Birth 2012 and Beyond: Humanity's Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution [Paperback]

Barbara Marx Hubbard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2012

Explaining how the planet’s myriad crises are actually the birth pangs of a new Earth, this inspired exploration is Barbara Marx Hubbard’s prophetic call for a planetary shift. It explores the aftermath of the coming planetary renaissance that she has heralded for decades, and introduces an established popular global movement to cocreate a massive transition around a symbolic “Planetary Birthday” event on December 22, 2012. This volume features 12 evolutionary pioneers’ commentary on the author’s key themes of collective birth and conscious evolution, aiming to foster the emergence of a sustainable planetary civilization. Featured contributors include Ervin Laszlo, Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Jean Houston, and Neale Donald Walsch.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Renowned as a futurist, Barbara Marx Hubbard also plants her feet firmly in today."  —Gene Roddenberry, creator, Star Trek

"There is no doubt in my mind that Barbara Marx Hubbard—who helped introduce the concept of futurism to society—is the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced."  —Buckminster Fuller, inventor and designer

"Barbara is a true visionary, demonstrating by her words and actions her commitment to a sustainable future."  —John Denver

"[Her work] is an extraordinary guide [to] desperately needed changes, and indeed the healing of our society and planet. If enough people are exposed to her works, something phenomenal will emerge as a consequence."  —Marianne Williamson, spiritual activist and founder, The Peace Alliance

About the Author

Barbara Marx Hubbard is the author of Conscious Evolution, The Hunger of Eve, and The Revelation. She is the founder of the Institute for Conscious Evolution and cofounder of Global New Thought and the World Future Society. She also teaches the Shift Network’s popular “Agents of Conscious Evolution.” She lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Shift Books (May 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984840702
• ISBN-13: 978-0984840700
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 0.6 x 5.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #72 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Divination > Prophecy

More About the Author

Buckminster Fuller called Barbara Marx Hubbard "the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced." Widely regarded as his philosophical heir, Barbara is a social innovator, speaker, author, educator, and leader in the new worldview of conscious evolution.

Through her books, DVDs, educational programs, television appearances, interviews, and speaking engagements, her visionary message of hope continues to bring answers and comfort to global audiences seeking answers to today's most pressing issues.

Barbara was instrumental in founding many major organizations including the World Future Society, New Dimensions Radio, Global Family, Women of Vision in Action, The Foundation for the Future, and the Association for Global New Thought.

In 1984 her name was placed in nomination for the vice presidency of the United States on the Democratic ticket, calling for a "peace room" as sophisticated as our "war room" to scan for, map, connect, and communicate what is working in America and the world.

In 1990 she cofounded the Foundation for Conscious Evolution through which she developed the Gateway to Conscious Evolution, a global educational curriculum engaging participants in the developmental path toward the next stage of human evolution.

She is the producer and narrator of an award winning, ongoing DVD series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together. Part One: Our Story has been translated into seven languages and selected for the prestigious Spiritual Cinema Circle. Part Two: Visions of a Universal Humanity brings together cutting-edge scientific, social, and spiritual visionaries to create a positive vision of our future equal to our new capacities.
www.BarbaraMarxHubbard.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Were you Born Now On Purpose or By Chance? May 1, 2012

By Harvey W. Austin

Format:Paperback

A recent survey of 224 random people - from the checkout clerk at Home Depot to sunbathers on the beach of Aruba - asked a single question, "Do you believe you were born at this particular time On Purpose or By Chance?" Two thirds replied "On Purpose."

This Book is for those two thirds who answered "On Purpose", whether you know your purpose yet or not. If you believe that there are no coincidences, then you know that you - born around now, give or take fifty years - did not get here by some quirk. Instead, you are of the courageous who chose to arrive at the most dangerous and most exciting time the world has ever known. We are now at the time of The Shift from one worldview to another and each of us has a vital and unique role to play in that shift of humanity. It is not necessarily a role on the world stage, yet a role that naturally generates out of being wholly and uniquely ourselves ...uniquely me... uniquely you.

This book serves as a guideline to discover your purpose and role. It clarifies how you can fit into the overall scheme of things and it tells how to train yourself to be fully and completely yourself without the pretense and the act. It is a book about how to become extraordinary, no matter how ordinary you might feel inside or how ordinary the mirror lies that you are. This may be the book you have been looking for, especially in the quiet of the night, when you awaken and wonder what it's all about. And it will transform the resignation of "I'm just a single human being and what can one person do?"

It is a book about you and your greatness. At the same time...and more importantly... Barbara Marx Hubbard's book is about more than you as a walking ego, a mental-mind. It's about YOU in the largest sense, where the YOU is the entire world. It is also a map how to bring in a New Humanity - how to cross the gap from our present world of You OR Me to a world of You AND Me - a shift to a worldview of humanity creating its own future evolution and doing it consciously.

And it's about a celebration of the Birth Day of a new humanity, December 22, 2012 the day following the Mayan, Hopi, and other proclamations that the world shifts to a new era.

Barbara wrote most of the book and it is a fascinating true story how she, an ordinary housewife with five children, became what Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God) calls "The Mother of Invention". Marianne Williamson praises her - "Barbara Marx Hubbard is our undisputed planetary midwife."

There is a section of short powerful essays by each of the twelve members of the Welcoming Committee (like relatives gathering for the birth of a new human baby)... respected figures like Jean Houston, Lynne Twist, Lynn McTaggert and Jack Canfield. I found myself jumping to page 146 where Ervin Laszlo examines the horrendous consequences of humanity continuing a path of BUA... business as usual. Laslo offers a powerful alternative scenario he calls TT... timely transition. His essay put it into a clear perspective: Humanity shifts or humanity dies, becoming a failed species. And we have very little time.

The book is timely. The Birth Day of Dec 22 is eight months away and there is work to do.

It's all here for the Two Thirds - recommended readings, lists of affiliated organizations and allies, and lists of evolutionary Leaders and their web sites.

Once you read it, consider a Pay It Forward plan. Like me, you might wish to buy a few copies and send them on to certain people... and ask them to do the same.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Vision, but... May 23, 2012

By Steve Proctor

Format:Paperback

I get the appeal of Birth 2012 and Beyond. Promises of a new unfolding of collective potential, waves of peace transforming the earth, and noticeable diminishing of pain and suffering. I also see its timeliness. The world food supply is dwindling. The environment continues to be degraded. And the Mayan calendar points to time is running out.

So we need a solution as chaos approaches. Marx Hubbard offers one: Conscious Evolution. But I can't help wondering, is this solution realistic, or even possible?

The truth is I'm a bit skeptical. We have tried "conscious evolution" before. It was called the Enlightenment. It's true lots of good things came of it, such as the American democratic system of government, which--despite its flaws--was truly a radical and beautiful experiment offering the average person unprecedented rights and freedoms. But of course, not all has ended well post-enlightenment or without serious problems (the effect of America's expansion on Native Americans immediately comes to mind among other issues). So while I embrace and celebrate the greater consciousness that is coming and happening as I write these words and the positive change that are and will come from it, I'm less optimistic than Marx Hubbard about "utopian" visions.

That said, Birth 2012 offers an appealing and wished-for vision, one that likely can guide us to a better tomorrow; I'm just not counting on it all unfoldig the way she presents.

I tend to be more inspired by books or stories of individuals, such as Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (Random House Reader's Circle) (about Paul Farmer, a medical saint) and I Walked to the Moon and Almost Everybody Waved: The Curiously Inspiring Adventures of a Free Spirit Who Changed Lives (a freelance big spirit who walked over 200,000 penniless, just devoted to spreading good will).

Wishing you the best.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What an inspiring book! April 12, 2012

By Rae Thompson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I heard Barbara Marx Hubbard speak on several occasions a number of years ago. I always felt uplifted and inspired by her enthusiasm and ability to paint a promising and compelling picture of the future. Now, in Birth 2012, she has rekindled my imagination and my desire to step up and do my part in shaping the future. She has helped me reframe my sense of hopelessness and frustration at all the things that seem to be falling apart in the world into a recognition that, as in any birth, there are painful contractions that precede the delivery. She has given me hope and a view of a way forward. What matters is what we all do next!