Joyful Hummers Feeding Out Back
Everything is operating on behalf of everything else. Myra Jackson
Everyone has their story. We are all different. We are all the same. Gregge Tiffen
I have frequently said that those things – people, actions, ideas, beliefs, etc. – that we rail against or criticize have a purpose in the unfoldment of life – individually and collectively. I’m reminded of this principle daily (and some days hourly) when my ‘critical eye’ reacts to something or someone in the world or even to me with a quick judgement.
This is not to suggest that we set aside our opinions, beliefs, and such but rather that we recognize that the opinion of other has value to whole. Everything is operating on behalf of everything else.
As the muse and I were putting those words on the page this morning, the melody and some of the lyrics of Pete Seeger’s Turn, Turn, Turn based on verses from Ecclesiastes (3: 1-8). I easily found The Byrds recording that made the song a hit back when I was sweet-16. I rocked along listening for a bit, then discovered a softer version, more suited to my mood, possibly my age (smile!), and more aligned with today’s journey with the muse (click here to listen).
Just as everything is operating on behalf of everything else, so too there is a time and a place for everything – EVERY purpose under heaven. Our world – its ways and its systems built primarily on the masculine story of separation – are crumbling. That world is in its final acts as our planet calls our attention to the reality that this way has had its time and is no longer sustainable. A new way is calling.
Feminine wisdom is calling for us to listen differently, to put our attention not on the crumbling of the old, but to the potent possibility of a future built on feminine principles, including principles and practices of ancient wisdom and the caring that comes with that wisdom.
What are you listening to? Who are you listening to? What are you listening for?
I’m listening to and for those whose work and words support this shift – individually and collectively – for it is only through shifting our focus and attention that the life conditions of this time will be met in ways that sustain life – ALL life. I’m listening not to the mainstream with its doom, gloom, conquest, and competition, but for paths of forging a different future. The projects, people, and possibilities available for us to tap into with ease are right there – like the water we believe will be there when we turn on that tap.
I’ve suggested some of these resources in previous posts (Yes! Magazine, Non-violence News and Pace e Bene, HeartMath, the Shift Network, the practice of Feldenkrais for support embodying change – to name a few). Today, I invite you explore another, Humanity Rising’s Global Solutions Summit and, in particular, to a presentation (their 294th!) earlier this week: Feminine Intelligence for a Regenerative Future (click here to watch– start around minute 8 if you want to skip the preamble and brief centering meditation).
Here you will hear five inspiring women who have answered the call of the feminine and are calling on others to join in bringing the intelligence of the feminine forward. Among them is Lynne Twist (author of The Soul of Money and a co-founder of the Pachamama Alliance) who shared the news, unlikely to be found in the mainstream (and it will delight me if you do!), that a small number of billionaires from both ends of the political spectrum (evangelicals on the right, spiritual folks on the left) have been in dialogue around their shared concern for the future.
This is an example of dialog across vast divides that I’ve envisioned for many years. It is a sign of change, of hope, and of the emergence of awareness that more of the same is not an option on which to build a future world that works for all.
We can do this! Indeed we must!
Stairway to Heaven (Ziggurat) from the Woods Out Back