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a Moment for Wisdom… |
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DAILY WISDOM:
Bruce Mau
Sharif Abdullah
Hopi elder
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Personal Wisdom:
Do you know where you are going? Do you Do you see yourself as a powerful agent of change? Why not?
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Societal Wisdom:
What makes our society so powerless? It is
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a Moment with Sharif… |
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Mau’s comment rings true… why? Not only are we best-educated, networked, connected and informed, we sit on top of technological marvels that almost demand that we change the world. And yet we feel powerless. In my travels, I see people afraid to tackle the big questions, content to solve the problems that they believe they can solve. They seem content to debate the latest Congressional absurdity, discuss the latest silly television show… they seem content to play shuffleboard on the Titanic. Where are our Einsteins, our Wright Brothers, our Edisons? Where are our Gandhis, our Kings, our Havels? Where are the leaders with truly BIG VISIONS? (And, if they are out there – why are so few listening to them?) This is the reason so many were excited by Obama the Campaigner… and are deeply disappointed in Obama the President. If the Hopi quote is accurate, my next question is: WHY ARE WE STILL WAITING? I believe that the circumstances of the world do indeed conspire to create a path for For me, the power to change the world comes from my commitment to a vision: a world Yes, this is the best-educated, most-connected… and least visionary generation of people to ever live on this planet. Let’s do something about that!
Peace,
Sharif
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Acknowledgments: All photos by Sharif Abdullah, unless otherwise noted.
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I was listening to a Canadian Doctor on Democracy Now who was talking about the connection between addiction, childhood abuse and neglect, and the war on drugs. This doctor was saying that most people who were or have been an addict were abused as children either sexually, emotionally, or verbally. Childhood abuse and neglect comes out of stressed parenting and the condition faced by mothers, children and families in our society. Children’s early brains are very delicate and stress causes problems in the neural pathways to the point that neglect/abuse can cause dramatic structural changes int he brain. He said childhood abuse is the biggest public health crisis we face today.
We’ve also been the most tampered with and/or poisoned generations (via food, water, atmosphere, media, chemicals, vaccines, radiation, emf’s, etc.) with the wider reaching abusive, controlling use of technological powers. Keeping many in constant states of “fight, flight or freeze” instinctive survival reactions. Women & children generally the first to feel it, to demonstrate the consequences, being the most sensitive. The awareness and my direct experience of this has expanded my understanding and compassion for what I formerly judged as merely weak-will, apathy and character defects.
Our potential: we are more than just three-dimensional physical beings. These crises may be our evolutionary driver to discover and access latent abilities and co-creative wisdom for how to respond to these modern, covert forms of abuse and slavery designed to keep the populace unempowered, addicted, weak and sick. To meet these challenges, can we find within us a willingness to open to higher guidance and abilities? Consistently aligning empowered vision and corresponding behavior and action that may indeed allow for our becoming “the ones we’ve been waiting for”…
Today’s message struck a special cord with me because it is related to something that I have already been contemplating, especially over the past several days. My contemplation has focused on the question, “What do we need?” and upon our seeming inability or unwillingness to truly embrace this question and attempt to answer it.
In the Commonway community, we talk about “the Mess” created out of “Breaker” consciousness and the potential for co-creating a world that works for all out of an alternative “Mender” consciousness. The Mess is what we have collectively observed (and judged) as that which is not working to create and sustain a world that works for all.
So, what does a world that works for all look and feel like? And, what can Menders actually do to co-create such a world?
Personally, I have been frustrated by the fact that we have been discussing “what is broken and needs fixing” (i.e., the Mess) for a long time now without much in the way of tangible insights into what Menders can actually do to begin – and complete – the transition into the new paradigm of a world that is truly functional and sustainable for everyone. Is such a world even possible aside from an esoteric dream? I know that most of us want to believe that such a world is actually possible, even though we can’t seem to decisively envision and accurately describe it at present.
An awareness of the extent and significance of the Mess, together with a sense of limited empowerment to do anything meaningful about it, can raise anxiety leading to a fearful response. But, it doesn’t have to do so. Because of this possibility, however, some are resistant to even discuss the matter. I have even heard arguments that exploring tangible opportunities for resolving our present-day challenges is synonymous with a lack of faith and vision and acting out of fear that “we have to FIX something!” Well, we do.
I reject the notion that we only need to patiently wait for … God? … someone else? … “time”? … to be inspired and come up with the “Mender Plan” for us. I reject this notion not out of fear and a sense of impending doom but as a result of embracing the notion that the Divine can act for us only by acting through us. As Gandhi admonished, “We are the ones that we have been waiting for!”
Yes, we must embrace and move beyond our fear, rather than denying it and allowing it to bewilder, blind and stop us. Yes, we must first attend and attune to our inner Essence, opening to the Grace of Divine guidance and inspiration moving in, through, and as us – raising us up into ever higher consciousness and awareness and allowing our inner transformation to emanate from us as our new co-creation of life experience. But, we must not wait for someone else to do this work! It is ours to do, here and now! And, we must communicate and cooperate together for our inspiration and ideas to manifest as tangible progress.
I get it that our feet must be on solid ground as we begin in earnest. I understand and accept the importance of exploring our thoughts and emotions to discern their true origin before allowing them to serve as our guiding motivation in the actions we choose to take. I fully embrace the importance of being in attunement with the wisdom of our inner Essence and acting always from a place of unconditional love and mindfulness of that which is in the best interest of all. Of course! How else might we envision and co-create a world that works for everyone?
SO, … What do we truly need? To deny that we have real, tangible needs is pointless unless you are referring only to our existence in ultimate, formless Reality. In ultimate Reality, I Am, We Are, and we need nothing. Fine. But, manifestation in physicality takes place in Form. All form has a beginning and an ending. In between the transitional aspects of “beginning” and “ending” each and every form that we have individually and collectively taken requires maintenance (i.e., energy input and release). Expressed in form, we have needs! Expressed as humans living on Earth, we have needs.
Consciously co-creating a world that works for all requires that we understand our fundamental needs and that we do what is ours to do in cooperation with Nature to address those needs. What, then, are our fundamental needs; and what is ours to do (in coordination and cooperation with nature) to adequately address them? What are we doing well, and what needs improvement?
Here is my recommendation to myself and to others. Keep a journal as you walk through your day. Note what you are needing right now – sunlight, gravity, oxygen, water, safety, food, clothing, shelter, consciousness, connection, opportunity, … whatever. Do this at least two or three times during your day for at least a couple of weeks, adding new material (and perspective) to your list each day. At the end of each day, note why you need what you think you needed – what purpose does it serve and how important is it? What is its source (where does it come from and how do you get it)? What, if anything, did you have to do to assist in meeting each need? How does this need relate to others that you have identified? What functional systems (natural or otherwise) are necessary to meet, or allow you to meet, your needs?
This, I believe, is fundamental knowledge that we must have to begin an informed discussion of what it would actually take – locally, now – for us to cooperate in co-creating our own “self-contained” (more or less) and sustainable environmental system. If we can begin to understand more deeply the ins and outs of that process, then perhaps we can also begin to deal more effectively with the issue of co-creating a larger, more inclusive, and sustainable environmental system. Here, I am including our spiritual, mental, emotional, social, and cultural aspects of being along with our physical needs in the definition of our “sustainable environmental system”.
Is anyone else interested in doing this exercise with me? If so, please let me know. All comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
Bless You!
Chuck
Lovely idea, Chuck! I will add this to the food journal I’ve started (definitely related). I’ll also suggest this to folks who show up for the World That Works Life Group at New Thought Center for Spiritual Living, Wednesdays, 8:00-9:30 p.m. Self-led, working/playing with Sharif’s current Moments and Praxis.
I know Sharif has been frustrated that so few people (me included) ACT as if this is the most important spiritual work we can be doing. For some reason, his recent materials feel doable (even knowing they’ll be challenging)–and likely to lead to significant life changes.
Join us if you live near Lake Oswego, OR, if you’d like to talk in person about these issues. No need to show up every time, unless you want to!
Thanks Holly! I miss you and our other friends at the New Thought Center. Sending You and All Love and Blessing! Chuck