A New Layer to Community
"Layer images of a Joshua Tree gathering, day and night"
Title: Gather (from series "Play Therapy")
c-print on linen canvas
57" x 39"
2022
Something new is arising within me and it is signaling a certain level of completion to a cycle. This cycle could be specific to me, but I doubt it.
Do you feel it too?
Here’s what I’m experiencing right now. I have spent years DEEP in it. In the shit, so to speak. I’ve been drudging up my baggage, looking at it, putting love on it, and learning how to either roll with it with radical compassion and/or make new choices. Often the new choice has been to relax back into loving myself and accepting whatever might be happening at the time. It seems to be a muscle that was atrophied for me, for a very, very long time. Now that it’s been exercised to the point of not vanishing the moment I forget to use it, it is unlocking miracles. It may be the super power siddhi that is hiding within every human being. Of course, it’s simple, of course it’s anything but complicated, but that does not mean it is easy. Loving ourselves, trusting ourselves, honoring ourselves, valuing ourselves, listening to ourselves, to our inner guidance, and having faith in our steps, knowing that we are all divinely guided if we ask for it, if we count on it, if we intend it. It truly does all boil down to intention and attention. Two components of love.
By no means do I think I’ve completed this entire process, of course not. There will always be more to love, more to accept, and, as always, patience with the process or processes. But I’ve moved enough of the “stuff” out of the way to finally see daylight breaking through. Awareness has shined enough within my being to begin to shine without. Information I used to get worked up about, frightened over, angry, overwhelmed, helpless, and hopeless, now shows up in a new light. Yes, I feel the gravity of our situation. Yes, I have to pause and take a deep breath with the mountain we are all about to embark upon climbing (or moving), but now I feel I have the tools needed to sherpa the way.
Here’s a more concrete example: my part in our changing environment, our changing world. I’ve contributed to it, I’ve fought against it, I’ve been eager and willing to change and I’ve been apathetic and hopeless in feeling there’s nothing I can do to change things. In the new paradigm shift ahead, with the world around us changing so drastically it will likely alter every aspect of how we live. I have been feeling like I don’t have the tools or skills to contribute anything of substance - I don’t grow gardens very well, I wouldn’t know how to survive off the land, I can’t hunt or fish, I can’t whittle or make things, I don’t know how any machinery works, and I wouldn’t even know where to begin or who to turn to. My house does not have solar panels, I do not compost, I recycle, but when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the mess in my house I tend to dump things I haven’t cleaned out yet into the trash. I could go on. I’ve spent my whole life fighting for helping the environment and I’ve spent my whole life adding to the problems.
You know what doesn’t help? Feeling guilty about it, feeling like I don’t add anything to our collective, feeling like I should be ashamed of myself, feeling like we’ve already lost the battle, being afraid of the changes to come. It’s a delicate balance - learning what’s happening and what might happen, staying informed, and not going into a state of panic.
What’s shifting for me now? I am re-informing myself and when I feel the overwhelm rise in me, I remind myself we’re going to be ok, that we’re all in this together. And that’s the key - TOGETHER. If we act like there’s an us and them, then we die. If we respond to each other out of compassion and cooperation, then we don’t just survive, no, we THRIVE.
What do I add? What am I able to offer to this situation? My answer may surprise you. I have started building a new layer to a community that already exists and is already connected: My neighborhood. I’m here to remind everyone living around me that we are deeply connected, that we need each other, and that communion isn’t just healthy or feel-good, but absolutely necessary. We are here to rise together and the best way to do that isn’t just being able to provide for the physical needs of yourself and others, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual needs as well.
It’s time to recreate the village. To start to form centers for gathering not just for casual socializing, not just in coming together to solve problems, but to connect from our deepest places. To build love, to look into one anothers’ eyes and accept, embrace, enjoy, and become enthusiastic about each other and ourselves. Recognizing that we all have a service we can offer, because we don’t need 8 billion farmers, we don’t need 8 billion wood workers, 8 billion inventors; we need what each and every one of us has to offer because we fit together like puzzle pieces. We are becoming the hive of bees, each of us providing for the whole - a hive mind. We are a family.
I’ll be the bee that goes out looking for the perfect container for all of us to be held in and then do my best dance to raise awareness about it and get us all voting and moving as one. That’s one of the bees! Do they collect pollen and work like all the other bees in the busy home? Sure, probably, but this one has a dance that really gets the others going! What could be more necessary than that? Just one bee in the hive who’s enthusiasm is contageous. Do we all need to have the most contageous dance moves? Nope. We each have our own special offerings to the world. Each with a seat at the table. Harmony in just showing up with whatever it is we each have to offer.