Awkward. But what do these folks want for the sake of their own happiness and fulfillment? In my mind, the answer to this question has a lot to do with what it takes for each of us to experience the "Great Reawakening." We've been talking about the Great Reawakening as if it has an inevitable trajectory. But it doesn't. If you've noticed that I rarely emphasize the need for the future to replicate the past, you've got it right. This is about what you make happen for you. Each of us is where we are right now because we made that choice. And even though it's hard for me to believe, every single one of us can change our trajectory. The only real question is, how badly do you want it? My experience with our friends in Silicon Valley tells me that if you can create the environment where everyone feels a personal and shared connection with their life purpose, you can get them to commit to moving their lives in a new direction. In fact, if you can get enough people to start thinking and living differently, you can change not just them but the world. By now it should be clear that the key to helping the world get better is changing ourselves. The process of reawakening each of us to the fact that we are at the root of every problem requires a deep shift in perspective and requires us to act on our own understanding of what's necessary. It is a process that can take decades. You can't force these things to happen, but you can set them in motion. It's not going to happen without effort on all our parts. We will have to get more active about it, start connecting with people more deeply, and commit to doing the work necessary to shift the consciousness of the world. The good news is that you're already well on your way. Here's a good example of the collective awakening I'm talking about. In the United States, on September 16, 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks at a military complex in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killed five U.S. military members and one U.S. civilian. This followed two separate attacks in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, and a U.S. Information Agency officer. The U.S. Department of Defense reports that 1,549 people were killed in combat-related incidents in 2012. Of those casualties, 722 were killed by hostile fire, and 1,227 died in noncombat-related accidents. And this is just for the U.S. military. Imagine what it must be like for an American soldier on the front lines to know that thousands of miles away, on the other side of the world, dozens of people are going to try to kill them and all of their teammates, just because they want them to feel uncomfortable. How would this soldier feel about the United States? Now, imagine you are in your car as you read this. Maybe you're driving down a city street or you're on a suburban street lined with large trees. All of a sudden, you notice that all of these trees appear to be facing the same direction. And they all seem to be moving toward the same place, like they're converging on a point just ahead of you. You have no way of knowing whether these trees are just swaying from the wind, or if there's a crowd of people standing between you and your destination. You're trying to make sense of what's going on, and you're trying to make sense of it quickly, so you just keep driving forward. You want to avoid panicking and driving erratically, but on the other hand, you really want to check out what this is all about. You've got to make a split-second decision, which way to go. It's a tough situation. But I bet if you could see some people standing around the street, you'd feel a lot better. Now, imagine that you're at your desk and you're reading this, but instead of seeing people, you're seeing buildings, and the buildings are moving. You go online, and you can see that everywhere there are these same buildings moving around in the same way. You've never seen anything like it, but it doesn't feel right. You're looking for reasons why buildings would move like this. Maybe you start thinking about the people who worked in that building. Maybe you see a name or picture, and it gives you a sense of what kind of person it must have been. You notice that there's a pattern of movement in every city. It's starting to look pretty weird to you. You just hope that it's not something that could possibly be dangerous. So you're just wondering what's going on, and you're trying to figure it out quickly. It feels strange, but at the same time, you're excited that you have the opportunity to watch this. And you're hoping that you can get to the bottom of it soon, and you want to find out if it's all going to blow over or if things are going to get worse. As you can imagine, this kind of feeling affects people differently. Some people feel anxious or afraid. For some people, this is a personal experience and not much more than that. But for some people, this can feel like an attack on their country or on their way of life. And for some of them, the very thought of what's happening can be overwhelming. They want answers. They want to know why. And they want to know what they can do to help. But if it's like this for some people, imagine how this must feel for the people whose whole lives have been uprooted. And then imagine how this must feel for those of us who live in countries where people don't have that luxury. There's a reason that people feel upset when they see groups of people and buildings moving. Even though you don't have the full picture, you know that something is not right. You want to know why, and you want to find a way to change things. You look around at your life and your world, and you see all these different ways that people are connecting and interacting, from the local to the international. You feel a connection between each one of these moments and each other moment, and you realize that it all connects. You can't explain it, but you have a very strong feeling that all of this is connected. You have a sense that you're doing everything you can do to do the right thing. Maybe you're trying to be calm and peaceful, but you know that these people and these buildings and this time are coming at you with a lot of anger and fear and confusion. And when you look at all of this, you just want to step outside of what's happening so you can figure it out. People are coming at you with a lot of fear and anger, and you can't help but worry that you might be the only person who knows the answers. Or at the very least, you're in a position to see the whole picture. It's a very disorienting experience. And it's an amazing experience to witness for someone who doesn't have all the information, but just like the rest of us, you're trying to figure things out and trying to figure out how to help. You might be wondering if there's anything you can do to help. You're sure that everyone else is doing everything they can. But it still doesn't seem like enough. You need to know that your efforts are going to have an impact. You need to know that your efforts will matter. And when you don't know that, you feel afraid. Now imagine that you are the one driving in a car, or you are the one in that building, or you are the one writing an email to a friend, or you are the one talking on a phone, or you are the one going online and looking for information. And each person has a different piece of the puzzle. There is a feeling that is universal. Every person on the planet has a piece of the puzzle and the same need to connect. And it's going to feel like there's something missing from everyone's life until they can connect the dots for all of us. As long as each of us is just trying to figure things out for ourselves, then our efforts will seem insignificant and insignificant people will go on doing whatever they want. What's missing is everyone's attention and support for finding a solution. What if the rest of us could see exactly what's going on in every city, and we could also see that everyone had the same information? And what if we could see what people are thinking and feeling and trying to do? And what if we could see all of the efforts that are going on for our benefit and our happiness? And we could all see each other's efforts, and we could all see the effects of our efforts. Then we'd be connected on an emotional level. Then we'd be connecting in a way that makes sense to people. It would be obvious that we're all looking for the same thing. Imagine if I could share with you what I've learned about what you're going through, and you could see this too. It would feel like there's something real and tangible connecting everyone, because everyone has a unique perspective on what's going on, based on how you and I are connected, and based on your unique experience of being alive right now. It would feel like we're all in the same boat, and at the same time, we're not. This is what I mean by "connecting the dots" of what's going