Last Saturday I went to Central, the Financial District in Hong Kong, to see if the rumored ‘Occupy Hong Kong’ event was going to happen. The Podium outside the HK Exchange was crowded with people and banners of all kinds. It was a surprising turn-out. Here is the video I made, with one of my student’s interviewing skills:

The main point addressed by those we talked to was the huge imbalance in resources and power. The rich 1% of the population make the rules with the expectation that the 99% will obey and serve them. This is the system of democracy promoted by the US that is no longer acceptable.

Hong Kong is the global center of banking and finance. Wall Street is the symbol, but its all happening here in Hong Kong. As my former student Michael Suen says, “Hong Kong both reaps the rewards and suffers the consequences of the free market mechanism the most. Remember that it has the greatest income gap among all developed economies. That’s the 99% vs. 1% disparity at its most evident (or you might even say absurd). Most importantly, at least for me, is to acknowledge how deeply systemic and complex the crisis is, and to recognize the limits of our understanding. It’s my generation’s responsibility to disentangle the problems, bit by bit. Because, after all, it’s our future.”

From the perspective of developmental stages, this “occupy everywhere” movement represents a dis-enthrallment with Modernism and a global shift into Post-Modern values. Human rights, justice, equality, recognition that everyone deserves a living wage, and other social causes are gaining acceptance. Corporate greed, mismanagement of investments, politics and law-making by-the-rich and for-the-rich must end.

If you know your world history, this should be a deja vu! Isn’t this exactly what the American Revolution was all about? And the French Revolution? Wasn’t the issue taking power from despotic monarchs who owned everything and made all the rules? Wasn’t democracy supposed to be for-the-people, by-the-people? What happened? When did we give our rights away? When did they steal us blind? When did we fall asleep?

Two hundred plus years ago the revolution, the shift in power, was between the Traditional world and the Modern world. Now the Modern worldview is on the way out. It needs to go because the few at the top have managed to funnel all the wealth and power away from the people. The world is owned by the wealthy few and manipulated by the politicians the wealthy put into office with their stolen money.

I’m not convinced this move from Modern to Post-Modern is going to solve our problems. Rather, I see it as a necessary intermediate step. The changes we all really want to see can only come about when we make the global shift from Post-Modern to Integral. There are not enough people who see things from the Integral perspective yet, but that’s the stage we need to get to for the world to finally find a better balance.

The Post-Modern stage is still externally oriented; it is still ego-driven. Its primary concern is ‘choice freedom.’ This kind of freedom, as Thomas Merton points out, is all about having the means to do what I want, go where I want, say what I want, buy what I want – all dictated by cultural conditioning and hidden agendas of the lower self (Bourgeault, Wisdom Way of Knowing). From the stand point of spiritual teachings, only the fruits of transformation bring real happiness, freedom, justice, and free will.

The Integral stage, by openly promoting spiritual transformation,  looks like it is a few decades away. In the meantime we will have to suffer through the transition from Modern to Post-Modern. When people begin to see through the issues of Post-Modernism and become dis-enthralled with it, they will be ready for the spiritual transformation to the Integral stage. This stage is a recognition that we are evolving into kosmo-centric persons; persons with the creativity and insights necessary for saving civilization from self-destruction. Let’s hope for all of our sakes that we can bring about the Integral change more quickly.