing number of the population who are ready and longing for this genuine connection with other people. They may not know this consciously, but with a relatively simple and realistic shift in the collective consciousness, many of them will wake up and there will be a new openness and a new willingness to say to your own politicians: “Listen, find a way to talk to other nations, or get out of the way for there are others who are willing to talk at the heart level, to have a genuine conversation, where you are not seeking to dominate the others, you are seeking to reach some understanding that you have not reached before.” 

This would be a tremendous progress, and this could open the way for so many things where the European nations could get out of this impasse that they are in right now where they all fear for the future. They all fear that suddenly the EU that they have built so carefully over so many decades, is starting to fracture and come apart from within. Well, it is coming apart from within because they have approached it from the same mindset that created the division, and the second law of thermodynamics is doing its work and showing them that it is time to step up to a higher level. 

Those, of course, who have been trapped in the bureaucratic mindset, in the political mindset, for decades, they are not the ones who can step up, but the people can. The people can elect new representatives, and there can be a new kind of people that come to the forefront in the media who will start talking and communicating in a different way. They simply refuse to play all of the silly games that have so far created nothing but division and misunderstanding.

No conflict has ever truly been resolved through the kind of negotiations you have seen so far. It has always been caused by somebody realizing that by continuing the conflict, the consequences would be so severe that they do not want this so they choose the lesser of two evils. In order to avoid a greater evil, they agree to something, but this is not unity. This is not true union. 

There have of course been cases where there has been a greater understanding among people and genuine progress has been made. In too many cases it has been this superficial level of communication, and it has been this mindset that in order to avoid the greater calamity of war and conflict, we have to force ourselves into this outer, political, forced union. When you have communication at the heart level, you do not need to force yourself or each other into a political or economic union. You will willingly go into it because you experience that this greater union is not a loss, but it is a gain, not politically, economically, or militarily. It is a gain in how you feel about yourself.

A nation can be depressed

If you look at the nations of Europe today, you will see that if you considered certain nations as individuals, you would say that this person suffers from depression. There are many nations (the majority of the nations) that suffer from a form of depression. This needs to be recognized. It needs to be recognized that a nation can actually look at its national psyche and can see that a change is needed. The change is that you start looking beyond yourself and all of the petty problems that consume people’s attention. You start looking at how you can help the whole. How can you do something for someone else? How can you find a higher vision and dedicate yourself to bringing that vision into manifestation in your nation and outside your nation?

Nations have had a need to go through this phase where they were individual nations that were focusing on their growth. Nation states was a necessary phase but it also has certain problems. First of all, it gave rise to war between nation states. It was necessary to create the nation states in order to avoid a situation where all people had become the subject of the manipulators under one overall leadership. It was therefore better to have individual nations than to have everyone ruled by what the manipulators were trying to do through the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages: create a sort of religious-political state that was ruled by the church. This was broken up by creating individual nations so that it was possible that some nations could be open to a different approach to Christianity or a different approach to science. Otherwise, how else would there be change if everything had been under the dictatorial rule of the Catholic Church?

There was a time where the individual nations served a purpose. It wasn’t the highest possible purpose but it was an adaptation to conditions. For there to be an Age of Higher Awareness in Europe, the nations of Europe need to recognize that they have gone past the point of focusing on themselves (where they need to realize who they are) so that they can enter a new phase of cooperation with each other. 

This cooperation is a true form of community. This has several aspects, but one of the most important ones is that a true community can only exist among equals. It can exist among individuals who realize that they are all beings with higher awareness, that they all come from the same source, that they all have a higher individuality that is of infinite value. Therefore, no one is more important, more valuable, more worthy than anyone else. People may have different functions but it does not mean that they have different value.

It is the same with nations. There is still this consciousness of superiority in Europe, and for a true community of European nations to emerge, it needs to be overcome. Of course, the inferiority in some of the smaller nations must also be overcome. This will require some changes here and there where there are actually nations that will merge with each other because they realize they have so much in common that there really is little point in having these national boundaries that were drawn artificially on a map decades or centuries ago based on conditions that existed back then but are completely irrelevant today.

A positive future for the European Union

The vision that is missing right now in the European Union is that there is hardly anybody who has a positive vision of what the European Union can become. Very, very few people have grasped it, and most of the average people look upon it as something that was somehow forced upon them. Can the people step up to a positive vision of what can be achieved through peaceful cooperation, rather than the petty squabbles that have taken place on this continent now for hundreds and hundreds of years?

Some will be highly objective to this, but “petty squabbles” includes the Cold war, World War II, World War I, the massacres of the Cathars, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and all of these other wars and squabbles. They were petty from the perspective of higher awareness that sees how much more people are capable of manifesting. Therefore, this is nothing but pettiness, and the consciousness is petty. It is a petty consciousness, and it can only be transcended by being seen for what it is so you see that there is nothing to solve here. We need to look in a new direction and follow a higher vision.

There is nothing petty about raising your vision and being positive about the future. You will only grasp a higher vision if you are positive. It is not a matter of infinitely analyzing problems; it is a matter of grasping the vision of a whole new reality where the problems have become inconsequential and obsolete.