What is Ascension?

A friend recently asked me what is this Ascension that I'm constantly mentioning.  Excellent question, to which I hope this is, at the very least, a good reply!

Ascension is the current stage in the process of evolution through which humanity is constantly moving.  Human kind has made several big jumps in the past: breathing out of the water and walking on two legs are two of the biggest evolutionary steps we made.* 

Ascension is the next big leap.  In short, it means living with conscious knowledge of our soul.  Through the ages there have been people who have achieved enlightenment, or self realisation, but they were the exceptions, not the rule.  We are now entering a period when enlightement is possible for everyone. 

Imagine such a world...  A world where we care more about people than things, a world where we care not just for our loved ones, but for complete strangers; a world where we share willingly whatever we have; a world where we nurture the young, the old, and the ill. A world where we value wisdom over beauty, and soul over body.  A world of tolerance.  A world of compassion. A world of love. 

I don't imagine that the sun rose one day and suddenly our fishy ancestors could all breathe air.  Nor were our ancestors all able to walk on two legs one fine day.  It was a process.  It took time and practice.  A cursory glance at the present state of our planet is enough to tell us that Ascension is also a process.

Now for my sceptic friends reading this (you know who you are!), where's my proof?  In short, I don't have any.  Many, many spiritual teachers I respect are speaking of this.  I have my own experience of the energies on the planet changing, but I have no proof.  Then again, is there ever enough proof for a sceptic?!

All I can say is this: we have to believe in something.  I choose to believe in a world where the magnificence I feel in other people is manifest, in a world where we live up to our potential, a potential which spirtual teachers from Allah to Buddha to Christ have seen within us and invited us to embrace. 

I choose to believe in Heaven on Earth.

 *I'm not including fire, agriculture and industrialisation as they were processes outside us rather than intrinsic to us.