I advocate for a “vibrant center” of consciousness to address the extremism and polarization of our times. This consciousness emphasizes three pillars of accumulated psychosocial wisdom over the last 2,500 years: (1) presence (the capacity to really be there with one’s whole body awareness), (2) openness to experience that results from this presence, and (3) discernment (deeply considered judgment) that emerges from the realization that life has limits and that to live richly and fully one has to prioritize and clarify what really matters about living.
Prioritization of External Conditions Over Inner Life
By contrast, and over the course of modern, industrialized society, we have stressed external conditions to improve humanity’s lot. And although this worldview has helped in many ways, for example, it has improved our general standard of living, extended our lifespans, and significantly elevated our capacity to be rational and efficient, it has also come with a major price: superficiality and neglecting people’s inner lives.
Do we not see how our entire socio-economic system drives these externalizing and cosmetic values in our society, and how, following the Enlightenment and industrialization, we threw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater? We did everything we could to avoid any hint of our (admittedly challenging) primal past and raced headlong into mechanizing and sanitizing our world. These swings in polarizations are all too typical of power centers throughout history.
The plain fact is that we have swung from pole to pole, extreme to extreme at many points of our human evolution, and that dynamic has almost always led to disaster. One-sidedness has almost always been the bane of humanity, which is one of the reasons I think that Camus in his remarkably prophetic volume The Rebel was right on with his notion that moderation—when deeply and holistically cultivated—is radical! Correspondingly, wisdom traditions show that one-sidedness is not inevitable, and major sectors of society need to recognize this precedence.
Characteristics and Benefits of Vibrant Centeredness
Studies of nondogmatic, psychologically and spiritually resilient people show that enriching environments and being met (by a significant other) from a “center of strength”—with presence and support as distinct from the polarities of fear and prejudice—are key to fostering a vibrantly centered consciousness. Also key are learning to live with life’s paradoxes, discovering authenticity, developing worldliness or the courage to seek out diverse experiences, hard work, discipline, and persistence. These vibrantly centered (present, open, and discerning) as well as awe-based (humbling, wondrous, adventurous) qualities are deeply needed in this too often autocratic, nihilistic, and cosmetic world today.
Here then are a couple proposals that may help our society and indeed world to move toward a more vibrantly centered, enlivened consciousness:
- The application of vibrant centeredness across all major sectors of living—from parenting to education to work to spiritual and religious settings to government, and
- The creation of a Federal Office of Psychological Advisors to work with government as well as the private sector to foster vibrantly centered ”emotionally restorative relationships.” These are relationships where people feel heard and seen and that get at the roots of their problems. They are also relationships that I believe we should implement on a pilot basis in Congress.
In my book on the vibrant center, I propose “pre-legislative protocols” where legislators are required to engage in supportive, structured dialogues, such as those facilitated by Braver Angels or the Experiential Democracy Dialogues prior to formal legislative processes. Such relationships are so relevant today to address the emotionally impoverished relationships that are—quite literally—killing us.
Finally, there is a compelling need to create a vibrantly centered political party and movement. This movement and political party would comprise people who yearn for more thoughtful and dynamic approaches to culture and politics. These again are approaches that embrace presence, openness, and discernment. They are also developments that can lead our nation toward a more sustainable, equitable, and enriching path (e.g., a “social democracy” where free markets and the pursuit of material goods are counter-balanced by financial, educational, and medical safety nets that enable a more secure populace to participate in the larger bounty of a gratifying life.)
I urge readers to take the lead on this path (or one like it), because it directly reflects much of our shared aspiration and expertise. It directly reflects not only our passion and dedication to individuals but also our devotion to the systems and institutions that enable individuals to thrive.
For more on this perspective on individual and social well-being, see my new book The Vibrant Center: A New Consciousness for Our Broken Age. Also visit The Corps of Depth Healers Certificate Program for information about a practical application of vibrant centered consciousness. It is a free 10-week curriculum for those in our helping professions who wish to apply depth principles of practice to contemporary social issues.
This blog was originally published by the author on Psychology Today.