The criticism of the Occupy Wall St movement for not proposing specific solutions is predictable, but like the movement itself, touches on fundamental issues, in this case…Is it better to try to deal with specific problems in a limited, temporary way, or try to get to the root of the problem. Overwhelmingly, on both the individual and collective levels, we choose the former. This is not a coincidence.

Over the last 400 years with the rise of modern science, we have been encouraged to analyse and fragment life into ever smaller pieces. However, we have forgotten, if we ever knew in the first place, how to integrate / truly see all the pieces as a coherent whole …which in a way is what Spirituality is all about. Thus we juggle issues like ever more balls in the air and of course, many fall to the ground. Parts of a budget, whether national or family, represent competing, often conflicting and contradictory, demands for limited resources. We desperately struggle to keep up , but rarely ask ourselves, Who we truly are and What we really want. It should be obvious (and studies prove it) that Consumption in itself doesn’t really make us happy and can’t be sustained, since resources (including water, food and energy) are limited and since the number of consumers, each with insatiable demands, is exploding.

It seems to me that Occupy Wall St is about a growing number of people feeling exploited and discarded by the System and rather than looking for specific options within the system – policies, parties, members of Congress etc – are questioning the System itself. This questioning and inquiry into our collective hopes and visions is long overdue, because without it, our efforts are like putting the proverbial cart before the horse.

Although Occupy Wall St presently focuses mostly on economics, it must go deeper to underlying human Values (not in the Religious Right sense), if we are to make better qualitative decisions. As I have written in this space many times before, we have been conditioned to respond to Quantity rather than Quality. To begin to recognize the latter, there must be qualitative changes within ourselves, specifically within our consciousness.

How can we transform our consciousness? Meditation would seem to be the most direct route. However, be aware that not all forms of so-called “meditation” lead to the same place and that the process of transformation, while appearing simple, is not easy….otherwise we would all be enlightened by now! The deepest form of meditation is inquiry into the Self, which if skilled and persistent enough, leads to the transformation of the Self, since its true nature is not what we conventionally take it to be.