Wholeness can only be led out through unconditional love. It is the unity of all experience which has the power to heal when it is woven into a new pattern. Unconditional love - the love that holds true in the face of all experience - is not a sentimental enterprise. It is gut-wrenching, soul-searing work. It demands that you see what actually is - not what you want to see, not how you would like things to be, not how you imagine things to be in your fantasy. Instead, it forces you to deal with what is true, what is real, what has happened.
Sorting this through and holding faith that the painful pieces can, in fact, be transformed into something beautiful is an act of radical courage. Is this not the kind of courage we are being asked to embody both in relation to our own lives, and to the state of the planet as a whole?
We have made a mess of this planet. We have made a mess in our systems. We have made a mess of relationships. Denying this mess is not helpful. Yes, there are myriad reasons to hope. Yet hope without action is useless in cleaning up the mess.
Where do you find the strength to face the mess and begin? Only in unconditional love, I think. I am not sure anything is powerful enough to really turn things around other than this. Radical compassion - the compassion born of our shared human experience encompassing all the joy, the pain, the mistakes - lets us move from self-recrimination into expression, and from judgement into healing. Perfectionism leads towards a denial of our humanity, while acceptance weaves us closer together.
Together, we can clean up this mess much easier than if we tried to go it alone. Our leadership is not only born of our strength, but more potently from our humility. Leading with love is the only path that seems viable enough to help us navigate the tricky terrain our world is facing.
It feels more nourishing to be feasting at a communal table than basking in individual glory. Today's heroes and heroines may well be those who know how to honour all who sit in the circle.
REMEMBERING THE ANCIENT DEER: Reflections on an Evolving Consciousness
