LET IT BEGIN WITH ME

7.5.18

Recently I had to get my blood drawn at a neighborhood lab office.  I arrived shortly after 8AM, signed the clipboard and seated myself in the waiting room among perhaps a dozen other people.  I opened the book I’d brought and began to read. 

Within moments I found myself distracted by jabs of uncomfortable feelings, and raised my eyes to survey the room.  I noticed my companions shifting impatiently in their chairs, the room tense with an undercurrent of barely repressed anger.  I heard the receptionist telling a client one of the staff had called in sick and that the computer kept freezing up. These remarks sent an eddy of deeper disgruntlement through the waiting room. 

Person after person continued to arrive until the chairs were full and people were standing.  The anger and frustration became more apparent, and I found them welling up in myself.  I felt angry at the universe for my situation; for having to come here on a day when everything was in chaos.  A mother and teenage son arrived for their appointment and were escorted back to the nurses immediately. The waiting room crackled with murmurs of annoyance.  I recalled that I could have made an appointment to bypass waiting, but the first appointment time had been 9:00, and I’d hoped to be gone by then. 

The anger grew more and more palpable. I hated being in that waiting room. I hated the feelings rising up in me. I contemplated getting up and leaving, knowing I’d have to come back another day and endure it all again.

And then… I realized… I had a choice. I could continue in this misery or I could accept the situation and reach deeper into myself to find peace. 

The suffering was so uncomfortable, I let it go.  I remembered that we come into this life to help one another through the lessons of life on earth, and I was currently contributing to the problem.

I let go of my choice to take the situation personally and be offended by it.  It took a minute to let go - my ego was very invested in being offended.  And then, it became apparent that this was a chance to offer something different.  If I could be so affected by the anger all around me, then others could be affected by acceptance and patience in me.  I sat back and let the acceptance wash over me, felt the patience and calm deep in my center, and let my tensed body language relax. 

In the 20 minutes or so that I continued to wait, as peace mixed with the anger in the room, the atmosphere began to change.  When I was finally called and offered up my arm to a harried nurse in blue scrubs, she said, “Thank you for not being angry.”  I realized that she’d been on the receiving end of the waiting-room energy.  And I was grateful that for at least one person, my peace had made a difference.

METAMORPHOSIS

6.14.18

In describing the transition humanity is now experiencing, the example's been used of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Humankind as a species can be seen in chrysalis mode, locked within its earthly cocoon while it morphs into a more mature and magical creature.

When the caterpillar's cocoon is complete, its body dissolves into a jelly-like substance.  Within this state, imaginal cells emerge and begin subtly creating a new structure.  Unseen to the world, the body and wings of the butterfly-to-be are taking shape. But if judged by appearances, the miracle in progress would look like a puddle of jelly and a complete failure.

Humanity is at a similar point. The chaos we see all around us seems so senseless at times it's overwhelming.  It's hard to believe a miracle is in progress when what surrounds us feels incomprehensible and appears to be failing.  We despair that things will ever get better.

When we can't make intellectual sense of the chaos, it's good to remember that we don't need to understand it. What's taking place is an evolutionary leap, part of a design so vast it's not in the nature of creation that the human mind be able to understand it. 

The intelligence that crafted the Universe is at work here. Just as the galaxies have been so masterfully formed, just as the butterfly emerges when the transformation is complete, so too humanity will slowly emerge on the other side of this turmoil.  In the decades to come, a new grace will become evident in our lives as we begin to recall our place in the family of the cosmos. The current era will fade from memory as we lift on the wings of a new spirit and begin a journey of discovery.

GO,WORLD! THE OLYMPIC GAMES

8.5.12

For those involved in the transition taking place on the earth and within our species, there is deep joy in recognizing how far we have come already. 

One example of the unfolding shift in consciousness can be seen in the current Olympic games. As humanity participates in this event, either directly or in a spectator role, the focus is no longer exclusively on the competitive aspect.  There is an awareness present of being one human family, an awareness that's experienced by each nation, each athlete, each citizen. Humanity is beginning to understand the sameness that bonds us all. 

There’s recognition of the heart connection that exists within each nation and each team. We rise to the opportunity to honor that, in our own nation and in our fellow nations.

It was said back in the cold war days that peace would come when people in the U.S. understood that Russian parents love their children as much as we love ours.  This is the same recognition that’s occurring through the vehicle of the Olympics: We feel the respect and honor each country has for its athletes, and in this we are bonded.  In this era of outward conflict and disharmony in the world, there’s great goodness when we can watch our global family come together in an event of discipline, honor and companionship.

RENEWAL

8.2.12

It never ceases to amaze me that by getting up an hour earlier it's possible to hop on a plane and be in a different world by 10:00 the same morning. 

I recently traveled from summer-scorched Denver to Southern California for an interlude of renewal. In the presence of the sea, I felt my soul entirely transfigured by wonder. The interplay of water and light we call "ocean" is alchemy for the spirit, a witnessing presence abiding eternally in calm depths and endless miles of liquid intelligence.

I swear, it's an open portal to higher consciousness if we can just step through.

OVER THE RAINBOW

7.30.12

A sumptuous video from the life celebration of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, set to his amazing rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  This offering soars to touch us in places that are hidden and cherished.  

Float with the way he mixes up the lyrics, seeming almost whimsical but playing with the mind and opening the heart so deeply... There is magic and a glimpse of undreamt possibilities sparkling through to us.

Wonderful work, Iz.

DEEPENING

7.26.12

And as we move along the path, awakening to greater levels of reality, we deepen our ability to perceive the goodness and the beauty of the Divine in the world around us, the intelligence and benevolence of the created world in action. Initially it’s easier to see in nature, in the unspoiled character of plant life, rivers, mountains, animals.  In the natural world there’s not the capacity of mind that has taken humans down a path distant from their divine nature. 

The natural world retains its constant awareness of connection with divine nature. It’s perhaps the easiest place to see that, and so when we long for evidence of the divine to inspire us and assure us, comfort us, the natural world is the place we turn.

But as we grow in our capacity to perceive the divine there, we begin to see that that divine nature is also present in ourselves and in other human beings. We begin to see that that divine nature is at work even in the events of the chaotic human world that surrounds us.  It’s relatively easy to see it in goodness; in compassionate, caring behaviors.  The associations are easier in those instances. But we develop a larger awareness that extends even to events and activities that look wrong or evil by our human label. These events look detrimental to the world, and yet they’re all brought about by the divine at work in human beings. 

Over time, we can begin to find the same trust we feel for the benevolent manifestations in these challenging manifestations.  The divine intent is just as present in the events we find challenging as it is in the events we appreciate. For reasons beyond our knowing, these lessons in the Earth School – a currently incomplete reality - are necessary for our evolutionary path. 

We have the exquisite opportunity to trust the intelligence infinitely larger than our own.  And as we awaken into an expanded reality, we’ll find that the path we've traveled has served the evolutionary path of not only our species, but the greater cosmic life. 

EXPANDED PERSPECTIVE 2

7.24.12

Tools are being provided to us at this time in history to unlock our consciousness from the limits that have imprisoned it. 

Astronauts who have traveled to the moon share their experience of being outside the density of consciousness present on earth. They describe a deep illuminating awareness of their relationship to the galaxy and the entire cosmic organism. They experience a deep conviction of purpose and benevolence in the character of the universe.

Here on earth, we find it’s becoming more and more unbearable being imprisoned by the limits of a materialistic, humanly dictated worldview.  Something has to give.

By design, that unbearableness is the necessary motivation to evolve, to escape the prison of fear-bound orientation. Because it’s unbearable, we choose to evolve.  We are driven to look elsewhere  -- to the tools that are opening new portals of awareness.  We can sense our larger place and relationship within the cosmos, and our destiny, which is to break free.

So the very things that make our world so uncomfortable right now are the things that galvanize us to move forward, to move upward, and to embrace a more illumined and compassionate view of life.  Let us take up those tools and craft a new experience of humanity.