Questions to consider

The Deep Evaluation

"If you own thirty garments, and you only use five, then what are the other twenty-five for? And why are they occupying time and energy in your life? This also carries over into relationships because certain people collect relationships the same way that other people collect books, coins, plants, paintings, clothes, or whatever. What relationships are really important to you? This fundamental question requires an honest response."

"What possessions do you really use?

Which ones do you really need?

Why own anything else?

What ideas are really helping you?

Which ideas have depth and are important?

Why do you need to entertain other ideas?

What relationships are really essential for your development and support your spiritual growth?

What are you doing in relationships that cannot do this? "

"Given the investment of time and energy—which includes money, of course, for this represents time and energy—how much does that pleasure yield to you? How great are its fruits? Pleasure is an investment. What does it yield?"

"Where is your life being given away? What is it being focused upon? Where is it being assigned? You only have so much energy in the day, so much time in the day, so much space within your mind to consider things. Where is that all going now? What are you doing? Who are you with? What are your priorities? Where are you gaining energy in your life, and where are you losing it? And to whom are you losing it, and to what are you losing it? Where do you feel certainty, and where do you feel uncertain? What relationships are you in now that give you a sense of certainty and direction? And which relationships cloud that certainty or obstruct it completely?

Preparing for the Great Waves of change

"Look at the world objectively. Ask yourself: “What is coming?” Listen. Write down what you hear and ask again and again over the course of days and weeks to see what comes into your mind. Listen more deeply."

“Is your career or form of work sustainable into the future? Does it provide essential services or goods for people? Can it survive a depression, economically? Do you live in such a place where you can get around without the use of an automobile? Do you have enough financial resources to weather economic difficulties? What is the status of your personal health, your physical health, your mental health? Are you in relationship with people who can become aware of the Great Waves of change and prepare for them courageously? Or are your associations with people who will just fall apart, become helpless and hopeless and dependent upon you?”

Regarding your primary relationship

"Think about your relationship with God. Ask yourself: 'Do I love God? Do I trust God? Does God love me? Does God trust me? Is God lovable and trustworthy? Am I lovable and trustworthy? Do I deserve to have God? Does God deserve to have me? Have I blamed God for what has happened in my life?'”

Regarding the Pillar of Work and Financial Providership

“How much does one really need?” “What are one’s fundamental needs?” And beyond meeting these fundamental needs then: “What is the proper use of money?” Indeed, “What is the meaning of accumulating wealth? And what is wealth? And what is it for?”

Did you not see?

"Yet has this not been recognizable, even from an earlier time? Could you not see that humanity would use up so much of the vital resources of the world, setting the world into a permanent state of decline, thinking that technology or innovation alone would be able to mitigate the results of this?

Have you not felt, perhaps for a long time, that there would be great consequences to how nations, groups and people use the world—diminishing its resources, destroying its wildlife and using its vital energy resources without any concern for the future, without any focus on conservation? Have you not seen this and felt this in moments of clarity or introspection?"

What will be your position?

"How will you respond when the cost of your food will take such a great proportion of your income? And will you have work within industries that will have no future, that society cannot afford? What will be your position? What will be your preparation? Will you pay attention to the signs of the world and begin to consider your life seriously, with commitment and compassion? These are all important questions that you must answer for yourself."

When petroleum becomes three times as expensive

"What will you do when petroleum becomes three times as expensive as it is today? How will your nations function? How will people get around? What kind of businesses can survive in that environment?"

"If humanity destroys its fundamental energy resources, what shall God do for you? What God will do for you is what God has already done for you, and that is to place Knowledge within you."

Where shall they go?

"Where shall they go, these millions of people? They will need to find new homes, seeking access to the more temperate regions of the world and to the more affluent countries of the world. Will you accept their presence, or will you struggle against them to protect your lifestyle, to protect your own priorities? And what will happen when nations cannot sustain themselves economically because of the loss of resources, when the demands of their people far exceeds the supply of what they can provide. How will you regard this?

"What will happen to cities when the glaciers that provide all of their water resources evaporate over the years? There will be great human migrations in the future because people have fled their homelands. Greater than any world war or human conflict will this human migration will this be."

"What will happen when regions of the world dry out so much that people cannot live there and must migrate to other nations that are already full of peoples? These nations will break down into war and conflict. More financial storms. More uncertainty. More fear. More flight. It is only the beginning."

"What will happen to all the people who must leave, even in the wealthy nations and their cities and their coastlines? Where will they go? What will they do, they, along with you and your recent ancestors, who have changed the climate of the world? As the icecaps melt, as the glaciers melt, as water becomes ever more precious and drought grows worldwide, these are the things that must be mitigated now while you still have a chance to do so. Do not think there are other problems that are more significant than this. Do not discount this."

"Whole populations of people will be moving in the future as their lands dry out or become uninhabitable, a reality never seen in this world before at this scale. Where will the power come from? Where will the inspiration come from? Where will the inner strength and integrity come from to face such a world and to serve it in such a way that human unity can grow and human freedom can be preserved and expanded? It must come from this well that We speak of. It must come from God, who wills this for humanity. For this must happen now, for the alternative is far too grave to even speak of. It is driven by need. It is also driven by courage and honesty.”

See also

Great Waves of Change practices

Questions asked

Questions to ask

Further study

• The Great Waves of Change, Chapter 5: The Deep Evaluation

• The Great Waves of Change: Recommendations for Living in a Great Waves World

• Preparing for the Great Waves of Change: Responding to Great Change