Definition from the Greek paradigm meaning pattern: “A paradigm is a scheme for understanding and explaining certain aspects of reality.”

For the last 2000+ years we’ve been in the Piscean Age which focuses on, among other values, money, power and control. The Aquarian Age is the new paradigm we entered in 2012. The focus of the Aquarian Age is love, brotherhood, unity and integrity. This book talks about the paradigm shift that we are currently experiencing on Earth. Paradigm Shifts don’t happen quickly; they can take hundreds of years to emerge, yet it seems like an abrupt change. As we saw in Who Moved My Cheese, people resist change and cling to the status quo with everything they’ve got. In our world today we see intense tribal and ethnic loyalties. Politics has become polarized all over the globe; you either agree with me or you are my enemy.

We’re still in the throes of this birthing process: bringing forth the new world order. As painful as the process is, no matter how tenaciously we cling to the old ways, the new paradigm WILL arise out of the ashes of the old paradigm.

This book talks about how the Paradigm Shifts might look in the fields of cultural, social and personal relationships. Ferguson hypothesizes about how education will be focused on learning; teaching students how to think, not just memorize facts. How medicine will be focused on wellness instead of disease. How economics will focus of equity and fairness for the greater good instead of the enrichment of a few. She explores how the new paradigm will look for our relationship with ourselves and in interactions with others.

Here are two analogies about how a Paradigm Shift might emerge:

Martini glass theory:

This theory posits that our 3rd dimensional reality is like a martini glass that is full to the brim. It is so full that the surface tension is about to tear and release all that it holds. What overflows is something we cannot conceive of, it is beyond our ability to envision or imagine. It is a whole new paradigm.

Erupting boil theory:

In this theory, our 3rd dimensional reality is a boil that is angry and tense and ready to explode. After all of that infection has been released what remains is fresh and clean and new. Again, beyond our conception.

Even though this book was written 40 years ago, the insights and cocncepts about transformation are relevant to our world today. We are indeed embarking into unknown waters with COVID, Trump and the struggle for racial and gender equality and justice. We WILL survive it all and I believe that what comes next will be better than we can conceive.

And remember, “Your life is not your master, it is your child.”