Beginnings
The skies were very open and clear, blue, and sunlight rose slowly over a bank of trees. Temperatures dropped dramatically into the 40's and now, it sits at 48 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Sunday.
It began a long time ago. The feeling of loss, pain. And it was a feeling that came when one settled into the great silence. It was unmistakable. First it came in the form of a deep and almost imperceptible shudder while feeling into the energy of the world. With time, it started to take form. These were in stories that began to emerge, the narratives that would not and perhaps, could not be forgotten. Most were about loss, deaths of people and animals and lands. The stories brought a kind of energy that can be called sorrow, grief, and then anger.
Actions wanted to come forth. There were efforts to ensure that those actions would be authentic and grounded in the stories that were being shared. It was to ensure that there would be some form of contrition that could be felt in the material world. This meant investments in people and places so that things could begin anew, fresh, full of hope. But that is not what happened. That is not what ever happens when everything is reduced to transactions instead of transcendence.
Talk of transcendence is common; but its actual emergence, taking form in the world - is rare. This is because we have so much knowledge and things get stuck in the place of knowing, but not understanding. "I will give you this, if you give me that." The evidence shows that what is being sought is deserved. This is most of what happens in the smallest to the greatest interactions among human beings. We have not practiced much in the realm of taking action for no return on that investment of energy and time. It is not common for an action to be taken because it is the right action, with no return other than to deepen understanding, to learn more intimately what sacrifice might feel and look like, and to begin to ease the hardship burdening another. The ROI is always sought, even in situations where one knows that the other has no ability to deliver on an expectation. To be aware of this is a start, a new kind of beginning.
Today's news of war (in which we as a nation, are a partner) is a beginning that is going to raise more awareness about how hard it can be to break old habits. Our nation has habits that are starting to reveal an aspect of who we are that is not flattering. The revelation will not align with the stories about our nation's beginnings. Sadly, now perhaps with even more death and destruction and a declaration of war, there can be yet another beginning - toward ways to build peace and to realize we no longer can afford to think of ourselves as winners and losers. Failure to come to that realization brings us to the end of the Story.