The End is Nigh- Look Busy!

Our family sometimes fights over who has to use the drinking glass with a picture of Jesus on it and the caption, “Jesus is coming. Look busy!” Can you blame us? It’s scary, and only occasionally moves to the front of the cupboard when other glasses are dirty. Another wave of scary end time prophecy has moved to the front of the American media cupboard in the last month. You thought you had until 2012, but it turns out that our days are literally numbered….. to 4. According to a movement of Christians convinced by their reading of the Bible, the world will end on May 21, 2011. To spread the word, they're using billboards and bus stops, RVs and pamphleteers on street corners to strike the fear of hell into passersby. Apparently, there will be earthquakes starting at 6pm on May 21 in the Pacific Rim and moving through each of the time zones. Believers will be raptured, i.e. taken to heaven and non believers taken to hell. 153 days later the entire universe will be destroyed forever.

Are beliefs like this quaint but harmless? Is this a light hearted distraction from more pressing issues, or do they take our eyes off the prize of fearless living? I will never forget the story about a Little Rock woman who was killed after leaping through her moving car's sun roof. Her husband, who was driving, described it as a mistaken rapture. It led to a 20 car pileup and 13 other injuries, as a mass of cars tried to avoid the woman who was convinced that she had seen 12 people floating up into the air at the same time as seeing a man on the side of the road she believed to be Jesus. Her husband later told the story – “She believed it was the rapture,” he said, “She was screaming 'He's back! He's back!’ And she climbed onto the roof of the car. I was slowing down but she wouldn't stop.”
As it turns out the Jesus look-alike on the side of the road was on his way to a toga party. He had stopped his truck by the side of the road, when the tarp became loose and released 12 blowup sex dolls filled with helium which floated into the air. The man who had been told by several friends that he looked like Jesus pulled his car over and lifted his arms in the air in frustration. Seeing the Jesus lookalike standing by the road reaching his arms to heaven while dolls floated up into the sky was too much for the woman. The dead woman's husband gave his statement, and finished by saying- “My wife loved Jesus more than anything. She believed that was the end. She wouldn't miss out on being with Jesus in heaven for anything.”

There are people who truly believe these end time prophecies and lives are ruined when the dates come and go without incident. People give up their jobs, stop planning for the future, and become obnoxious in their evangelical zeal to save as many of us as possible. What do you make of this? How would it change your life if you knew the world was going to end at a specific time and date?
Here are some of my thoughts-

1. The World is Always Ending

The end timers have a partial truth. The urgency that comes with an expectation of a short lived future can be a healthy motivation for living fully in the present. Surely it’s a far healthier motivation to live with urgency because you don’t want to miss a moment of what life has to offer, and you want to be all that you can be in the world, than to live with urgency because you are afraid of eternal punishment.
The partial truth is that the world IS ending on May 21…and it will have ended on May 20….and it will end again on May 22….and you will get up on May 23 to a new world to do it all over again. The 1980s REM song said it well, "It's the End of the World As we Know It. And… I….. feel…. fine!" Every moment involves an ending and a beginning because the old has gone, the new has come and it’s okay. You are fine. You have changed with the moment. Your consciousness is evolving, transcending and including everything that brought you to this point. You are becoming a new creation along with each moment.

The world ends with the passing of every moment, however long that is. The past only exists as memory. It’s over. It often intrudes in your life like a thief in the night, robbing you of a full experience right now. As if the present moment is not enough on its own, we so often engage in mental time travel. We travel back in time, at least our mind’s best effort to reconstruct the past. We try to live through a rear view mirror. The problem with rear view living is that objects (and memories) appear larger than they really are. Situations that were challenging in the past might not be so challenging now that you have grown and evolved. Similar challenges may arise, but you are a new person, stronger, smarter and wiser. And this is a new moment. Just because things happened in a certain way in the past doesn’t mean they will repeat the pattern.

A great example of this danger is the story of the Swiss watch; the Swiss created it and then rejected it because it didn't fit their idea of what a watch should be, with internal moving dials. The Japanese ran with the new watch. Since they weren’t limited by preconceived notions about how a watch should work, they were able to develop this new technology. The Japanese have combined innovation, including kinetic watches that do not require batteries and have built-in cameras, with low cost and become a leader in the time industry.

Coming back to that other time industry, the religious end times industry. Sure, the world will end on May 21. Same as it does every day. This is good news. May 22 will arrive as a fresh start, with a new you ready to innovate and continue your evolving journey.

2. The Future Only Exists As Projection

Anyone who thinks they can predict the future is delusional. Do you remember the Y2K scare that computers would crash when clocks rolled over to 2000? It was amusing to be in Australia, one of the first time zones to see the New Year. January 1, 2000 arrived without incident and yet people in other parts of the world still fretted about what would happen to them. We love to worry, don’t we? As Charles Schulz (creator of Charlie Brown) said, “Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.”

The future is nothing but projection, often casting a shadow over life like storm clouds. You hold your breath, for fear of allowing yourself to fully embrace the moment. Just as we time travel to the past, we also travel forward in time, at least our mind’s best attempt to guess the future. It’s the same problem. You think about the future from the level of wisdom and courage you have now, forgetting that you will be different, wiser and stronger by the time the future arrives. Mental time travel leads to such a distorted sense of identity, and so much unnecessary suffering.

Take all predictions about the future, whether the end of the world or the expectation of some personal calamity, with a big pinch of salt. Cash in a reality check and bring yourself back to the present moment where life truly happens. You can bank on the present moment, but not the future.

3. The Future Is Open

Of course, it’s essential to do SOME mental time traveling. That’s how you learn from the past and anticipate the future. It’s right to reflect on the past and plan ahead. Just don’t dwell there or concretize your conclusions.

There is an alternative to reliving the past, obsessing about the future and reacting to the future in a passive way. On this point, I have been influenced by the ideas of management guru, Otto Scharmer. Basically he suggests that instead of only learning from the past we should also learn from the future. More specifically, we should learn from the emerging future. You don’t predict the future because the future is not yet decided. You pre-sense the future. You intuit your way forward and live the future by sensing it as it arises.

We’ve all had those spectacular moments when you sense the next move and don’t even know how you knew. You hold your child’s hand on the sidewalk just moments before a car speeds past. You sell stock on a whim that change is afoot. You preemptively heal a conflict before you really knew it was even flaring up. We have more intuitive wisdom that we give ourselves credit for.

It’s not that you make change happen singlehandedly. Its more that you sense what change is emerging and you help to co create it. In order to pre-sense the future, it’s helpful to suspend the many voices of judgment and fear that become small self fulfilling prophecies and respond in a new way, from your higher self that intuitively knows its connections with others. From this higher self, you can see through multiple pairs of eyes at the same time. It’s as if you’re playing both sides of a chess board, or coaching both teams on a sporting field. From this perspective, you inevitably sense the best interests of many parties. Once you have opposing perspectives working together at a higher level than competition, you are pre-sensing the patterns that hold it all together and allowing collective genius to manifest.

I put end times prophecies in the same category of small self fulfilling prophecies. They operate on a need to know basis. You need the prophecy to be true to justify a narrow interpretation of the Bible and to validate the theories of charismatic leaders. No one knows the future, but we all have intuition about the direction of the future. From an intuitive perspective, whenever the future arrives, you’re already there. Whatever the future demands, you’re already doing it. Wherever life needs you, you’re in position.
So how does this relate to May 21 prophecies? They have a partial truth. On the one hand, don’t fall for the delusion. Author Zadie Smith offers a beautiful turn of phrase when describing the passage of time in her novel White Teeth. She says; “don’t fall for ‘the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect’.”

Grammatically, the perfect tense has a neat relationship with the present tense. The perfect tense implies that everything that needs to be done is already done. It all collides in this moment; everything necessary for contentment comes together in this moment. The past is what it is, and what your memory makes of it. You make the future perfect by living fully in the present.

Don’t fall for the end times lie and rob yourself of a full and fulfilling present. Live your life in the perfect, present tense. You lack nothing in this moment. You need nothing in this moment. All is in perfect order right now.

At the same time, take on the partial truth of the end times. You don’t know the timing of future events. You don’t need to fear any particular day. But you can sense the future as it is emerging through you and others. This is the higher self fulfilling prophecy where the good of the widest number is included.

Ps Please visit Soulseeds where Meg and I do most of our blogging, and offer resources for all ages and stages of life.

Raising Consciousness

There is a fanciful story of a yogi who died and was taken to yogi’s hell because he had broken his vows. In yogi’s hell he was shown three rooms and given the last choice he would ever make of where he would like to spend eternity. The first room was full of yogis standing on their heads on a cement floor. He declined because he thought that sounded painful. In the second room there were yogis standing on their heads on a wooden floor. This seemed like a better option but still very painful. So he asked to see the third room. In the room the yogis were sitting in chairs at a table drinking coffee, but they were knee deep in filth, mud and excrement. This didn’t seem great but a lot better than the other two rooms. After all, it was only knee deep and he was able to drink coffee. So he chose the third room. No sooner had he sat at the table and poured himself a coffee than a devil walked into the room, blew a whistle and said, “Ok, coffee break’s over. Everyone back on your heads.”

Should have gone for the room with wood floor after all. It feels quite liberating to make light of a religious belief that has been used to spread so much fear and shame. The belief in heaven and hell is attractive to the small self because the ego longs to live forever and it loves to believe in absolute good and evil with appropriate rewards and punishments. Did you know that 63% of Americans believe in hell where people are punished eternally? But when the question becomes more pointed, “Do you think you will go to hell after death?” only 1% say they are going to hell. Nearly 2/3 of Americans believe in hell but virtually no one thinks they’re going there. French existential philosopher Jean Paul Sartre was right; “Hell is other people.”

It feels comforting to put other people in the box of evil, because it makes you feel righteous and safe. It’s been interesting to watch the response to the killing of Osama bin Laden this week. A few times I had to pause and wonder what it was we were celebrating. I don’t fully understand the psychology of celebrating the violent death of any person. I can understand celebrating a sense of relief like you might have at the end of a drawn out trauma, but it didn’t feel like that. It was too joyful, almost smug. The word “justice” was used too often, or in the case of Rudi Giliani the word “revenge”. Justice that is based in revenge just adds hate to hate, and revenge is an insatiable beast that in the words of Ghandi “makes the whole world blind.”

The death of bin Laden could be celebrated but not because of his personal demise. Rather it could be celebrated as part of the demise of bin Ladenism and all that he represented. His death was one more step in a process of global transformation that has been taking place for some time, a raising of global consciousness being led by young, non violent protestors in the Middle East who neither looked to bin Laden for leadership nor served his violent agenda. We could celebrate the resilience of Americans who refused to give in to the cunning attempts by terrorists to engender fear and uncertainty into everyday life. If we now revoked the Patriot Act that was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure after 9/11, we could celebrate the raising of consciousness in this country because we choose not to live in mistrust and suspicion.

With our raised consciousness, we don’t need to imagine bin Laden in hell. We can make peace with him, knowing that his agenda failed because we wouldn’t let it infiltrate our psyches. To live in fear and paranoia is to be in a hell of our own making. We can make peace with bin Laden, knowing that like many misguided extremists before him, he had a partial truth about heavy handed American foreign policy that created far too many enemies. We now seem to be heeding the same message but we hear it so much clearer from non violent protestors in the Arab world that it’s time to let Middle Eastern countries create their own form of democracy.

With our raised consciousness, we don’t for a second condone the calculated violence of bin Laden, but we choose to respond from a higher perspective than what he operated with.

Cultural Consciousness

What is consciousness? There are many theories about this. The way I describe it is that we each have our own level of consciousness, the total package of our current awareness. Sometimes we include more people and perspectives in our awareness than other times, but we have a general level of consciousness. Our consciousness is not one static thing, and it may not be located in one particular place. It is the ever changing combination of nature and nurture, genes and scenes, thoughts and feelings, impulses and instincts that give you a unique perspective in any given moment. It’s not necessarily the way things are. It’s the way they taste to you at the time.

A few years back we were on vacation in Panama. We had our first experience of eating miracle fruit. The miracle fruit is an amazing berry. It doesn’t claim to be a weight loss marvel or to increase antioxidants like some other wonder fruits. It’s a miracle because for several hours after eating the miracle fruit, everything else you taste is sweet. So we ate lemons and limes and even they tasted sweet after eating the miracle fruit.

Consciousness is like that. You experience life exactly according to your current level of consciousness. With a grateful consciousness, everything becomes a reason for gratitude. With a fearful consciousness, everything becomes threatening. You imagine that you are a highly rational person and that you make well informed decisions and discernments. But in reality a good portion of your life is driven by unconscious forces; memories tucked away in your inner filing cabinet, intuitive understanding that seems to come from nowhere, sudden achievements that surprise even you.

Similarly, communities, nations and the globe as a whole have their current levels of consciousness. Sometimes we unconsciously follow the group response without much thought. I had this experience in 1994. I was downtown in Sydney one night when huge crowds began to gather in the streets. I had no idea what was going on. People were singing and dancing arm in arm. I found myself caught up in the festivities without a clue what I was celebrating. Finally I said to someone, “What is it we’re celebrating? Why are we so happy?” He said, “It’s just been announced that Sydney won the bid for the 2000 Olympic Games.” Ah, woo hoo, I said and the party continued.

Too often, religion is like this; group think, assumptions and prejudice justified by self serving beliefs that God takes sides and rewards loyalty. Some of the response to bin Laden’s death has also seemed a bit like this. Crowds of people going along with the group response. The President tells us it was justice. The government tells us we’re safer. The media conveys pictures of New Yorkers partying at Ground Zero and crowds gathering at the White House. Our consciousness is so often shaped by group think.

At a time of global transformation such as where we find ourselves now, it’s a great opportunity to check your assumptions, search for the hidden motivations and consider what level of consciousness you are operating from. Global consciousness is raised by individuals who raise their consciousness.

Consciousness Raising

There is a long tradition of leaders who were consciousness raisers. You might even call them hell raisers; people like Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed. More recently people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto among many others, have helped to raise the consciousness of the planet by raising the bar on personal responsibility and reinforcing the social contract to be mindful of others, especially the most vulnerable. It’s frightening to think about how many of the people I just listed were assassinated for their efforts. When you challenge the status quo, people get scared and tragic things happen.

Our calling is to be consciousness raisers. When terrible things happen in the world, our calling is to come from a higher perspective than the act or situation we are responding to. Albert Einstein said, “You can’t solve problems with the same level of consciousness that created them.” If someone is acting with hatred, you can’t beat them with more hatred. You will just create an endless spiral of hatred.

I’m not talking about being passive or allowing abuse to continue. I’m talking about being smart and coming from a broader perspective. Raised consciousness is able to hold more than one quality at a time, for example both forgiveness and personal rights. You can forgive someone and demand that the behavior changes at the same time. You can accept someone without fully trusting them. Let the trust grow in time.The amazing thing is that the behavior is more likely to change with this raised consciousness, and if it doesn’t change you are more able to deal with it internally.

Protestors in Egypt and now Syria are a great example of this very point. They are demanding change, but doing so in reasonable ways which makes their case more compelling.

Raising Consciousness

Being Mother’s Day, it’s a good time to remember that mothers have a special role in raising the consciousness of the next generation. The ancient story about John the Baptist jumping in Elizabeth’s belly when Mary came to visit is a story usually told at Christmas time. I always liked it, but when I considered it in the context of consciousness, it came alive for me. There is no reason to think of it as a story of supernatural intervention. Babies kick, and from one perspective this is just the story of a kicking baby. The miracle is in the circumstances and the experience of connection. The story is told through the eyes of two women which was revolutionary enough in a patriarchal world. Elizabeth, according to the story, was 80 years old and barren. The connection she experienced with her unborn baby was tender and significant. She was beginning a bonding process that is itself a natural miracle.

This is a parable about the incredible merging of consciousness that takes place between parents and children. Kids do not arrive in the world as blank slates. They come with a huge amount of genetic coding and unconscious impulses. Then their environment and parents help to shape them as people. It’s not that the whole pressure is on moms. But moms are powerful to impact the consciousness of kids from care during pregnancy to the way you talk and play with kids in their early months. The relationship between mother and child is a mirror into wonder. Until about 18 months old, the child thinks she is an extension of her mother and many later beliefs grow out of these early interactions. At the same, for a mom, your child is a mirror into the mystery of who you are as a spiritual adventurer on a human journey.

I’m not saying that Moms need to be perfect. On the contrary, moms can model a sense of adventure and forgiveness to their kids because you are willing to try new things, then acknowledge your limitations without dwelling on failure.

And I’m not just talking about Moms. You don’t have to have children to be a mother. We all have a parental instinct to nurture children, pets, communities, ideas and causes and when you are truly passionate you will give yourself to these children of yours unconditionally. When it comes to consciousness, you are always giving birth to something. As with the story of Elizabeth, the consciousness of one person can raise the consciousness of others by virtue of their interactions. Something incredible is being birthed in the world right now, as more and more people honor the feminine dimension of life, tap into their intuitive wisdom, and seek non violent transformation of oppressive systems.

Consciousness Cleanse

With all this talk about raising consciousness, how do you do it? Where does this new consciousness come from?

It comes from within. It’s all there to begin with. You just need to remove some of the protective layers to uncover your wisdom that is often unconscious. It’s partly about trusting your intuitive wisdom, and it’s partly about making manifest instincts and motivations that are unconscious; make them conscious and intentional. Either way it’s an inner challenge.

It’s like cleaning frost from the windows of your consciousness. You can scrub for hours on the outside and make only slow progress. The more effective way of wiping away the frost is to light a fire on the inside. Shine a warm light on the frost from the inside and the frost will vanish like nose prints on windows. Frost on consciousness is often hiding your awareness of what you value, why it’s important and where your true motivation lies. Revenge for example is often a suppressed self loathing. Light a fire of awareness on all the dark places, fears and habitual patterns and you will see beyond them to the perfect peace within. Then this peace will manifest in your actions.

At root, the situation we face in the world today is not a political crisis, and it’s not an ecological crisis. Nor is it a financial crisis. It is a crisis of consciousness. The old way of operating is no longer working. We can either rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic and slowly sink or we can radically change the way we approach the challenges and do it from the inside out. The solutions are there, awaiting our attention. It’s a cause for great optimism that there are signs that people are beginning to make this quantum leap in consciousness. That is something well worth celebrating.

Evolving consciousness in me greets the same in you. Namaste.

Mothers Day- The Source of Life

A pregnant woman boards a bus. After taking a seat, she notices a man smiling at her. She feels self-conscious and changes her seat, but he seems even more amused. She moves a third time, and he starts to giggle. On her fourth move, he bursts into hysterical laughter. They both get off the bus at the next stop. The pregnant woman is furious and demands an explanation. “What exactly is so funny?” ”I’m sorry, ma’am,” replies the giggling man. “But I couldn’t help noticing you’re pregnant, and when you first sat down, you sat under an advertisement which read ‘Coming Soon: Million Dollar Baby.’ Then you moved and sat under an ad that read ‘Sloan’s Liniments Remove Swelling.’ Then you moved under a deodorant advertisement which read ‘William’s Stick Did the Trick.’ And I just couldn’t hold it in any longer when you moved a fourth time and sat under a tire advertisement which read ‘Dunlop Rubber Would Have Prevented This Accident.’”

I’m going to risk a different sort of accident by writing about motherhood from a masculine perspective. This is probably unwise, as the general rule is “no uterus, no opinion.” My only right to an opinion is that I have had a front row seat watching an amazing Mom in action for 17 years now. It all began in 1994 with my frantic drive to the hospital. Then many hours later in the delivery room, it happened. Delivery doesn’t seem like an accurate word for what went down in that room. Delivery is what happens when your pizza arrives; within 30 minutes or no charge. This was altogether unlike welcoming a pizza boy at the door. Other words come to mind, but not delivery; words like intense, nerve-wracking, thrilling, and heart wrenching. There is screaming, laughter and tears all within the same breath, then the elation of a little human person in your arms.

I had the honor of cutting the chord. Now that was a heart stopping thing to do. It was hard for me to believe the nurse who said that it wouldn’t hurt either mother or child. I mean it was part of both of them. How could it not hurt? It made me a little squeamish. I asked if we could just leave them attached. It seemed safer. We wouldn’t lose him that way. Couldn’t we just raise him attached?

In all seriousness, being present for the birth of my three children is without doubt the greatest privilege and joy of my life. Words can’t accurately describe the elation of partnering the creation of new life. My heart danced with pride at the sight of Meg; blissfully exhausted. I can only imagine the feeling for a mother in that moment. It seems to me that mothers have an insight into some of the mysteries of life because of this experience, including a profound appreciation for the Source of Life…… by any name. These insights are universal truths that mothers may be able to help us all to understand.

Holding On and Letting Go
In the Susan Jeffer’s book End the Struggle and Dance with Life, an old woman is asked why she is always cheerful. Her answer is beautiful. “Well, I wear this world just as a loose garment.”

To wear the world as a loose garment means to embrace life with passion, but neither to smother it, nor be smothered by it. Wearing the world as a loose garment speaks of being at ease with what lies beneath, accepting life is it evolves, but not expecting it to stay the same. Wearing the world as a loose garment is a metaphor for holding the balance between embrace and detachment, intimacy and autonomy, the present moment and impermanence.

From the moment the cord is cut, mothers learn the delicate balance of holding on and letting go. It’s a profound spiritual truth that mirrors the mysterious relationship that we all have with the source of life, no matter what language or imagery we use to describe this mystery. The source of life and love is both tangible and concrete like a new born baby or an act of kindness, and it’s also mysterious and fluid like a new realization or a felt connection. Life is both something you can hold onto with passion, and also something that cannot be fully grasped or described. The lesson of motherhood that is a profound spiritual truth for all of us is to balance holding on to life, and also letting go so that you are free for new and evolving experience.

Birthing a New You
Marianne Williamson said- “When a woman gives birth, two are born; a baby from the womb of its mother and a woman from the womb of her former existence.”
Being a mother, in all its humanity, joy and frustration, is ultimately a celebration of a new you. You will never be the same after all this pain, all this loving, all this letting go. In each step on the path of motherhood, you are discovering the delight of awakening to the source of life that dances in and through you.

As a mother, you know what it is to feel such intense passion for your creation that you would stop at nothing to try and end your child’s suffering. As a mother, you know forgiveness like no other. As a mother, you celebrate the achievements of your child because you know better than others the struggle that often leads to success.

Most importantly, mothers know how changeable life is. You know what it is to shift your roles and relationships with your kids. This is such a profound lesson in impermanence. My grandmother died in 1994. At the time, Meg was full of the life of our first child. After the funeral for my grandma, my mother placed her hand on Meg’s pregnant stomach and said, “As one life passes, another begins.” I have never forgotten that moment as new life merged with transitioning life, four generations crossed paths for just a few precious moments.

Mother or not, you are birthing new life each and every day. Your new creations and achievements are dear to you like children. May you wear life like a loose garment, surrendering to the rhythm of the source of life. May you cut the cords that need to be cut, hold tight where appropriate and be wise to know the difference. May you let go, not palms down but palms up so that what you release can fly free. May you know, amidst all the disappointment and imperfection, that life has a unity even if you don’t always feel or understand that unity. All things are evolving as they need to, and you are learning what you need to learn. You are part of the mysterious unity that dances free and unrestrained in all things at all times. I honor all who give birth to life in every thought, word and action.

Social Contract- Communal Responsibility

A milk man in a small town goes door to door each morning with a large jug of milk. At midday he sets his jug on a rock while he unpacks his humble lunch of bread and hard cheese.

One day, the goat herder comes by as the milk man is having his lunch. The milk man hollers a greeting which spooks one of the goats which in turn knocks the jug over, shattering it and spilling its contents. Not only does the milk man lose the rest of his day’s wages, but it will take up to a month to get another jug. How will he live without a month’s income? The milk man demands the goat herder sell his goats to pay for the milk man’s losses. The goat herder responds that to do so would bankrupt him.

The two men go to the village judge. After hearing both of them plead their cases, the judge declares that it is neither the fault of the goat herder nor the fault of the milk man. To truly find out whose fault it is, he decides to hold a trial between the goat and the rock. The judge sends his bailiffs to bring forward the goat and the rock. The goat comes fairly easily. The rock comes with a struggle.

Soon, word of the trial spreads throughout the village. The trial is held in the town center, and all of the townspeople come to witness the ridiculous trial. The judge speaks. “You have come to see a trial between a rock and a goat, which is a foolish thing. Thus, you have come to see me make a fool out of myself. The only fair judgment is to fine each of you a few coins for ‘improper thoughts.’” The money is collected and given to the milk man who is able to purchase a new jug and continue his work.

Everyone in the village was involved and while some resented having to contribute their own money to a situation that didn’t concern them, they all felt that they had been part of the solution.

It’s an interesting parable for our time, as we continue to debate the role of taxation, welfare and social security. From the right and the left, we are seeking to find the balance of personal liberty and communal responsibility. It’s also a story that illustrates a profound spiritual truth. As hard as you may try to live an independent life and keep to yourself, your actions inevitably impact others. As hard as a nation may try to assert its independence in the world, it too is part of a global village. And as much as we humans live as if we can do whatever we want, consume whatever we want, control whatever we want, we forget that we too are part of the whole ecosystem of life.

The American pastor and peace activist, William Sloane Coffin, who died just a few years back said,

The new survival unit is no longer the individual nation; it’s the entire human race and its environment. This newfound oneness is only a rediscovery of an ancient religious truth. Unity is not something we are called to create; it’s something we are called to recognize.

Where Does the Responsibility End?

So we are connected to each other in a social contract, or using Judeo/ Christian language a social covenant. How far does this stretch? Are there limits? Where does the responsibility start and end? Your immediate family? Or does your responsibility stretch to include your extended family? As a parent, you might imagine that your job is done when the kids leave home. But they keep coming back! And the family keeps getting larger. Now you worry about the grandkids, and you include in-laws and their extended family in your life. Is extended family the extent of your responsibility? Do you have a loyalty to your communities, or to your nation? Do you have a responsibility beyond your nation and beyond your species?

When the Pilgrims arrived in America on the Mayflower they signed what they called a Social Compact which gave them a way to organize themselves socially and politically. It modeled certain principles that we still take for granted. The only problem was that it didn’t include women and it didn’t acknowledge the indigenous people whose land they were about to invade. Our social contracts need to include as many stake holders as possible. Too often, it’s the loudest or wealthiest stake holders whose interests take precedence.

I will never forget the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. 2000 was the last year that we lived in Sydney and the buzz was phenomenal. The city was full of people and good energy. The streets were all clean. New roads were built. Buildings and facilities were updated. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see milk and honey raining from the clouds. But behind the façade shown to the world, something took place that was completely corrupt and offensive. And now I have discovered that it happens in cities around the world before Olympic Games and large political conventions. Thousands of homeless people were randomly arrested for loitering, and were either jailed or bussed several hundred miles out of the city. Sydney was put on the global map in 2000. But the cost was that we broke our social contract with those who needed support the most. We forgot that homeless people are part of us and our actions affect them.

To bring the thought close to home, this week a junior at a local High School ended his life with a gun. I don’t pretend to know the situation or the motivation, but I have heard that there was a long history of bullying that went back to Middle School. He was apparently a quiet and intelligent kid, which made him a target. This breaks my heart. We are ALL part of perpetuating a culture where some people are not safe, where it’s not okay to be quiet and intelligent, a society where if you are different from the norm you are safer to fly under the radar than boldly be who you are. His death rests in part on all of our consciences for allowing bullying to take place. Bullying is a breach of the social contract that everyone should be able to live freely without fear of harm.

Our responsibility in the social contract extends to homeless people and to teenagers in the local school, and to future generations who will inherit the planet. How far does it stretch? Our responsibility stretches as far as our consciousness has revealed to us that our connections run. In this day and age of global communication, and rapid movement of information, there is little excuse for having a limited or tribal mentality. We are connected all the way from east to west, south to north. One of the best ways to expand this consciousness is gratitude. Rather than make our responsibility to each other a matter of guilt or shame, think about it in terms of gratitude that stretches all the way back and all the way forward.

Gratitude and the Social Contract

After a heavy rain an old man began digging holes in his garden. His neighbor asked him, “What are you doing?” “Planting mango trees”, he said. The neighbor said, “Do you expect to eat mangoes from those trees?” He replied, “No. I won’t live long enough for that. But others will. All my life I have enjoyed mangoes planted by other people. This is my way of showing them my gratitude.

It’s a beautiful story that reminds us that someone once worked hard to make possible all the things we now take for granted. Second, our actions now create the ground on which future life on earth will sustain itself. Gratitude creates connections we hadn’t even thought of; connections with the earth, connections with each other and connections between our actions and future life.

Gratitude is one of the most enlightened human responses. It gets you beyond yourself. It’s close to altruism. There must have been a time, many years ago, where someone in a cave decided not to eat the food and instead to share it with others. One of the first acts of community, and you can imagine the surprise. And there must have been a first time that someone extended generosity beyond their tribe. And so it began. There must have been a first time that someone extended their sense of responsibility to include all living things. Gratitude helps us to appreciate others and to see our life as an opportunity to pay this gratitude forward. Gratitude brings us back to the web of life that supports our existence, our social contract with all living beings.

Social Contract and Human Nature

The idea of a social contract was part of the Enlightenment that arose in England and France in the 18th century. Their new understanding of human nature and community spread to America and was hugely influential in the foundation of the rule of law in this country. They wrestled with the question of what happens when people are left to their own devices. What is human nature capable of doing to a society?

The big breakthrough of the Enlightenment was that everybody was included in the social contract. Up to that point the religious sense of tribalism and God-ordained order justified excluding or marginalizing certain people or groups. Now the social contract included all people, in theory at least. The social contract says that all people are free and equal, and each person has inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This sense of egalitarianism was one of the great benefits of the Enlightenment, that emphasized the freedom and self empowerment that we now enjoy to craft our own spiritual path.

The downside of the Enlightenment view was that they didn’t have an optimistic view of human nature. The basic idea to come out of the Enlightenment was that if we were left to our own devices, our human nature, there would be chaos. It would be Lord of the Flies on a global scale. Each would act selfishly to ensure their own survival. Because human nature is essentially rational, we agree to enter a social contract to overrule our human nature. We now have a more nuanced view of human nature. I will return to this theme.

In general terms, the social contract is a fine ideal. However we know that even with a social contract homeless people get bussed out of town before Olympic Games without a thought to their rights, and kids commit suicide without enough questions being asked about the culture of bullying.

Community and Consciousness

As long as people suffer innocently there is more work for all of us to do. Stretch your consciousness to include all living things. Take some responsibility for the suffering of people near and far and do what you can to ease their suffering.

At the same time, continue to explore the essence of human nature. While much religion takes a mostly negative view of human nature saying that the basic human impulse is selfish, look more deeply into human potential. Traditional Christian language speaks about repentance as if you are changing natures. In this scheme, you are changing from the sinful nature to a holy nature. It’s a disempowering view. Another way to think about repentance is the movement from unconscious thoughts to conscious thoughts or awareness. The more you make your unconscious mind, which drives the majority of your life and decisions, conscious, the more successful, connected and compassionate you will be.

When you think of going deeper, or exploring the inner world, think of this as making unconscious thoughts conscious. The deeper you go, the more you discover “the inner extrovert” as David Brooks described it in his new book The Social Animal. The more self aware you are, the more connected you feel to others. The suffering of others feels like your own suffering, and your compassion compels you to live with greater care and kindness.

I’m going to revisit this issue over the coming weeks to explore practical ways of making the unconscious world conscious. This is not just an academic discussion. The safety of teenagers, the rights of indigenous people and the very future of the species, rides on our ability to participate in this shift to consciousness. More to come on this issue. For now, simply consider your social contract and how far your responsibility reaches. Instead of taking a guilt trip, explore an attitude of gratitude as a pathway to consciousness that includes more and more living beings in your care and concern.

Inclusive Easter

During the week several people commented to me that I must be busy, being Easter week. I explained that I am busy but it has nothing to do with Easter. In the past when I followed the Easter story through the last days and hours of Jesus life it was busy because there were multiple services to coordinate. Now I have less interest in following the literal story of Jesus’ last days. Like many people, the literal version of the story smacks too much of a view of salvation that we have left behind. It’s a view that says we have all fallen short of God’s nature, and Jesus died and rose as part of God’s plan to help us rise above our human nature and attain eternal life. I take almost the exact opposite view. I don’t think it’s our nature that’s the problem. On the contrary, what we need to do is return to our essential nature that we often forget. It’s the fact that you’ve forgotten your nature as a spark of light in the world that’s the problem. You don’t need to be saved by someone outside of yourself. You need to awaken to your true nature that is very much alive and well within you.

For those of us with an inclusive spiritual perspective, Easter is an opportunity to reinterpret the message in a way that is personally empowering and optimistic. The message is one of personal responsibility. Change the course of history from this moment forward by reclaiming your power as a human being with a voice and a call to be all you can be in the world.

What Unites Us?

What is your feeling about Easter? Do you look forward to it, dread it, or do you feel conflicted?

While we come from so many different perspectives on Easter, some following a more literal understanding of the events than others, there is something we can all agree on. We are all looking for a little magic in the midst of life that can be confusing and uncertain. Whether you take the story of resurrection literally or not, the season can provide a little renewal of your belief in possibility.

Let me illustrate with a story from when I was 6 years old.

When I was 6, I found an old car tire and put it in the dirt in the backyard. Every afternoon when I came home from school I sat in the middle of my tire and dug. I dug my heart out with my little plastic spade, shoveling handfuls of dirt over the side, fully convinced that if I dug for long enough I would get to China. I imagined that on the way I would pass through lost cities and find old treasures before eventually arriving at China. I’d heard the phrase, “digging a hole to China” and I thought that was just about the coolest thought imaginable, so I dug. I wanted to know how it could be that you could dig down but then end arrive somewhere by coming up through the ground in some place far away.

I found the world an enchanted but strange place. The hole in the ground was one of the ways I escaped from a world that confused me. There was something about sitting in the dirt that put things in perspective. Around this time, I had some traumatic experiences. One day I found my best friend in the boy’s bathroom at school sitting on a strange man’s lap. I never knew what had happened, but I knew it wasn’t right. Another friend died when he became trapped in an abandoned fridge. He was sitting next to me in his seat in class one day. The next day his seat was empty. This also wasn’t right. Soon after that I walked into the kitchen of my home and found a man from the local pysch hospital holding my parents at knife point. At least that’s how I remember it. Whatever happened, I knew it wasn’t right. How does a six year old boy make sense of a world that turns out to be less certain, less friendly, and less trustworthy than he expected? He digs a hole in the ground. He plays. He makes believe. He talks to imaginary friends. He dreams. He waits for tooth fairies and Easter bunnies to bring chocolates and coins and other magical treats. My hole in the ground was one place I could control.

I gave up tunneling to China after a few weeks. I was a persistent kid, but when I could barely fit my feet in the hole after 3 weeks I lost interest. So much for my trek to China. What are your early memories? When did you first realize that life can be a raw and rough ride? How did you cope with the disenchantment? What place did magic have in your childhood?

The Easter story, whether you understand it literally or as a long lasting myth, has all the elements of life in it. It has betrayal, disappointment, disillusionment, loss, corruption, relief, joy, surprise, forgiveness and so much more. It is a real world story of despair giving way to hope.

Easter As a Pagan Celebration of Nature

The Easter story emerged at a time when people were living with high levels of uncertainty and change. The magical elements of the story were partially a way for first century people to dig a hole to China. At the time of Jesus, magical thinking was closely tied to survival. Druids burned Yule logs in winter to remind the sun god to return; something that was by no means certain. What we now call Easter was for them a grateful relief, the return of the sun. They believed that their nature rituals had something to do with this miracle. At least it gave them a semblance of control in a world that seemed relentless and harsh.

A strong argument can be made that the story of the resurrection was fashioned after these pagan rituals. The word Easter never appears in the Bible. The word comes from Oestra, the pagan goddess of spring and rebirth. Easter is celebrated with symbols of fertility such as rabbits, eggs and spring colors. The fact that Earth Day fell on Good Friday this year is perfect. Eater reflects the pattern of nature. The seed of new life prepares itself in the darkness, ready to flourish in the spring. Jesus was the archetype for the greening of life. Maybe those who spoke about Jesus as the vine had some intuitive understanding of the earth connections, with the imagery of green growth and a web of relationships. Jesus death represented the dark days of winter that give way to the new birth of spring. It may also be no accident that in the story when Mary first saw the risen Jesus, he appeared in the form of a gardener. The earth holds all the same lessons as the Easter story.

Nature holds wisdom for dealing with the ups and downs of life; patience, surrender and acceptance. Nature is the place where so many extremes of human existence play out. At various times we go on personal quests and test extremes of endurance. We find both peace and challenge in the wild. We stand face to face with the most mind blowing beauty in nature, and quake at the feet of her power. It is a giant back yard for self discovery and imagining the possibilities for a better future. Nature has magical qualities.

The Easter story tracks the wild extremes of nature, the changing seasons and enduring wisdom. The story and rituals around Easter include enough magic and miracle to give you space to sit in the ground and dig to China. After centuries of scholarship and science that make a physical resurrection unlikely, the magic is found in a different way. Sometime after I was about 8, I realized that I couldn’t dig to China no matter how long I sat in that tire. I entered a stage of development that children’s author, Beatrix Potter described as “half believing and wholly playing with fairies.” This is the stage where you continue “believing” in Santa Claus to get gifts and you keep “believing” in the Easter Bunny to get candy. You keep the magic alive just enough to benefit without embarrassing yourself.

The same process happens for many adults with stories like Easter and Christmas. As long as you benefit from half believing the stories, and don’t lapse into beliefs that are pre-scientific, you can play in the story and see where it leads you. The benefit of half believing the story is the optimism it engenders that you can change the course of history.

Change the Course of History

Changing the course of history is a good Easter phrase. There was a commercial a few years back. It was for a new video cell phone. Jesus was sitting around the Last Supper table. When he realized that Judas wasn’t there, he called Judas on his video cell phone. He caught Judas downtown telling jokes to some Roman soldiers. In the background, you see one of the soldiers dangling a bag of silver coins. There is guilt written all over Judas’ face. The look on Jesus’ face is, “Aha, I caught you in the act.” Then the caption flashes onto the screen- “So and so brand mobile phone- Changing the Course of History!”

The Easter miracle is that you can change the course of history. You can rise above hurts and trauma from your past, and change the course of your own history. You can face your own wild nature, both the accepting, peaceful aspects of yourself and your vision for change, heal some of the broken parts and move on with determination. The Easter miracle is that a seed of possibility, buried in the darkness of your own psyche, is all it takes to create a massive transformation in your life.

I have been busy, but not because of Easter. I’ve been busy because I’ve been playing a small part in a local production of Pygmalion. Pygmalion is the story better known for its musical version “My Fair Lady”, the story of Eliza the flower girl and Henry Higgins who wagers that he can pass her off as a duchess by teaching her manners, culture and above all else correct speech. It’s a play that holds all the best and most difficult parts of the Easter story. When Higgins attempts to change Eliza against her will it’s a little like the salvation version of Easter where God feels the need to change us from the outside. But the play, and Higgin’s character in particular, have layers of complexity. The play also has elements of the reinterpreted Easter story where Eliza takes control of her own destiny, rises above her past and changes the course of her history. She comes to appreciate that speech is a superficial change, but something far more profound changes inside of her. She learns self confidence. She claims her own worth as a valued human being who offers something significant to the world.

Soaring In Your True Nature

The butterfly is a beautiful symbol for the Easter message. The first stage is the caterpillar which lives close to the earth, grounded and steady. The next stage is the cocoon, which is like time in darkness preparing for new growth. Finally comes the butterfly which emerges from darkness but flies free. Rediscovering your true nature often follows these stages. The Easter story follows the same pattern. Nature models the pattern. Eliza Doolittle experienced this pattern.

The other connection to the butterfly is what is known as the butterfly effect. One small change in your life spreads and impacts all parts of your life, and the lives of those around you. One person’s awakening, though it always begins within, is never independent of others. The Easter message of taking responsibility for changing the course of history applies to the whole world. We’ve seen it in the Middle East. When the fruit seller in Tunisia set himself on fire in front of government offices as a protest just before Christmas, he may have had no idea of the chain of events that have unfolded since in Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt and now Lybia. He had had enough of the corruption and silencing of peoples’ voices. He took extreme action the same way Jesus took extreme action in the story of his life and death.

It is the responsibility of every one of us to continue the legacy of the fruit seller. Even if we aren’t called to extreme action like setting ourselves on fire or going toe to toe with the Roman Empire, we all have our ways and means of changing the course of history. Start as a caterpillar. Inch forward while staying close to the earth. When you spend time in the cocoon, prepare your mind and heart for the inner awakening. Then release yourself to fly and be all that you can be in the world.

Reclaim the magic of Easter in whatever way is meaningful for you. If you find little in the original story that resonates, then take to heart nature’s story. Remember the words of the American inventor Buckminster Fuller, “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to a butterfly.” However frail and fearful you feel right now, rest assured there is a butterfly in you just waiting to soar.

Just like a butterfly, I will awaken to my true nature at the right time. Namaste.

Earth Day- Enormous Care, Little Struggle

The ecological crisis is doing what no other crisis in history has ever done — challenging us to a realization of a new humanity.” Jean Houston

What does this new humanity look like? Is it a George Jetson style future with hybrid cars travelling on elevated monorails to paperless and wireless offices? Or is it a world where we can look at each other across a fence, or across species, and recognize our essential connections? Hopefully it’s a combination of both.

A lot of people are making an effort. Communities around the world have experimented with bike sharing systems over the last couple of decades. Abandoned bikes are refurbished and painted green. Bike stands are erected at strategic points around town along with a notice explaining that bikes can be used and left at any authorized Green Bike site. It’s a great idea that has run into a little snag. People keep stealing the bikes. The fleets of bikes disappear faster than they can be replaced. Many communities have abandoned the scheme because of the cost of replacing stolen bikes.

This dilemma is a parable for the environmental movement. Until there is a change in consciousness that reminds us that we are all in this together, and that stealing from another person or plundering the earth, is effectively stealing from ourselves, no green scheme will make any lasting difference. Until we have sustainable consciousness, no ecological program will ever be sustainable.

This is a profound spiritual tension. It’s part of the realization of a new humanity. Making green mainstream is the easy part. Creating a green consciousness is a much deeper challenge. But it is worth the effort, or should I say it’s worth the effortless effort. Once you tap into this connected consciousness, a perspective that includes all living things, as part of an evolutionary context, there is enormous care, but little struggle.

Over the last twenty years, the response to the ecological crisis has gone through many different stages. Each of them has involved this tension between creating superficial change and effecting lasting change. My earliest memory of the ecological crisis was around the hole in the ozone and dreaded aerosols. It was all fear and doom. Aerosols were used to scareosol to death. Then the focus shifted to recycling. Suddenly, the relatively easy process of dumping our trash in a bag and taking it out back became a science of its own. It felt like you had to be a chemist to know what plastic to put in which bin. Then the focus shifted to green consumerism, sustainable development, renewable energy, and hybrid cars. At each step along the way, there has been a sense of crisis and struggle that has eventually given way to mainstream acceptance. Where are we now? Eco-sensitivity has entered the mainstream.

This is awesome, and necessary, but it would be even better if the change took place as much on the inside as it has on the outside. Sustainable change requires both changed light bulbs, and it requires an inner light bulb to glow with the motivating realization that everything is related. Sustainable change requires both recycled materials and it requires waking up to the incredible realization that everything is part of one cycle of life and death. Change is the nature of life- all things change, but nothing fully dies. It just moves into another cycle of life and rebirth. This thought sparks a level of humility that could truly make a difference to the earth. As Carlin said, “the planet isn’t going anywhere. We are.” We can certainly damage the earth, but the greater damage will be to humanity and the greatest damage will be to our spirits and not our bodies. Our shortsightedness is already catching up with us. The earth will continue with or without us.

Religions are also getting serious about environmental issues but a quantum shift in consciousness is now needed. Green projects are some of the rare opportunities for conservative and liberal religious groups to work together. This is an awesome development. It would be even better if religions shifted the focus from the hereafter to the here and now, and sought a fresh realization of heaven on earth. Part of a sustainable consciousness is the understanding that the earth is a single, connected, living system, of which humans are a part. Recognizing this unity in diversity is good for your soul because it prevents you from becoming arrogant and superior which is likely one of the root causes of the ecological crisis.

Sustainable consciousness involves the delicate balance between enormous care and little struggle. Enormous care, because the small and large changes you make in your life DO make a difference. Little struggle because you know that the earth is a living system on its own journey of death and rebirth. To quote Carlin again,

“I don’t worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we’re part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron… It doesn’t punish, it doesn’t reward, it doesn’t judge at all. It just is. And so are we. At least for a little while.”

Carlin was a prophet. At least he addressed one half of the equation- the humility and little struggle. Just don’t lose sight of the enormous care. One day we might look back and see that small practical changes like canvas shopping bags and small changes in consciousness like the realization of oneness have truly changed the world.

This earth day, remember that you are a part of a higher order, an incredible whole, the big electron, intimately related and significant. How could you not live with enormous care? Your actions make a difference. At the same time, respond without struggle, for you are part of an unfolding process that is infinitely larger than you or your efforts.

Please visit Soulseeds to sign up for Earth affirmations. Wake up each morning to a gentle reminder of Mother Earth’s spiritual lessons.

Heaven and Earth

Oscar Wilde once said, “In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures.” It’s a common aspect of the human journey, inside and outside of religion, that we seek things that endure. Within religion, the afterlife is often seen as the enduring hope.

Grand Rapids pastor Rob Bell has caused a stir with his new book Love Wins. He begins the book by hinting that there is no hell and goes on to outline the universalist perspective that everyone ends up in heaven, no matter what it turns out that heaven is. Of course many people have been saying this for years, but it’s significant that a prominent evangelical pastor has gone on record and landed the lead story in this week’s Time magazine. This is big news, and in my opinion good news, a step in the right direction.

It’s going to be fascinating to watch this unfold, as he will inevitably continue on this path of deconstruction and question many other doctrines. His critics are right to say that he is now on a slippery slope to deconversion. When you open Pandora’s Box, you have little idea of the many questions that follow on from questioning the existence of hell. As it says in the Time article, once you open this gate, many other questions follow. With this universal perspective there is no inside and outside group, no saved and unsaved people. There is no doctrinal marker for membership in a church. There is no significant or ultimate difference between the religions. You start to see Jesus as a great teacher and leader, but not the sacrificial lamb for anyone’s sins. There is no carrot for the church to hold over its flock to ensure membership and regular tithing. The Bible is opened to all sorts of questions and revisions to the point where the very authority of the Bible is questioned. At an extreme some would say there is no hope, no meaning in life and no sense of justice, without a salvation system that involves heaven and hell.

Many of us have been there. We know that at the bottom of this slippery slope you can either crash and burn or you can gather momentum for a run back up the hill of reconstruction where your beliefs are more inclusive, more focused on THIS life and more self aware and responsible than ever. Maybe you know both the anxiety and joy of giving up beliefs that used to give you comfort, and skiing free style up and down the hills of life. Maybe, like me, you find more meaning than ever in life. You find glimpses of things that endure in every day moments. Those of us reveling in the joy of our own freely formed spiritual path, know that on the other side of deconstruction there is enormous hope and meaning. Without the fear of hell, you are free to live fully in this life and find meaning where it shows itself without needing to be told by any religious authority what to believe and how to experience the God of your understanding.

Where to Next?

I became a universalist many years ago. It makes no sense to me to believe that some people suffer eternally in hell. I decided a long time ago that whatever heaven is, if there is any such realm, it has to include all people. Any justification for excluding people from heaven is arbitrary and self serving. But now I find myself going a lot further than universalism.

I now find that my circle of concern and compassion stretches well beyond people. I no longer believe that people have a privileged place in the universe. We have greater responsibility because we have become conscious of our ability to make choices that impact the whole universe, but we have no special privilege. Once your consciousness expands to include all species, past, present and future, the notion of universalism becomes too small to hold your love. Whatever heaven is, if there is any such thing, it must surely include all living things.

The second reason that universalism is not an adequate worldview is that it implies that salvation, or the fulfillment of life, is a future reality. I see no reason to wait. Heaven is realized in each moment that your awareness is pure and at peace with what is. Heaven is now, the glimpses of perfect peace that we gain when we live in harmony with all of life. Heaven is also something that we can create in the here and now when we live mindfully.

One of the things that unites many people who aren’t glued together by religious doctrine is the vision we have to make the world a more humane place. We want to make sure the world is in reasonable shape for the next generations. The best way to take care of the next generation is to take care of the place that will take care of the next generation. Get your house in order, leave the world a little better than you found it, and make sure there’s a solid basis for the next generation to work with.

Heaven and Earth Day

What does this discussion of the afterlife have to do with Earth Day? There is a Peanuts cartoon where Lucy has her arms folded and a stern expression on her face. Charlie Brown pleads, “Lucy, you must be more loving. This world really needs love. You have to let yourself love to make this world a better place.” Lucy angrily whirls around and knocks Charlie Brown to the ground. She screams at him, “Look, Blockhead, the world I love. Its people I can’t stand.”

We all feel that way some of the time. Maybe it’s easier to love the earth. In our best moments, we love both the world and its people. These lines from Lord Byron were quoted at the beginning of the 2007 film Into The Wild.

There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

In the movie, Emile Hirsch plays the part of Chris McCandless who gives up all his possessions after graduating college to hitchhike north and live alone in the wilderness in Alaska. The ironic charm of the movie is that while he is running away from relationships to live a solitary life, Chris strikes up some amazing relationships along the way that seem to nourish him along with the incredible wilderness experiences. In community and in the wild, he finds his own salvation. He creates heaven both in new relationships and in his amazing experiences of nature.

For many of us following an inclusive spiritual path, Earth Day is the most significant day of the year, and more important than the religious celebrations that are closely tied to the traditional salvation system. Why is this? It’s certainly true that Earth Day brings our focus back to the awful destruction of the earth at human hands, and the need to live more mindfully and simply. But there is a more fundamental connection with Earth Day which also may provide a more sustainable response to ecological despair. It is our oneness with the earth. We respect the earth as part of us, and we honor the earth that gives no concern to time and is at peace with change. Nature makes no attempt to control circumstances and offers constant reminders of change and impermanence. Nature gives us a cool summer’s day and an icy cold day in late April as if to remind us that life is unpredictable and to take nothing for granted.

Earth Day is a reminder to let go a little of the delusion of control. This is part of a response to the ecological crisis. Create some sustainable change in your thoughts that gives you peace of mind and then you will feel less need to over consume to fill a hole or try and prove your control by dominating the earth.

Rising Above Mindlessness

I guess it’s no accident that Rob Bell’s book was released so close to Easter. Easter is one of those times that brings up many mixed emotions for people on the slippery slope of deconstruction and reconstruction. More about Easter in the coming week, but for now let me end with a little teaser on the reconstructed meaning of Easter as a symbol of renewed hope. Once again the movie Into the Wild offers a beautiful parable of hope restored. Chris finds his resurrection in the movie, but it’s very much a here and now resurrection, coming to terms with who he is and how he relates to the world around him.

Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam wrote the soundtrack for Into the Wild. My favorite song on the soundtrack is called Rise. With the lone Mandolin playing, the song brings to mind a collage of Chris’s adventures of self discovery. Here are the lyrics-

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning back holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
And suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole

You don’t need to look to heaven and hell for your salvation and you don’t need to wait. Salvation is yours for the taking right now. You find it within as you rise about the self defeating thoughts, forgive your past and turn your mistakes into gold. As Chris says in the movie, “You don’t have to be strong, you just have to feel strong.” There is no one correct path to follow, but you certainly don’t have to follow the path of guilt and shame. Find your direction magnetically. Feel your way forward, knowing that there is always more to come and there is always more to learn. The one thing that endures while all else changes is the inner peace that you have all that makes life whole right now.

The wild struggle for hope within me honors the same within you. Namaste.