How do we collectively transform ourselves, our communities, and our civilization to move toward a future of our highest collective possibilities?

That question is on the minds of many Kosmos readers. There are more and more people around the world who are experiencing the divides and disconnects described by dozens of thought leaders that use such memes as “a momentous leap,” “moving from ego to eco,” and “waking up.” They have motivated more and more people to action, connecting personal evolutionary journeys with community, state, and national endeavors to affect positive change. Yet with all of this occurring, we’re continuing to move collectively in a trajectory away from a future we all want.

I would like to suggest a key principle that comes out of the conflict resolution sphere: a super-ordinate goal. This is a goal that conflicting entities all want but no one entity can do on their own. I believe that if enough people on the planet get enrolled in a super-ordinate goal that we can all align our energies toward, one that people at each stage of development can get enrolled in, each in our own unique ways, collectively holding that super-ordinate goal inwardly in our hearts and outwardly in our work, that it would be a catalyst that would cohere all of our energies toward this future of our highest collective possibilities.

During a recent webinar with Otto Sharmer and David Korten called “New Narrative for a New Economy,” I heard David speak such a super-ordinate goal, which immediately touched my heart and mind in a profound way. That goal is Living Human Living Earth. To ground this super-ordinate goal in your own being, I suggest a simple visualization: Be still for 30 seconds and take three deep breaths as you visualize how a Living Human Living Earth can act as an attractor for the inner and outer work you are doing in the world.

From that stillness, try this process, which I read many years ago from Deepak Chopra, who related a story of a Fortune 500 CEO talking about how he made decisions—take the decision, chew it, and swallow it. If he got indigestion, he didn’t do it. Try this with Living Human Living Earth and see how it feels to digest. Then sense the interconnection with others around the world that feel a Living Human Living Earth as well.

When we each drop into the work that we are most passionate about, we can all align our highest possibility with this super-ordinate goal. It is a powerful synergy of both an individual and collective goal. It is a ‘destination’ as well as a ‘process.’ It serves as an attractor to support others aligned with Living Human Living Earth. It aligns with Buckminster Fuller’s great saying: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” As a super-ordinate goal, it is designed to overcome the dynamics of polarization, which have been used very effectively to perpetuate the status quo that currently leads us away from the direction we all want to go.

If all potential policy decisions on any governmental level—local, state, or national—could be analyzed in the context of a Living Human Living Earth, it would be very likely that such policies would either clearly support or undermine it. Like a compass direction, a policy would either move us in the direction toward or away from a Living Human Living Earth. Such direction could spark a manifesto resulting in a nationwide political platform that would offer not only a new American Dream, but a global dream for billions of people moving through stages of development as they cope with their life conditions, aligning with the cosmic evolution toward more and more complexity. For many people such as Kosmos readers, this sense of a cosmic evolution is an even larger context to align with as well: Living Human Living Earth Living Kosmos.

The invitation is to hold this super-ordinate goal of Living Human Living Earth in your hearts and minds, fostering its propagation through designing and acting to bring its manifestations into the world. Together, we can all support this goal in becoming a reality.