A revolution is upon us, says B. Alan Wallace, founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. We could all be extraordinary people with extraordinary hearts, minds and states of consciousness, as well as talents and skills.

The revolution's source? The exploration of consciousness and the mind, using direct, immediate, first-hand observation -- meditation. This is the serious meditation in the Sanskrit sense of "cultivation" -- not meditation's cute or trivial impersonators -- and the world's many wisdom cultures offer a wide variety.

What's between us and extraordinary?  Being stuck in the modern, Dr. Wallace says, specifically modernity's obsession with all things external and our "imagination deficit disorder." That and our overwhelming lack of balance.

With this revolution comes, Dr. Wallace hopes, a new Renaissance. He sees enormous possibilities for an unprecedented fusion of the East and the West. How? Maintain the strengths, beauty, depth and acuity of modernity while tapping into the deep wisdom cultures of the world.

This is not a garden-variety revolution Dr. Wallace sees coming. It will call for a radical re-orientation of our way of life, our way of being present in the world. It will come when we cultivate our heart and mind to develop exceptional states of mental balance -- what Dr. Wallace calls genuine happiness -- instead of the empty rituals and hollow symbols of pseudo-happiness rapidly killing our spirits and our planet.

Modernity is now a global phenomenon, and Dr. Wallace finds it embarrassing how parochial the West can be. Fundamentalism infects philosophers and scientists (their detractors call them advocates of scientism) as it does religion. The common denominator of this fundamentalism is also modern: rigidity and outward orientation; and, in the case of science, hostility to the introspection championed by William James, one of the great pioneers of Western psychology.

"Balance" is key, Dr. Wallace reiterates. And there are guiding stars. Start with non-violence, he insists, reminding us of the calamitous 20th century and humanity's current suicidal path. Where possible, be of service. Cultivate the seeds of happiness and well-being in ourselves, other people, other species and the environment. And use meditation. Its foundation is ethics, sorely needed by science.

Take inspiration for the Renaissance from the one in the 15th and 16th century out of which modernity itself was born, Dr. Wallace urges.  Once again, two essential catalysts can liberate us from ossification. Challenge authority (the power now held by institutions including universities, government and business.) And learn from other, long neglected cultures. No one group, institution or world view -- not even science -- that has all the answers.

There's no need to reinvent the "wheel” of introspection, Dr. Wallace says. Meditation techniques of introspection using our sixth door to experience have been fine-tuned over thousands of years by the great contemplative traditions including, but not restricted to, Buddhism.

Why start with meditation?  Because, says Dr. Wallace, it is based on sorely needed ethics and it seeks the balance of a cultivated heart and mind. Then, all in good time, we can strive for that which all great traditions offer -- the possibility of transcendence.  

Turns out, Dr. Wallace concludes, William James was right. "For the moment, what we attend to is reality."

[This Program was recorded October 11, 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.]