This episode contains themes of serious sexual assault that some listeners may find uncomfortable.

Listener discretion is advised.

There's a quote I've always loved by the late cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret believed that small groups of people can spark seismic cultural shifts,

and her daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson, who was also a cultural anthropologist, explained this.

Very often, major accelerations of change came out when a group of people got together and

learned together and dared to think new thoughts and then pass them on.

The evolutionary part was in the relationships between the members of those small groups.

It was a feeding off of each other's imaginations and insights and wisdom,

and then spreading them out in the society going forward.

It's a powerful thought at a time when so many of us feel there's nothing that we can do to create change.

The idea that all of us, if we're committed, can create evolutionary clusters, which in turn can radiate outwards.

It's positive, it's proactive, it's hopeful.

And I believe in it.

I believe that each one of us can play a part in a new future.

Why?

Well, because there is a new consciousness that's been unfolding around us almost, almost unnoticed for a while.

And it's been creating huge shifts in our values and how we live.

Undoubtedly, COVID was the catalyst.

We have all, without exception, undergone a mass and fundamental emotional shift.

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