A few powerful notes on separation and belonging...and how to love courageously in this beautiful, this painful and confusing world.
From a workshop I recently took on loving courageously:
In answer to the question of why to love courageously, psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brach responded:
"...because so many are aware of divisiveness and earth dis-ease and violence and a regression of consciousness, it is natural for us to armour against this...it takes gambling everything to Love and that takes so much courage to have tenderness and open-heartedness...
...and the world needs more and more of us to choose Love but not abstractedly...What does it mean today, in relationship with self and others, to deepen presence so we show up in our wholeheartedness? It is not meant to be done alone...we belong with each other." Tara Brach
The idea that we belong with and to each other and to earth is a radical departure from the idea that underpins the functioning of society in the modern era. The "system" as it stands in Canada and the US, in the entire western world, really, is one rooted in a sense of separation from self, other and from earth. Capitalism, patriarchy and colonialism thrive on this sense of separateness. The system, by design, alienates large portions of the population, leaving so many persons to suffer a life in which, no matter how hard they work, or how they work, they will not be ensured adequate housing, or fair access to healthy food and clean water. It defines persons value according to their ability to produce and consume as participants in the system. Those unable or unwilling to "play the game" according to the system's rules are pushed to the margins, with little to no thought about their wellness.
I took a recent workshop offered by Synergia Institute with a writer whose work I admire, Jeremy Lent. It was a great refresh of some concepts I learned in the 2023 course on Just Transition and Systems Change which I took from the institute, reminding me, as Lent described, that the system we live out of and under is not a broken system.
"It isn't broken", Jeremy Lent explains, "rather is doing exactly what it was intended to do;
extract from and exploit both earth and earth beings, human and otherwise." As well, he explained, "...global capitalism is the economic manifestation of a worldview of separation."
So how did we end up with Trump being inaugurated today?
"The system as it stands, will not give a better life to those alienated from the system under capitalism so persons move toward fascism." (Lent)
What could be a solution to this all? How can we begin to create a more just and loving world?
An increase in caring via implementation of a basic income is a possible starting point as it would ensure that those most vulnerable in our society have the ability to meet their basic needs with dignity.
To me, this would be a step within the existing economic model, to help those suffering the least economic stability to get a foothold from which they can begin to see new ways forward for themselves and their families. This could also be a vital step towards a Just Transition and remodeling of the current economic system towards more fairness and inclusiveness.
This could serve those most vulnerable persons in the population as "a small island of coherence" in an otherwise chaotic scenario (which being damned to being poor in the current polycrisis means.) And frighteningly an increasingly common, life or death, scenario to find oneself in.
“When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order.” Ilya Prigogine
As well, basic income implementation acting as a small island of coherence is likely a very viable avenue for change in a complex system such as the current economic system, as well as being a caring and inclusive way to begin reworking the already loose threads of a system which has long failed to ensure that everyone's basic needs are met with dignity.
So this is only one of many changes that needs making. Changes that we are better served making before they are even more painfully thrust upon us by events beyond our control, of which we are seeing far too many, day in and day out.
Lent suggests seeing this catastrophic unraveling as a potent opportunity to "...re- weave the threads towards a civilization of flourishing on earth." He says that in his research he "...sees people in every dimension already doing the work to make things function on a different basis...to change the structure of enterprise and base it on co-operatives and commons...and to look at self organization and apply these across the board...as an eco-civilization."
And from this hopeful vantage point where we remember that so many people the world over are working so diligently, so wholeheartedly towards the creation of a world that thrives on the spirit of caring, co-operation and inclusiveness we can find the courage to begin anew.
We can recall that this spirit of aliveness is something that lies within us. Something that we can care for and nurture within so that no one and nothing can extinguish our own heart's bright yearnings for justice and freedom and equality. We can remember that we exist to love and care, to be loved and cared for. That we all desire belonging and that our truest belonging is to earth and to each other.
To each other, for better or for worse, and so we must make the best of a bad situation friends. We must practice what gives us strength and courage. We must keep our vocal chords ready to bear witness and our legs strong for standing up for radical inclusiveness.
But how amid the madness?
The answer to so much of the heartache in this world is love and caring.
In a recent live workshop with psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher Tara Brach, Tara outlined 4 Keys to Awakening Love as follows (verbatim from workshop):
"1) remember what matters as it allows us to re-choose love when we are stressed/blocked with our hearts turned off
2) have the courage to dis-armour our hearts and come home to feeling as when we feel stressed we leave our bodies and operate from a contracted, reactive sense of self and acting from an armoured heart creates a sense of separation from others whereas pausing is the beginning of reconnecting with ourselves. We can't heal what we won't feel but to feel the hurts and fears we need to do so with kindness and courage
3) to see the goodness and shared humanity in others...when we open to vulnerability we see more goodness, see behind the mask, see beyond fear...we can see more good in others
4) this one is active...from that place of seeing, respond with love...love without holding back, be a mirror for goodness, let others see what we see. "
And a reminder from Tara Brach that might be helpful today and in the weeks and months ahead:
"Some people cause us aversion and we just can't include them in our heart circle yet...maybe they cause others' suffering..."
So what to do with this?
"You can open to the aversion they cause in you and then say "yes" to that feeling (not saying "yes" in agreement to their actions or words but saying "yes" to the feeling those actions or words cause to arise in you). The idea of including everyone in our hearts is unfair. We can't, but we can quiet the aversion and that creates more space." (Brach)
I welcome us all to experience the healing power such practices can bring.
I wish you strength and the courage to consider gently making your own heart and mind, as much as possible, into "a small island of coherence" amid the increasing chaos of the world.
Thank you so much to Michael Lewis of Synergia Institute for the link on Denver's Basic income trial and for his significant volunteer efforts towards social justice in the world.
As well, a big, warm Congratulations to the Island's own, Marie Burge, on her fantastic award recognizing her lifetime contribution to social justice and expanding goodness on the Island. From Marie's acceptance speech and with thanks to Chris Ortenburger for sharing:
"New things are happening, locally and globally. We are moving forward. I believe that no step forward can ever be erased. Onward and Upward!" Marie Burge
Thanks for reading,
Peace and Love to you,
Jill
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