We are at a transition time. What used to work — or seemed to work for some of us — no longer answers our needs as a human family living on planet Earth. What is coming is yet unclear, although we know it has to do with all of us. The world, if looked at as a body in need, has hot spots – places of great charge. We wish to do something to bring about a helpful change – and often we aren’t sure what to do. We wonder if we do something… will it help? Does our contribution matter?
This is a time of awakening. Throughout history, terrible calamities have occurred all over the world, which were tragic for those involved at that time and place, but somehow this was accepted as the way life is. Now and perhaps for the first time we have a sense of shared feeling when there is a plane crash in the mountains, or a boat sinking with hundreds of refugees aboard, or the daughters of a village kidnapped and missing in the forest, or young men shot and killed unjustly, and as a civilization we care as we never have before. Funds are raised, missions are sent, demonstrations are held. The human race is coming ever more into the awareness that we are one people, sharing a great but finite home in the solar system. We are even learning through science that our thoughts, attitudes and emotions affect our reality in heretofore unknown ways. Every day, we are seeking that moment of inspiration when something transformational can occur.
These moments occur through grace or chance; probably everyone experiences something like this at least once in life. There is the glance that connects strangers and leads to a life of love and partnership. Someone has an idea that revolutionizes medical care. A well is dug in a village that has never had access to clean water. We marvel at these developments and hope for more, yet we do not need to passively wait for inspiration to strike out of the blue. We can learn to participate, to co-create, through our consciousness, in the evolution of a new way of being in the world. For this to happen, we need to examine our assumptions and question what we think we know.
Many of us have been taught to think small and stay in our place. Yet it has been said, and we believe that it is true, that each of us is vast beyond the confines of the body that we take to be our self. Even the stuff of our bodies is stardust, the atoms created in the Big Bang and blown throughout the universe, coalescing as stars, exploding in volcanoes, walking as dinosaurs, moving though the soil of the earth to arise as a plant, find more awareness as an animal and awaken as a body, perfectly designed for the soul of a human child. Everything that we see has been something else and will yet transform again infinitely. Somehow, everything belongs in the complete spectrum of experience, from incredibly tiny to immensely large. Here we are, in the midst of it.
Even that which we cannot see has an effect on us. Science tells us that everything we perceive, all that is, is some form of mostly emptiness, vibration and light. Even stranger, we have discovered that most of what exists is hidden from our measurements and observations. We call this dark matter and dark energy for lack of better words. The universe is a place of mystery and potential beyond all imagination, but we are preoccupied with the most mundane of concerns most of the time.
How do we break through? How do we contribute to the awakening that will shift the way we live together so that we may not only survive but thrive? Ancient knowledge and practice can be incorporated into the life of the modern person to foster the awakening that must occur at this time. Some indigenous people say that the “great turn” has already happened, and what we need to do is focus on what is emerging in our relationship with each other, the world and Life itself, to keep it going. Alliances with South American tribes have sent communications to awaken western societies to the destruction of the earth that has taken place in the last two centuries (or more) and to encourage us to awaken from the dream of consumption and waste. In late summer and early fall 2014, a small group of friends traveled to New Zealand and throughout the American Southwest, eventually reaching watershed moments at the Climate March in New York City. These efforts continue as we form new linkages and connections across continents and oceans.
You may wish to help by offering support to these projects, participating as you are able and finding ways in your community to raise awareness of climate change, social justice and spiritual ecology. In your personal meditative practice, you can raise your awareness by simply paying attention to your breathing. Notice the light in your breath, the energy that is drawn from the atmosphere around you that enters your physical body, animates and nourishes it, and then returns to your surroundings to be exchanged with plants and trees. Notice that it is possible to breathe in from a source deep within the earth, drawing this up into your body, connecting to the universe beyond the solar system, and returning through you into the earth again, nourishing and sustaining her. Bring your awareness to the energy of the sun, perfectly situated in relationship to our planet to encourage and sustain life. Feel gratitude at every opportunity, for the breath, for the light, for the all-pervading life in space. If you find yourself preoccupied with small matters, shift your glance from close in to infinity and back. Remember that we are a small speck on the edge of a vast galaxy in a universe full of countless galaxies all rushing away from each other at incredible speed and ask yourself, “What’s the big deal?” about your current problem. Notice the space between yourself and others, and be present to that. Give a little credence to your intuition when it offers you a warning or a suggestion; follow it and see what happens. If you notice something that needs attention, report in to the Source of All, ask for what is needed, and then you be the first to ‘answer your prayer’ by doing one small thing to help.
Prepare to take the next step. We will not be going back to what existed before. The way is forward, into the unknown. We can draw upon our collective cosmic inheritance. It is known that many of the indigenous people point to the stars as the place of their origin. Reach for that light which has traveled to reach our eyes for millions of light years and let the light of your aura mingle with it. Raise yourself above the distinctions and differences which divide us. Pray in the way that nourishes your hope. Change what your can in your sphere of influence. Tune in and come together. Come into the circle of healing to bring more light, more love, more kind and caring thought, and more vibrant life into every activity, every moment. We – all those who are stepping forward – welcome you. You are not alone in serving the need of today.
Many Blessings,
Devi Tide, for the Healing Order