Visions for a paradigm shift towards a new future

Sep 28, 2026 by Don MacGregor

Our highest truths are but half truths;
Think not to settle down in any truth.
Make use of it as a tent in which to pass a summer’s night,
But build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.
When you first have an inkling of its insufficiency
And begin to descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond,
Then weep not, but give thanks:
It is the Lord’s voice whispering‘Take up thy bed and walk’.

Earl Balfour,1848-1930

This quote has been an inspiration for many as we have moved beyond the box of doctrine and dogma. But this tent analogy applies not just to the institutional religions, but also the whole way in which we have become dominated by a capitalist and increasingly autocratic society. “But build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.”

We are now beginning to “descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond” and that is now shaping into many visions for the future. But to get to those new visions, to build on them, the old ways have to lose their potency and begin to be challenged. This is the phase our world culture is currently in.

The impetus for this is not simply coming from human yearning for a better way. There are energies and forces that go way beyond our earth system that are bringing in new ideas and intuitions. To put this in its simple Christian version, “God has a plan and the Holy Spirit is working it out”. There is a plan, a Divine Plan for the evolution of everything within the universe which has always existed – this is the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom, or Perennial Philosophy. The plan is worked out through a myriad of intelligent energies and exalted beings. The result for us is that human consciousness is evolving. It has worked out through evolutionary developments of past ages and also through that special impetus that has been given from time to time, by great intuitives and enlightened beings in human form.

The Ageless Wisdom teachings were originally passed down for this time from more advanced beings, to people such as Helena Blavatsky (late 1800s), Alice Bailey, Helena Roerich (both 1920s to 40s) and Lucille Cedercrans (1950s). Many others have interpreted them. Ina Crawford, in 1990, wrote:“The esoteric truths of the past are the exoteric fundamental truths of the present. During the past one hundred years, the esoteric doctrines and the secret teaching of the Ageless Wisdom, given to the public often under the pledge of secrecy, have become public property. The nature of man as taught in the mystery schools of the past has, under other names, become recognisable as modern psychology. The mystery of the astral body, of the etheric body and the mental body are now dealt with in our universities, in our psychological courses dealing with the vitality of the human being, his emotional nature and the mind. … The way of meditation and its techniques were closely guarded subjects and the public was taught that such teachings were dangerous; today, this idea is exploded and scores of people throughout the world meditate, make alignment and arrive at soul contact and knowledge.”

Ina Crawford, “A Guide to the Mysteries”, p.151-2

Others are popularising the teachings, such as Neal Douglas Walsh:

“You must stop seeing God as separate from you, and you as separate from each other.
The only solution is the Ultimate Truth: nothing exists in the universe that is separate from anything else. Everything is intrinsically connected, irrevocably interdependent, interactive, interwoven into the fabric of all life…. All government, all politics, must be based on this truth. All laws must be rooted in it….This is the future hope of your race; the only hope for your planet.”

Neil Donald Walsh, ‘Conversations With God’ Book Two

This is the paradigm shift we are going through in this time, to see that we are part of an interconnected whole, a unity, a oneness. Namaste, the god in me sees the god in you. It is a big shift. The process of moving from one paradigm to another seems to occur in the following ways:

Unusual findings are encountered that cannot be explained in terms of our present model of reality. The findings are either rejected or reshaped to fit the current paradigm.
An increasing number of similar findings occur until they can no longer be ignored or manipulated.
A few open-minded people begin to suspect that the paradigm, not the findings, might be at fault. They begin to study the nature of the findings, and as a result, a new paradigm emerges. Suddenly, something that everyone has always believed to be true turns out to be false or only a part-truth!
The new paradigm is bitterly attacked by those who are attached to the old ways. Eventually, the attackers succumb to the overwhelming evidence and the new paradigm is finally accepted.

The ideas supporting a new paradigm cannot be explained in the language of the old paradigm. A completely new level of communication must take place.

I think this gets to the nub of what is happening around the world in this era. A massive paradigm shift is taking place. The old ways are beginning to crumble, but this is being heartily resisted by those whose vested interests depend on those old ways. My hope for the future is that the new energies begin to take shape and form, resulting in better relationships, increased understanding of spiritual truths, and greater appreciation of our common humanity and our place in the One Life which undergirds us all.