The year 2012 is no longer something in the distant future – it is here. And the changes we are experiencing – globally and individually – started even before the year 2012 arrived.

Elevated Existence recently heard best-selling author Gregg Braden speak during a teleseminar series called “Healing With the Masters,” where he discussed the changes occurring in our world today, the concepts in his newest book “Deep Truth: Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny and Fate,” and what we as individuals can do to navigate this new world emerging before our eyes.

“The best minds of our time are telling us in no uncertain terms that we are experiencing very unique times,” he said, explaining we see the changes in the economy, climate, jobs and more. “Experts are telling us we are facing the greatest number of crises in the past 5,000 years.”

However, Braden questions whether these changes are truly “crisis” or are actually transformation? It all comes down to perception and the way we think about the world, ourselves and our connection to one another.

“When we begin looking at why so many systems are collapsing and breaking, we realize the ones that are breaking are the ones no longer sustainable in the presence of the changing world,” he said in the teleseminar. More importantly, it is the way we have chosen to live our lives that has led to the collapsing of these systems, and much of it is based on beliefs and teachings we have been told – many of which science is now proving to be false, he explained.

“There are many false assumptions science has made about our relationship to the world that are deeply engrained into the way we live our lives,” he noted, explaining the basis for his book “Deep Truth” is to unearth these new scientific discoveries not yet making it into the mainstream. “When we embrace these new discoveries, it changes the way we view the world and how we relate to it.”

We need to understand that we are all deeply connected and enmeshed with the natural world – not separate from it – and we need to look to cooperation and natural aid, rather than war to solve our problems, said Braden.

“The best science of our time is telling us there is a field of energy that connects all living things on earth,” he said. “We are linked via this magnetic field.”

New Discoveries
One of the biggest new discoveries is Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest was wrong. Darwin based his observations on what he saw in only some parts of the world, and made the assumption that it was true everywhere, Braden explained.

“This one idea is so deeply rooted into the civilization and economic cycle and the way we do business today,” he said. “This thinking led to some of the greatest genocides of the 20^th century. Hitler paraphrased Darwin’s work and justified eliminating what he believed to be inferior members.”

This view of life breeds completion. More than 400 peer-reviewed studies in the 20^th century reviewed Darwin’s idea to discover what the optimum amount of competition was for any environment – whether a classroom, playing field of family – and the conclusion was zero.

“They discovered competition always hurts the individual and the community, and that nature is based on mutual aid and not competition. When we say competition, we are talking about violent competition, where one person, group or community benefits at the expense of another by exploiting the weaknesses of the other,” Braden explained.

He used the human body as an example, saying it is made up of 50 trillion communities of cells that work in cooperation. If they don’t work together, the body breaks down and becomes disease. “We don’t see every cell fighting for themselves,” he said.

Other false assumptions include:
– Civilization is only about 5,000 years old. Peer-reviewed scientific data shows civilization is actually twice as old in places like Peru, Turkey and Egypt. In Turkey, science discovered modern advanced civilization dates back 11,500 years. “The 5,000 years that we are taught is the history of the world forever is actually only the history of the last cycle,” Braden said.

– Consciousness is something separate from our physical world. Some of the best minds in science are telling us “nothing can be farther from the truth,” said Braden.

– The space between things is empty. “There is a lot of energy in the universe that doesn’t conform to what our equipment is looking for, and just because our machines and devices can’t detect it, doesn’t mean its not there,” he said.

Dealing With “Now”
After discovering life did exist beyond the 5,000 years we were taught in history books, these ancient civilizations have been studied. One of the main truths found in all of them was that there was no evidence of weapons or large-scale war. There was not even a need to protect cities with homes or walls, said Braden.

“Archeologist and anthropologists are suspecting now that what we were taught – that war is a natural part of human nature – is not who we are,” he noted. “War is not nature. The first examples of war begin when we believe civilization began – 5000 years ago.”

Before our time, it was known as “The Golden Age” and a time of peace, he said. Archeological evidence is now discovering that civilizations before us knew we would enter “a dark cycle and a cycle of war.” The question now is – do we perpetuate the 5,000-year cycle of war or do we “recognize the deep truths” and make changes?

“Those who are clinging to the ways of life in the past, and clinging to the systems, hoping the changes we see in the world today are just a speed bump in the way of life – those are the people having the most difficult time right now,” he said. “The world changed while we were looking, and nobody told us. The reality of the world we knew in the past no longer exists.”

However, the good news is there is a way of thinking that we can adapt to help us navigate and adapt to the new world. We can make a subtle shift that changes everything, said Braden.

“We have all been led to believe – through false assumptions – that life is a struggle, we live in a dog eat dog world, and we need to struggle for our piece of the pie. The question we always ask ourselves – consciously or unconsciously is ‘what can I get from the world that exists?’ But if we can make the subtle shift from asking ‘what can I get?’ to ‘what can I offer to this new world that is being birthed?’ – that can open the door to new answers, new jobs and new possibilities of abundance.”

What if as individuals, we began to look within to our inborn talents, and begin using them to give back and make a difference in some way rather than expecting the world to give back to us? “It’s a subtle and very powerful shift,” said Braden.