Imagine yourself standing on a bridge between two worlds. On one side of the bridge is an upside-down world. Why is it upside-down?

It is upside-down because people have lost their intimate connection to the whole, and feel isolated and separate from society. Even their thoughts are fragmented. That world is upside-down because fear has trumped love as the dominant emotion—even though love is what we all seek. It has been turned topsy-turvy because sources of news and entertainment paint dark pictures of violence and murder instead of celebrating the best that people can bring to life.

In the upside-down world more money is spent on war than on all social service programs—for children, the elderly, education, the homeless, the hungry, the disabled—combined. The good people of the upside-down world willingly consume toxins through their water, air and food supply and wonder why they feel tired and ill most of the time.

In the upside-down world people say they value children, yet parking lot attendants make more money than child-care workers and sports figures make more in one season than educators do over an entire career. It is an upside-down world because children are taught computer literacy but not emotional literacy. Faced with an inability to cope in a contradictory world, kids act out their unresolved emotions. The upside-down answer is to give them drugs rather than honestly dealing with their issues. Having taught our youth to self-medicate through pharmaceuticals, we jail them later after they have taken illicit drugs to numb the feelings they never learned to express.

The world is upside-down because people kill each other to control limited underground resources—oil, ore, minerals, water and precious metals—while they ignore unlimited resources above their head like the sun and wind which can be harnessed for an endless supply of energy.

Trust is a rare commodity in the upside-down world and intentional deception is commonplace. Our institutions—government, religion, media, education—claim to provide comfort and aid to society while in fact serving their own interests. In this crazy world, despair turns to desperation. We feel more alone, more isolated, and ever more over our heads—upside-down. The world feels like it is spinning out of control, into chaos and collapse.

The Other Side of the Bridge

On the other side of the bridge, there is a world that is Right Side Up. People walk in balance with the earth and honor all living beings. People know that everything and everyone is interconnected. They realize that love is to be treasured and shared as the highest form of acceptance. The people in the Right Side Up world teach their children that emotions are to be expressed, not repressed. They learn that it is safe to speak their truth, and trust is a natural outcome of their relationships.

In the Right Side Up world, food is more wholesome and nutritious because the seeds are not altered and the food is not processed with a range of untested chemicals whose names are unpronounceable and interactions unknown. People grow their own flavorful food, rich in nutrients in their own backyard or community garden. Rain is not heavy with pollution because people in the Right Side Up world do not rely on burning oil and gas for energy. Instead, they count on the power of the sun, wind and tides as well as other clean renewable energy sources for their energy needs.

The Right Side Up world values diversity and self-expression. Communities celebrate the human spirit through their art forms, which have become a way of life, blended harmoniously with spirituality. Humankind rejoices in the spirit within every one and every thing—and we have evolved beyond our fascination with darkness and evil.

The Right Side Uppers adhere to a Second Bill of Rights that gives all people…

• The right to a useful job that pays a living wage for adequate food, clothing and recreation

• The right for every businessperson, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition

• The right to a decent home

• The right to medical care and the ability to achieve good health

• The right to a good education

• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment

Does this sound like the impossibly idealistic ravings of a left-leaning lunatic? Think again. The Second Bill of Rights was proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his State of the Union speech on January 11, 1944. How far we have regressed in sixty-odd years! Yes, the Right Side Up world encourages acceptance, tolerance, and freedom to live the way one wants as long as it harms no other. Conflict is met with compassion and human unity is the guiding principle for society.

The Choice

You are standing on this bridge between two worlds—one is upside-down, the other is Right Side Up. The bridge is about to collapse. You must make a choice to go in one or the other direction. Which side would you go to? Most people would choose the Right Side Up world. It is the obvious choice for a better place to live in. Yet, so many people view the Right Side Up world as idealistic and unattainable, and thus accept living in the upside-down world. Is it the gravity of fear that holds them in this destructive state? Is it lack of faith? Or have the forces of the upside-down world so skewed our perceptions that we do not believe a Right Side Up world is possible?

We live in an amazing age. It is a point in the evolution of humankind when a massive shift in consciousness called “the flip,” is taking place. The flip is happening in nearly every facet of our global society. The flip is occurring whether we embrace it or not, whether we believe it or not. The question is whether you will be a willing participant and active proponent of the flip, or if will you struggle to hang on to an outmoded, broken world that serves the darker parts of our being. By choosing to believe in the possibilities of the human spirit, by embracing the flip, you can become free to express yourself and work for a balanced world and a whole-hearted life.

The choice is yours.

Excerpted with permission of Hampton Roads Publishing Company from The Flip. www.theflip.net 513-253-4854. Available at local bookstores or online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Joseph-Beth and Borders.

Jared Rosen and David Rippe are coauthors of The Flip—Turn Your World Around, Hampton Roads Publishing Company.