Reviews
By Cheryl ShainmarkWaking the Global Heart is a hugely powerful and hopeful book. The author’s vision is immense – readers who may be more familiar with Judith’s works on chakras will recognize that she has taken everything to a new level. This book is about humanity’s shift from “the love of power” (third chakra) to the “power of love” (fourth chakra). As the author says, it is this love of power that has brought this world to a crisis point – and while Judith is definitely sounding the alarm, the message is not one of despair, as she offers alternatives to our destructive trajectory and a new vision for hope.
Waking the Global Heart is part history, part myth, part ecology and more. Judith explores where we’ve come from and where we are now in order to better understand where we are going. Her approach is based on Western history and values but only because as she says, those are the very values that pose the greatest threat to the world. As the author points out, we need to explore the underlying assumptions and beliefs that have led us to this critical stage.
Anodea Judith, and many of the authors and researchers that she quotes, foresee “an impending and massive shift at every level of civilization.” Many of us now, in varying stages of awakening, may be sensing this shift already. As the author puts it, “For the global heart is awakening, calling us out of our complacent slumber and adolescent distractions, into the possibility of a world beyond our wildest dreams.” This shift may seem alarming sometimes -- the recent hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis may be the earth’s attempts to self-correct global warming and other human destruction -- but the author likens this to childbirth, messy and painful, but also joyful in the end.
Judith makes a strong case for what won’t survive the upcoming shift, and that is anything that is polarizing, egoic, controlling or static. The author does a phenomenal job of exploring religions, the feminine and the masculine, the individual versus the collective, and more, to better illustrate the forces that need to be integrated in order to build a sustainable future. The timelines, tables and illustrations deserve special mention for being so comprehensive.
Throughout Waking the Global Heart there is a profound sense that Anodea Judith is really listening – to the earth, to the collective unconscious and perhaps to the archetypal forces that are shaping our past, present and future. This makes for very compelling reading and a strong sense of urgency to the message that she is conveying – and that is “Wake up!” We, as a society, need to break out of our hypnotic trance of self-involvement, consumerism, media programming and advertising and start doing something to save our world. Fortunately, Waking the Global Heart is not only a good alarm clock, but a solid vision of what to do.
Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. www.barbaraardinger.com
Psychologist, teacher, and former president of the Church of All Worlds, Anodea Judith, who is also probably the world’s authority on the chakra system, has written a book of such passion and thought that to adequately summarize its ideas, a review might require a whole magazine. Basically, what Judith does is relate prehistory and history, with an emphasis on Western culture (because that’s where we live), to the chakra system.
In the earliest times, pre-human and human beings were an integral part of nature. As we worshipped our mothers and our Mother, we were focused on birth and survival, on issues around elemental earth. These are first chakra issues. Judith characterizes the Paleolithic era as the time of the Static Feminine, when life was cyclic, stable, and unchanging. With the Neolithic, when we invented agriculture, domesticated animals, and settled in larger villages, and images of male gods started to appear beside the Great Mother, humanity moved into the second chakra, which is associated with elemental water and oriented toward emotions, sexuality, and procreation. “Rising populations,” Judith writes, “created new challenges for food and land, and required a new means of social organization, including division of labor.” Temple bureaucracies evolved into hierarchical centers of power and led to the rise of kings. This period, the Bronze and Iron Ages, “is typified by the Dynamic Masculine overthrow of the Great Mother cultures, turning most previous values to their opposites. Developmentally [remember, Judith is a psychologist], it corresponds to the childhood stage of awakening will and rebelling against the mother” (p. 105). As the myth of Tiamat and Marduk shows, god and goddess were separated, masculine dominance was established, and humans were made slaves to gods and/or kings and/or high priests. We were marching into the third chakra. We were learning to exert our will, to love power.
Where are we now? In the age of the Static Masculine, the age of heroes and kings, of warfare and technology. The Static Masculine “holds things in place,” Judith writes. It is “linear and grounded in logic. It focuses on distinctions: it divides, rules, and regulates. … Myths and legends increasingly [clash] with the logical discourse” (p. 130). The Static Masculine is invested in the third chakra—power, intellect, and law and order. Judith compares the Roman Empire, which “lost its heart and collapsed,” to world culture today. Everywhere we look, we see “oppressive government, rapacious expansion, ambitious generals, barbarian incursions (read terrorism), power struggles between church and state, sustained inflation, moral decay, and epidemic disease” (p. 156).
Where are we now? In the adolescence of humanity, and it’s a geekish, power-addicted adolescence. (If the facts and statistics collected in chapter 13 don’t depress and awaken a thoughtful reader, nothing will.) But “evolution is the gods’ way of creating more gods,” Judith writes:
Like gods, we have the powers of both creation and destruction, now on a global scale. We can fly to the moon, influence the gene pool, render species extinct, shift the climate, or irradiate the planet with nuclear weapons. Like a cancer, we can continue to expand our population, creating wars and epidemics as a balance…” (p. 226).
Where do we need to be? Until now, we have been “in a childlike relationship to parental gods.” Now it’s time to grow up. Yes, we have the power to change the world. We need to awaken the global heart. We need to leave behind the love of power and move into the heart chakra and grasp the power of love.
Thirty years ago, we were reading The Aquarian Conspiracy and bringing new ideas to the mainstream. Today, we should be reading Waking the Global Heart and bringing humanity through a new initiation into a heart-chakra culture that can refresh and save the planet we live on. Waking the Global Heart is, in fact, probably the best book you’re going to read in this decade. We need to get our modern god-kings and queens—leaders and politicians at every level from local to international—to read it, too, so they can learn to help us move into the power of the heart chakra before it’s too late.
Note: Along with the powerful, thought-provoking text, this book also gives us complex, detailed timelines by Richard Ely and chapter illustrations by Ian Szymkowiak that are as complex, elegant, and beautifully symbolic as the art of the finest tarot deck.
June 27, 2006 by Carol Brouillet
This book couldn’t appear at a more timely moment, when the population in this country is just beginning to wake up to some very harsh political realities and is hungry for hope and solutions.
Anodea Judith presents a beautiful map of “who we are, where we have been, and where we are going” from the point of view of an enlightened therapist who has placed Western civilization on the couch. The book is a rich tapestry, drawing from the insights of many who have plunged into the task of separating reality from myth, understanding the impact of myth upon ever-evolving human communities, understanding how the collective society mirrors the development of the individual soul, and understanding where humanity’s soul experienced severe trauma and its development was arrested.
Anodea is a gifted storyteller...
Sept. 23rd, 2006 by James A. Zinzow
WAKING THE GLOBAL HEART will be kept were I can refer to it often. Anodea Judith has touched all the right nerves to awaken humanity's sleeping giant. As J. Krishnamurti put it, to produce "A radical mutation of the mind." She describes the human condition as an adolescent emerging with the crushing awareness of adult choices. Like a teen age girl staring in disbelief at the drug store pregnancy test that signals a personal Tsunami, a 9/11 and a New Orleans, humanity stands in the postmodern era with no MAPS and no consensus. Like a deer frozen in the headlights, we trouble in disbelief at the chaos we see rushing at us with hurricane speed. Anodea's book is a welcome new MAP, and her words ring true as I recognize the truth of her message: "Humanity's Rite of Passage from THE LOVE OF POWER to the POWER OF LOVE." At first glance her three-part index seems to over simplify the world problematique, but the depth of this luminary volume soon changes everything. One realizes, even in the preface, when she describes her love of untangling strings in her mother's kitchen drawer, that Anodea manifested early the tenacity and the patience needed to create this master work. Thank God she had the perseverance and the chutzpah to write this book!It is a handbook for navigating the transformations urgently needed to heal a world in crisis. Anodea draws frequently from some of my favorite visionaries, Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Dr. Fritjof Capra, and Ken Wilber. Her depth of understanding spans the ancient wisdom, years of experience as a therapist soothing pains of the soul, and the history of humanity's rise to walk on the moon where we saw island earth as the only home we have. Read it once, read it twice, and then take my advice and simplify your Christmas shopping. Keep it close at hand as you struggle to come of age in the generation needed to save the world from ourselves. Anodea's book reminds me of the famous line from Walt Kelly's cartoon character POGO, "we have met the enemy and he is us." She makes it clear in her passionate hope, "Someday we will be the ancestors that I pray will be remembered with gratitude rather than resentment." and "...the current crisis will call forth global cooperation like nothing ever has before." I pray she is right! If she is it will be because she and thousands like her with compassion, love, and a noble spirit inspired us all to create the world our children's children can love in peace and joy.
Sept. 12th , 2006 by William Rathborne
Anodea Judith is a noted teacher and author on the subject of the ancient concept of the chakras. The chakras correspond to various energy centers of the human anatomy and map to various levels of consciousness and stages of development. Anodea has taken the same chakra system and applied it to the history of mankind's social, political, religious, and technological development over the past 30,000 years. She has mapped this history against various chakras chronologically demonstrating man's social evolution from the lowest chakra (Earth) to the highest (Spiritual) chakra.
Ms. Judith's thesis is that humankind is in the process of an evolutionary transformation, presently in a state of adolescence and entering a challenging time - the rite of passage - moving to adulthood, where the "higher" chakras, in particular the Heart chakra, will come to dominate mankind's future evolution of political, social, economic, and spiritual systems. Her conclusions are unapologetically optimistic in citing that there is in-fact a groundswell of individual action towards the attitudes and behaviors necessary to reverse the chaos and conflict endemic in the world today. Indeed, today's chaos is seen as symptomatic of mankind's adolescence and necessary transition to adulthood.
That the jury is still out as to whether we make this transition before we destroy ourselves and/or the planet's ecosystem is clearly acknowledged, but the conclusions overall are highly optimistic that the long-term outcome will be positive. The rite of passage may be rather unpleasant however!.
The book is eminently readable and the various mappings of the chakras to human history are helpfully summarized in numerous charts and tables.
For me, the first three chapters (part one) and the conclusions in part three were by far the most powerful portions of the text. The actual chronological mapping of human history to the chakras was intriguing and indeed the core of the thesis being advanced. However, the passion and intensity of Anodea's arguments come through loud and clear in the first and third parts.
Regardless of whether one is convinced that the mapping of the chakras to historical time periods is firm evidence of an inevitable path of human evolution or a convenient model for the purposes of advancing the conclusions is, I believe, less critical than the heartfelt plea that it is getting very, very, late in the game and that "we", the human species, have little time to clean up our act.
That a significant "transformation" is about the only thing that will save the human species seems abundantly clear to most interested observers. Whether framed in the model of the chakras and the transformation to "species adulthood" or some other form, the central thesis is really that things had better happen fast. Utilizing the chakras, and in particular the Heart chakra, provides a compelling set of guideposts with regard to the direction and types of changes that must occur.
Now from a, "glass half-full, glass half-empty", perspective one is left wondering whether this book and many others like it, are desperate attempts to see light at the end of the tunnel - where there is none - or whether humanity really has the will to manifest the enormous transformation that the author believes is essential. The analytical model used - the chakras - indicates that it is not only desirable, but an inevitable result of an evolutionary process. Let us hope she is right!
Once again, the "think globally, act locally" idea is presented. This book may greatly assist those who are concerned, but immobilized at present, find the will, energy, and determination to organize and act decisively in order to be a part of the essential transformation.
August 29th, 2006 by Oberon Zell
This phenomenal book is subtitled "Humanity's Rite of Passage from the Love of Power to the Power of Love." This is an apt synopsis of its central theme, which takes us from humanity's infancy in the early Paleolithic era through successive stages of cultural evolution, to our present age of cultural adolescence, and the threshold of maturity upon which we stand--a great Global Awakening. Following the metaphorical construct of the Chakra system which the author has established and explicated so well in her previous books, she maps these socio-cultural eras upon the template of the seven classic chakras:
The Paleolithic Era was that of the 1st chakra, a time of human infancy in which our primal religious archetype was that of the Great Mother, ruled by the values of the Static Feminine--cyclic and stable. Society was oriented towards survival, based upon hunting and gathering.
The end of the Ice Age around 10,500 years ago was a rite of passage into the 2nd Chakra Age, the Neolithic Era, oriented around sexuality and procreation. Society was based upon agriculture and the domestication of herd animals. This was our "toddlerhood."
The overthrow of the Mother in the Bronze and Iron Ages was a rite of passage into the 3rd chakra--the rise of empires and the ascendance of an era dominated by the Dynamic Masculine. In this stage of early childhood, society was organized around elite power.
The 4th Chakra Age was the Christian Era, initiated by Jesus. This would be the age of the Heart, with love the avowed goal of human society. This phase, our middle childhood, was represented by the ascendance of the Static Masculine.
The Renaissance which began 600 years ago inaugurated the 5th Chakra Age of pre-adolescence, based upon communication and knowledge.
The dawn of the 20th century was our rite of passage into cultural adolescence, ushering in the 6th Chakra Age, ruled by the imagination and information, and introducing the archetype of the Dynamic Feminine.
The 7th and final Chakra Age of realization and maturity began in the psychedelic `60s, with the Mystic Marriage of Heaven and Earth, and the emergence of a new generation of "Cultural Creatives."
Unfortunately, Christ's 4th chakra message of universal love got coopted by the Roman Empire--which was steeped in a 3rd chakra mentality--and became used as a means of control rather than liberation. Therefore humanity has been arrested in our development and our collective Heart has not yet been fully awakened. That's why we need to do it now.
For now begins the time of a Global Awakening of planetary consciousness, as prophesied by Teilhard de Chardin and many other visionaries. We have completed a vast sequence of cosmic cycles, and it is now time, as Joseph Campbell said, for a New Myth to carry us onward--to the stars and beyond!
Rich and brilliant chapters of sweeping and insightful historical analysis and deep vision are accompanied by detailed historical charts compiled by Richard Ely, and a time-line of 800,000 years of chronological events. My copy is already dog-eared from all the pages whose corners I have turned down to return to for points I will want to reference in my own future writings.
Having read the author's previous books, this work is truly her Magnum Opus. I can only urge that it be read by as wide an audience as possible--though it will be especially appreciated by those who resonate with those she quotes frequently: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, Riane Eisler, Fritjof Capra, Leonard Shlain, Jean Houston, Margaret Wheatley, Marija Gimbutas.
This is our wake-up call; spread the word!
August 13, 2006 by Susan B. Price
Judith shows mastery of important ancient and modern philosophies. In plain language, she spins together many interesting and multicultural ingredients to formulate a cure for the planet. Her recipe is optimistic, but provocative - a great basis for dialogue.
Aug. 10th, 2006 by Elizabeth Za Mcdonnell
Anodea Judith's history of humankind has helped me ground myself as I take in the difficult events going on in our world these days. Reading this book has helped me to see more clearly our patterns as a species and my own patterns. Judith reminded me that as we become more conscious as individuals we have the opportunity to step into our best potential and then we have the possibility as a group to shift the world in ways we can only imagine. I was especially struck by her ideas about the use of the Internet and the contribution it can have regarding worldwide consciousness. I thank Anodea Judith for her indepth research for this book, the brilliance of her writing, and the hope she holds for our future.
July 2nd, 2006 by Lion Goodman
Anodea Judith's voice comes across loud and clear: We are in a time of crisis - a global rite of passage - and only by studying our past - the evolution of civilization - can we know where we're headed. This is the most interesting and readable book about history - and our future - I've ever seen. In fact, I never understood the patterns of our history prior to reading this. She tells not "his-story," but OUR story. That's where we've come from. But she then turns to our future, showing us that we have a choice, right now, and that our choice will lead us either into a glorious future (if we can open our hearts to each other and to the planet), or to more death and destruction if we do not. Although it sounds alarming, alarms are good to have if you're trying to wake up in time.
In her previous works, she looked at human psychology through the lens of the Chakra system. In this book, she uses that lens again to examine the development of civilizations. Because she is a brilliant psychotherapist, it is as if she has Western Civilization on the couch, trying to understand the source of his wounds and bizarre behavior by examining his past. Once understood, she describes the rite of passage he must go through and the decisions he must make (we must make) in order to turn from a mixed-up, selfish and dangerous teenager into a whole, healed adult. Tribal cultures knew how to take children and turn them into functioning adults. We seem to have lost that knowledge, so we've remained in our teenage mania.
I couldn't recommend this book more highly. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand how we got into this mess, and how we can get out of it. It provides a hopeful look at our future, but it is clear that our time to wake up - into the heart - is now.
April 9th, 2006 by Susan Edwards
In a time of great upheaval in politics, environmental crises, famine, war and violence, it was refreshing and uplifting to read this book. Judith has provided a powerful new way to reframe human history, what is happening in the world today and what it portends for our future. I finished the book feeling quite hopeful about the world.