Very Close
The morning light is beautiful today, with the sky finally giving way to the blue that has been waiting patiently in the background. The temperature is in the low 50's and the air is still. Today is Tuesday.
The start of a week always brings a feeling of anticipation. This week begins a new month and it is a period in which many celebrations of life will happen. The weeks will fly by as part of the ongoing phenomenon of time speeding up. People are able to feel this happening in a way that is different from the past. Not only is there the news of individuals in transition, both those we know and those we once knew; but there is constant news of events that are bringing all life closer together.
We are closer thanks to the advances in technology, travel, and telecommunications that now make it possible to share information and events in an instant. Humanity is moving closer together and we are not particularly ready, in attitude, beliefs, values. And this shows. The instinct for security and self-preservation make it easy for people to be led to believe that it is better to preserve "our way of life" rather than to imagine that there might be a better way ahead.
This preservation instinct is hard to resist. Each person and community wants to treasure their inherited ways and yet, the conditions we live in today really require us to share and to stretch ourselves so a new reality can emerge. Thankfully, there are those who are doing this in small but significant ways - some cultivating thought and curiosity; and others actually engaging experiments that involve actions being taken up by individuals and groups. These include making space for the needs that arise in connection with the fact of a new society emerging: the human migratory communities being formed across the world (think sanctuary spaces). And there is the engagement of young people who are excavating new ways of living and working in community, both old and new (think the Wayfinders and their living lab). In addition, there has been an emergence of a consciousness about our deep and inevitable interconnectedness between all things on this planet.
If one is fortunate enough to have a way of living that leaves a moment of peace in each day, there is a chance to appreciate that the complexity is not so overwhelming that one cannot see the through line for living well in these times. The most common ways to catch the lens of hope may be in a walk, in a star-gazing night, in a garden that calls one's hands to tend. We are getting close - so very close, and sometimes it feels like the truth of living is coming into greater clarity - but we still have a little farther to go. It is a blessing to know that Spirit never gives up on humanity - it sometimes feels like the blossoming is so very close.