Season of Change

We are in a time of transition, a liminal place between one era and another’s fresh emergence, both collectively and on the personal level. On November 4th, here in the United States, we had a very palpable indication of the changing of the guard, with the election of Barack Obama as our next president to be. Many millions of people got involved and worked for the change they hoped for in their hearts. This event marks a significant turning point, showing how many people have come out of their individual and small group forms of isolation and disconnect, to realize the power in joining together to gather momentum for positive change.

It is one of the most heart affirming indications of what I call ‘truth will out.’ There is an innate urge for us to grow and expand and become more of who we are authentically and we have finally found a candidate, now preparing for his new role as the head of our nation, to outpicture positive, life affirming values to the collective. Barack Obama has addressed different cultural groups here and abroad, and has spoken to what is shared for us all. He will remind us as our President that we are not only citizens of this grand and sometimes overblown culture, but that we are also citizens of the world and have common concerns and hopes with other members of this planet.

So this urge for the truth to be expressed and seen is gaining momentum, and while I feel the strange and wonderful desire to smile in truimphant glee when I see images of him, I must also acknowledge how much we are all part of this season of change that is occurring right now, this urge to rise up and express more truth on the collective level that is in each of us. The desire to be who we are is a good part of the reason we chose this man, he has addressed the deep desire to aspire to be our own truth. The desire to be seen and honored by others is beginning to have a swell of momentum and it is the core of the victory that so many celebrated in early November.

Now, as our country is literally in a time of transition, is a good time to pay attention not only to how we are making a shift in the everyday world, but to the changes that are portending in our lives as a result of the shifts going on in a more subtle manner. In this world of transition, we are beginning to sense a new emergence, and with it, the old may be uncomfortable, stale and stagnantly immobile in some ways. A beacon in his own life and far beyond, Gandhi spoke a timeless truth, we are all the change we are seeking to become. This election was galvanizing for the reverberation occurring between the national scene and in our personal sphere. Right here, right now, each of us is the change that we are seeking in the world. As we so happily realize that there is a leader that gets our juices flowing to think in terms of what we aspire to be, this is our time as well.

We are all local sites of ‘creation.’ We are each indeed, sparks of the divine, and we all have work to do. I’ve been saying for quite a while now, ‘God is an equal opportunity employer.’ Research in the field of physics has shown that we are all reading the ‘news’ in the quantum field of our interactions and everyone is getting the broadcast, 24/7, like it or not. Shorthand for this; if we’re broadcasting fear, it sends out its own unsavory scent, if we send out truth, then we can all take a whiff and smell courage in the air. Therefore, everyone needs to be paying attention in life, choosing to live more consciously and authentically. Not only is it important for the evolution of consciousness on the individual level, it is also an integral factor for the whole, we are all bolstered or deflated by the reverberation of these micro level moments of choice.

So while it may be scary, if you’ve been feeling drawn to something, if your heart has been tugging to grow into more of your authenticity, then it is for the good that you get off the seat of your pants and act upon it, however small the steps. Even if you’re choked by fear, it will be good to look back on someday and see how you didn’t accept the smallness of what Robert Wilkinson the visionary astrologer calls, a ‘narrow destiny.’

A narrow destiny might feel safe, but it won’t stop feeling cramped, nor will it ultimately satisfy, as it creates a penchant to live in a compensatory manner, rather than the satisfaction of doing what’s in us, and offering our real value to the world. Heading down the path of growth and evolution and expansion doesn’t guarantee a particular outcome. Persistence is a virtue, to birth our authenticity requires the great will of tenacity. Studying creative people is a good way to understand that we are tested, as we all are for putting ourselves on the line. Do we believe in ourselves and our worth? Do others see us for our true gifts and contributions?

Acting on the creative urge that is our heart’s desire to do our own work in life will cause us to face obstacles and challenges. To use a contemporary example, no one handled a silver spoon to Barack Obama. Yet you can see even in his teenage years that the light in his face was bright and he was in contact with some of his inner courage to show himself. In this twenty some month campaign, he has had to align his will to stay the course, not knowing the outcome.

In these times, this is the best GPS we can muster, to be as courageous in our authenticity as we can muster and stand up, without knowing the outcome. Since one of my favorite mantras is a line from Gertrude Stein, I’ll offer it here; “If it were all known, it would not be creation but dictation.” We live in revelatory times, and it offers the challenge and the opportunity for one and all to be a hero, doing one’s best to stand straight while affirming their own integrity. In being true to ourselves, we build more strength, resilience and adaptability to meet the challenges in life. While the experience for many of us is to feel distracted, bored, confused, overwhelmed or depressed, I maintain that even these difficult states of consciousness are an invitation to listen, to ask and to hear the truth whispering softly within. We each have a ‘calling’ and need to do our due diligence to seek it out with a most earnest desire.

We’ve seen this desire to become our most expanded true self, reflected on the face of soon to be President, Barack Obama, who searched deeply to access enormous strength while pursuing a mighty cause. Again, we all have work to do, and the more we can pursue a path that is in alignment with our true nature, the purpose for which we came, the more we are building the strength of courage to meet the challenges not only of today, but for those that are coming in life. Being more of who we are lends more resilience, while opting out and giving over to fit in, erodes a sense of self worth. It is appropriate to find good relations with others, but it is best to do so by finding the most common ground that is a win/win for all involved, this is a path of peace and expanded growth, beyond continual arm wrestling for who is to be dominant, who will ‘win’ while the other is diminished.

So as we find ourselves on the edge of growth, not knowing exactly how to transition from an old world to the new one emerging, it is time to remember to breathe and maintain a conscious connection with our most vitalizing inner resource. As well, finding the fire of faith and maintaining it consciously, is key to feeling connected. These are times to sacrifice the old and to lose our fear, dump our worry and nuke our anxiety. It is a time to become more fit, so as to have the stamina to adapt and be an active participant in the new world that is emerging. In this we can guarantee a degree of edginess, but as well, a juiciness and an ability to claim our true citizenship as participants in a democracy, and as activists in authenticity, being true to our own lives while making a contribution to the whole. These are principles that the men that forged our founding Constitution sought to invoke for the many generations of Americans to come. Many of them paid a dear price for their activism and their action in forming this democratic union. As a citizenry, we have been able to take these rights for granted and even do our best to sabotage them in some sectors. Through this process of change, we are all indeed being called to join and to offer the best of ourselves. We are living in both precarious and propitious times. These times promise to be momentous, as we step up to become more actively authentic and birth a new era of our collective ethos, finding both our individual and group genius of being our best.