It’s Time to Take the Leap

It is amazing, but true.  We are using our most sacred gift of aliveness to destroy the very existence of life throughout the Planet and we are completely asleep to the reality.  So what is it in us that has allowed us to get so confused?  Why are we even capable of destroying our own habitat?  Let’s take a look at our DNA.  There is very little differentiation between our genetic coding and that of a chimpanzee, except for the Hox gene or the moment in our evolution when human beings found a way to slow down our rate of development.  What did this cause?  It allowed us to stay in an extended state of play, wonder, awe, and curiosity.

As a result, we cannot rely on our DNA to tell us what to do.  We are not simply guided by instinct, we have the capacity for self-reflection, free will and choice.  This is an extraordinary expression of the universe, where life is able to reflect on itself, to see that it exists, to wonder why this is so, and to choose how to be.  The consequence, is that we have reached a point where humanity itself has become a force much like the great glaciers of the Ice Age, capable of impacting the presence of life on Earth without the moral maturity to safeguard our endowment.

Brian Swimme uses the example of the Cheetah to illustrate the cultural influence humans have over the existence of other life forms.  We have reached a point where Cheetah’s will literally only exist in regions that humans deem to be their natural habitat.  Areas that we boundary and safeguard.  Without or protection, the Cheetah will fall prey to the consequences of our industrial development, through the destruction of their natural habitats and the impacts of eroding eco-systems.

The irony of the situation, is that although we may be at the top of the food chain, we are not separate from it.  “The environmental crisis is part and parcel in everything we believe in and act upon.  It is, as it were, in the very fabric of our lives.” (O’Sullivan 94)

So what are we doing about it?  From December 7 – December 18 2009, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.  The goal is to have leaders sign a global climate change deal that is ambitious, fair, and binding (visit that link – just do it)  We have only recently discovered that 350 ppm is the safe amount of CO2 that can be present in the atmosphere before reaching serious climate change – we are currently at 390ppm.  So not only do we need to cap our carbon emission, but we need to reduce.  What can you do?  Candle light vigils are being held throughout the world on the weekend of December 11th to 13th to showcase the support global citizens have for coming to a progressive and commendable resolution through Copenhagen.  I will be attending one at U of T on Saturday December 12th if anyone would like to join me I would be happy to have you there!

Every step counts, but it is important to remember as we are faced with the most significant struggle of our human history that all things are connected.  What has brought us to this point in history will necessarily need to be transformed.  That includes our beaurocratic systems, workplace hierarchies, relationships of dominance and oppression, privilege and disempowerment, mass media and advertising, education and literacy, health and food, religion and government.  Let’s use this time for what it truly presents to us, an opportunity to step into that innate place of wonder, play, creativity, and joy.  How can we make the world a more loving place?  What must we let go of in order to do so?  What can we dream into existence.

http://www.dancefortheclimate.org/

http://en.cop15.dk/calendar

Girl Effect

Balance

When I was growing up my Dad used to tell me that in life there are peaks and there are valleys.  I can certainly say that now is a peak time, when everything is coming together and taking me to new heights.  The Ladies Club went spectacularly well last night.  We had about 25 women there, all of whom were interesting in their own way and who were all so inspired to be coming together.

A few women last night said that part of what they are hoping to get from the group is more balance in their lives.  Whether it be balance between work and personal life, school and resting, or self and other.  There seemed to be this theme that emerged, which I find reflected in my own experience.  It is important to know how to navigate both the peaks and the valleys.  When life is difficult we each have our own coping mechanisms that allow us to grapple with pain, disappointment, grief and anger.  For me, yoga, friendship, movies and good food are really important during those times.  What I didn’t realize until these past few weeks, is that I also need a structure to keep me balanced and happy when I’m in a peak.  I just assumed that when things were going well, I wouldn’t have to worry about staying grounded and balanced.  Interestingly, those same things (yoga, friends, movies and good food) are important for me to keep in place when I am doing well and to allow my nervous system to rest and integrate new heights.

Everyone’s personality structure is slightly different.  Some people, don’t have trouble staying even keeled.  Barack Obama says that he never goes very high and he never goes very low.  For others, like myself, it requires conscious intention and monitoring to make sure that I stay balanced, whether it is from the lows of the valleys or the highs of the peaks, both have there challenges.

The Shift

An extraordinary video about an amazing moment in human history.

 

Horoscopes

Who doesn’t love reading a good horoscope?  My favourite is by Robert Brezny.   He is always spot on with some interesting tips that provide good insight.

 

Strictly speaking — going purely by the astrological omens — I conclude that you would generate amazing cosmic luck if you translated the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” into Punjabi, wore shoes made of 18th-century velvet, or tried out for a Turkish volleyball team. I doubt you’ll get it together to pull off those exotic feats, however, so I’ll also provide some second-best suggestions. You won’t receive quite as much cosmic assistance from doing them, but you’ll still benefit considerably. Here are the back-ups: Begin planning where and when you’ll take a sacred vacation in 2010; meditate on who among your current allies is most likely to help you expand your world in the next 12 months; decide which of your four major goals is the least crucial to pursue; and do something dramatic to take yourself less seriously.

 

Find yours at: http://www.freewillastrology.com/horoscopes/

 

Ladies Club

Kristen and I are starting a Ladies Club and we would love to have you join!!  Our first meeting is next Monday November 30th at The Ten Spot on Queen St West.  Find us on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=mf&gid=21457025635

Letter to the Editor

I wrote my first real letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail this morning:

 

Dear Editor,

Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the world.  So powerful, in fact, that she has become a man.  I must admit, I was only partially surprised when Andrew Ryan, on page 2 of Friday’s Globe and Mail, referred to Oprah as Mr. Winfrey when announcing her newest undertaking – the creation of OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network).  Naturally, there was a moment of confusion where I wondered if this Mr. Winfrey was in fact Stedman, or perhaps a masculine mastermind, secretly responsible for Oprah’s success.  Certainly, that would explain how one woman could transcend the oppressive structures of gender and race to reach the pinnacle of success.  Alas, no smoke and mirrors.  Only a powerhouse of a woman, who, despite her choice to abdicate the traditional female roles, knows what it is to OWN feminine power.

Sincerely,

Ms. Alison Burkett

December 21, 2012

December 21, 2012 is is not the end of the world, as suggested by the hollywood billboards strewn across Toronto’s public transit.  It is, however, an important date in the Mayan calendar that is deeply infused within a prophetic tradition that has proven to be correct about many significant occurrences within human history.

As I have recently learned, December 21, 2012 (the Winter Solstice) is the time when we complete our transition from the Fourth World Sun to the Fifth World Sun, marking a time of rebirth, spiritual alignment, and significant change.  When the sun rises on this date, for the first time in 26,000 years, the Planet’s astrological alignment will be such that the solar meridian will cross the galactic equator, thereby aligning the Earth with the center of the galaxy.  This alignment to the heart of the galaxy opens up new channels of cosmic energy, that will cleanse each of our physical vessels and the Earth itself.

One of the main things I have been learning about at school this year, is how we privilege certain kinds of knowledge, particularly the intellectual mind over intuitive ways of knowing.  The Western tradition is premised on philosophies which split the mind from the body and suggest that our rational, mental modes are superior to our emotions, instincts, and body sensations.  I would argue that while this rational mind set has a very dark shadow, it has also served humanity in many ways.  The advent of vaccinations, literacy, democratic institutions, human rights, and many technologies have allowed human beings to access a place in time and space where we are no longer surviving.  At the same time, this hypermasculine way of being is limited and does not have the capacity to transition us to the next level of our human evolution.  I find the idea of certain kinds of knowledge being culturally believable significant to the idea of 2012.  Because it is a spiritual notion, which uses language that speaks to other parts of our knowing, such as inner awareness, spirit or soul, and the body, this prophecy lives in a space that is not all together trustable in our Western culture.  It is considered flaky or unprovable.  Increasingly, however, the prophecies of native cultures are proving to hold golden seeds of wisdom.

It is said that action is the spiritual ideal of this era and that each of our souls have incarnated into this era because we have work to do in balancing the planet.  It is a time of great darkness and great light.  Within the context of this polarity, the experience of life is very complex, but ultimately all the problems that exist in our world are connected and can only be solved by our own increasing understanding of the profound level at which all phenomena are interconnected.  ”The real knowledge is free, it is encoded in your DNA.  Find your heart and you will find your way.”

A Book and a Blanket

For the past six months I have actively chosen challenging and self-expanding experiences for myself and my life.  In the Spring I did the Landmark Forum, then I went travelling through Turkey, I did my Level II Reiki Training, started a Masters program, and tapped into an area of thinking with which I am completely enthralled.  In that time I have had amazing moments of connection and deep realizations about who I am being in the world, what I am unconsciously holding onto, my own positions of privilege, and what it means for me to be happy.  I have truly felt that somehow I stepped into alignment with my Truth and things have naturally just begun to flow in the right direction.

At the same time, I have really been craving time lately to just sit and go inwards.  Not wanting to be told or taught or ushered into a breakthrough, but rather just wanting time to sit with a book and a blanket and just relax and unwind.  Perhaps it is because of the seasons and the natural turn we all make at this time towards darkness, solitude, the interior world, and hibernation.  It is so easy to be distracted by music, the internet, facebook, my blackberry, text messages, and even conversations with friends.  I find myself turning to various devices of distraction as a way of turning away from myself and the increasing knowing that this is not a time about taking the next step.  This is a time about settling deeply into my own interior and finding a place of home within.

Nature’s darkness brings us back to a creative place, where we need to learn to keep ourselves warm, care for our bodies, and allow the emptiness to move through us so that come spring there is a resurgence of growth and openness in the world.  The natural rhythms of the year mirror our own need to balance having a project, being engaged and independent and powerful with silence and stillness, gently nourishing our souls through softness.  Because I craved so much to really get back on track with my life, things like travel, education, self-development became so important because they meant I was really giving all of my energy to myself and realizing my dreams and possibilities.  But what I have discovered this past week, is that I need the other half; the quiet and complete emptiness to rest upon.  Without it, I cannot realize my dreams in the external world, and even if I did they would not have the quality of fulfillment and spirit that I desire.

Shambhala Warrior

A friend of mine once told me the story of a woman who, reaching middle age, decided that she needed to find her life purpose.  In order to do this, she started listening to the times in her life when she was deeply moved, when her body would shake or tremble with excitement, when she would be moved to tears, or when her heart would expand.  I can’t remember what it was she ended up choosing for her life path, but I do remember the idea of there being moments in our every day existence when something profound breaks through and in that moment our higher selves speak to our bodies and in so doing we are overcome with a sense of having been found.  I have had several of these moments in my life, and while some of them have occurred on the tops of mountains looking out over the world, today it happened sitting in a classroom in one of the most hideous buildings in Toronto, watching a poorly recorded dvd on an old TV.  So, what is it that was revealed to me today that was so striking?  It was the prophecy of the Shambhala Warrior.

Now, I know very little about this concept, so I do apologize if I misspell or misappropriate anything in the coming lines.  What I do know, I learned from a woman named Joanna Macy, whose amazing spirit was captured even on a low quality camcorder.  She spoke last spring at the Transformative Learning Centre through OISE about the nature of this time in history, when we are beginning to awaken to the reality that 4 billion years of life is being threatened here on Earth.  And the complexity of being alive at this moment, in all it’s possibility and in all it’s pain.  Because we are not separate from all the things that take place in our human society, be it war, poverty, violence and oppression, nor that which exists in the natural world, extinction, contamination, and pollution; we experience these things in the very cells of our bodies.  That within us which gives us life, intrinsically knows that this course is against our very survival, against our most basic instinct to live.  And so, Joanna Macy says we are in pain for our world.  A pain that is systemic, not just personal.  The confusion, numbness, and lack of fulfillment we all experience at different points in life, is not ours alone, it is a collective coming undone.

Joanna Macy is a Buddhist and the last time she was in Tibet she was told the prophecy of the Shambhala Warrior.  It goes as follows:  There comes a time on Earth when all life is in danger.  When power is held in the hands of the greedy and destructive.  From this deep darkness, the Kingdom of Shambhala emerges.  This Kingdom is not a place that can be found or discovered, because it exists in the mind of the Shambhala Warrior, as a space of peace and sanity.  The Shambhala Warrior requires deep moral courage to face powerful and destructive forces.  So they must go in to training.  In this training the warrior learns how to use two weapons: Compassion and Insight into the radical interdependence of all phenomena.

We can use these tools to learn how not to be afraid of the suffering in our world, and also to see that what exists has been made by the human mind and thus can be unmade by the human mind.  It is painful to awaken at this time, when everything that we see hurts.  But another reality is possible, a world of decency and sanity.

Watching this video today, I was so deeply moved by this woman, who at 80 years old, is full of vitality, strength, and a love of life.  It reminds me that great things can be created from small acts of honesty and truth.