"If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." ~ Lilla Watson.
In normal times discomfort is our normal state. Because it is ever-present we don’t notice it. It's like background noise. If we looked at our actions though, we would see that while we are not consciously aware of our discomfort, much of what we do and create in life we do to anesthetize this steady state of dis-ease.
We use drugs and alcohol. We smoke, shop, eat, gamble, play video games, and zone out in front of screens in general. We exercise, medicate, meditate and even go vacations. When the discomfort of others makes us uncomfortable we jump in to fix, quell, enable and appease. We all have our ways. Most of the time we are not seeking joy as much as release from discomfort. All of these things are habit forming because our discomfort is constant thus our need for relief is constant too. Sadly, our coping strategies make us more unconscious not less and rather than heal our dis-ease, we are plunged deeper into a stupor. What ails us continues to fester until it erupts.
And erupt it did. The Corona pandemic, coupled with the pandemic of inhumanity and institutionalized suppression and violence has brought the simmering state of un-ease to a full boil. We can no longer mask the pain with our usual vices and distractions, and this is a good thing. Perhaps now we can deal with it and heal it.
So what is this dis-ease we all suffer from? Eckhart Tolle identifies our collective dysfunction as “intrinsically connected to the loss of Being which forms the basis of our dehumanized industrialized civilization.” He continues to say that, “our collective dysfunction has created a very unhappy and extraordinarily violent civilization that has become a threat not only to itself but also to all life on the planet.”
The gravity of what is upon us should not be minimized. We either change fundamentally from our hearts or we do not survive much longer as a human race. In order to bring about this change of heart, we we must see how deep our unconsciousness runs - individually and as a society. To do this we must not only sit in our discomfort, we must expand it - lest it contract and we squander this divine opportunity.
Together, in grace, we can hold each other’s hand and rise from the denial, shine a light on all of the injustice, violence, complicity, cruelty and inhumanity to all of God’s creatures. In truth, we are all one and when one of us suffers we all suffer. If we understood that what we do to another we do to ourselves, we would be not be harming our brother.
While it may not be popular, and it will definitely not be comfortable, it is incumbent on each one of us to see ourselves as contributing to the collective unconsciousness we are witnessing. We have lost ourselves, that is true, but we can find our way back to our humanity and our divinity.
Don’t be afraid to look within. Radical honesty with oneself is liberating. What hides in the shadows will continue to plague us. We cannot heal what we cannot feel. Once we see what blocks the lightness of our being, we can choose differently in humility and vulnerability. This is a process, though, during which we must refrain from blame and judgment of ourself or others. Instead, be grateful for all that we are being shown.
In viewing interactions with others shift your focus. Be more interested in your own actions and reactions than those of others. Instead of trying to figure out what another is thinking, observe your own thoughts..
Going back to sleep is not an option, becoming more awake is the only way out. We are all being called to change our hearts and our minds. This will bring about unity and naturally drive inspired action. As we make the unconscious conscious and return to our true nature we put love where there has been hate, we put kindness where there has been cruelty, we put compassion where there was apathy, we create safety where there has been fear and we experience liberation where there had been subjugation.
Leave no internal stone unturned. Act where you feel inspired to act, check in with yourself often. Notice your desire for all of this to go away. Stay in the discomfort. Know that it is healing you. True and lasting change can only come from us, in this place, right here, right now.
This is a revolution, so let's be revolutionary - let's all be the change we want to see in the world.
xoxo Jill