First Light on the Labyrinth
Although stable, form is fragile. It can emerge only under specific circumstances. Eduardo Kohn (from How Forests Think – essay in The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape, Katie Holten. Pg. 105)
I began my day with movement: walking a favorite path before the sun crested the peaks of the Sangres, then the labyrinth, and, finally, a short walk with bare feet on the sand. I’d woken feeling called to be in Nature. I needed her grounding to guide me in bringing forth what is bubbling inside.
For some years the celebrations of July 4th, Independence Day, have rung hollow for me. While I love a parade, good music, food and festivity, I wondered whether and, if so, how I might celebrate in this time of dissolution, division, and rancor when the dark side of who and what we have been is coming to light.
The ‘dust’ of separation in its many forms swept under the rug for far too long has grown to dangerous mounds that the rug will no longer hide. Colonization. Slavery (with forms and disguises of its own). Racism. Inequality. Environmental degradation. Sexism. War mongering. Corporatocracy. Injustice. Violence. Untruth.
I feel a deep sadness that we have fallen so short of the ideals set forth on parchment in Philadelphia a short 248 years ago. We have not created the circumstances that would allow these ideals to flourish in form. Indeed, we have tamped them out at many turns, favoring profit over people, competition over cooperation, and encouraging war not peace. We’ve created and been allegiant to systems and forms that are contrary to the idea that we are all equal. We’ve cast aside the indigenous wisdom that we are one with Mother Earth and should listen, cooperate, learn from and with Her.
I’m aghast at our arrogance on the world stage and the treachery of our backstage ‘performances’, present and past. I no longer buy this story. I don’t feel the love of or loyalty to the country that I was raised to feel. I cannot and will not mindlessly pledge allegiance to a flag or sing its praises in a national anthem. I won’t cheer fireworks that celebrate war as they disturb the peace of many – those who suffer PTSD, our animal companions, Nature and her creatures.
I see little honor in our history – a history of enacting violence on one another and plundering the planet. All in the name of competition and separation. Believing ‘my way is better than yours’ so you must follow me (all too often under threat of death). We are not mindful and honoring of our connection to one another or to Gaia, our planet home as we cling to the fallacy of ‘survival of the fittest’.
And so, I place my attention and intentions elsewhere. The winds of change are blowing. Mother Earth and all her creatures, including we humans, are in the crucible of change – the crumbling of the old to make way for the emergence of the new. New light and new energy to adapt to and integrate. Evolutionary emergence.
Releasing and dissolving the old is messy. It’s scary. What’s ahead is unknown, yet its potential is deeply buried as seeds of knowing that a more beautiful world is possible. Seeds that will burst forth as more and more hearts awaken to their call. Seeds nourished by mindful choices and grace, not by systems currently hanging in place.
Late last week as I was reflecting on recent events and on the more beautiful world that I want to participate in co-creating, these words landed on the pages of my journal:
How can I be in the grace of the emergent world?
The Grace of Emergence is the antidote to the chaos of dissolution.
Grace grounded in wholeness, the recognition that we are all One.
Grace grounded in love.
Grace grounded in interconnection and interweaving – of ALL threads.
What threads of light remain in the ashes of what is dissolving?
How do we weave them?
What remains beneath discord and distrust?
What deep knowing is rising to be woven into the fabric of Life to burn away that which stands in the way of service to ALL Life?
Yes, I will celebrate the day. I will tap into the ideals and ripe possibilities yearning to emerge. A more beautiful, just, and collaborative future will have my pledge. My dance to the music will hold the intention to call forth that world. For me. For you. For all. And for all who come to call this planet home in the future.
Old Makes Way for New Growth and Change