Last month in Book Talk we introduced the superb work, The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You Are Waking Up and Changing the World (New World Library, 2005). In that column I introduced and defined some of the main terms and concepts the author uses throughout the book.

A very brief review of some terminology is needed here if you didn’t read last month’s discussion or don’t have it handy (check www.phenomenews.com/articles). Basically translucence refers to an on-going process of consciousness awakening and experiencing. The Iago trance or factor, a term used throughout, refers generally to all those influences in our lives that create in us an atmosphere of separation, distrust, fear or desire. The book, of course, explains this in considerable depth.

This month we get down to more specifics of how the concepts of translucence emerge in individuals and groups. It is in those pages, as well, that readers will find lots of “nudges” from the author. Rather than providing what many teachers call “exercises,” Ardagh tends to think of exercises as required activities that don’t honor the readers’ free will. Moreover, exercises seem to imply that all is not right with readers (you and me) and we must correct ourselves. Instead, Ardagh says, “Nudging has its firm foundation in acceptance of things as they are. It is not a form of self-improvement.” He continues, “Nudging is not something that we ‘do,’ but more something we play with.” So it is my pleasure to invite you to explore a book that encourages you to play rather than to think about and struggle to correct all your weaknesses!

What I especially like in the section relating to individual translucence is that the author introduced concepts that were either new to me or in other cases, different perspectives of older ideas. In all cases the author made me stop and ponder. For example, he includes an in-depth discussion of “beliefs.” It isn’t Ardagh’s intent to change a reader’s belief system or to get them to “believe” in some particular system or other. Instead, he encourages us to examine our beliefs. He quotes Byron Katie (www.lovingwhatis.com) who says, “The way to happiness is waking up to what is really true. Until we question what we believe, we’re blind to it.” Ardagh notes how “we hold beliefs about things that we don’t know about from direct experience.” He also reminds us that “Iago-hypnotized human beings develop many beliefs despite their learning, beliefs that may even contradict their direct experience.” Most importantly and again quoting Byron Katie, he writes: “As long as we’re at war with our own minds, we’re at war with the world and with the whole human race.”

This whole idea is a profoundly thoughtful one that provides a rich ground for self-examination. As I read these pages I reflect on how so many individuals, groups, governments, religions and countries are expending endless energies and human lives to defend their belief systems. Ardagh comments, “Having developed a complex system of beliefs, we become more interested in defending them than in knowing what is true.” He points out, for example, how “Fundamentalism of any sort, is the most solidified expression of Iago-based living.” Just to clarify that he is not just focusing on religious fundamentalism, he says, “There are fundamentalist positions about race, sex, food, relationships, the environment and spirituality.”

So how can we move toward translucence, since that is presented as a journey and not a destination. Ardagh says, “When we are living translucently, we still have thoughts, (but) we are also aware of their being thoughts. As soon as we are able to recognize thought as a passing event, we become unglued from it.” By becoming “unglued” to our every thought, we are released from our habitual, belief-driven reactions to those thoughts. He says, “When we can see the world without the filter of belief, it becomes perfectly obvious what to do in each moment.” So the key is: “To increase the translucence of our thoughts and actions, we do not change our beliefs, but we recognize (my emphasis) and abandon them as unnecessary.”

I always feel encouraged when I find confirmation of concepts in the teachings of various writers. In one of the books we discussed recently in Book Talk (see phenomeNEWS, Feb. 2006), the Dalai Lama said we need to accept that there are things in the universe and our lives that we will never understand or know. Arjuna Ardagh says much the same thing: “It is the ability to welcome not knowing as a more mature state than living in opinions.” He describes the means to translucent life as: “You surrender your position, give up needing to know, relax into not knowing and allow action to happen spontaneously from there.” Rather than always acting based upon one’s ingrained belief systems and the personal opinions developed from those beliefs, “Translucents know that real integrity means the capacity to embrace all the different dimensions of a situation.”

What amazes me as a reader is that all of the above discussion relating to beliefs is just a brief summary of one chapter in Ardagh’s book. Clearly, each page is rich in wisdom and thoughtful challenges. Since each chapter is so full, I’ll just touch upon one other chapter before we move to the group or “collective” translucence section.

In his chapter called “Dropping the Drama” Ardagh presents a fascinating discussion of the difference between “feelings” and “emotions.” Referring to the etymological roots for each word, the author defines feeling as “passive” and “the physical capacity to experience something as it is.” Emotion, on the other hand, implies “a stirring up or creating agitation.” It is “mobile and leads to action and expression.” What is most significant is the author’s insight into how we human beings dramatize our emotions. We create “stories” that we can carry around with us for years on end, as opposed to “feelings” which happen naturally in the present moment. The author emphasizes that “we can be very emotional without feeling deeply at all. And we can feel things powerfully, to their very core, without becoming lost in emotion.”

So how does this relate to translucence? Ardagh says that translucents “have less resistance to feelings and embrace and welcome them as they arise.” This differs from our most common responses to strong feelings, which tend to be either explosive or repressive in nature. “Translucents enter into an evolutionary process of feeling more and more, while becoming less and less reactive.” As the author points out, “Pain is inevitable in life; suffering is optional.”

As I noted, this brief discussion only touches upon a very small part of the wisdom in this book. We now turn to a brief look at the third section of the work, called Collective Translucence. What I can promise readers unequivocally, is that this part of the book is full of surprises. Just to summarize the range of discussions of translucence in action in various arenas, chapters cover education, business, health care, religion and a translucent world. My first thought was that I didn’t know of any translucent movement in any of these areas of current life and couldn’t even imagine how that could happen. But the author surprised me with his research into all the places where even the most staid groups are awakening and evolving. We will take a brief look at several of these categories.

The chapter on translucent education is informative to educators as well as parents. Ardagh explains how the Iago factor in contemporary society encourages educational systems to be “fueled by the drive to success,” one based on a perspective that sees “the world as competitive and hostile.” The emphasis on testing is a consequence of that philosophy. The author then notes that “A translucent educational model encourages children to question, to create, to become learners rather than knowers.” He includes informative discussions of the Waldorf schools as a translucent model. Some charter schools fit the translucent model as well. He stresses the importance of a “holistic education that trains the child to be a flexible and open learner.”

Another insightful inclusion to this chapter is a description of the “Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, an initiative of Educators for Social Responsibility, a program now taught in 400 schools nationwide.” The developer of that program, Linda Lantieri (see www.projectrenewal-tidescenter.org), offers ten important questions for educators in assessing how translucent a school is. This is a highly useful list for educators.

The chapter exploring translucent health care reveals what many of us already know about the current state of medicine. The author points out how the “Iago trance” affects medicine from three points of entry: the patient, the doctor, and the medical system itself. The Iago system causes the sick patient to “want to avoid responsibility” as he looks “out there” for a cure. The same Iago virus “infects doctors” by encouraging the “15 minute visit,” largely controlled by insurance company practices. This system “reduces the doctor to being (equal to) a mechanic at Jiffy Lube.” Ardagh quotes the research and practices of doctors like Dr. Jeremy Geffen, a widely respected oncologist, who has become one of the leading experts on integrative cancer care in the country.( www.geffenvisions.com ) Geffen has developed a program, the Seven Levels of Healing, explained in this chapter. The author includes some excellent “nudges” at the end of the chapter for patients, practitioners and society alike.

The chapter about translucent business practices contained the most surprises for me. Readers are sure to be pleasantly informed as they read those pages. The author, as in all discussions, notes the Iago-based factors that in general drive businesses today: fear, competition and profit. Ardagh agrees that businesses need to make a profit. His argument, however, says that they need to put profit after some other considerations. When they rearrange priorities, “the result, ironically, is better news for the investors.” (And he gives numerous examples.)

The extensive group of corporations that have evolved into more translucent businesses is amazing. We’ll just mention a very few, but most readers will recognize many of the names in this chapter. The author identifies a translucent business as one that “blends a high quality of product with community service, consciousness-raising (of management, employees, shareholders, and consumers) and environmental awareness.” Ardagh assures readers that “there are thousands of such businesses all over the United States and Europe... (although) until quite recently these stories were rarely reported in the business press.”

One group that has had a “dramatic translucent influence on a wide range of businesses” is a California consulting firm called (HeartMath www.heartmath.com). This chapter includes explanations of their programs and demonstrates the results in several well-known firms. British Petroleum is one such firm. “The entire board of BP went through the HeartMath program.” The company evolved from being a stress-filled company to having a new focus on the humanity of their workers, and a new emphasis on helping the environment, thereby becoming “the single largest user of solar energy in the world.” Another business helped by HeartMath was the Delnor Community Hospital outside Chicago, which “in two out of the last four years, Delnor has been ruled the number one hospital in the country in employee satisfaction.” Another big turn around, the result of HeartMath influence was with Shell Oil. The company’s transformation was extensive and the innovations are listed in this chapter.

A final positive aspect of the Translucent Revolution is that it does not present a “Pollyanna” view of the world today. In his concluding chapter, Perfect Imperfection: A Vision of a Translucent World, Ardagh admits that “the dominant Iago trance state has never been so pervasive.” He examines a number of the negative potentials so prevalent today, including corporations becoming more powerful than government, a general addiction to consumption of more, more and more; huge economic disparity, a massive and growing debt both individual and governmental, bribery and corruption in government, a monopolistic media, and a growing destruction of the environment, among other problems. Still, he gives readers hope.

He quotes Barbara Marx Hubbard (www.evolve.org), who has said, “The intensity of the problems we are facing is precisely what we need to awaken us.” He concludes with a forceful description of the translucent view of the world, one that is paradoxical in nature. “Translucents are extraordinarily nonfundamentalist, all right with things as they are (living in the present moment), and at the same time willing to do everything possible to make a difference.” He identifies the Dalai Lama as a role model that matches the translucent view of the world of “simultaneously deeply caring and accepting of whatever happens.”

Clearly, Arjuna Ardagh’s exceptional book based on his extensive research proves highly informative and inspirational to readers. As I read it, I found myself regularly thinking to myself, “That is a fascinating bit of information;” or “How intriguing! I never thought of that in that way before.” Readers will also find the chapter notes, bibliography, “Who’s Who” of the Interviewees, and the comprehensive index, very helpful.

The author has also developed the Living Essence Training, which prepares people to be facilitators of this shift in consciousness and to cultivate translucence. Readers may contact him at arjuna@translucents.org, visit www.translucents.org or call (888) VASTNESS.

Gayl Woityra, a retired high school English and Humanities teacher, now resides in Arizona where she continues to pursue her eclectic metaphysical studies in consciousness, the Ageless Wisdom, astrology, flower essences, music, color and alternative medicine.