With so much uncertainty in our world today—in politics, fake news, environmental issues, technological issues and so on—many are feeling deeply concerned about where we as a society are heading.
One response is to cling to and defend our longstanding beliefs—the ones we’ve invested our sense of security and belonging in—but that only creates more conflict, giving rise to fear, anxiety and anger whenever those old ideals are threatened. Another response is to feel moved to get involved, and try to initiate real change, but then we’re often left feeling increasingly disillusioned, as we start to realise how we’re only dealing with the symptoms of a much deeper, underlying cause.
So what is the deeper diagnosis for our dis-ease?
When you pluck a flower out from the ground, it may look beautiful for a few days in a vase on the table, but in truth it immediately begins to wither and die; and the same is true of us in feeling cut off from the source of our being.
In our modern culture we live from a shut down, individualistic perspective; we learn to associate happiness and human thriving with material wealth—which governments, the media and advertisers positively encourage—meanwhile our ever increasing levels of consumption continue to damage the environment and deplete the world’s resources. We believe we need to always look good, strong, happy and trouble-free—in order to try to ‘fit in’, to belong, to be accepted—and so we construct an image, act the part, and suppress our fears and vulnerability, making deep and meaningful relationships impossible.
It’s this limited perspective that is the real source of our dis-ease.
The uncomfortable/beautiful truth that we are now being forced to acknowledge, is that neither our governments, nor our possessions, wealth, status, achievements, self-images, partners, whatever, can provide the unshakable safety and security, the deep sense of belonging, the true, lasting fulfilment for which we so long; for the true source of these qualities is OUR VERY OWN BEING—we’ve been looking in the wrong place!
The deep invitation is for each of us to begin to courageously allow those long suppressed fears and vulnerability to finally be acknowledged, to be lovingly included; and as our resistance to that fear dissolves, so too do the boundaries that separate us from each other and the natural world, and we can truly see ourselves in all ‘others’.
Then our natural quality of compassion can flood forth, to inspire real and lasting transformation—first in ourselves, then consequently in our world.
