For all of us, a personal narrative is playing out against the backdrop of a much bigger world picture -- collapses both political and environmental, climate chaos, and coronavirus. To be experiencing any measure of personal uncertainty at such at time is overwhelming, yet most of us are. How do we navigate this upheaval?
Over the last decade, my personal landscape has often seemed as uncertain on the small scale as things look right now on the larger scale, and the only thing that has kept me going, in moments of fear and blindness, is love. Not romantic love, or enormous saintly outpourings of lovingkindness. Just step-by-step, trying to remember and honor what it is that I love. Noticing a color that I love, or a snippet of music that I love, or animals playing in the grass, or someone being kind to someone else at the store. Giving generously when I feel led to, or backing into silence and meditation when I feel led to. There are only two main emotions, love and fear, so it's important not to open the door to the maelstrom of fear. Because it is a maelstrom, and it sucks me in in a heartbeat. For someone who used to work in the news industry, I pay as little attention to the news as I can, because it stokes such an immediate fear reaction, whether it means to or not.
And I try to remember what I believe with all my heart: there is no such thing as death. All of us are everlasting beings. Whether we choose in any given lifetime to be on planet earth for three days or 103 years, our higher selves make the conscious choice when to return to the spirit realm. Does this mean to ignore catastrophes, or not to try to help people in emergency situations? No. But as a culture we are so very fearful of death, when it really doesn't exist. Fearlessness in the face of chaos is easier when you know nothing can ultimately harm you. And when you respect the other person as another eternal being, you have no wish to harm them either.
Kind of preachy today. Ugh. But I'll let it be.
