Waking Up

As I have practiced sustained Lectio this month, I find certain awarenesses increasing. One such awareness is that much of the time I am preoccupied with what I call "dithering," which means spinning my wheels without enough traction. I am pulled in several different directions, indicated by the stack of books next to me in the sunroom. Moloney is at the top of a stack of books on narratives and possible selves. On the floor is a book on Help for the Helpers, resting atop Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, above Sacred Space: the prayer book for 2011 - a book of daily readings and prayer. In another pile is the book, You Can Go Home Again, by Monica McGoldrick.

Yet, as I write this post, I find that, strangely, there is some coherence in these piles of books, and also a sense of connection to my practice of Lectio on the three chapters (15, 16, and 17) in the Gospel of John. That is, a dawning real-ization that there is an inescapable connection of each to all - within helping relationships; within the biosphere itself; within those called out to be a Light, dwelling and indwelt by the Holy; and within families - all the generations. Weaving all these threads together in a coherent life lived one day at a time, is both a challenge, and a joy.

The challenges are many. It is no longer possible to simply accept the "knowledge" passed on to me as I grew from childhood to legal adulthood. Much of what we knew when I was a kid has been shown to be demonstrably incorrect. Much of what we know now is quite fuzzy and we learn more all the time about the world of space, time, and form. For example, we know now that animals do feel and think. When I was first in biology classes in the 60's, we were cautioned about "anthropomorphizing" animals. Psychology classes taught that mental operations were not relevant, that you could not know what was in the mind of another person, so bothering with that was inefficient and not professional. Now we know about mirror neurons, and the electro-magnetic field of heartbeats, and how the mother's breathing affects the ability of her infant to regulate his/her own breathing. Amazing stuff! I am challenged to learn more through reading, listening, and becoming aware of my own feelings and intuitions.

Where some of the fuzziness comes in for me, and most of us, is in the persistent set of beliefs that somehow we "individuals" are separate, set off from the events all around the earth (and, mayhap, in "the heavens"). In a time when species are going extinct, when planetary water sources are drying up, being depleted, or gushing forth from disappearing glaciers, when rising sea levels threaten millions of people, when crops fail because of extreme weather events and people experience famine, how can we not feel this in our bones? There are now almost 6.9 billion people riding this beautiful spaceship. Well over 1 billion of them are in dire poverty, while almost half are living on less than the equivalent of $2.00 a day (figures are from http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/poverty_facts_and_statistics/). Yet we in the "developed" nations move through our days figuring out new ways to profit from that which creates the misery of people, eco-systems, and the planet.  Or we may simply try to deny that these tragedies have anything to do with us or our actions, our way of living.

Interlocking systems of global carbon emissions, global warming, global capitalism, and global governance are creating what is now a new eaarth, as Bill McKibben names it. Global climate change has already changed irrevocably what we once knew as earth.  We are left in an unpredictable world, one unlike that in which we lived through all the years of our evolving. How we humans respond to the new conditions on eaarth is immensely important. Will we in the developed world allow even more people to starve to death or perish in "natural" disasters each year due to climate changes? Will we continue to deny that global warming causes climate changes resulting extreme weather, crop failures? Will we curb our appetites for more...? Will we regulate our individual and community lives so that others, humans and other beings, may live? Will we reduce our carbon emissions, commit to ending unrestrained global financial speculation and corporate wrongdoing that that harm people and the earth? Will we care for each other and the eaarth we have now co-created in (unfortunately) our own image?

We will do what is necessary only if we can absorb the Light, experience the joy, revel in the intelligences and consciousness of "all our relatives" and the Creator.  Many have said that the doorway is through gratitude, and that ingratitude is a great sin. May I - we - take time to be mindful of who and where we are, and allow gratitude to surface. May I - we - express gratitude in every way that is possible to me - us. May we abide (dwell) in the One, and become one with the multitude of beings, of which we are one.