"The Great Turning"

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is listen to NPR programming. This morning I heard Krista Tippett's interview with Joanna Macy for her program On Being. I strongly encourage you to click this link and listen to the entire program. It's a real gem.

In the interview, Joanna Macy speaks of what she perceives to the "the great turning." She describes this as a transition from a society shaped primarily by industrial growth to a society structured to be life sustaining. 

Photo by Denny Luan at Unsplash

Transitions, you know...they can be rocky. They are, in many ways, a leap of faith.

Just the other day, a remarkable young friend of mine posted on Facebook "Feeling grateful for all the good in my life right now but also struggling to feel any sort of good when there is such an incredible amount of bad in the world right now."

These words went straight to my heart. What would it like to be in my twenties during this time of transition? A conversation with my brilliant nephew this week also touched me deeply, as he shared his views on politics and the upcoming election. So yes, the youth are feeling it...we are all feeling it, even those of us with enough years under our belt to have a broader perspective.

So how do we hold on to the hopeful vision of stepping into a life sustaining society?

Here's what Joanna Macy had to say:

"It's okay not to be optimistic. Buddhist teachings say that feeling you have to maintain hope can wear you out! So just be present. The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present, and when you're worrying about whether you're hopeful or hopeless, or pessimistic or optimistic—who cares? The main thing is that you're showing up. That you're here, and that your finding ever more capacity to love this world. Because it will not be healed without that. That's what will unleash our intelligence and ingenuity, and our solidarity for the healing of our world." 

These words also went straight to my heart. They touched a place deep inside of me that knows this truth: as long as we cannot embrace the wholeness of ourselves, the wholeness of this world, we will remain in the same kettle of soup. 

By wholeness I mean ALL of it—the hope, the fear; the sublime, the depraved; the “good,” the “evil.” The entire messy existence of humanity. It’s ALL ours.

How do we embrace the depraved, the evil? We become present to it. We witness it. We see it as truth. We try to see what’s behind, to understand the truth of the source of it. Because there’s no denying it’s here. It’s present. To deny it does nothing but put off the inevitable time when we finally can see it.

This is true in the society as a whole, but it’s also true inside of ourselves. Those parts of us that we keep hidden, hoping no one will notice. Those parts of us that remain unexpressed because what if people think….?

Image by naturalawakenings.com

Growing our capacity to love the world. Growing our capacity to love ourselves. And others. That is true healing.

I invite you to notice those times when you separate yourself from what’s going on in the world; or when you cordon off parts of yourself and censor your actions. You might notice a constriction in your body, tension, impatience. Judgement. Anger, even hatred. 

Notice these feelings, and then expand into them. See the truth of what’s happening, harness your own intelligence and ingenuity rather than being spoon-fed what you’re supposed to think and feel. 

Feel into how big you really are.

Ever hopeful and ever present-ly yours,

Zardoya