to the centre of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you,
to the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank, searching for you,
i was moving through the silence without motion, waiting for you,
in a room without a window in the corner I found truth.

(Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense)

Because we've all arrived at our present awareness by different routes and at our own speeds, this simplified, seven-step diagram might not fit anyone exactly. However, this progression of awareness pattern seems to have emerged. Maybe a two-dimensional chart will provide a little direction and help us track the progress of ourselves and others.

• 0) Pre-awareness

  We all begin at birth, but our path of progressive awareness doesn't begin until we grow beyond pre-awareness.

• 1) Shock.

  Shock is the first step in our journey of progressive awareness. There's no returning to the blissful ignorance of pre-awareness once we receive our first shock of reality. Shock doesn't last for long -- it can't. People won't live long in a state of shock. For almost all of us, denial is our first reaction to shock.

• 2) Denial.

  Denial is a sanctuary from shock. This is a good time to stop and figure things out -- to get emotionally and intellectually ready to continue the journey. Unfortunately, most people never leave denial. If you seem to be doing well with the way things are, what's the problem? Living in denial robs us of peace of mind. Our conscience knows the nagging truth, and the anger keeps leaking in. When we stop denying reality, we are forced into the next phase -- anger. It looks ugly and unprofitable.

• 3) Hopeful anger.

  Hopeful anger is a powerful, driving force which can keep us working hard for years. Unfortunately, it is also hard on our personalities. People have sacrificed their Selves in the battle to preserve Earth's ecosystems, often becoming cynical and giving up hope. Then they move to the hopeless anger phase.

• 4) Hopeless anger.

  Phase four is home to the cynical and the misanthropic. The good aspect of this phase is that it allows many to consider human extinction for the first time. The bad aspect is that this option is usually considered without love. Famines and epidemics don't seem so bad from this perspective. Anger is actually left over from denial. It means we haven't fully accepted the situation yet. When we do, anger dies.

• 5) Hopeless acceptance.

  More depressing than hopeless anger is acceptance without hope. Without anger to keep us going, unrealistic hopelessness can be a short-cut back to denial or even to suicide. People in this phase might not be so hard to take if they would just shut up about it. If they were angry, at least there would be some excitement to their dirges. Though often necessary, this phase should be as short as possible. It's hard to break loose from a lengthy depression. Perhaps just realizing that there is hope... allowing ourselves to see the signs of hope, which are all around us, will break the spell and allow us to move on to the hopeful acceptance phase.

• 6) Hopeful acceptance.

  Yes, there is still hope, and it will raise us out of the depths of depression. We can easily go too far, however. If our acceptance elevates into the clouds of mindless hopefulness, we will have lost some of our hard-learned awareness. Unrealistic hopefulness is socially graceful and more pleasant than some of the previous phases, but it too can be a short-cut back to denial. We must take the final progressive step.

• 7) Vehemence.

  With a VHEMT perspective we move forward in a dynamic balance of optimism and pessimism, aware that our reality is both hopeful and hopeless. Once we accept that humans are hopeless as a species, there is renewed hope for the survival of the planet as a life form. Although there will be times when we fall back to an earlier phase, a VHEMT Volunteer is less likely to swing to and fro from yin to yang like a yo-yo. With a balanced awareness, our efforts to preserve life on Earth will meet with more success, no matter what those efforts may be.

yanked from VHEMT

final eternity arouses reactions
freeing excellence affects reality
fallen empires are ruling
find earth and reef
fantastic expectations
amazing revelations
final execution and resurrection
free expression as revolution
finding everything and realizing
you got the fear