The Shift

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"We all incarnated on Earth at this time to experience the closing of a 5,128 year cycle of history and help initiate the opening of a new cycle," says Tajh Abdulsamad, our featured Conscious Artist in this issue. Tajh and many others are talking about “the shift”, a transformation in the consciousness of human beings. Some are calling it the biggest movement in history, the greatest social transformation of all times.

It has been building momentum quietly, yet steadily and is now believed to be in every country in the world. Some are involved quietly and discretely, while others have received extensive media coverage; examples include Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, Desmond Tutu, Bob Geldof, Bono, and Sir Richard Branson.

The new stage of consciousness is about expanding our awareness of ourselves and the environment in which we live. It's about cultivating a deep desire to know what we are capable of being and doing. It is also about healing ourselves (our emotional and physical scars) as well as the planet by developing awareness of the oneness of life.

In 2000, sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson released a book entitled The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World. Based on 13 years of research and studies on over 100,000 Americans, the authors show that a new culture is emerging in the United States. In describing the individuals who are building this new culture, the authors say, "The Cultural Creatives care deeply about ecology and saving the planet, about relationships, peace, social justice, and about self actualization, spirituality and self-expression. Surprisingly, they are both inner-directed and socially concerned, they're activists, volunteers and contributors to good causes more than other Americans." Ray and Anderson point out that, given our civilization is in the midst of a momentous change due to globalization, global warming and rapidly changing technologies, "a creative minority can have enormous leverage to carry us into a new renaissance instead of a disastrous fall."

In this issue of Africa Unbound, we present to you a few of the people in Africa that we believe are among the 'Cultural Creatives'. In our Soulful Personalities section, we feature Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, an economist with a great passion to find a solution to alleviate poverty in Africa. We are also introducing with this issue a new section called Spotlight on Our Members, which replaces the section Love and Development. In this new section, we present to you two individuals, Brother Ishmael Tetteh and Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba, who are engaged in phenomenal work in Ghana and Nigeria, respectively. We understand that many of our members are transforming lives and making positive differences in various ways throughout the continent. This section aims to give visibility to these unsung heroes.

As these individuals demonstrate, the new stage of consciousness is taking root in Africa. I have seen and experienced it in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa. Consciously or sub-consciously policy makers, politicians, entrepreneurs, artists, and students are active participants in 'the shift' throughout the continent. It is time that we pay attention to this very real and absolutely powerful energy that is gaining momentum all around the globe. How may we participate in this greatest movement of all times?