For much of humanity, the year 2020, and especially this winter, is the darkest time of their lives. It's a time of fear and frustration, of dealing constantly with an unseen, poorly understood "enemy" that seems to have the power to deprive us of life, of coping with economic situations we've never seen before, of feeling cut off and separated from the people and places we hold most dear.
While there are now and have long been troubles in many parts of the world, most of humanity has not faced any sort of hardship in their lives. They have grown up in a time of relative ease, as the global commercial culture has offered more and more interesting tools, toys, and ways to earn an income for more and more people in more and more places over several decades.
So, without a history of having to do without or to find a way through painful or potentially harmful situations, too many people lack the inner skills and tools to help them through this period. Many of them haven't even heard the stories of how their parents or grandparents got through times like these. As a result, they don't know how to make a dollar stretch, or comfort themselves when unexpectedly alone, or connect at a deeper level with folks they don't see regularly. They don't know that "this too will pass," and that even the worst situation is often the best thing that ever happens to us. They only know that they miss what had seemed to be the most important parts of their lives - and they hurt.
The consequences of this lack of knowledge and this deep pain become visible in eruptions of anger and upset. They lead to refusals to go along with regulations and placing blame on whoever's "in charge" or "should have prevented" the situation. They also lead to long hours seeking and searching for an explanation that can make sense, a story of what's happening that makes someone wrong, finding the exploration exciting in itself, getting all kinds of good feelings from solving bits of the puzzle, and beginning to believe that, somehow, that explanation will heal the hurt.
These behaviors are normal, but in a world that has been focusing on short "sound bites" and "memes", rather than in-depth analysis of situations and psychological states, they were not expected. And in a world that can spread such isolated bits of information in a matter of seconds, they have escalated very quickly into what amounts to social movements. And within those movements, no other kind of information is allowed; if it doesn't fit the story they've worked out it must be "fake news."
So now we have a humanity that appears to be divided. And it's not just 2 groups. It's at least 3, maybe 4. One group is those who have been suffering for decades and this is just more - consisting of perhaps 15-20% of the human population (which, by the way, is far fewer than ever before in history). A second group is those who've been through hard times before and are fairly certain they'll make it through, this time, as well, if they just keep centered and do their best - perhaps another 25-30% of folks. The largest group, close to half of the people in the world, are those who are dealing with the unknown and unexpected day-by-day, trying to do the right thing without really knowing how, feeling the strain but willing to keep going for a little while longer, even though they feel hopeless and powerless. The last group - and the most visible and vocal on the news and social media - are the folks who just can't cope with what's happening and are determined that it must be some conspiracy of unreality designed to hurt them and deprive them of their rights and privileges - about 7-10% of the world's population, most loudly in the US, but also gaining ground in other countries.
So now we get to ask the important questions: what do each of these groups represent in me? What part of me feels lost; what part feels like we'll be ok? What part of my consciousness, the mind I'm not always aware of, is certain that someone "out there" is out to take things away from me - and is determined to prove it? What memory or belief have I hung on to that says the world isn't safe and that what is unknown is, by definition, dangerous?
Because, always and everywhere, what we're seeing in the world around us is showing us what we believe, what we hold to be true, what we have assumed to be reality. That's the way the mind works, the way our perceptual systems work, the way humanity is wired. We always see what we believe; no more, no less. Always.
And, as I ask those crucial questions, I can begin to see more and more layers of belief and assumption within me and around me that I have accepted. As I go into the quiet of my own mind, breaking away from the loud voices of fear and distress around me, I find whispers of thoughts and memories - voices of a parent or grandparent, from the television or movie screen, from a book, from the radio and the many songs I've heard or learned to sing. I find bits and pieces of a description of reality that has nothing to do with what's Real, bears no resemblance to the essence of Truth-made-manifest that is our birthright. As I sit or walk and breathe and listen to or let myself see images of what's floating around in my thoughts I begin to understand what it is that I'm seeing in the world - and why.
In most cultures, this technique is taught to children. In almost every culture, this being quiet and reflective is part of each night's process. In the dark we can "see" with our inner vision that which was crowded out by the inputs from our eyes during the day. In our culture, based on the controlling structures of empire, it hasn't been taught, and has been actively discouraged.
Because, as we get in touch with what's Real, we are no longer subject to the fear-and-control mechanisms of the culture; we are able to live "in the world" of global commercial empire, while "not of it." As we understand our own thoughts and motivations we can choose. As we think clearly and intentionally, we can see and experience around us a world that is more like what we were born to be in. And, as we do so, then those things which seemed so daunting or disturbing fade into the far background of our lives - even fade away, for we are not concerned about them or affected by them.
In other times and places, we would be using these long, dark nights to go inside and discover, then release (usually in bonfires) those ideas that no longer serve us - or humanity as a whole - so that in the new year, when the spring returns, we might experience a more heavenly world, a world built on understanding what's Real, rather than on what we have feared and worried about.
Perhaps that's why CoViD-19 lingers? Perhaps we are being called to use this darkest time of history to find the Light of Truth within, to learn to experience and express the Love that is our essence, to make manifest in the world around us the heavenly world that is our birthright.
Here's a link to the talk I gave on finding that Light at the Florence Unitarians for their Dec 13 service: https://youtu.be/ucska5FL-Sc.
While there are now and have long been troubles in many parts of the world, most of humanity has not faced any sort of hardship in their lives. They have grown up in a time of relative ease, as the global commercial culture has offered more and more interesting tools, toys, and ways to earn an income for more and more people in more and more places over several decades.
So, without a history of having to do without or to find a way through painful or potentially harmful situations, too many people lack the inner skills and tools to help them through this period. Many of them haven't even heard the stories of how their parents or grandparents got through times like these. As a result, they don't know how to make a dollar stretch, or comfort themselves when unexpectedly alone, or connect at a deeper level with folks they don't see regularly. They don't know that "this too will pass," and that even the worst situation is often the best thing that ever happens to us. They only know that they miss what had seemed to be the most important parts of their lives - and they hurt.
The consequences of this lack of knowledge and this deep pain become visible in eruptions of anger and upset. They lead to refusals to go along with regulations and placing blame on whoever's "in charge" or "should have prevented" the situation. They also lead to long hours seeking and searching for an explanation that can make sense, a story of what's happening that makes someone wrong, finding the exploration exciting in itself, getting all kinds of good feelings from solving bits of the puzzle, and beginning to believe that, somehow, that explanation will heal the hurt.
These behaviors are normal, but in a world that has been focusing on short "sound bites" and "memes", rather than in-depth analysis of situations and psychological states, they were not expected. And in a world that can spread such isolated bits of information in a matter of seconds, they have escalated very quickly into what amounts to social movements. And within those movements, no other kind of information is allowed; if it doesn't fit the story they've worked out it must be "fake news."
So now we have a humanity that appears to be divided. And it's not just 2 groups. It's at least 3, maybe 4. One group is those who have been suffering for decades and this is just more - consisting of perhaps 15-20% of the human population (which, by the way, is far fewer than ever before in history). A second group is those who've been through hard times before and are fairly certain they'll make it through, this time, as well, if they just keep centered and do their best - perhaps another 25-30% of folks. The largest group, close to half of the people in the world, are those who are dealing with the unknown and unexpected day-by-day, trying to do the right thing without really knowing how, feeling the strain but willing to keep going for a little while longer, even though they feel hopeless and powerless. The last group - and the most visible and vocal on the news and social media - are the folks who just can't cope with what's happening and are determined that it must be some conspiracy of unreality designed to hurt them and deprive them of their rights and privileges - about 7-10% of the world's population, most loudly in the US, but also gaining ground in other countries.
So now we get to ask the important questions: what do each of these groups represent in me? What part of me feels lost; what part feels like we'll be ok? What part of my consciousness, the mind I'm not always aware of, is certain that someone "out there" is out to take things away from me - and is determined to prove it? What memory or belief have I hung on to that says the world isn't safe and that what is unknown is, by definition, dangerous?
Because, always and everywhere, what we're seeing in the world around us is showing us what we believe, what we hold to be true, what we have assumed to be reality. That's the way the mind works, the way our perceptual systems work, the way humanity is wired. We always see what we believe; no more, no less. Always.
And, as I ask those crucial questions, I can begin to see more and more layers of belief and assumption within me and around me that I have accepted. As I go into the quiet of my own mind, breaking away from the loud voices of fear and distress around me, I find whispers of thoughts and memories - voices of a parent or grandparent, from the television or movie screen, from a book, from the radio and the many songs I've heard or learned to sing. I find bits and pieces of a description of reality that has nothing to do with what's Real, bears no resemblance to the essence of Truth-made-manifest that is our birthright. As I sit or walk and breathe and listen to or let myself see images of what's floating around in my thoughts I begin to understand what it is that I'm seeing in the world - and why.
In most cultures, this technique is taught to children. In almost every culture, this being quiet and reflective is part of each night's process. In the dark we can "see" with our inner vision that which was crowded out by the inputs from our eyes during the day. In our culture, based on the controlling structures of empire, it hasn't been taught, and has been actively discouraged.
Because, as we get in touch with what's Real, we are no longer subject to the fear-and-control mechanisms of the culture; we are able to live "in the world" of global commercial empire, while "not of it." As we understand our own thoughts and motivations we can choose. As we think clearly and intentionally, we can see and experience around us a world that is more like what we were born to be in. And, as we do so, then those things which seemed so daunting or disturbing fade into the far background of our lives - even fade away, for we are not concerned about them or affected by them.
In other times and places, we would be using these long, dark nights to go inside and discover, then release (usually in bonfires) those ideas that no longer serve us - or humanity as a whole - so that in the new year, when the spring returns, we might experience a more heavenly world, a world built on understanding what's Real, rather than on what we have feared and worried about.
Perhaps that's why CoViD-19 lingers? Perhaps we are being called to use this darkest time of history to find the Light of Truth within, to learn to experience and express the Love that is our essence, to make manifest in the world around us the heavenly world that is our birthright.
Here's a link to the talk I gave on finding that Light at the Florence Unitarians for their Dec 13 service: https://youtu.be/ucska5FL-Sc.
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