pandemic – The Voice From The Back Row

Staying the Course

We are in the penitential season of Lent and nearing the purifying practice of fasting during Ramadan. We are engulfed in a huge transition, the end of which we may envision or guess, but cannot yet see with certainty. We are exhausted by restrictions engendered by a worldwide virus, and even with vaccinations available for many, there is no return to “normal”, whatever that may now look like. Our politicians seem to be busier attacking each other than working on cooperative solutions. Economic instability is a looming threat. Many people, including me, are feeling burdened and have ‘had enough, already’. It would be so nice if we could count on Easter, Eid, or Passover, celebrations that they are, to end the chaos around us. It does not seem that it will be so.

The well-known teacher Sandra Ingermann, in one of her workshops, advised those listening to never “sit down during the dark night of the soul.” It is advice that is relevant to the times. I do not think that she means to never relax or have fun; in fact, she encourages people to relax in nature, to let the healing and calming energy of nature enfold them. To not sit down means to not give up, to not let the weight of whatever one is processing cause one to stop engaging with life, to allow an apathy or hindering depression to take over and prompt one to withdraw from the growing and the change.

Change and its seeming disorder are always with us. Change is rarely patterned logically, nor is it predictable to the reasoning mind. Change is kaleidoscopic; the patterns can be beautiful or not, but they fall as they are, responding to a present moment. Sometimes it seems insane, yet, in the long run, change often brings a higher result. Is not spring in the heart of winter? The Chinese symbol shows that Yin is in Yang, and Yang is in Yin – the two are forever joined as one.

The Arctic peoples know well not to lie down in the snow in the dark and cold of winter, no matter the weariness one may feel. Just a few minutes of lying down in the Arctic cold and dark causes an exit from the planet. Similarly, it is when we feel the most burdened and disheartened that we must carry on, walking not as if we were about to fall under the burden, but standing straight, breathing calmly, finding beauty, and expressing kindness to all around. It is also good if we will sing, or dance from time to time. This is how we come through into the light after the dark. It takes discipline. It takes faith.

Part of carrying on through the dark is holding the highest vision we can of an outcome that nurtures the planet and its denizens and our fellow humans. It is not a matter of having our own way only, of power over others. It is not a vision simply of relief from suffering or the weight of our burdens. It is creative, drawn from the love of life we all intrinsically possess, if we are willing to see it. The particulars of individual highest visions may vary, but their ultimate goal is the same, the benefit of all concerned. It is a vision born of love. Such individual visions, combined, cannot but help to bring the highest good to all. It is not always easy to hold the highest vision, but it is the way to what we seek.

With Passover, Easter and Eed upcoming (and yes, St. Patrick’s Day, too), let us set our individual intents to walk our paths with confidence a while longer, and use our celebrations as encouragement along the way.

Peace, Diane

Time to Act

2021 has arrived! Holidays and celebrations are over. It’s time to resume working! The important work, however, has changed with the year. This time, our work is not simply to do a job to earn money. It is the work of healing our planet, restoring respectful and nurturing connections among our human species and between humans and the denizens with whom we share our planet and developing a social order supportive of these goals. It is becoming a renewed kind of people, each of us the kind of people with whom we would like to live. It is the work in which each of us has a part, and which without each part, the chances of manifesting lessen. This is the most important work we have ever had. It is time to get started. Time is running out.

There is so much to accomplish – work which takes physical activity, mental effort, emotional processing, spiritual energy. It is easy to hide one’s head in the sand, and pretend that all is well, and our government will do what is best for us and achieve the goal. Opting out in such a way is abandoning the task and increasing the chances that we will all face either destruction, or an outcome we do not wish, possibly even one which negates our humanity. Why? First, the work to be done cannot be accomplished from a top-down stance. Big anything will not be able to get it done. Big politics, big government, big technology, big business, big media, and the like will never, ever create a healed Earth or a healed web of life. The “bigs” create what supports the “bigs”; Big Brother may take care of us, but will also tell us how to be, what to do, how to live, what to think. That is the first reason.

In addition – perhaps this should be first, as it underlies the former – we are each responsible for who we are, how we grow, what we do and how we live. For this, we do not answer to Big Brother or any “big”. We answer to life itself, and to the results we produce for ourselves. If one is religious, we answer to God. Because we are responsible, we also have the power, individually and especially collectively, to affect our goals. In microcosm, if we are adult, we can no longer blame our parents for our ills, because we possess within ourselves the power to right them, if we wish to exercise that power. On a larger scale, we cannot blame the government, the opposite political party, religious organizations, people we think are maliciously trying to control us, people who we perceive as enemies, careless other people, being too young or too old, or anything else for what we dislike. Each time we do that, we are giving away a bit of our power to create harmoniously, to make things right.

We need to heal our Earth, reforest, and renew her. To that end, we also need to, among other things, adjust our economies, our lifestyles and consumption of resources. We need to balance our consumption with our production and our capacity to renew that from which we take. We need to create a social order that assigns equal humanity to each human being on the planet. Note, that does not mean “same”. Each of us is unique. It means that we extend equal value, consideration, and use of resources to each human being, whether they are like us or not. We need to think about giving “rights” to others, not about how to get them. We need to wean ourselves from killing, especially knee-jerk killing, and replace that with respect and love. We need to learn to listen to each other. We need to learn to govern ourselves effectively, without relying on any of the “bigs” to tell us what to do. We need to learn to grow food and medicines respectfully, in ways which replenish the Earth which nurtures us. We need to eliminate war. We need to learn to grow ourselves so that our actions, visions, and responses are rooted in the loving essence from which we all come. We need to learn to express that essence and recognize the oneness between not only us humans but also each expression of life.

That is only the beginning, and already the task is huge. It will take all of us to accomplish, but it is absolutely possible, despite the pull from entropy. We can use our inner vision to project – what would the world look like if we achieve our goal? What would it be like, if it survives at all, if we do not? Here are two easily-read resources to check out: Brave New World combined with Brave New World Revisited, both by Aldous Huxley, and the entire Celestine Prophecy series, by James Redfield. There are others, but those are good starts.

Each of us has his or her own unique talent, his or her own thing that he or she loves or does well. Large or small does not matter. Current standards of pay do not matter. Leading, supporting, or working independently does not matter. Excuses to not act do not actually excuse; they only indicate an unwillingness to participate. Even the bedridden can participate; the power of prayer and vision holding is great. The power of extending love is infinite.

Are you one who cares for the land, who grows food and medicines? Are you one who can use tools and build? Do you do best at designing structures? Can you understand and translate the processes of nature into harmonious human activity? Are you a cook, a teacher, a nurturer? Are you a visual artist, a musician, a storyteller? Are you a philosopher, a priest, one who can perceive the surrounding world most of us find invisible? Are you a healer? Are you an activist? Find your talent and commit to the task. In such a way, 2021 can be the year in which we respond to the challenge to grow, heal, and become.

Remember that top down does not work; top down most often gets in the way. Big anything does not have the power to do anything for us. Each of us is responsible for the outcome; each of us has the power to affect it.
We can choose to give up our power, and declare ourselves helpless, or victims that need rescuing. That sinks us deeper into the quicksand. Each of us needs to listen to the other, and each of us needs to work. Let us be the people who rise to the challenge. Let us choose life. Happy New Year!

Peace, Diane

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Transition

Transition

A long time ago, I was told, “Do not be afraid of the spaces between existences (times of transition). It will feel like you are dying, but you are not.” I recall those nearly forgotten words now.

We are in a time of transition, one which affects us all and the Earth itself. No matter the culture or philosophy one follows, a transition is a time of collapse or tearing down what exists – a time of chaos – and rebuilding in a new direction. Women who have gone through childbirth are in an excellent place to understand this. Childbirth involves pain and stress for both mother and child, although the memory of it fades as mother and child become bonded in a new way. It is the tearing down of what was – one forming body existing inside another body – and a rebuilding in a new way, mother and child separated and unique but still bonded. It can be a dangerous time, but still a time of great promise and blessing. We are in such a time now, socially in relation to each other, and physically in relation to our Earth. The outcome of this time depends on how we can connect with our spiritual roots and create with the energy we receive.

Some of us are longing for the time that was, and believe that if all of us just obey strictly the official rules, we can return to that time with which we were familiar and things will be the same as before. Within that group, there is an almost desperate adamancy that everyone should obey official directions and behave consistently in lockstep; there is no space for disagreement. These are the people that accost others in parking lots for not wearing masks, or who reprimand people in stores who stand a few inches off the six-feet marks. They tend to speak in heroic terms of those who are telling us the rules. There is certainly value in consistency and cooperation, but this premise of mandatory sameness as a way of return to the past leads only to disappointment and more desperation. We cannot return to the time that was. It has retreated into the past and has already morphed into memory. It had to go. This is a time of transition.

There are also those – perhaps the majority of us – who are unsure if draconian rules are really necessary and are not sure if the virus – the precipitator of the transition – is as deadly as it is reported to be. However, in the midst of chaos, feelings of exhaustion and a certain jadedness leave them too tired to make effort to change things. These of us are content to ride things out and accept whatever may emerge. There is a tendency here to hide one’s head in the sand, ostrich-like, and simply refuse to believe that what emerges can be anything else but acceptable. Doesn’t humanity have all this wonderful technology to save us? Haven’t things always settled down before? The weak point here is apathy. The tendency is to follow along wherever we are led (which is usually by other humans). That tendency leaves us quite vulnerable to anything that may come along, even things that may be regretted later.

Then there are those who are quite aware of the processes of using energy, and who see in this crisis of transition an opportunity to create something profitable for themselves. These are usually people already in some position of power, often silent power, such as corporate and banking millionaires (I will not categorize by saying all), scientific masters at subduing nature, popular or Machiavellian political personages, even those who wear the mantle of philanthropy. They are the forces behind the push for mandatory masks, universal vaccination with digital tracking, more use of technology to capture our actions, thoughts, health and finances, and A1 controlled social systems. Although the central focus is, “What’s in it for me?” (and that focus will be denied if challenged) they possess a refined knowledge of negotiation and collaboration among themselves. They are powerful, and actively try to create what they want.

Among us are also those who engage in vigorous, visible and often violent resistance to what they understand lies beneath stories in the news and on the internet and the rules formed ostensibly to control the spread of the virus and create compliance within society as a whole. “We have to prevent chaos,” the enforcers of law and order may say, but chaos is an integral part of transition. The protestors see what may be coming; they see that what very possibly may be created is contrary to what most of us, awake or not, value and want. They take to the streets, march and perhaps riot. They may attack those they see as the oppressors, use strong language, directly confront the wrongs they see, and try in any way they can to oppose. They do not understand the energy. Protests are initially useful to call attention to something; after that, they simply reinforce what we do not want. The focus on the protest donates energy to the thing one is protesting. It would be better to focus on creating and modeling the change which is desired.

Yet another group – few but growing – either possess or are quickly learning the skill of dancing with the ineffable energy which surrounds us all and from which we emerge. These fellow humans recognize what is going on and are aware of the dangers humanity may be facing as a result of the outcome of the transition. However, because they understand creative energy, life force, they refuse to donate energy to those things by giving them their attention. They recognize what currently exists – the chaos and transition and the various energies contained within it – but refuse to join the worry about it. This is different from the group that is too jaded to act, but who still maintain a level of worry. This last group understands the necessity of remaining as upbeat as possible, and of responding with as much love and non-judgment as they can. That doesn’t mean that they agree with everything or that they think anything goes. They simply refuse to directly oppose, and instead focus on modeling what they believe to be the most just or loving way they can. They are also the ones who love the Earth and model what will heal her (and truly, thereby save us).

These are broad categories, and, because everything and everyone does not neatly fit into boxes, they are not strictly definitive. However, they are good examples of the way various people are responding to the pandemic, the chaos, and the transition. I think we can each recognize ourselves, at least a little bit, in these extremely broad outlines. We are all helping to shape what comes from the transition. There is not one of us who does not affect it. The final result will emerge from our combined visions and actions, mixed together into a new manifestation. Much of the result will come from those of us who understand energy; it will be reinforced by the attitudes and actions of those who do not. Not one of us can truthfully say, “It’s not my responsibility.” Not one of us can avoid choosing, actively or passively, a path.

Now, when there is time amidst the chaos, let us take time to reflect on the path we are choosing, the results which may emerge from that path, the talents we have and those skills we want or need to learn, who our allies will be, and whether or how we wish to benefit each other and the Earth.

If we do not like what uncover as we reflect, there is time still to consciously change to a stance we would rather have. We are all able to do this, but releasing apathy is prerequisite to being able to consciously choose or change or create. Let us wish each other well.

Peace, Diane

Regaining Our Connection

The news was on in the background as I worked on my computer, proceeding as news normally does, when my ears picked up some words that did not at all sound like what is regularly on the news. It sounded more like a part of a science fiction show, or perhaps a section of a movie about healing via a strange version of the esoteric. I focused and was astounded by what I saw (although I admit that afterwards I laughed at the absurdity). An elderly woman, ostensibly a doctor, was passionately warning people to make sure God was watching when they had intercourse to make sure that they were not sleeping with spirits and demons (which was the cause of illness) and that vaccines were made with alien DNA. Was this really a news program?? It was, and this was the person with whom Trump wishes to replace the current senior advisor on the pandemic, Dr. Fauci. Replace Dr. Fauci with a witch doctor???? (Not to be confused with shamans, who are sane.) Alice in Wonderland had just expanded exponentially. I have my reservations about vaccines, especially about the designer vaccine being hurriedly developed to ward off the Coronavirus, but I am certain the vaccine has not been made with alien DNA.

The news is also telling us that we need to come together to defeat the virus. This is partly true. However, the news puts out mixed messages about connecting with each other. It says we should stay connected virtually and by acts of charity performed within the parameters of distancing, connecting at a surface level but continuing to wear masks and stay in our houses, or at least six feet away from each other. I believe the reasoning is that if we do this, we will feel satisfied, rather than isolated from each other. People do not like to be deprived of touch and of proximity. Despite the surface nature of its pronouncement, the news is not incorrect in this matter. We do need to connect, more than virtually, more than just sharing a meal outside a restaurant at tables six feet apart.

I am not talking about being sheep in a herd, led by the latest official direction and pressure from the bandwagon. People who connect respect the individuality of each other; they listen and discuss; they cooperate without pressuring each other to conform. For example, whatever I may think of masks, it does not hurt me to wear one either out of concern for the safety of others or simply to refrain from adding to the already overwhelming anxiety that many people feel. Being vaccinated with a vaccine I do not think is safe and doubt is effective or being tracked to ensure that I get vaccinated is a completely different matter. There is a difference between radical cooperation and tyranny. We need to come together in cooperation at a deeper level, to sustain each other, to survive as a species and to influence the evolution of events towards a healed Earth, disease-free living, and a just, compassionate and respectful social and economic order.

One concept we have for a long time been taught is that life is competitive; it is everyone for him/herself and for his/her immediate family. Our schools, with their system of grades, are built that way. The economic inequality we currently experience is built on a foundation of competition, winner take all. Now that we are faced with the challenge of the pandemic (and also the ongoing challenge of an ever-warming Earth), we seem unable to come together to solve it using the standard competitive paradigm.

To achieve the deep cooperation we need is a major undertaking. We once had that kind of cooperation, when people lived in tribes, or even in small neighborhoods, and worked together for the benefit of all. Sure, there were disagreements then, but the disagreements were not allowed to destroy the well-being of the whole. In various ways, the community would help the members who were at odds with each other work out their differences in ways that allowed life to go on. We have lost that. Now we have competition, fights, wars, winners, losers, and increasing chaos. The mainly competitive path is not working.

To succeed in reclaiming cooperation between ourselves, we must change the directive which instructs us that life is every man or woman for himself or herself, and that we need to defeat someone else in order to be successful or happy. We have to give up some of our defining individualism, sacrificing some of it to the benefit of the whole. No, our individual identities will not go away completely. We are, after all, each unique, each an irreplaceable individual. The value of our talents, though, must be geared towards helping the other unique individuals with whom we live. The community supports us; we support the community. That is the essence of cooperation. We work together towards what we all in our wisdom perceive to be the best. That is quite different than a government, or corporations, deciding what is best and giving us the illusion that if we just do it their way, we may manage to succeed, and life will be good for some of us at least.

Cooperative community is the way of the future. It is in process; the substance is still evolving. In community, each voice is heard, and time is taken to reach consensus. Consensus is possible because people have learned to listen, and to discuss their differences and respect another’s stance without needing to feel that they have ‘won’. People work with and support each other. The wisdom of even a few is not only heard but incorporated into consensus decisions. Because the process takes time, the pace is slower, less frenzied. This is new to us; if there are even distant memories of how it was, we still need to learn or relearn the patterns. However, this ‘road less taken’ is the one that can lead us into a healed, peaceful world, prosperous equally for all.

Now is the time for change; now is the time for action. If we shy away from this deeper working together, we are abdicating any influence we might have on what evolves. Do we wish to live in the world some distant authority prescribes for us? We can see the beginning of that now. Let us pause now to think, to come together, to know each other as the wonderful, creative people we are at heart, and to use our combined talents to build a world in which we wish to live.

Peace, Diane