A17 Waking ' 1 Time Finding Inner Peace Times in of Accelerating Chahg;e Peter Russell doom "A wonderful book, masterfully balancing ecological with — spiritual renaissance." Ken Wilber, author ofA BriefHistory ofEverything '"^Here is a fascinating and involving picture of humanity's place in the universe and a bold portrayal of our possible destiny based on currently acceptable theories and ideas. This book is recommended to all living beings who plan on living in the future." —Whole Life Times "The writings ofPeter Russell are always ofinterest. Here he explores thought-provoking possibilities at this crucial juncture in human history." —The Ley Hunter Journal "Relentlessly, dramatically, often with a touch of irony, Peter Russell narrates this story of evolution, past, present and future. Given our evolutionary track record and our checkered recent history, where might we be going? A visitor from another planet could use this as a briefing book on the human experiment thus far." —Brain/Mind Bulletin "This is a book about the greatest of all unknowns . . . the place of mankind in the continuing evolution of the universe ... an awe- inspiring book because of the profundities it ponders in search of answers that humans may or may not ever discover." —John Barkham Reviews "This is a thought-provoking book that delights your mind, chal- lenges your ingenuity and alerts your consciousness. Russell weaves facts, opinions and metaphysical constructs in a 'lead-along' logic that captures your agreement." —Buzzworm: The Environmental Journal Waking Up Time in ALSO BY PETER RUSSELL TM The Technique The Brain Book The Upanishads The Global Brain Awakens The Creative Manager Peter Rus sell Up Waking Time in Inner Peace Finding in Times of Accelerating Change Origin Press Origin Press, Inc. 1 122 GrantAve., Suite C Novato,CA 94945 415-898-7400 An earlier version of this book was published by HarperSanFrancisco as The White Hole in Time. © Copyright 1992, 1998 by Peter Russell. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher, except for quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Cover design by Blue Design, San Francisco Book design by Claudia Smelser Design, Berkeley Special thanks to Joseph Sohm for the use ofhis photographs. Photographic credits appear on p. 201. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Russell, Peter, 1946- Waking up in time : finding inner peace in times ofaccelerating change / Peter Russell, cm. p. Rev. ed. of: The white hole in time. 1992. Includes index. ISBN 1-57983-002-1 I. Life. 2. Evolution I. Russell, Peter, 1946- White hole in time. II. Title. BD43I.R77 1998 98-19130 110-dc21 CIP PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON RECYCLED PAPER 1098765432 1 111 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Preface ix The Quickening — Acceleration The Quickening Pace 3 — Feedback The Evolutionary Accelerator 1 — Language The Dawn ofThought 17 — Hands Levers for the Mind 2 — Information The Currency ofCulture 25 — Creativity From Genes to Ideas 3 — Today Foundation for Tomorrow 35 The Crisis — Crisis Sounding the Alarm 41 — Crossroads Choosing Our Way 5 — Malady A Planetary Cancer 55 — Self-interest Misdirected Needs 59 1 — Happiness The Mind's Bottom Line 63 — Materialism An Addictive Meme 67 — Fear The Voice in Our Heads 7 — Stress The Wages ofFear 77 The Awakening — Dehypnosis Breaking the Trance 85 — Presence The Timeless Moment 89 — Enlightenment A New Way ofSeeing 95 — Relationships The Yoga ofthe West 99 — Love The Gift ofPeace 105 — Meditation The Art ofLetting Go 113 — MaiuYity Coming ofAge 119 — Freedom Emancipation from Matter 125 The Future — Challenge Crisis as Opportunity 135 — Apocalypse Premonitions ofTransformation 139 — Setbacks Constructive Extinctions 145 — Compression The Collapse ofTime 153 — Singulaviiies The Shape ofthe Future 159 — Omega A White Hole in Time 167 — A Purpose Design to Creation? 175 — Knowing A Conscious Universe 181 — The End Or the Beginning? 185 Index 189 Vi CONTENTS I Acknowledgments Many thanks go to many people; without any one of them, this book would not be what it is. Anne Pauli lived through the whole of the book's gestation and birth, contributing feedback and criticism on just about every page. Ian Farquhar, Marilyn Ferguson, Oliver Markeley, Paul Wheeler, Judith Meynell, Lindsay Cooke, Cynthia Alves, Ruth Strasberg, Ray Gottlieb, Roger Evans, Bryn Jones, Leah Landau, Jane Henry, Chris Hall, David Wynne, Tessa Strickland, Juliet Weston- Lewis, Sheila Cane, Hag, Chris Coverdale, James Fraser, Edward Posey, Kindred Gottlieb, Joe Sohm, Jan Bakelin, Gisela Pauli, Roger Doudna, Robert Taylor, Christopher Bowers, and Sheila McCleod also read the book at various stages ofits evolution and helped me clar- ify my thinking and expression. Fd also like to thank Marion Russell, Alexander Shulgun, Sylvia Timbers, Wendy Feldman, Pat Markeley, Terence McKenna, Linda Hope, Bill Whitson, Rupert Sheldrake, John Reilly, Willis Harman, Michael Toms, Mark Salzwedel, Eileen Campbell, and Anne McDermid, each ofwhom was of invaluable as- sistance in his or her own particular way. And last, but not least, my publisher Byron Belitsos and his production manager Julie Donovan, without whom this new edition might never have appeared. I would also like to thank Oxford University Press for permission to use the lines from Christopher Fry's play A Sleep of Prisoners and Harper & Row for permission to quote, from Stephen Mitchell's book The Enlightened Heart, his translation ofthe Rilke poem. vu The Second Coming Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony ofinnocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full ofpassionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out ofSpiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands ofthe desert A shape with lion body and the head ofa man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows ofthe indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries ofstony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be bom? -W. B. Yeats