The communion in community that births compassion, allows you to hear the inaudible and see the invisible so that we as a species can do what’s impossible in the current paradigm in which we are living. That is called, ‘making a way, out of no way.’ This is what we are being called to do.
~Michael B. Beckwith
This quote comes from a recent sermon by the eloquent and inspiring Rev. Beckwith. You can find him on You Tube if you want a direct dose of his energy.
I am not a sermonizer but I found the concepts he discussed to touch my heart and move me to share with whoever reads this post. The perspective to consider is what is the meaning of the situation we are going through – is it just a random outbreak of a scary disease – is it just an economic meltdown that has people in fear and scarcity- or is their something trying to break through our awareness and shift us to a greater display of humanity, re-ordering of our priorities, and at long last a scaffolding of the beloved community.
I choose to see this as an opportunity for all of those things mentioned above – and the keys I want to share on that note – are Commune – Community and Compassion. I will start with Community – a word that has many different meanings to people – is it geography or is it common interest? This pandemic across the globe is showing us that we are all together in an experience. I took part on a conference call class this week on how to move from Fear to Love and Joy (perhaps a later Blog topic)..and there were callers form the Netherlands, from Greece, from Canada and the US and many other places – all sharing and caring for the Fear that is pervading the planet. I suddenly realized that I was looking too small at community – it’s bigger and more inclusive than I ever imagined. Its deeper than “like-mindedness” or shared political views – it’s actually a call for Love and Love for everyone as we all experience this event. It includes our geography and those we miss sharing time with (my knitting group is getting very antsy to get back together) but it is also bigger and wider that my wee small town. It is breaking the barriers of social class – of race and ethnicity in a way that I have not hoped for since inspired by Dr. King or JFK.
Compassion is the action – when we see people out of sorts – when we observe hoarding – when we witness a shortness of temper or a judgement of idiots (such a luscious temptation) it’s actually a call for compassion. For what we as humans experience when we are forced into a “fight or flight” response – hangovers from our reptilian brain and the antidote to that response is love – is compassion and understanding – in considering that we are all doing the best we can with what we have going on…and compassion is the highest level of service.
Commune implies – communing with something…and here I hesitate. We all have our views and experiences of the greater presence – so don’t pay any attention to the words – just know that now is the time for us to reach into our highest selves and commune with that internal wisdom, guidance and joy. Whether you meditate, pray, listen to the birds in spring singing with joy (they don’t know about Covid 19) – spend some time daily with that and watch what happens. You might notice fear dissipates, community blossoms in the most unlikely places, and compassion shows up everywhere.
This week’s blog is dedicated to the lovely Nilda Scott who made her transition after a difficult illness. She was a living example of compassion in action.
Peace this week my friends – bring something new to life.
