#MicroPoetry|August ’24 Reflections

We wander through the paradox of life where suffering and joy, love and animosity duel. We desire to be well and safe. We are hard wired to see beauty and threat. In balance, these are helpful for our own and our community’s well being. Yet when balance is lost, the delusion of utopia or the narrative of apocalypse can threaten to distort a simple truth: we are each precious and unique manifestations of the Universe. If we realise this in ourselves, then we do so when we look at each other and the rest of Creation’s companions. With this dawning wisdom, we take a step toward healing the world.

The layers of limitations that weigh us down build up incrementally over time. Often, we do not realise the burden until we must imagine anew and yet find it difficult to do so. The very words that we might use to fashion the remarkable can also serve to calcify our collective creativity. One way in which we can begin to remove the scales that limit our creative perception is to immerse ourselves in beauty. Gazing upon wonder can remind us of our capacity to not only fashion visions but also to collectively bring them into a new and vibrant reality.

There are moments in our lives when the day-to-day routines are interrupted by questions that require our attention. These questions are the fundamental building blocks that shape the foundations of what we leave behind for those we will never meet. When we look to the land, the children in our lives, and the creatures with whom we share this precious planet, we must consider whether what we believe, espouse, advocate, and defend are leading to a future in which others will be able to not only survive but also richly thrive. Depending on the answer, new questions will direct how we translate our love into the actions we take with our lives.

Feeling trapped is not an unusual experience in a digital age when much of what we encounter is curated with intention and, sometimes, dishonesty. When reality can be shaped in ways that lead us to question what is true, despondency can creep in incrementally until we feel we no longer have agency or control. This very real concern, however, pales in comparison to a universal truth. In every moment, no one can take away the inherent superpower we each possess: the ability to let go, start again. By recognizing this, we can reclaim our agency and navigate life’s complexities with a renewed confidence and hope.

I suspect we have all experienced this, each with a similar response, perhaps a repulsion grounded in a low-lying fear. When someone accosts us with their ‘Truth.’, debates with ego the purity of their thought, it often silences us if we, perhaps, do not agree. We can begin to disentangle paralysis from this form of ‘Truth’ telling when we realise that mystics and Elders across generations have made it clear that it is in our collective freedom, where all are afforded dignity, that truth abides. Whenever the word is used to begin to limit, marginalise, oppress, or disappear, we are invited to risk ensuring that our shared beauty is never diminished.

It is easy to critique the belief that people should only do what they love. While there is beauty in that aspiration, it often reinforces privilege and can divide us from one another. However, a nuance in this perspective is that we are each doers who need to navigate a consumer society that requires money to live. The subtle difference is that we can choose to see within what we do a particular gift that only we bring to the task. If we can note that spark and focus on that passion, then the invitation is to realise that when we do from that vantage, we are bringing Love into the world..

In this time of understandable worry and despondency, know that we have always been confronted by the impossible, the horrible, and suffering. Yet, in this real aspect of our living, we have collectively always imagined ways to not only endure but to excel, exceed, and joyfully overcome obstacles. These obstacles range from the harm we cause to ourselves and one another to the unforeseen when it seems like our companion, Creation, strikes us cruelly. This capacity is enhanced when we realise that it is when we practice visioning together that we ride upon clouds, creating a future where beauty amplifies our shared dignity.

When you find space to sit and listen in those holy places that hold those who have departed our companionship, it is a sombre and blessed place to be. In the sacred silence, surrounded by markers and stones, our musings lead us to question bequeathed legacies and teachings. As we ponder what they have left us, that which we have inherited, we cannot help but inquire of ourselves what it is we intend to impart to those who will follow us in sitting in these hallowed cemeteries. What, ultimately, does our living message leave to those we will never know?