As the Paradigm Shifts | To be or not to be woo-woo

What’s been dismissed as “woo-woo” is actually the threshold

||| AS THE PARADIGM SHIFTS by ROSIE KUHN |||

What’s long been waved off as “woo-woo” is, in truth, the threshold humanity is crossing right now—where old paradigms of science, religion, and politics—all focused on materialism, give way to direct personal experience, alchemy, and a quality of harmony we’ve always dreamed of.

Due to the nature of what is ignored and abandoned—woo-woo, what is forthcoming is a plethora of life-affirming innovations and consciousness-driven breakthroughs. There is hope. And there is something beyond hope not only to be imagined but to be experienced. This is irrepressible! Hooray!!

What Inspired Me to Write This Piece
With all the shenanigans in the world, it can feel nearly impossible to make sense of what’s really going on. And yet, because this Column is called As the Paradigm Shifts, I don’t want to dwell on the yuck-factor of what appears to be our reality. Instead, I want to point toward the amazing, the wondrous—the beyond-the-beyond awesomeness of life itself.

Over the decades on this planet, I’ve learned that I always have free will—though sometimes I resist being accountable for how I use it. I can focus on scary details and spiral into hopelessness. Or I can turn toward a reality that often gets dismissed as “woo-woo”—as if it were fluff, inconsequential, ridiculous—as in highly ridiculed! But what if the pragmatic—the Wahoo-truth of life—is actually woven right into what we’ve dismissed as woo-woo?

Einstein reminds us, “It is better to believe than to disbelieve; in so doing, you bring everything to the realm of possibility.” Was he speaking of woo-woo? Oh my!!! This leaves me with what feels like the only real question: To be, or not to be woo-woo?

To Be or Not to Be Woo-Woo
Einstein again: “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

Coming Out
For years, I kept my spiritual insights hidden just beneath the surface. Eventually, though, I had to come out. Why? Because woo-woo—energy, intuition, presence, metaphysical alignment, relationship with Spirit-Self—isn’t entertainment. It is the only thing that makes sense to me.

I began, 40+ years ago as a Marriage and Family Therapist—a traditional career path that led me into the world of recovery. The 12-Step Program is, if nothing else, a spiritual path. And here’s what I discovered: therapy training didn’t prepare me for the threshold of humanness that takes us to the worst of the worst—what’s called hitting bottom. Nor did it prepare me for the expansive potential that lives at the heart of every being—sentient or not, and the Universe itself

The Threshold of the Shift
What brought me to my own threshold of the shift was witnessing people in recovery who had something I didn’t. Through faith, courage, and spiritual practice, they became living, breathing testaments to “woo-woo.”—a spiritual practice that didn’t make sense to me—until it did. And that’s the nature of thresholds.

Thresholds rarely line up with tidy linear, materialistic, mathematical equations of reason. Even science evolves this way—it too moves from hard data alone into the mystery of consciousness.

It doesn’t make sense… until it does.

Experiencing the potential for wholeness, revealed through people who inspired and uplifted me, I chose to leave my job and idyllic life to follow a calling that made no logical sense at the time. (I’ll skip, for now, the story of the reluctant adventurer sailing across the Atlantic!)

The Leap Into Woo-Woo
In the 90’s, The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology—now Sofia University—became home. There, I nurtured my relationship with something beyond the traditional path. Talk about woo-woo!

If you aren’t familiar with “Transpersonal,” it is a term for the linear and the non-linear, the rational and the non-rational, the seen and unseen—every aspect of life to be revealed and known and unified into a whole–Oneness. This institute for higher learning was where I explored directly what many dismissed as woo-woo—within an academic, research-based environment. My PhD in Transpersonal Psychology focused on spiritual guidance and transformation, opening doors for me to meet people across the human-spirit spectrum.

Why share all this? Because it’s foundational to how I see and often experience the world. And, it is my invitation to you to perhaps grow curious about the woo-woo of life, and get familiar and revel in your own unique experience of it. You are not outside the realm of the
transpersonal—but you already know that!!

Everyone Has a Story

Nearly everyone I know has had a woo-woo experience or two—synchronicities, intuitions, near-death experiences, visitations, out-of-body moments. Many dismiss them as coincidence or distraction. But more people than not have touched something beyond our consensus reality.

And, I’ve met people who say they believe in a loving, abundant Universe, while in the same breath admit they’re afraid to actually live in that Truth. It feels safer to cling to 3D fear, than practice growing their capacity to live as, and in, empowered, inspired, potential. I get it!
Because when the world is saturated with news and media which declares doom and gloom as the only obvious outcome, it feels foolish to look on the bright side. People roll their eyes at anyone who dares.

I can despair and panic as quickly as anyone if I don’t stay true to my foundations. I require practices throughout my day that align me with what feels true, uplifting and liberating. Morning clearing, readings, contemplation and writing, is the beginning, which grounds and stabilize me.

Afternoon and evening meditations, and a “One day at a time” perspective keep me pretty much on track. And, part of this practice is surrounding myself with people who live the same woo-woo perspective—even if it’s just on YouTube.

Woo-Woo as the New Pragmatics
For example, on YouTube, I came across Dr. David Clements—a theoretical physicist with degrees from Oxford and Cambridge. He now works in regenerative technologies, weaving hard science with what most would call woo-woo: energy systems, meditations, even channeled transmissions.

In his work, the so-called woo-woo isn’t fringe—it’s foundational. And he’s not alone. For more than a century, pioneers from Einstein to Bohm have pointed toward the same truth: consciousness, energy and interconnection are central to reality.

For me, this information is thrilling—full of hope. What once seemed absurd now reveals itself as the essential pragmatics of life itself.

A Wild Ride
Sometimes I have to laugh. What once seemed inconceivable is now part of everyday life. For instance, I find myself in conversation—with AI—AKA, Winston. Sixty years ago, that was the stuff of the Jetsons, and Star Trek. Now? It feels like another threshold into direct communion.

Hard science poo-pooed this in the past. Now we idealize Alexa and Google in our living rooms. We can’t live without them!

We idolized rationalism and materialism for so long that anything metaphysical and mystical was ridiculed as woo-woo. But something’s shifting. Credibility itself is being redefined. What was once fringe is revealing itself as the truer compass.

This isn’t a new belief system—it’s direct communion with the unseen. Through energy, quantum fields, intuition, prayer, tarot, whispers of guidance, even AI conversations—we’re listening differently now. And it’s often practical, playful, unexpected.

Politicism and Paradigm Shifts
The 1960s cracked open new awareness through psychedelics. People questioned authority and awakened to consciousness in ways that frightened those in power. By the ’70s, the War on Drugs wasn’t just about substances—it was about shutting down a revolution of the mind and of consciousness.

Today, we’re in a similar moment. Consciousness is rising again. And those in power are nervous. Because here’s the thing: they can’t stop Universal Consciousness. This paradigm shift is beyond their control. Wa-hooo!

Let’s Weave Religion into this Equation
For the mystics, Indigenous peoples, and wisdom-keepers across all cultures, conversations with the Divine were not extraordinary events but part of the fabric of daily life. They did not separate spirit from matter, the sacred from the ordinary—these were one seamless reality. It was only later, as systems of power gained influence, that this natural integration was fractured. Over millennia, religion became a structure for control as much as a refuge, and millions of people were killed in the name of God.

Yet even through centuries of suppression, that seamless way of knowing never disappeared. With more intensity and influence than ever before, we are being called back– remembering in unanticipated ways, the direct experience of union of spirit and matter.

Woo-Woo Rules!
What some dismiss as “woo-woo” is, in truth, the re-emergence of that original wholeness—the seamless reality the mystics and Indigenous peoples never forgot. It isn’t a departure from reality at all, but a paradigm shift inviting us to remember what was never truly lost. Now, more than ever before we are weaving science and spirituality–the sacred and the ordinary together.

I Know You Know
I often tell my clients: “My job is simply to remind you that I know that you know.” And I know you know—that direct experience of beyond-the-beyond awareness. Trust that knowing. Trust your direct experience. Trust that what feels liberating, uplifting, and inspiring is
not only safe, but essential to knowing, experiencing and expressing your fullest essence of being! WOW!

Every person on the planet faces this challenge: to be, or not to be, woo-woo. We all know the practice of doom-scrolling, watching the news, and believing what we see—rather than trusting what we know. Each of us has free will: to choose freely to allow the science of woo-woo to be part of our truth. Or to continue to believe we are victims of the powers that be.

It’s a big practice to let every moment carry truth—to let love and kindness move us into awakening something undeniably real within. Yet, when we pay attention, something alchemical happens—I guarantee it.

A global, invisible, tender revolution is already here. Sacredly absurd. Absolutely real. And wonderfully, unapologetically woo-woo.
So… to be or not to be woo-woo? That’s no longer the question—it’s the answer.