Who are the people of The New Mainstream? What do they want? What do they know? What are the economic, social and political implications of this rapidly-rising tide?
I'll tell you why I had to write this. I've encountered a phenomenon that needs to be shouted from the rooftops. There's a burgeoning underground narrative going on and it's time for it to surface. In fact, it astounds me that marketers, business leaders and political strategists have remained unaware. It's huge.
After being interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV shows during the past three years and listening to at least double that number preparing, I had to ask myself -- was there a larger purpose to my experience on all these shows? What was I being shown by The Force? Nearly 300 interviews and 900 shows later, the realization isn't so startling. It may even seem obvious -- yet it needs to be said:
There's a New Mainstream out there. You're probably part of it. I call it "The Consciousness Crowd."
Millions of people the world over are part of The New Mainstream. It is defined neither by generation, by politico credo, nor by religious creed. The New Mainstream is defined by recognition that we are in a time of awakening to a new mindset, an expanded worldview and yes, a higher-level consciousness for humanity. The New Mainstream is defined by a cosmic pulse of awakening -- a new consciousness!
"Consciousness"? Not exactly a phrase that gets bandied about in cocktail conversation and in boardrooms. Or does it?
WHO ARE THE PEOPLE OF THE NEW MAINSTREAM MYSTICS AMONG US
You don't have to know the properties of crystals or see aura colors to be part of The Consciousness Crowd. You don't have to be able to deliver a lecture on the principles of quantum physics. On my virtual media tour across cultures and countries I encountered show producers, hosts, guest and listeners who are scientists and physicians, entrepreneurs and executives, celebrities and politicians, teachers, students and homemakers, architects, artists, accountants and attorneys. All of them are talking about the leap to higher consciousness and how we get there. Yes, really. What The New Mainstream really means is you are waking up and you want the rest of the world to wake up, too.
WHAT THE NEW MAINSTREAM WANTS "I WANT A NEW POINT OF VIEW"
I had to ask myself: Why are more and more people tuning in to these shows? What are they gaining from it? I realized what they really want:a new point of view.
The New Mainstream craves conscious conversations beyond political diatribes, fear-based marketing, glamorization of disease and drugs, religious hypocrisy, and limited either/or "silo" views posing as thinking. The New Mainstream desires a more profound, authentic connection to life, an acknowledgment of our literal interconnectedness, economic interdependence, and spiritual interrelatedness.
The New Mainstream wants politicians worthy of being leaders, voters who look at the person not the political party to determine the best leader, media who ask questions of substance that lead to sustainable solutions. The New Mainstream wants health practices grounded in advanced energy sciences, nutritiously cultivated food that tastes good, too, entertainment featuring characters who reflect the new consciousness, and education that teaches youth essential knowledge of the five natural faculties* of "quantum" mind.
The New Mainstream wants a different narrative where human rights don't require fighting for and a world economy is not dependent on the military industrial complex for it to thrive. They want an end to the hypocrisy of proclaiming values and virtues we aren't actually embodying and pretending that's okay. They want intelligent media that displaces horrific scenes looping on the "the murder and accident report" journalistically masquerading as the news. The New Mainstream wants more than finger pointing and seeks discussions not of who's to blame, but what's at the source -- of bigotry, terrorism, political animosities, corrupt leaders, income inequities -- so we can create real solutions.
THE BIG ANGEL IN THE ROOM
Why haven't economic and political strategists caught on? Perhaps because they are stuck thinking from fixed demographic and psychographics that The New Mainstream simply doesn't fit into.
Millennials, Gens X, Y and boomers and even octogenarians are all in for higher consciousness. The New Mainstream is not just people "trying to make it." People of fame and fortune want a new consciousness, too. Witness: Pharrell's magnetic, meteoric appeal to millions of fans who want to be Happy, Jim Carrey's commencement address to the Transcendental Meditation community's Maharishi University, Paris Hilton spotted toting a popular spiritual book under her arm, Russell Brand's "The Trews" punditry on "the real news," Arianna's passion for The Third Metric, conventional news and talk shows regularly playing clips of political "awakeners" couched in the comedy of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. The clues are everywhere.
The economic impact of the The New Mainstream appears to be untapped. Imagine what addressing the values and mindset of this audience could mean to commerce, to entertainment, to political ideologies.
MARKETERS BE-AWARE
Please don't make the mistake of relegating The New Mainstream to a subculture.
Neti, Neti -- Not This, Not This.
New Age? Not. Cultural Creatives? Not really. Liberals? Not political. Mindfulness? Not enough.
There is a Sanskrit phrase used to weed out what higher consciousness is not. Neti, neti. It translates as: Not this, not this.
Let's be clear: The New Mainstream "consciousness crowd" is not just another name for New Age, Cultural Creatives, Liberals, or Mindfulness. New Age? It's not.
It's shortsighted to trivialize The New Mainstream by pigeonholing them as self-help, personal development, touchy-feely or whatever muddled interpretation people have of the term "New Age."
Cultural Creatives. It's not the same.
The distinction "Cultural Creatives" was established in 2001 by sociologist Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry Anderson to distinguish the growing psychographic they called a "subculture" -- based on differences in value sets and varying lifestyles contrasted with conservative Traditionalists and cosmopolitan Moderns. These lines are blurred in The New Mainstream.
Liberal? It's not political.
There is a crucial distinction to be made here. When Michele Obama wants better food for healthier kids, when Sting wants us to take care of our oceans, these are not political stances. This is awakened consciousness, aware of the grave consequences of poor nutrition on productivity and happiness of younger generations who will lead the future, and on the vital role of oceanic-atmospheric health to every area of life, from commerce to creatures.
Mindfulness? It's not enough.
How wonderful that stressed-out executives and hyperactive children are practicing "mindfulness." Our Quantum Age is teaching us we have to see life differently than we previously believed and we have to re-structure our thinking. Mindfulness is a great start for personal awakening, yet not enough to characterize the emergence of The New Mainstream. We have to see the bigger picture.
WHAT THE NEW MAINSTREAM IS TALKING ABOUT
The content of the conversations is about the stuff you see elsewhere in the old mainstream -- the state of the world, politics and relationships, money and health, business and career, purpose and meaning. The difference is not in the topics of concern -- the difference is in the POV, the point of view. It's the context that's different. Paradoxically, the new POV does indeed expand the topics of conversation.
People converse on topics ranging from the merging of science and spirituality to how we can think differently to have the world work. They discuss advanced energy healing, ecological inventions, intuition and the power of intent. They speak about the monumental paradigm shift from the Industrial Age to the Quantum Age. They discuss, matter-of-factly, research on near-death, after-life experiences and angelic realms along with cutting-edge neuroscience, quantum discoveries of mind-to-mind and mind-to-matter connections, and the scientific evidence for the role of the spiritual heart in maintaining an experience of peace and well-being.
WHAT THE NEW MAINSTREAM KNOWS
Our collective state of being gives rise to the state of the world.
The New Mainstream knows that our state of consciousness, individually as well as collectively, is the fundamental and ultimate driving force of every aspect of life -- giving rise to all of our results. We are the ones creating all of it according to our habits of thinking.
OUT OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS CLOSET
The New Mainstream has the simplest and yet the most profound of all goals -- to be happy, to know how that happens, and to become masterful at creating it, for each and everyone.
Until now, the consciousness crowd has kept themselves in the closet. The closet is full and bursting. It's time for the consciousness crowd to come out and recognize themselves as The New Mainstream. The New Mainstream may be the latest in-crowd, but make no mistake about it. The desire for conscious awakening is not just a trendy idea. The New Mainstream is here to stay.
"5 Natural Faculties of Mind" refers to: Intent, Intuition, Subtle Energy, Resonance, Meditation From the author's book Do You QuantumThink? Page 316
Photo credit: "The New Mainstream" (c) 2013 Dianne Collins
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