We are privileged to live in interesting times, to borrow a saying from author David Eddings. We are also privileged to live in changing times. Once again world consciousness is struggling to evolve. This time from a collection of nation states to a single global consciousness.

Put another way, we're struggling to evolve from a tribal mind, to a global mind. And at the root of that tribal mind is fundamentalism.

According to one BBC reporter, fourty percent of Americans classify themselves as ``fundamentalist'' in their religious beliefs. A number that would grow significantly if our secular fundamentalist organizations were added to the list:

• Political parties
• Lobby groups
• The military industrial complex
• The healthcare sector (excluding alternative treatment modalities -- for the moment)

All qualify as fundamentalist in their internal structure. All fit the following definition:

A fundamentalist organization is: An organization whose apologetics promote as supreme to all others a fear based doctrine or theology that has at its foundation either fact or revelation and which promises retribution to all who do not adhere to its doctrine or theology.

The political parties are absolutely convinced that their public policies, based on their party's platform (their doctrine) are the solutions to our nation's problems. Every lobby group is convinced that its agenda is in the best the interests of the nation (or planet).

And all, like fundamentalist religions, promise some form of retribution if their views aren't followed. They point to stacks of research, polls, and statistical studies to prove retribution was served or denied, based on how much of their agenda was blocked or implemented. (Remember the strident claims of Donald Rumsfeld prior to the war in Iraq?)

Fundamentalism is very seductive. It feels good when we're a part of something huge and powerful that has a clearly defined purpose. There's a tangible feeling of power when we just know we're part of something ``right'', even when -- or perhaps especially when -- the general population isn't yet on board. Lives (or souls) are at stake! The planet is in jeopardy! What needs to be done must be done, now!

And chief on that list is always proselytization. Because fundamentalism is based in the tribal mind, and the first rule of every tribe is survival, every fundamentalist organization is predatory. New blood is always needed to ensure the tribe's survival. And upon whom do they prey?

The young. Many children are still raised inside fundamentalist organizations by parents who are, themselves, fundamentalist. These youngsters often have a horrible time integrating themselves into the larger, non-black and white, outside world.

Another group of youngsters at risk are high school and college graduates, who enter fundamentalist organizations such as the military, law school, or medical school before the frontal cortex of their brains have even fully formed. (This is why most militaries will not take recruits past the age of 26.) The fundamentalist doctrines of the institutions are pumped into their consciousness before they're physically capable of defending themselves, never mind having developed enough life experience with which to evaluate those experiences.

Those who've suffered tragedy are also preyed upon. They've gone through a divorce, suffered the tragic death of a loved one, or had a close brush with death from accident or illness. In the midst of their crisis they're visited by the fundamentalist wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, have a conversion experience, and are indoctrinated while their normal defenses are in disarray.

Similarly the infirm are at great risk. Those who have either a disability or some form of chronic (or terminal) illness that keeps them as much inside the medical system as outside. Over time they get the same type of indoctrination as the young physician at medical school, all in the name of quality of life, preserving or returning to health.

There was a time when black and white, tribal thinking served us well. We needed our tribe to protect us, to help us survive. But today, as we're trying to transition from a tribal mind to a global mind, it is destructive. It perpetuates the polarities that keep us apart. The ``us and them'' mindset. It's Muslim against Christian; its terrorists against nationalists; east versus west; health versus illness; salvation versus damnation; ``right'' versus ``wrong''.

Leaving that paradigm can be scary, and painful. In fact, there is a greater chance of getting hit by lightning than there is leaving a fundamentalist organization unscathed. At the very least, there is usually anger. At worst, physical or mental abuse, estrangement from family and friends, and no small amount of frustration that such an organzation is allowed to continue unchecked.

And in our culture, we're not taught what to do with those emotions. Or, more accurately, we're taught what not to do with those emotions. We're taught to deny them, ignore them, push them away. We're taught they're not appropriate, that we have no right to feel that way. We're taught to do everything but feel them, which is the first critical step to healing.

Our feelings are holy and sacred. They're unique to each of us. No two people feel anger in exactly the same way. They're the only real truth we have about our selves. Compared to feeling, thoughts are superficial. Thoughts don't change lives, feelings do. They're extraordinarily powerful. It's when we apply our minds and wills to what we're feeling that miracles happen.

So the first, essential step to recovering from a fundamentalist experience is to simply (though it's hardly a simple thing to do) feel our feelings. Fully, completely, again and again, until the anger or resentment or hurt from the abuse is gone. Which means, in extreme cases, a counselor can be helpful -- even essential. Especially if that counselor is energy aware. He or she will be able to restablize the energy field after an intense bout of feeling. This can help prevent intense physical discomfort: Nausea, headache, muscle aches, backaches, and diarrhea are all common symptoms of ``energetic bleeding.''

A second important step is to ask God (Goddess, spirit, Universe; I will use the simple three letter word to save space) to show us why that fundamentalist experience was necessary. God doesn't make mistakes. Everything that happens to us is essential and necessary to our personal evolution. Experiencing this first hand is critically important. And it usually happens in conjunction with the first step -- feeling our feelings.

The final step stands alone. It cannot even be entertained until we've emptied ourselves of all the negative emotions surrounding our experience. It is forgiveness. Tremendously powerful and completely essential to full recovery, it's totally impossible until we're ready.

It's an act of release and reclamation, of burying the past so that we can regain our futures and find our place in the new, emerging order of global consciousness.

And today, as people leave fundamentalist organizations by the droves, causing those organizations to become more and more strident in response, we need every healthy, fully recovered former fundamentalist we can find to help make this shift of consciousness as painless and as bloodless as possible.

Dr. Matson is an author and mystic who is currently lecturing and teaching seminars on the process of recovering from fundamentalism; he also does private counseling. Dr. Matson can be reached at (707) 677-9392, or via email at michael@vetl.org.