The Galileo Moment: It Happened in the 1600s and it’s Happening Again Right Now

In the early 1600s, Galileo discovered that the scientific consensus that the Earth was the center of the Universe was not true, and this discovery profoundly changed the world. We live under the weight of a similar false reality today that is far more crippling and destructive — the belief that we are separate from each other, the Universe, and the power we identify as the source of all. 

This false belief is the root cause of the excessive dysfunction in the world, creating a downward spiral that can leave us with a foreboding sense of overwhelm, exhaustion, and despair about the chaos raging around us and the increase in extreme weather. 

Fortunately, there is a simple solution to this seemingly unsolvable problem — to understand what has been shared down through the ages by leaders in spirituality and society, and currently being affirmed by modern scientific research. 

For those of us who can see this, we must live inside the reality that all of life is deeply interconnected, interrelated and interdependent in Oneness, and that we have the power to create a sustainable and flourishing planet by embracing this awakened consciousness ourselves on a daily basis. From there, it is critical that we speak out whenever the opportunity arises to expose the false belief that there is such a thing as a “separate self.”

And while there’s no modern Galileo endeavoring to expose the truth, we can learn from how he changed the course of history on our planet with his discovery. Galileo used a telescope to observe our Sun and the cosmos, and concluded that the then prevailing perspective that placed the Earth at the center of the Universe was false. He concluded instead that we were part of a solar system revolving around the Sun and not the center of the Universe at all. 

This was very controversial at the time, and the Roman Inquisition immediately forced Galileo to recant his announcement and placed him under house arrest, where he remained until the end of his life. Fortunately, it was too late to erase his discovery and others with telescopes verified Galileo’s observations and eventually his ideas became accepted, and we’ve lived in a new reality from that time forward. The Earth, perceived in its rightful place in the solar system, is warmed by the light of the Sun, making life possible.

Today, we live in an unsettling time where society urges us to place our separated self at the center of the Universe, causing us to feel isolated, anxious, and often weary. The outer world is a reflection of our inner world, so we see dysfunction on many levels, including global warming with extreme weather, violence and war, ideological and political polarity, and numerous other challenges. Neither the microcosms of our individual lives, nor the macrocosm of our collective life are well. 

The good news is that there is a remedy right here, right now, that can heal this strife and discord, and its timeless wisdom has been shared down through the ages. In 400 BCE Hippocrates said “There is one common flow, one common breathing.” Albert Einstein said “The greatest illusion in the world is the illusion of separation,” and “We suffer from an optical delusion (the sense of separation) that represents a prison for us… Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature.” 

Einstein also shared how we might do this. He said that “No problem can be solved at the level of consciousness that created it,” meaning we must be open to new, more awakened understandings that allow us to see our interconnected, interrelated and interdependent reality. When we perceive our separate self as part of a spiritual universe, we are warmed by the light of the Divine because we, too, have found our rightful place.

If we are to create healthier ways of living on the Earth, it is time to elevate our consciousness both individually and collectively, and there is no time to waste if we are to shift our approach to living in ways that will make it possible for everyone to experience peace, balance and joy on a sustainable and flourishing planet.

Science supports this new way of living on the Earth, and in October, 2022 the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to researchers for proving something called entanglement, a phenomenon where two things with no physical connection can deeply affect each other, even over great distances. Quantum physics is bringing forward substantial new research making it clear that in spite of how things look to us in the physical realm, in the quantum realm, everything is deeply connected and in a constant state of interaction. 

If we believe we are separate from each other, the Earth, and what we call God or Source, etc., and if we believe we have just this one life to live, it might seem okay to focus on trying to satisfy our baser desires and acquire unlimited wealth without regard for anything else. 

And while having fame, fortune and power over others might have a certain allure, it is that kind of thinking that has contributed to putting our world out of balance and into armed conflict and global warming. This is also what has contributed to people taking jobs that have no connection to their deeper values and then living in fatigue and overwhelm. When we instead understand that we are deeply connected to the Divine and to the world around us, and that we have a body but are not our body, and that we are pure consciousness and energy living in a spiritual universe, then it is a obviously good idea to serve and be “in service” to all of life around us. We understand that we are part of a larger body and that by living a healthy life, we are a healthy cell in the body of Life itself. 

How do things change when we live into this Oneness, this Wholeness, this Omnipresence, this Unity in Diversity? We need look no further than the nuclear family. In a nuclear family we clearly see our connection to that family unit and we live into it. We take positive action and live in service to the family in many different ways. 

When we see our Oneness with the world around us, instead of just seeing our connection to the nuclear family, we move the fence posts out to embrace the whole of humanity, the Earth itself, and all living creatures. We cannot do everything, of course, but we can do something. Each of us is called to our particular station in life. It can be something as small as helping an infant or elderly person, or something as large as supporting a movement involving a community or the whole of humanity and the Earth. No longer are we detached from the world around us, and we come back into harmony with the Universe to nurture and serve all of life. 

And while this awareness may not be embraced by everyone on the planet in the immediate future, and will require humanity finding a whole new way of living on the Earth, we also know there are important steps that can be taken in this direction. We can commune with the One that some call the Divine and others call the Universe, and we can come into flow as part of our daily practice, carrying this flow state throughout our day. 

When enough of us become conscious and in flow, we will reach a tipping point where the rest of the world around us shifts to this new way of living. As conscious living spreads, it shifts whole communities, and in time it will shift entire countries and eventually the whole world. Many experts believe we will reach that tipping point when 8-10% of the population awaken to this higher consciousness. 

This is the work of Humanity’s Team. Our mission is to make conscious living pervasive worldwide by 2040. Conscious living is a remedy, here and now, but it must be understood and embraced, which requires education, the most powerful tool in the transformation of humanity. So this is where Humanity’s Team has placed its attention, becoming the largest global non-profit in transformational education, and we’ve created a streaming platform called Humanity Stream+ that includes 175+ Masterclasses and other programs, and is available on your computer, IOS, Android TV, Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV. In addition, the Humanity’s Team website and our new Masterclasses are currently being translated into 75 different languages. 

Lastly, let’s look at how we evolve into new understandings about who we are and what kind of transformation or change we can expect when we embrace Unity and Oneness, become educated, and live into it? I’ll share my personal story. I was a CEO of a fast-growing tech company in 1995 when I began my own awakening. On the Myers Briggs scale, I was an ENTJ, which is very much a “thinking and logic center of mind” profile. I was the President of my Young Entrepreneurs chapter in San Francisco, and I used a time organizer to wedge as many meetings into my day as possible. 

All of this changed in the years following my awakening. I began a daily practice that brought me in close touch with my own interior connection with the Divine and life around me. I began to see people and the Earth as part of the Sacred and even as part of myself. I tossed out my time organizer, moved into a closer relationship with my partner and with my work partners. Other people began to see me as being more “spiritual” and I could see this in myself. My priorities shifted and I sold all my business interests and walked away from my Silicon Valley life to make room for my personal life and my emerging spiritual life. To say that I’ve become a different person is an understatement! 

After Neale Donald Walsch and I founded Humanity’s Team, we took a leading role in creating a Conscious Business Declaration and a 9-month Conscious Business Change Agent program, and we have numerous testimonials from leaders in business who attest to the transformational change we bring to newly launched and existing businesses.

Humanity Stream+ is even creating programs for kids and young adults that will help them break their addiction to hand-held digital devices and become reacquainted with the natural world.

This is our “Galileo Moment” right here and now, our moment to at last come to understand our true reality, which is the Oneness of the Universe, and then to live into this awareness in every moment of our lives. In doing so, we’ll create a truly nourishing life that feels good to us in every way, and together with others, we’ll create a new way of living on the Earth. 

And when we get to that 8-10% tipping point as we intend to do in the years just ahead, we will be able to create that sustainable and flourishing planet, and future generations will thank us for shifting away from the misunderstanding and dysfunction currently driving the world in a destructive direction. We must embrace this Galileo Moment as if our future lives on this planet depend on it, because they do!

Steve Farrell