Calling the Prime Minister
 
It is the fifth time I have called the Prime Minister on the line open to citizens in a matter of days.  The first message I left was insistent and indignant in urging him to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and flood Gaza with humanitarian aid.  After the news that the United States vetoed the ceasefire, I could feel the world further turn on its axis.  My legs give out under me and I am on the floor, tears steaming down my face.  Pressing the number now etched on my phone’s contact list, I hear a despondence in my voice that I cannot recognize.  Now I am imploring, begging him to recognize how horribly we are failing humanity and future generations.
 
When I was a middle-school teacher, I taught about the Holocaust every year.  It was a curriculum designed to nurture empathy and understanding while recognizing that humanity can lose the best of itself when psychopathy leads. As the daughter of Greek immigrants, I hold the deeper meaning of the word – literally, “soul suffering”.  Only a sickness of soul could have allowed such cruelty to reign unchallenged.
 
The psychopathy we are seeing play out before us – the relentless and escalating cycles of violence – are harming each and every one of us.  And this violence is not limited to what is currently unfolding in Israel and Gaza.

It is the violence that undergirds and permeates our lives.  The violence to the Earth, the violence against women, the violence against Black and Indigenous peoples, the violence against the queer community, and on and on and on.  The list is heart-stoppingly long. 
 
That we so profoundly devalue our innate interconnectedness with planetary life and each other means we are separated from the depths of expression of our beauty, creativity and love as human beings.  Rather than resourcing our imaginations to create just and regenerative worlds, we have somehow determined that a perverted necropolitics is “just the way things are”, damning us and future generations to the cascading apocalypse.  Addictions to fossil fuels and power turn souls into wounded monsters whose rage disrupts the peaceful possibilities of a profoundly wondrous planet rich in exquisite diversity.  Instead, rage and trauma lead narcissistic and short-sighted decision-making, further contributing to rising tides of violence and ecological imbalance.
 
Women I know and love and some courageous men acknowledge to me that they feel changed by the events of the past two months, since the violence of October 7th. While we’ve been critical of our governments before, we find ourselves waking up in a truly Orwellian world where the walls seem to gain depth and structure with each passing minute.  The Western world’s championing of human rights has become empty rhetoric. It has turned to ash.
 
Confused arguments warp the clear violations that we see taking place before us.  Disproportionate responses pass silently as “reasonable”. Clearly supremacist logics are centered as righteous and good, while historical memory is manipulated for the most cynical ends. Silence is demanded through surveillance and tactics rooted in heavily resourced pressure, ridicule and harassment.  
 
We have numbed ourselves to a spirit and politics grounded in the extraordinary altruism, courage and creativity we are capable of enacting. We have so many wise teachers of different traditions across the globe who try to remind us otherwise.  Who implore us to love, forgive, share, honour our connections, remain humble and practice dying so that a truly expansive life of care, honour and unique self-expression comes into focus. That we accept instead such puniness of spiritual imagination, relegating us to repeating what our bodies register as grotesque inversions of our most sublime human capabilities, is our greatest shame. Holding a mirror to this limited worldview can enable us to hospice and integrate our profound failings as instructive and memorable teachings. We do not need to be so destructive.  In fact, our collective lives depend on being otherwise.  That we turn away from the cosmic and sacred gift of life and decide that killing and plundering are so easily justified is humiliating.
 
Perhaps this explains the relentless nausea that takes hold of me every morning.  I open my eyes and the children, men and women of Gaza are shadows in my room.  With every drink of water, I am reminded of their thirst.  With every bite of food, I feel the emptiness of their bellies.  I think of the profound fear being experienced by the hostages. Small joys I experience during the day are fleeting, vanishing quickly when I remember that brutal, raw power is aligned against them, with scores of bystanders enabling, encouraging and witnessing their raw agony.  I spend my days carving out activism amidst the responsibilities I have.  Posting, calling, educating, dialoguing, finding protests, emailing friends and family, witnessing, learning, donating.  It all feels so small and yet requires courage in the face of the wounded rage being unleashed. I resist. I refuse. I sob. I plead. I join the cries of the families of Israeli hostages - "All for all". I join the cries of the Palestinians in their decades-long struggle for justice - "Liberation for all".

But they are unmoved.
 
They have soul sickness. 
 
And it is spreading, more pervasively than the pandemic.
 
From the ashes of Auschwitz to the ashes of Gaza, we also bear witness to the ashes of wildfires increasingly threatening our shared home.
 
Can the human spirit rise from those ashes, healing its soul sickness by remembering the sacred songs of belonging, interconnection and loving compassion it was born to sing?
 
I hear the echoes of this song in my pleas to the Prime Minister.
 
I pray he is moved.
 

Recovering Medicine

While browsing at a bookstore recently, a book with a cream cover and a beautiful shock of golden paper in the shape of a tree caught my attention.  Its title was The Sweetness of a Simple Life: Tips for Healthier, Happier and Kinder Living Gleaned from the Wisdom and Science of Nature, and it was written by Diana Beresford-Kroeger.

I enjoyed the short vignettes of Diana's wisdom, grounded in the ancient Celtic Brohen tradition,  as she masterfully weaves the precision of science with compelling holistic perspectives.  Her little chapters provide fascinating and profound insights into the foods we eat, their role as antidotes to many of the hazards of modern life, ways in which we can live in more balance with natural cycles, as well as awaken the reader to the profound losses we face if we do not recognize the precious heritage and medicines provided by the generosity of the natural world.

One of the most compelling stories for me is from the chapter titled, "Chasing Cures" where she documents her decades-long quest for a rare tree called the wafer ash, Ptelea trifoliate.  This tree has been revered by Indigenous peoples from the eastern regions of Turtle Island for centuries; it is known as the sacred tree.  Diana's quest for this tree is a manifestation of her deep understanding and reverence for the healing potency inherent in plant life.  Apparently, this tree has shown great promise in treating many forms of cancer.

Diana cautions us against looking for cures that don't include the indigenous plant species that offer so much unexplored potential for dynamic and synergistic forms of healing.  She writes:

The flora of North America is being ignored by universities, governments, corporations, and private investors, as a rich source of medicine in favour of the flora of the tropics.  The flash is not here. There is something else in the vegetation.  It is a form of tenacity that defies all understanding.  It presents life in the margins.  It is only from the margins that real invention is squeezed, like water from a stone.  The continent's medicine men knew this, less by instinct and more by knowledge.  The sacred tree, Ptelea trifoliate, and its variants are nature's legacy to future generations.  We should all give thanks for this gift, for this tree.

Diana's writing and advocacy inspire remembrance of how precious what we have already been given truly is.  Rather than only look for solutions outside of ourselves that have not yet been created, she gently yet convincingly persuades the reader to recognize the incredible gift of the billions-old wisdom of the natural world.  I agree with Diana Beresford-Kroeger's core message that sometimes the most innovative thing we can do is honour those ways of knowing and being that have already proven their brilliance if only we could turn our faces to see them anew.

More information on Diana Beresford-Kroeger can be found here.

Awakening the Human Spirit

Today it was the news of the dolphins that weighed on my heart.  Dead bottlenose dolphins are being washed ashore at an alarming rate.  Many marine biologists state that the dolphins are a litmus test for whether or not an ocean system is healthy or unhealthy.  Clearly, our oceans are in deep trouble.

How long can we pretend that our ecosystems are not under serious threat?  Our unconsciousness and denial of what is happening are staggering.

What has the power to turn things around?  Will we descend into the darkness of fundamentalism and militarism?  Will our unconsciousness continue to allow us to scapegoat the "other" and engage in wars over resources and ideology?

As human beings, is it possible that we are capable of more than this?  Can we connect with the larger, cosmic story of creation and find our way home to who we truly are?  What role can our spirit play in healing the traumas and solving the problems of our world?

Black Elk stated that, "The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us."

This September in Toronto, we will be engaged in an ongoing dialogue series entitled, "Unconscious No More" that seeks to respond to these questions from a paradigm that is emerging to create the future, as well as being rooted in ancient wisdom traditions.   This event, held at Beit Zatoun - a Palestinian solidarity space committed to peace and justice - follows a similar gathering held in May of this year.  That event was an innovative dialogue was held featuring Mohawk knowledge holders and Jungian depth psychologists.  The proceeds of that event were directed towards a groundbreaking trip to the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich where Indigenous teachings and ceremony were brought together with Jungian understandings of the psyche and its process of transformation.

This follow-up event is an opportunity for a deeper exploration of the role the human spirit plays in fostering a truly healthy (whole) human psychology.  This is an important discussion, as it is our wholeness which allows us to respond intelligently to the crises facing our world, and helps us in creating a more humane and sustainable way of living on the planet.

Members of the delegation to Zurich will share their experiences from this trip, and we will continue the process of allowing for a deeper integration and convergence of worldviews grounded in a respect for, and understanding of, the human spirit. This event will feature powerful Indigenous ceremonies, reflections on the trip to Zurich from those who attended, and discussion circles led by pioneers in the fields of psychology and spirituality.

Proceeds from this event will be directed towards a trip being undertaken by Soul of the Mother to Serra San Bruno, Italy to join in prayer with the Carthusian Order of Monks in a ceremony of reconciliation and renewal in the spirit of pluriversal interconnection.  Healing the legacy of colonialism and transforming fascism and fundamentalism are essential tasks of our time.

How Do We Deal With a Bully Without Becoming a Thug in Return?

As so many of us struggle with our grief in the face of the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary school, the drone attacks in Pakistan, the prevalence of youth suicides as a result of bullying, the increase in violence that stems from psychological imbalances, and the intense militarization of our world, this Ted Talk by Scilla Elworthy is a grounding source of wisdom.

We have an impulse to rise up to protect when there is harm, and that is an honest, necessary response.  Yet our evolution as human beings and the entrenchment of our desire for peace necessitates that we critically examine how we respond.  This is when we enter the courageous, vulnerable and powerful terrain of non-violence.


Scilla Elworthy: How do we deal with a bully without becoming a thug in return?

May we commit ourselves to creating a better, more peaceful world in honour of all those whose lives have been scarred, traumatized or lost to violence.

Yes, We Can Embrace Our True Nature

These are remarkable times. The tension of opposites feels taut as never before – poised on a brink of both intense devastation, and exhilarating possibilities. Shadow and light seem to be revealing themselves to us in new guises. The events and synchronicities are pulling us, guiding us, to unexplored vistas of our consciousness, wisdom and potential. This feels like the opportune moment to embody a new and ancient perspective.

Could it be that this is the time when we might remember the inherent holiness that connects us all in the breathtaking web of life? Is this an opportunity to recognize the need to pull back our own projections and take true responsibility for our destinies on this planet? Will this be the era where we move beyond the either/or dualities that devour harmony and unity, and embrace our role as peacemakers? Are we capable of listening to the guidance that continually reminds us that our true nature is to honour all that is and serve?

Yes, we can make a leap beyond what we have known and find ourselves standing in our indigenous, essential truth – we are one with all of creation. We are embedded in that web of love.

This is the kind of love that can make justice more of a reality, that embraces difference, and can transform the horror. Only this love can hold us together and keep us from tearing ourselves apart. This is the love can help us stand firm for a better world - a more equal, humane, sustainable and peaceful world.

We are being called to plant our own sacred seeds in the seeming impossibility of the mess, and stop waiting to be redeemed.

A deeply primal instinct as old as life reveals itself through a pearl of wisdom – we will reap what we sow. We are being challenged to tend to a radically new harvest – a radically new (yet old) way of being.

The time is now.

Yes, we can step out of the shadows and begin.

Reading My Way To Conscious Citizenship

This summer, I've had the opportunity to dive deeply into the words and ideas of some great social and political thinkers.  What I've appreciated about what I have read is the integrity, care and honesty that has characterized their work.  Each text has prompted serious reflection in me and contributed to a more expansive and conscious world view.  The gift is that my own notions of citizenship continue to be refined, and I become more aware of how I can contribute. 

The guiding questions for me are: What is my relationship to what is happening in my community, my region, and my planet? and What are my responsibilities in light of my understanding of what is happening? By giving me a grounding in the latest research and frameworks that can help my thinking and actions to be more integrated, I have found that my summer reading choices are better equipping me to engage with my community in a proactive way.

I worry about the state of social and political discourse that I experience around me.  I see a lot of reactive news programing, instant access to information that fails to leave room for deeper contemplation and thought, and a highly polarized debate.  Yet the issues facing us today are so complex and serious, that they require so much more from us.  It truly is in the best interests of those in powerful positions to keep the majority of citizens ignorant and disengaged.  The more you know and understand about the state of the world - most notably in relation to the poor and in relation to the environment - the more indignant you feel and the more powerfully and passionately you respond to calls for change.  Change is always threatening for those who benefit from a current social order.  This dialectic has been played out in social movements for centuries.

One act which is empowering and sustaining comes from giving oneself the time to really understand one or more of the key issues facing a community - whether local, global or both.  Knowledge really is power.  Knowledge coupled with conscious action acts as an immune response to a troubled, diseased situation. 

Every little cell counts.


What I've Been Reading...

Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt.

The force of his writing takes you into his well thought-out arguments for how to restore social democracy in the 21st century.  How did we get to this current moment of intense political and social dysfunction?  Judt helps the reader to understand the road we've travelled, and illuminates the one we can yet choose to walk.

Days of Deception, Days of Revolt by Christopher Hedges and Joe Sacco

Hedges has a way of exposing that the Emperor not only has no clothes, but has no conscience.  Documenting the stories from the "war zones" of unfettered capitalism, Hedges and Sacco force the reader to face and truly understand how dismally we fail our own humanity when we enable profit to matter more than people or the environment.

Everything Under the Sun: Towards a Brighter Future on Small Blue Planet by David Suzuki and Ian Hanington

This book acts as a primer on a number of environmental issues facing our world, as well as outlining what the latest research has to say, and what we can do to turn things around.  Real and hopeful at the same time.  You get a clear picture of what is happening to our precious ecosystems without becoming completely disempowered at how dire the situation really is.  No free passes here -there are constant reminders about what each of us can do to shift the balance in a life-affirming direction.

Relational Reality: New Discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World by Charlene Spretnak

As a teacher, I found her chapter on parenting and education alone to be worth the cost of the book.  I've loved Spretnak's work for many years; she is an original thinker who brings the feminine dimensions of life to the forefront without compromising critical thinking and analysis.  In her latest reflections, she points to emerging (and re-emerging) understandings of life's systems that are revolutionizing how we organize our societies.

What Really Matters

What if you had the opportunity to listen to wise individuals share teachings about some of the most fundamental questions facing the world today?  What if you could sit in circles, or groupings of people who were interested in discussing what really matters to them? 

When I think about what is taking shape in Toronto at the end of August at the fourth Spirit Matters Gathering, I feel strengthened, inspired, and engaged.  On August 24-26, Indigenous wisdom keepers from around the world will gather to have their knowledge honoured and shared with the public.  In addition, this gathering will bring together all people who are asking one of the fundamental questions of our time:

How do we make the shift from an industrial culture that has hit a crisis point, to a sustainable, life-affirming reality for all who inhabit the Earth?


Instead of pretending that there is nothing happening, or that there is little we can do about the major events overtaking our communities and our world, we have the opportunity to come together in a safe, sacred space to share and to speak what is on our minds and in our hearts.  This conference is an invitation to gather as whole human beings - as citizens of the planet - connected in our deep care and concern for all life.  We can no longer put our heads in the sand and hope the messes that continue to threaten our eco-systems will be magically solved without our contribution.  We can no longer repress the knowledge of Indigenous peoples that has so much to contribute to healing our relationship with the web of creation.

Now is the time to honour what is life-affirming.

Now is the time to speak on behalf of creation.

Now is the time to act with purpose and integrity.

Now is the time to affirm that our spirit truly matters in this process.

For more details about Spirit Matters: Honouring Indigenous Worlds see:


http://www.spiritmatterscommunity.com/

A More Authentic Education

I am proud to be an educator.

I feel privileged to work in the field of education on a daily basis.  It's very challenging and demanding work. Yet it is often joyful, rewarding and, at times, positively miraculous.

Educators are profound cultural workers.  We communicate, transmute and, if we have a critical and holistic vision, transform culture through our work.  In formal educational settings, we teach the skills and concepts necessary to engage meaningfully in the world through literacy, numeracy, scientific inquiry, athletics and the arts. We assess, cajole, praise, and deliver consequences when necessary. In addition to this, our role is to create an emotionally secure environment so that learning can happen without fear, intimidation and threats to the integrity of our students.

This year, our school has committed to running a weekly whole school circle.  Based on traditional ways of being in community, the circle is where we sit as equals. This initiative started in September, and we have all (teachers and students alike) noticed how our strong sense of community has been enhanced by this weekly one hour commitment.  Passing around the talking piece and offering each person within the school a chance to express themselves and be heard has been profound.  Tears, laughter, silence and wise-beyond-their-years insights have woven us closer together and made us all more real to one another.  Bullying at our school is at a true low. 

This circle, backed by a strong anti-bullying policy and commitment to emotional safety that has been in place since the school's inception, has become the place where we make authentic communication and respect a living, integrated reality.   It is sacred time during the week because it is the space where we:

....are seen

....are heard 

....are different

....are similar

....agree

....see things from diverse perspectives 


Through the powerful simplicity of the circle, we remember that we are interconnected.

Where We Go From Here....

Today I share with you an excerpt from a powerful editorial written by Nancy Roof of Kosmos: A Journal for Global Citizens Creating the New Civilization.  If you have never seen this journal, I strongly recommend you check it out.  It is full of inspiring articles, artwork, and insights dedicated to the great paradigm shift of our times.

Nancy writes:

Many of us think that by changing ourselves we can change the world, while Second Axial Spirituality recognizes the expanded need to change the way the world works so that it expresses our basic values.  Alone, we are disempowered and victims of mass media propaganda - designed to scare us into numbness in order to preserve the system.  We urgently need to link our global efforts in a spirit of cooperation, as people in every country wake up to the reality that all issues are interdependent and need to be connected.  Even more importantly, it is up to you and me to change the world - not alone, but together.  Whereas the average person is appalled at the worsening situation and feels helpless to do anything about it, let's consider that there are so many more of us - let's find our place in this era of need.  Let's find out what amazing things we can do together.  Help ignite the worldwide protests!

What would happen if we widened our vision, deepened our ideas, focused on our strategies and experienced our felt-compassion to embrace the plight of every single individual on the planet?  What if we were energized by the possibility of making a difference, rather than being defeated by incessant bad news?  What if we designed new systems that expressed a higher turn of the spiral of our human potential?

If you care abut one billion hungry people without clean water to drink.  If you care about the 100,000 Iraqis who died in a war they never wanted.  If you care about unpiloted drones killing people without human guidance and much more, please join the Global Citizens Movement (GCM): A Global Community of Conscience, Integrity and Action at http://www.kosmosjournal.org/.

We care - do you?

While We Can...

Late in the summer, my partner and I got into the series Six Feet Under on the recommendation of a good friend.  We became riveted, and found ourselves watching a number of episodes weekly.  For those unfamiliar with it, the show is set in a family funeral home, and it explores the lives of those who must deal with death on a daily basis.

Intelligent writing and unexpected story arcs were only part of the appeal, we soon realized.  We found ourselves becoming transformed by the process of having to face mortality in the same way that the funeral directors had to face it - as an inevitability.  What always rescued death from its almost banal march through people's lives could be found the emotion it prompted around those who surrounded the deceased - the memories, the connections, the emotions (including complex feelings of regret and anger) and the intangible essence of the departed soul

I've written about the paradox of life and death before, but it has a slighlty different tone for me now.  I saw the characters, in a very unsentimental way, struggle with life amidst death.  Always they tried to reach for what made them feel most alive, as if to act as a counterweight to what they witnessed.  Each had their own way of trying to make peace with that which they realized could not be avoided.  Sometimes they made unwise choices, and at other times they redeemed themselves with their sheer humanity.

Our culture often has a way of making violent death 'normal', yet the true feelings and awareness of our actual death are often unmentionable and the reality, as well as the true grief, remain hidden.  As I witness some brave souls around me facing serious illness, as well those coming to terms with the onset of advanced age, I am reminded that the true gift of life is found in all that we share while we can.

Brave Men

I am currently reading two books, both very different yet culturally necessary, and each written by someone I would consider a brave man.


The first, The World As it Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress is written by Chris Hedges.  He is uncompromising in his indictment of our current economic and political system in the West, which he considers morally and ethically bankrupt.  Hedges points out that we are living in times where we have lost our cultural memory, and as a result, we are ever more vulnerable to the forces of totalitarianism.  In addition, he laments the violence and greed which characterize American society, and the ease with which war and militarism have seeped into the psyche of the nation, serving as a reflex response to any threat to its interests.


The second, Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman is written by Malidoma Somé.  In this autobiography, Somé shares his painful journey of transversing the colonial intervention into his culture, and finding his way back to a spiritually rich and precious heritage.  Through his story, he reveals the depth at the heart of the shamanic traditions of his people, while trying to build a bridge of understanding to the Western mind - a mind that has lost touch with the ground of its being.


Both men are deeply troubled by the violence and alienation which are so prevalent in the world today, and both call for a remembrance of core human values, and the absolute necessity to honour these values in times where environmental, ethical and political decay are seeping into the collective at an alarming rate.  In addition, while each man comes out of a different religious and spiritual tradition, both are loudly beckoning for a re-sacralization of what is best in us as human beings.


Chris Hedges and Malidoma Somé help to redefine our notion of the Warrior, and reclaim it as beings who honour the integrity and beauty of life.

A Thought to Ponder...

Today I offer you this reflection from Llewellyn Vaughn-Lee:

As this era of masculine dominance comes to an end and a feminine understanding of life’s wholeness is included, we are beginning to experience a different world in which physical, mental, and spiritual well-being are interdependent. We see the signs of this in the new age movement. But the new age movement is often limited by its focus on individual well-being. Our real concern is the well-being of the planet and the whole of humanity. Central to this is the understanding that the physical world cannot be healed from a solely physical perspective, but requires a shift to an attitude that contains a multi-dimensional approach.                                                                         

Confronting Fundamentalism

The events which transpired in Norway this past week are deeply disturbing and horrifying.  The portrait emerging in the news is of a madman so devoted to his own twisted ideals that he could kill so coldly; he clearly feels no remorse, no shame, and no compassion for his victims. So in thrall was he with his vision of a 'perfect' Norway - a white Norway - that he meticulously devoted his resources, time, and energy to fulfilling his own messianic role in a "cleansing" of political elements not in line with his vision of the world.  Shades of fascism rearing their heads within our world yet again.

Last night I watched Rex Murphy of the CBC present a passionate and indignant response to these events.  I kept waiting for him to connect the powerful dots of his arguments to the bigger picture.  He did not.  I was very disappointed.  He wanted to individulize this event, and not turn it into a "political football" (his words).  At the same time, by avoiding the clear racial and ethnic dimensions involved in these acts, he weakened his own moral position.  I wonder if he would have individualized these attacks if a Muslim had committed them in the name of Islam.  I am not so sure - but this remains my speculation in light of the deep bias that is often at work in situations such as these.

In fact, in the hours that followed the attacks, the media were already (erroneously) suggesting that these acts were committed in the name of Islamic fundamentalism.  It's always uncomfortable for the West to examine the shadow of its own culture - its own fundamentalism, racism and hatred.  The fundamentalisms at work in our world today mirror each other.  Fundamentalism and extremism are the scourges tearing at the fabric of unity, diversity, love and compassion - regardless of whether these beliefs are being exercised by a Muslim or a Christian.

Our task, as a global populace both individually and collectively, is to transform fundamentalism and extremism.  There are, and will continue to be, disagreements about how to best do this - and about the degree of cultural openness a society can expand towards while honouring the paradoxical aim to preserve cultural traditions and values.

The symbol of this task is best embodied not in a particular religious symbol, but in the sacred and universal symbol of the circle.  Each individual sits in the circle in their full integrity, but the circle can ever expand to hold more difference and diversity without erasing the identity of its participants. Indigenous cultures - ones which were often subject to the kind of  ethnic "cleansing" the Norwegian extremist espoused - often practiced the wisdom and truth of the circle that the world so desperately needs today. 

The circle is inherently inclusive, loving and infinite - without beginning or end.  It envelops us all in an embrace of belonging, as our deepest source of belonging does not reside with our families or even our cultures, as central as these forms can be to our identity.  First and foremost, we belong to the earth and to all that is - to this great cosmic mother whose various creative chemical and biological permutations through billions of years resulted in the extraordinary event of each one of our births.  When we deny this truth, our hearts shrink and close, and we become more intent on control and perfection. The identification with an ideal that lives outside of the earthly realm becomes a fantasy of "purity."

United in the truth of our deep connection with the earth, our hearts can expand to receive and honour all of life.  In so doing, we can hold an ever increasing consciousness of the truth of diversity.  Diversity supports life - it is at the heart of the life process itself. 

May this wisdom come forth to guide us through the rocky storms ahead.

Healing Trauma

I have lived through a very painful experience of emotional abuse and bullying for standing firm and honouring my core beliefs and conscience. I write this because it is very important to own the truth of my experience.

No other analysis of this phenomenon is as clear-headed, and as validating for the victims of insidious and perverse abuses of power than Marie-France Hirigoyen's Stalking the Soul: Emotional Abuse and the Erosion of Identity.  Hirigoyen's insights are so important because she acknowledges the impact that such abuse has on a person's soul.  It is the hardest for others to comprehend, confusing for the victim, and challenging for witnesses to take a clear stand because of its subtle, yet brutally corrosive impact.  It is also challenging because the abuser engages in highly skilled manipulations and is able to create doubt and deflect the ethical responsibility for their actions.  In fact, they can be quite brilliant at turning the entire situation around and forcing their target to carry the shame for their own actions through character assassination and projected role reversal.

How can the lessons and wisdom gleaned from such an emotionally and psychologically violent encounter be woven into a blanket of healing?

I've arrived at some answers for myself, but being on the receiving end of someone else's unacknowledged grief, pain and rage remains an enigmatic dance of unconscious dynamics. One thing that I am certain about is that only the faith in your own soul (your core spiritual essence) and its connection to the soul of the world is strong enough to pull you through such an ordeal without breaking you.  The love and support of people who care for and love you, the assistance of skilled professionals, and attention to your physical health are all key. Yet the ability to be in the world, trust again, rebuild your life and work, and renew your commitment to what you believe in, can only occur when you surrender to a force within yourself that is infinitely loving, compassionate and just.

There are so many deep traumas in our world which ache for healing.  I know that my own vulnerability has connected me more deeply to the vulnerability of others, and to the wounds present in life.  I don't feel connected in a weak and sentimental way, because I am acutely aware that healing trauma requires true grit, strength and courage.  However, I feel a deeper kinship with others through my experience.  The act of deepening compassion continues through my encounter of walking through the fire and being tested to the core.

Trauma is experienced when human beings confront something so overwhelming (either emotionally, psychologically, or physically), that it forces a re-circuiting of their being in order to circumvent the unendurable. Only a force, a belief, an experience, or a value greater than us has the ability to give us a fighting chance against the overwhelm that could break us into less than who we are. I surrender to that which opens me more fully into life and love, not to that which asks for, or demands, less. 

From this deeply surrendered place, we may find ourselves graced with the wisdom that our painful shattering can be an initiation into a remembrance and renewal of who we were meant to be.  

Sacred Vulnerability

I recently bore witness to a loved one's passing.  The indelible imprint from this time is the deep realization of the power and vulnerability of breath.  At a certain point in the dying process, one becomes aware at such a visceral level that one, single breath separates the mysterious chasm between life and death.

The power that human beings often masquerade behind obscures our shared fragility.  As I read David Abram's beautiful new book, Becoming Animal, I am made ever more conscious of the humble yet exquisite mammals we are.  Sinking into our glorious corporeality, we cannot be anything but grounded.  Grounded and aware of our limitations - and inspired and awed by our deeper underlying interconnectedness.

In grieving the death of another in our shared field, we open ourselves to the raw vulnerability of loss.  Our grief, often expressed in tears and cries, lets our breath follow the final exhale of our loved one - reverberating in our own soulful song with all that is.

Leading Out Unconditional Love

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.

Communal Gifts

In many Indigenous traditions, one's engagement with one's story and its connection to a larger story is an imperative - a rite of passage that one must undergo in order to move beyond what can often be a petty personal perspective into one's deeper and truer purpose on this planet.  This process brings the individual into contact with his or her essence and deeper gifts as a human being. This rite of passage is often lost  or ignored in broader society, and narcissim is on the rise.  In fact, this narcissm has become so pronounced that it often veers into pathology.

The loss of rites of passage makes it difficult to make the transition from one stage of life to another.  How does one "find a place" for challenging experiences and feel an inner permission to let go, move forward, and integrate the teachings from one phase into the next with clarity?  Without these powerful rites of passage, we are left holding too much in a cracked vessel, and what we are holding is bound to spill out into our immediate realms - often unconsciously.

Living one's gifts is the best way to find peace within oneself. It is in community that one can come to know one's gifts, but when our communities and even our families are so fragmented, our gifts can lie dormant.  In a power-driven and celebrity-driven culture, scarcity infuses the notion of the gifted human being.  In indigenous teachings, each person is gifted.  The community is responsible for helping the other come to know their gifts by mirroring them and leading them out.  The underlying competition that is at the core of our psychic and social lives in modern culture does not consciously engage in the process of leading out communal gifts - it often forces people to invest in the notion of "the best" at the expense of all else.  In addition, our culture is so grounded in analysis and critique at the expense of a more heart-centred and soul-centred perspective that one can be constantly assessing rather than affirming others. Tremendous wealth and connection is lost through this imbalance.

Protesting that "when all are gifted, none are gifted" may seem like a reasonable stance.  Yet the recognition that all human gifts are unique and essential to the community as a whole makes that argument less compelling.  Instead, it might be more worthwhile to consider how one can better embody the classical African concept of ubuntu - I am because you are.  This succint yet profound kernal of wisdom is a generational undertaking in a world as pathologically competitive as ours.

Spirituality & Cultural Courage

I was trained very well on my academic journey.  Critical theory, intellectual debate, and rational arguments have been part of the warp and woof of my own personal development.  These are all things which I still value.

And yet...my heart has yearned for other ways of knowing, other truths that offer a more integrated and, in my view, expansive relationship to the other, to life, and to the cosmos.  Intense childhood experiences which made me feel a deep, abiding sense of the interconnectedness of all life, as well as the presence of some mysterious, unknown Other, have also marked my personal development.  Yet these are often unmentionables in a culture such as ours - a culture that seems primarily divided between religious fundamentalism and secular atheism.

The truth which rationality paved a path towards involved the understanding that no one religion could possibly be 'the one.'  The irrationality of religious wars and the important documentation and critiques of the horrors perpetuated in the name of a "God" expose that something is terribly amiss in how we approach our relationship to one another and to the world. Yet the road leading to a condemnation of a spiritual dimension has not been a path I have traveled - not because I have not been willing to consider all the 'arguments', but because life experiences have revealed that it is neither "good, useful, or beautiful" to do so. These were the criteria my ancient ancestors, the Greek philosophers, implored us to use as a measure of what is right or true.

Among the more powerful cosmologies which have supported my personal understandings of spirituality have been those of diverse Indigenous peoples .  A profound First Nations traditional teacher has mirrored the criteria my ancestors established when she speaks of the "Beautiful Path" or "Following the Sweetgrass Trail."  The acknowledgment of a spiritual dimension to life does not necessarily make life easier or suffering disappear, but the meaning it provides is "good, useful and beautiful."  The acknowledgment of our deep interconnectedness and humility in the face of life's mystery opens doorways of understanding, builds bridges between difference, and offers insight, comfort, and inspiration in the midst of despair, uncertainty, and alienation.

In a culture where spirituality is often subject to blistering critique or is exploited as a 'cure all', the deeper essence and stories involved in engaging with a spiritual dimension of life are drowned out in the fury and the snickers.  It takes cultural courage to stand in one's deeply felt spiritual beliefs in the din of such ever-present noise.

In honouring a greater silence, we may remember to hear - one another, the symphony of creation, and the essence of what is.

Life's Fundamentals

Few things bring life's fundamentals into perspective the way a serious illness can.  Suddenly, life and death come roaring into consciousness from their relegated corner amidst the routines and tasks of daily living.  Such an event not only impacts the person with the illness, but the entire family and community of friends. 

Mortality's presence sounds its bell, and the tone we hear can have a profound impact on how we choose to respond.  Do we hear a death knell, or the infinite chimes of what is possible?  Choosing possibility in the face of such an event does not equate to being a Pollyanna.  The reality of what one faces is sobering.

Yet the perspective we choose, and the intentions we employ, can assist us in navigating such treachourous terrain.  Holding the tension of the opposites of life and death allows us to connect to the core reality that is often obscured in our everyday distractions - the reality of love.  It is through love that you can activate the will to heal in another person. When we want someone to stay with us in life, this has a profound healing effect on the soul as well as the body.

Quantitative research has demonstrated the power of prayer in response to illness or trauma.  Those who have utilized prayer personally, or who have had others pray or meditate for them, have healed in ways that others have not.  When love forms concrete actions in the world, those beads of positive response can create a healing field that surrounds all dealing with a profound health challenge.

When life's events bring us to our knees, it may be an instinctive sign to stay there, in humility, and allow something beyond ourselves to move us into new life.

Sacred Witness

I can barely look at the wrenching images of the birds affected by the oil spill off the Gulf, but I don't feel it is acceptable to not bear witness to their suffering.  In the pictures, the birds seem to be meeting our gaze - looking us directly in the eye and beseeching us to see what we've done. When I spoke with indigenous elder Diane Longboat about the Gulf tragedy, she helped me to see that their suffering must be redeemed by acknowledging and understanding that they are messengers of a new way we must live on this planet.  To not recognize, and honour, their sacrifice, we deny their integrity in the web of life and continue to threaten our survival on this planet.

The images of the birds are stark reminders of our abuse and our unconsciousness of our interconnectedness.  As a species, we have hurt our relations by not honouring the sacredness of their lives.  It is only when images such as the photographs of these noble creatures comes to consciousness that we are forced to truly see the impact of what we have done.  Our witnessing then becomes the catalyst for deep change, allowing us to forgive ourselves and ask forgiveness for, our reckless pursuit of more.

From this sobered and humbled place, we open ourselves to co-creating a different world.