“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”
L. R. Knost
My sister Mary’s gift
My sister Mary left me a message the other day, asking me to check in on one of our sisters whose daughter is a 25 year-old nurse in a hospital north of Boston. Mary said she was worried about our sister, because she is supporting her daughter, who is dealing with so much death. She wanted me to check in on her in case she needed support to continue to support her daughter. Mary said she hopes that our niece will get counseling after all this, “because this is trauma and she will need help, if you know what I mean.” She ends many of her statements with “if you know what I mean,” to make sure we got what she said.
What makes this remarkable is that Mary’s IQ is far below whatever “normal” is, but her EQ (Emotional intelligence) reaches to the moon and back. If Spiritual Intelligence is defined as “living in the simplicity of the heart, which allows a person to overcome selfishness through their own inner spontaneity, making them capable of observing things beyond the usual prejudices and ideologies that govern our everyday life,” then Mary is an spiritual intelligence genius.
Mary had worked on the cleaning staff of a hospital for over 35 years before she was booted out due to not being able to keep up, once “corporate” took over. Impossible expectations were set with money as the bottom line. Mary could not keep up because she was not a cleaning machine. She got the job done just fine, and in addition, she had been a self-made visiting angel with her wide open smile, twinkling blue eyes, and long bright red hair.
She would stop in on even a distant relative of a friend of a friend, if she heard they were in the hospital, and treat them just like a family member. She then relayed messages back to the patient’s family through winding grapevines of connection she has all over her life. She kept the staff supplied with her homemade brownies and chocolate chip cookies that no one could replicate–because they contained Mary’s love.
I share this with you now, because Mary’s gift is what we all need now in the age of Covid-19—a sense of love and belonging to a larger family of humanity that counteracts the visceral sense of fear and dissociation sweeping through the world. If you’ve reached a stage in life where other people depend on you financially, then you should consider getting a life insurance policy at Life Cover Quotes website.
Holding the tension of the opposites
This pandemic is exposing great extremes. On the one hand, this has become a powerful moment of national solidarity, where we not long ago were a bitter and divided country. Millions are responding with acts of love and kindness, and finding creative ways to show up for one another. Generosity abounds, as people find ways to bring food to elders, and check in with each other as never before.
I have seen some of the most poignant videos of my life as medical workers everywhere invoke something beyond themselves, even chanting OM and praying to vibrate high. We are beginning to answer the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” in the affirmative, no questions asked.
If this is what is needed now, let’s not forget our brothers and sisters in the dark shadows of these epic times. We must hold the tension of the opposites, and be willing to acknowledge the full spectrum of humanity that requires attention. There will be even more human suffering to tend to than before this pandemic. The findings of Samantha Brooks of King’s College, London, show that quarantine can lead to a range of painful mental health outcomes, including trauma, confusion, anger, and addiction.
What is going on is leaving people unfocused, and mentally exhausted, due to the steady stream of unconscious stress in the collective field. The pandemic has spread an existential feeling of unsafety, that alters your nervous system and changes the way you perceive threat. This all registers in the neurons around your heart, lungs and gut. If on some days, you feel as if an elephant has taken up residence on your chest, you are not alone.
Many are trapped in homes with abusers and deep dysfunction, and alcohol and drug use is rising. Activists worldwide have reported an alarming rise in domestic violence cases since the start of coronavirus-related. Millions of people are sheltering in place alone, and for those with addictions or who are already struggling with mental illness, or thrust into survival as their income is gone, this time is an enormous ordeal.
The virus has exposed the collective spiritual illness of isolation and separation that we have the opportunity to address with the utmost love, compassion, and creativity.
Collective initiation
Initiation is a shamanic path of transforming emotions such as anger, fear, and despair into love, purity, and compassion. True initiation is always an internal and private act of courage between you and the Divine, whether there is an outer ritual or not. It is the response to Spirit’s invitation to discover the greater significance of your life, and at times involves great sacrifice.
Full-blown initiatory experience is when you have no control, can’t pick the rules, the rules change, and you have to play the game. We are in a full-blown collective initiatory experience right now
There are two requirements for archetypal initiation:
- You must enter into the great Unknown and take the road less traveled in order to come to a wisdom and goodness you would not otherwise reach.
- You must have a strong desire to be the best you can be for a higher good.
We are all being faced with the choice to accept this challenge and engage in the work of transformation, so that we can at last end the trance, and trance-end the illusion of separation at the root of all suffering. To meet the first requirement, I believe it is important to become intentional about this, whether we understand the language of psychology, spirituality, or science, all of which concur that we are all intimately interconnected.
We have been given this time to meet the second requirement—to be the best we can be for a higher good. It is wise to use this time to cultivate the felt experience of Oneness that allows us all to feel the primal sense of belonging that we need to be a healthy human. It is healthy humans inspired by love that will get us through this unprecedented global initiation.
There is and will be an enormous amount of grief, as there always is during a full-blown initiation, because we must experience a dissolution before anything new can be created and reorganized. It is really important that we not dissociate, but remain attuned, and feel our way through.
The need for deep reciprocal attunement with others
Many people have never taken time to be with themselves and feel their feelings deeply, as the pace of modern life precludes the time and space for this sacred work. We are having to confront such vulnerability now, our own and that of so many. It is healthy to periodically allow your heart to break. Our hearts expand through heartache, and they heal through love and connection.
We must transmute the energies behind the emotions to love and light, and we can do that in countless ways. We can pray, meditate, dance, sing, play music, walk in nature, have rituals, cry, and deeply laugh. Animals, eye contact, games, and even zoom calls all increase the production of a hormone called oxytocin, sometimes known as the “love hormone,” because it is released when people snuggle up or bond socially.
A potent ceremony is to play John Lennon’s song Imagine, created at the 528 Hz frequency, known as the “love” frequency that has a deep-rooted relationship with nature and healing, and is present in everything from chlorophyll to human DNA.
We cannot look at mental health alone, and must also look at spiritual and relational health. In her book, The Heart of Trauma; Healing The Embodied Brain In The Context Of Relationships, Bonnie Badenoch makes the case that we are wired to seek out, enter, and sustain warm relationships. Her research proves that the best way to refrain from disassociation and offset the palpable feelings of fear is by having “disconfirming experiences.” These are experiences of deep reciprocal attunement with others that she believes will allow us to heal trauma and support the emergence of a humane world.
We need not give it up now, with the social distancing. We have been neurally ingrained for a fast pace and split attention, and this pandemic gives us the opportunity to soften into our bodies and feel one another again. By doing this, we actually calm our over-stressed nervous systems, and we begin to have more heart-brain coherence, which opens the possibility for compassion and altruism to emerge.
The most Important thing at this time isn’t something to know. It’s something to feel. It’s the gift that my sister Mary embodies with her pure heart, the felt experience of deep reciprocal attunement with others, or what I call Oneness.
It is this healing presence that can allow each of us to feel a sense of purpose at a time when we would otherwise feel helpless and hopeless. It is how we can be of service, even from our homes, even if we are physically isolated. As we experience this most precious feeling, we are contributing to the great spiritual and emotional awakening of the world.
This feeling of Oneness expands our consciousness and supports us in becoming more comfortable with the unknown and to trust in a bigger picture. If we begin to feel in our deepest being that there is a perfect design to this universe, and we are all a part of that design, we will manage this grand initiation with a new found grace.
May I feel my deep connection to all beings at this time of the Great Awakening.
May all beings feel that connection and call it love.
