Where have I been? 

Looking back at my online blog, I realize it’s been over two years since I’ve posted! Whoa! It’s not for lack of fodder for sharing but out of necessity to finish my Ph.D. Its completion has been a long time coming, and my immersive experience in the latter part of the process was not merely a means to an end; it has meaningful implications for my work going forward. 

While I intend to continue seeing clients, I am now broadening my endeavors to affect vast swaths of people. My past experience (18 years) as a public school teacher and university educator and the last 27 years as a healing professional have coalesced into a divinely inspired mission. Let me explain where I’m coming from and my intentions. (This blog post incorporates portions of my doctoral dissertation).

World Chaos

Undeniably, the world is in turmoil on many levels. While inconclusive, researchers propose several factors that may be responsible for impending ecological, economic, and societal collapse. These include the degradation of the environment and climate change, inequality and oligarchy, complexity and bureaucracy, overexploitation of resources, population crash, polarizing politics, and identities over issues. External shocks also emerge as catalysts for collapse. These include attacks, epidemics, and disasters (Spencer, 2021; Doll, 2023). “Collapse is a tipping point phenomenon when compounding stressors overrun societal coping capacity.” (Kemp, 2019).

Bureaucratic organizations such as the World Economic Forum are planning external systems of authority to enforce behaviors and ideologies, ostensibly to make society resilient to collapse. However, according to researchers, this type of externally imposed resiliency doesn’t apply to social systems (Davidson, 2010). When I speak of social systems, I mean how people and organizations interact and relate to one another to create a functioning whole. Family units, communities, workplaces, religious groups, nations, and educational institutions can all be considered social systems. 

Amidst the discussion of preventing societal collapse, the concept of agency emerges as a crucial element. When we have agency, we feel in control of ourselves and the direction of our lives. We hold faith that we can handle anything. Recognizing our capacity to influence our own thoughts and behavior, we can remain stable yet flexible in the face of conflict or change (Pattinson, n.d.). In essence, we are the authors of our own lives. This sense of agency is a powerful tool in the face of potential collapse. 

Light in the Darkness

The good news is that this chaos can be seen in a completely different light. Increasing numbers of people are becoming aware that a new world is emerging in our midst, and the force of humanity’s collective unconscious urge to evolve is becoming more deliberate. 

This can be likened to the process to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. 

The breakdown of the caterpillar’s old system is essential for the breakthrough of the new butterfly. Yet, in reality, the caterpillar neither dies nor disintegrates; from the beginning, its hidden purpose was to transform and be reborn as the butterfly.

                                           — (Hubbard, 2015, pp. 12-13).

Congruent to the butterfly analogy, the collective chaos and disintegration we experience could be an impetus for profound, positive change.

People worldwide are experiencing separation, turmoil, and chaos, and they lack the tools to empower themselves (develop agency) and strengthen healthy social systems. Initiatives and innovations grounded in living within a holistic system of relationships—relationship to self, to others, and to that which is greater than oneself—are urgently needed. The populace is awakening to the realization that they need, want, and deserve something greater. They may be unable to name it, but they can feel it stirring within. 

Within is the operative word here. How do we shift from dependence on the intellect-based ‘outer’ authority to the heart-based wisdom of ‘inner’ knowing? Inner knowing underlies our Divinely imbued Heart-centered experiences of inspiration, intuition, and imagination to discover, create, and problem-solve in deeply fulfilling, compassionate, and meaningful ways. New forms of expression, wisdom, and compassion can come together, giving us, among other things, new opportunities for learning and new models of inspired education that address inner development.

Current Initiatives

The Inner Development Goals (IDG) Foundation, a not-for-profit and open-source initiative, was introduced to complement and accelerate external approaches to solving world problems by fostering inner development within individuals, groups, and organizations. It plays a crucial role in working to fulfill the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a comprehensive plan for a sustainable world by 2030 (Inner Development Goals, n.d.). They recognize that science alone cannot solve the various world problems leading to potential collapse. 

The film on their website explains that human beings have many different dimensions and that the answers to world problems are within them. “For the last few hundred years, we have been focused on the external world, but we have come to a point where the outside perspective has to be complemented by an inside perspective…We need a spiritual and cultural transformation” (Inner Development Goals, 2021). 

While IDG is strategically designed to work with adults as individuals or within groups and organizations for planetary and societal healing, other holistic inner development approaches are also emerging. 

One example comes from Janae Weinhold, PhD, a specialist in developmental trauma and the author of LOVEvolution: A Heart-Centered Approach for Healing Developmental Trauma. Her work centers on “love and the role of the heart in human evolution” (Weinhold, 2017, p. 5). Weinhold believes that “unconditional love is the most powerful energy force in the universe, with the potential to advance humanity to a new and more evolved species” (Weinhold, 2017, p.5). 

Her work aims to heal the internal splits that developed in early childhood so people can open their hearts, become more integrated, experience coherent states of consciousness, and connect with themselves, others, and the cosmos (Weinhold, 2017, back cover). While our approaches are different, this is also the aim of my work with individual clients.

These innovations are examples of ground-breaking new directions and are imperative to evolving out of the dilemma of our threatened societal stability. Most inner development opportunities are geared toward adults, either those seeking solutions to world problems or those seeking to heal themselves and others and experience a shift toward wholeness. 

Must we wait for impending collapse or the need for personal or planetary healing to address the inner dimensions? Is this only an adult endeavor? I propose it is not. Knowing who we are and accessing our True Self is crucial to our highest expression of existence in form and being fully human. 

Multidimensionality—We are More than We Know

We often use external factors to define our identity, but the fully human self is much more than that. Being multidimensional, it holds multiple dimensions or levels of awareness. Each dimension is a focus of energy (light and information) within the mind, where we can potentially perceive ourselves within a recognizable reality. Each self exists with infinite points of focus simultaneously. 

However, we can remain limited to only perceiving dimensions of outer reality through the five senses, while the rest remain disconnected from our perception. This is because we primarily perceive through conditioned beliefs acquired through outside authorities such as educational systems, religion, mainstream media, parents, and society (Gestalt Reality, n.d.). 

In addition, discovery, or our beliefs about discovery, is trapped in a feedback loop where each generation does not look into a novel field of possibilities with fresh eyes. They look with a reconception of what they expect to find. They make the necessary interpretations they are “supposed” to make—essentially trapped into making—by their predecessors. 

However, stretching our imagination, thinking beyond the usual, and becoming more aware of and interacting with new levels of awareness inspires and opens the self to more light, information, and the wisdom of inner knowing. We can learn how we impact ourselves, others, and the world by addressing our multidimensional selves as part of the whole field of unlimited energy and information. 

My Inspiration

Awakening to one’s True Self and establishing an internalized center of authority requires a journey inward to explore these hidden parts. This endeavor is not widely experienced or understood, and while some do this naturally, most people need tools, guidance, and a safe place to explore. 

Education, as a significant element of the social system, could act as a bridge to a heart-centered model that addresses the Whole Self with its many dimensions. This could be the path to develop the wisdom necessary to manage personal and planetary change and create a new way of being within our burgeoning multidimensional world. 

I discerned that a holistic, heart-based, inner-development program for  Kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) could be the best way to bring this shift to the masses, empowering our citizens to live and create from their divinely imbued nature. I am developing a program that aims to guide learners on a journey of self-discovery, empowering them to understand themselves multidimensionally and become their own authority. Nothing like this currently exists. 

My Research

I used a unique inquiry approach to illuminate my experiences and perspectives. I also interviewed eight educators who were deeply engaged in their own inner development to discover emergent themes. Almost magically, the themes coalesced into a model of the multidimensional self and revealed an inspired pedagogical approach (methods of teaching) to provide the framework for developing these capacities. I have called it “I’M ME” (the Integrative Multidimensional Model of Empowerment ©). The wheel seen here depicts the multidimensional themes.