I would say that most people are just like children. They are aware of themselves, and gradually they become aware of the fact that they have bodies. Humans are the same way, even when they are grown up. They are not aware of their connections. That's what I think people are moving towards-awareness of their connections.

That's why the quality movement in business is so important, because literally, that's what it is about-it's about finding the right relations of all the parts of an organization so that they can function properly. If you have a human body and you don't feed it properly, then the organs don't function as they should. And if the organs don't function, then the whole body doesn't function. We're beginning to understand that a company is an organism, and it has lots of different parts and the parts have to be cared for properly so that they can perform properly. Then the whole benefits. The individual human who always likes to think of himself as an individualistic, non-connected being, is finding out that he may be an individual, but he is a connected. And there's nothing an individual does that doesn't affect the collective.

DiCarlo: Would you say that the medium of that connection between the individual and the collective would be subtle energy?

Green: Absolutely. That's what it's all about. That's what the yogis say. That's what the Tibetans say. That's what the Qi Gong Masters in China say. We are all submerged in this energy field the same way we are all in the earth, and in the same way we all are breathing this air. At the same time we are breathing these energies. But these energies are not just local. They are planetary-wide. As we handle these energies, we effect everyone else on the planet.

In this way, we as individuals become important in a planetary sense. And that's one of the main goals of human potential and of developing self-regulation, the ability to consciously direct your energy. To the extent that we self-regulate is the same extent to which we help others.

I think that is an interesting religious idea also. In the bible Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, everybody else will be lifted up too." What was he talking about? Well, he was just putting out this idea of human potential-that we are all connected. Whatever we do to expand our human potential has an effect on everyone else, whether we have thought of it or not.

Excerpted from the book Towards A New World View: Conversations At The Leading Edge with Russell E. DiCarlo. The 377-page book features new and inspiring interviews with 27 paradigm pioneers in the fields of medicine, psychology, economics, business, religion, science, education and human potential. Featuring: Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, Joan Boysenko, George Leonard, Gary Zukav, Robert Monroe, Hazel Henderson, Fred Alan Wolf, Peter Senge, Jacquelyn Small, Elmer Green, Larry Dossey, Carolyn Myss, Stan Grof, Rich Tarnas, Marilyn Ferguson, Marsha Sinetar, Dr. Raymond Moody, Stephen Covey and Peter Russell.

Russell E. DiCarlo is a medical writer, author, lecturer and workshop leader who's focus is on personal transformation, consciousness research and the fields of energy and anti-aging medicine. His forthcoming book is entitled "The Definitive Guide To Anti-Aging Medicine" (1998, Future Medicine Publishing). DiCarlo resides in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Copyright 1996. Epic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

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