Friends, as I take in what is happening in our world, my heart aches, tears stream from my eyes, and my soul cries out for change.
In early-March, I took part in a ceremony that was one of the most intense I have ever experienced. During that night, I watched a movie play in my mind of the various atrocities happening in our world.
I cried in agony and pleaded for an end to the suffering I was seeing. I heard myself saying over and over, “Spirit, please stop this madness.” and “Somebody, please stop this sh*t show!” That provided no relief and I found myself continuing to feel the pain of suffering.
Later, I began asking Spirit to please help me make sense of things by seeing through the eyes of Spirit, hearing through the ears of Spirit, understanding with the mind of Spirit, and feeling with the heart of Spirit.
In that ceremony, I could not quite get there, but I knew in my heart that seeing from Spirit’s perspective would help me gain a deeper understanding and a more grounded perspective.
Many days later, a thought popped into my head: “I need to stop the madness that I see before me. I can’t ask Spirit or somebody else to do it. I need to do it.”
From a shamanic perspective, we all are Spirit, and this world is a dream that we all are dreaming up together. We are co-creating our world through our thoughts, actions, and vibrations.
When we have a thought of fear, we are adding fear to our world. When we have a thought of love, we are adding love to our world.
So, in order to change what we see, witness, and experience, we need to begin by dreaming a new dream and by changing the energies we put out into the world.
How do we do that? I believe there are many ways, and we can all contribute in the ways that are right for us. As I was reflecting on this question, I was reminded of a quote that I have loved and have had at the signature of my personal email for over ten years:
“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ~ Albert Einstein
Reading it again reminded me of the task before us: To free ourselves from the prison of separation. The separation we perceive is the root of a great deal of the suffering we experience and witness in our world.
I believe this has always been our task, and the extent to which we are realizing it determines how much peace or pain we experience.
As I continued my reflection, some more wise words helped shape my thinking:
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ~ Maya Angelou
I have never witnessed true and lasting transformation that did not come at a great price. Often the price is letting go of old ways of knowing and being. This can be incredibly challenging for us individually and as a collective, even when those ways have proven to be destructive.
A part of us is tremendously fearful of change, so it often fights us tooth and nail as we move towards something new, be it a new personal reality or the desire to build the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible (to borrow the words of Charles Eisenstein).
I know I am in good company when I say, “I am ready for a new dream. I am ready for the more beautiful world my heart not only knows is possible but knows is our destiny.”
Moving towards this change will necessitate the dissolution and release of the old dream of fear, scarcity, hatred, and separation. Death of the old and birth of the new can be incredibly jarring and painful because of the resistance we put up as individuals and as a collective.
So, co-creating the new dream will take courage, perseverance, and mega doses of love and compassion…for ourselves, for each other, for all the beings we share this journey with, and for our dream of a better world.
On a personal level, I know this will require the inner work of facing and healing the delusions of separation and fear that I fall into. I also know it will require changing old patterns and behaviors that no longer serve me or the world.
The personal work also needs to be done on a societal level, so we can face the many injustices present in our world. And so we can come together in solidarity to support the efforts towards greater peace and justice for all.
As always, change can be daunting and messy. It often requires a breakdown of the old, so space can be made for new ways to be born.
I take comfort in the fact that humanity has always experienced tremendous challenges before big breakthroughs were possible. On a personal and collective level, we have often had to hit a rock bottom before we have been able to heal and transform.
As we navigate the times we live in, I invite us to remember that we are not alone on this journey. The truth is that each of us contributes to the whole whether we are conscious of it or not. When we are aware of this truth, we can be more conscious of how and what we contribute.
When we consciously choose to free ourselves from the prison of separation and practice widening our circle of compassion to include all beings and all of creation, we begin to transform our thoughts, our actions, our very presence.
And, through transforming our thoughts, actions, and presence, we contribute to the transformation of our world. We co-create a new dream. We bring a new reality into existence. We give birth to a new self and a new world.