Moments

This morning's sky was beautiful with patches of clouds, slowly moving east.  The temperature dropped yet again.  It is 45 degrees fahrenheit and clear for now. Today is Monday.

We live moment-by-moment, each an eternity in itself.  The chance to see a changing landscape, to experience a shift in the weather, and to encounter others moving through their own moments is a gift.  The smallest signs of care, uplift.

The news is filled with stories of death and anxiety over what will happen in the next moment.  A lifetime shifted for a mother who lost her son to the random destruction of a bomb, generations of lives have been disappeared as the structures of an entire community were destroyed.  This is but one example of how a moment can effect what once was believed to be secure.

The idea that there is a stable, secure existence is comforting for many.  Even in the face of obvious malfunctions in our world, most move through life not really seeing what is happening in this moment.  The fact of the urgency in the need for a shift in collective consciousness seems distant.  What happens next?  We cannot predict anymore.

Imagining a loss of a loved one to a random, unexpected event that results in changing one's ability to move, to think, to maintain life as it once was is almost inconceivable for many in this place called the United States.  Yet, we are in a moment that is asking that we go to that imagination.  Through the reports of what can be known about the aftermath of the war that has started, people are still holding hope:  the event will be short-lived, the damage did not harm loved ones and friends, the people tasked with leadership will see that retaliation is an unrealistic framework for today's world.  Hopes.

Who are the ones who will hold hope for this moment, the moment in which all of the past and the future depends?  In the way things look now, it will be the ones who know that death and destruction are inextricably tied to survival, renewal, and adaptation.  It is a hard thing to see sometimes.  We live in a moment where things have accelerated.  Events, both life-affirming and life- destroying, have intensified. There is no way to shift gears to slow things down – except if one goes into the great silence.  

If one can get there, all the grief and pain will be found along with a realization that the events leading to the grief and pain are now memories.  The physical manifestation of destruction will need tending because human life is precious, no matter what.  Ritual, ceremony will be critical to lighting the way for next steps.  If this is missed, things will devolve.

Something is going to happen.  What that something may be can destructive (as in thoughts and actions of retaliation) or paralyzing (as in deep and abiding grief that will take time) or productive (as in finding the right moment to intervene with movement toward affirming life).  All of this is on our horizon in this moment.