Whole Life Times: Consciousness in Translation

December 2007 | From the Editor

Consciousness in Translation

I wish there was a better word than “conscious” to describe the budding awareness that I’ve observed accelerating over the last editorial year. As I’m writing this, we’ve just wrapped up attendance at the 2007 Green Festival in San Francisco (greenfestivals.com). There may be no better way to get a handle on the colossal size and scope of the greater green community than to participate in one of these epic “parties with a purpose.” At our booth, manned intermittently over the course of the weekend by seven staffers, we passed out 2,500 of last month’s magazine, signed up over 200 new subscribers, fielded thousands of questions, and met countless Whole Life Times readers, advertisers and supporters. At the after-party we threw with Numi Tea, hundreds of you braved the pouring rain to dance to Aphrodesia and Cheb i Sabbah, drink organic cocktails, and check out fashions from eco designers like Livity, Edun and Under the Canopy, raising thousands of dollars for the human rights organization Global Exchange. San Francisco’s Club Six was so packed that at points there wasn’t much breathing room; next year we’ll have to find a larger venue.

At Green Fest, Deepak Chopra (who, incidentally, was channeling Elton John in a pair of glittery ruby red glasses and matching kicks) spoke about the next stage of human evolution. It won’t be a physical evolution, asserts Deepak, but an evolution of consciousness. While I am in 100 percent agreement with Sir Chopra, let me be totally honest: I sort of hate the word “conscious.” Like a lot of tired descriptors on both sides of the aisle — “progressive,” “conservative,” “us” and “them” — “conscious” feels inherently insulting to me, implying that anyone who isn’t thinking this way is somehow comatose. The truth is, whether we shop exclusively organic or live in neighborhoods deemed unworthy by natural foods markets, whether we vote green, red or blue, we all want our children to inherit a healthy, clean, peaceful world. How many of those “unconscious” consumers who would be tentatively open to our ideas are put off by our more-enlightened-than-thou attitudes?

I say that knowing full well that in this very issue we have a feature story on the “New Consciousness Movement,” that there are two excellent magazines in our extended family with that word in the title (Conscious Choice Seattle and Chicago) and that we’re part of a magazine group owned by a parent company called — double whammy — Conscious Enlightenment. I love the action that the word “conscious” connotes — a dedicated shift toward making informed, socially and environmentally responsible life choices. But I worry that the simple compelling power of the message will get lost in translation.

We’re wracking our brains over here trying to come up with a better way to describe the evolution that Deepak named in his speech, the same energy that powered the delirious success of Green Fest and fills the pages of each issue of WLT. If you have some suggestions, drop me a line at email. But until then, enjoy this last issue of the year, which is packed with stories from the frontlines of that shift. As we move into 2008, the world may be changing faster than we are accurately able to describe it. How cool is that?

—Eliza Thomas, Editor in Chief

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