In the same way as the people of Europe discovered from Copernicus in the 16th century that the earth was neither flat nor the centre of everything, that the earth revolved around our sun – we the same people with the Western
or European questioning mind are now learning the difficult news that we the
human species are not at the top of the ladder of evolution or existence for that
matter. We are not at the centre of life. We are learning that life is a community, an ecosystem in which all forms of life
carry a novel and essential gift to be passed from one to another. We need each other. We are
inseparably one and whole and therefore immutably connected.
This boundary crossing point of realisation is what Martin
Shaw would call a Trickster moment, what Goethe might describe as inter-subjectivity
or Thich Nhat Hanh suggests is interbeing and what Thomas Berry names as
the Great Work. The western, dominant cultural story is changing. We are in a period
of transition, shifting sands below, moving clouds above, consciousness rising.
The constellations are reconfiguring our perception of the inner and outer
landscapes and images we navigate by.
Charles Eisenstein puts it like this – the new story is the
old story. I would declare it’s more than new wine in old bottles. Perennial wisdom has
been carried and cared for by first nation’s people down the millennia. They have kept the flame burning
during some extraordinary arduous tough times and yet the new old story is more
than harking back to the past. The western curious mind is on a journey, as dark
and violent as it has been like all quests the detritus possesses gifts to be
revealed and to be shared among us. Let us honour the lotus flower, praise the
baby to be born in this creative moment. To overlook them, worst still, to not
even expect or seek the jewel would be a tragedy.
What is different now?
We no longer need gurus or lone wolfs as we have – we do not need to perpetuate the culture of
individualism. That time has gone.
The task we are grappling with can’t be done without one
another, shoulder to shoulder. Nor can we do this unless each one of us reflects
within and takes responsibility for ourselves and does our own shadow work –
shit shoveling if you will. Unity, wholeness, healing comes at the cross-roads
at the meeting point of paradox. In this uncomfortable place change can happen.
To do this we need to carve out our practices, whatever they maybe – singing,
music, arts, movement, prayer, writing, silence, pilgrimage, incantation ...
The old story can slip from our eyes and we can see a new. We
need to be initiated by one another. We need to be heard, to be listened to and
for others to bear witness to all our stories. We need to meet in circle. More
than that we need to participate together in this process. This is
not a time for passivity, for observers, for hangers-on. We all need to step up
and be seen in our uniqueness and in our unity.
This is not only a human experience. Now is the time for
interspecies recognition and communication.
There may be a human family, joyous as this is – there is a far bigger
life family ... a consciousness coming into being – each of us has a role to
play and a gift to offer in service to the planetary cosmic consciousness we
are.
It’s a time to wake up and be awakened with no judgement, no shame.
I think Joanna Macy’s 'Work That Reconnets', the Be The Change symposium and other
eco-workshops are designed to awaken people. It’s like the hero’s journey
described by Joseph Campbell; or the first half of life described by Richard
Rohr; or the first half of Parsifal’s quest to heal the Fisher King. Finding
and falling in love is not the end of the story; persisting in love is the key
that needs turning now. The Hollywood ending of romantic love is where many people are
stuck believing this is it – as good as it gets! This is not it, it's not enough, nor is it the
end of the road and yet still it is where many of us find ourselves today, perpetually
going round the falling in love wheel – hence the fixation on youth and
newness.
What we need is the post-heroic quest. We need to heal the
Fisher King, find our holy grail and return to the village with our gift in
service to our community - human and other than human. And this in part is why we
need to sit together and listen to each others stories – to witness people’s
arrival back into the village - The Return - This is why we are so sadly
missing our elders. They are needed now to welcome the creative genius of youth
as it ventures back from the desert, forest or wasteland into the village. For
this to be done as it should it needs ritual space and a reverence for the
sacred in life.
I am a story carrier. Please come and tell me your story.
