Fear driven by circumstance, we seem to walk a thin line between the thin skinned narcosis of belief, and each moment, wings open, being sliced throat-to-belly opened to the cosmos.
We seem to vacillate, lukewarm, between a false (an understandably human) hope (for some future relief from the raging present) and a fierce resistance to embracing our whole being, burned clear to its foundations by the Light which, (hounds of heaven), relentlessly pursues us.
Why do we so fear to wear the mantle of our sacred destiny, and keep refusing the harder road of fearlessness in the face of this always collapsing, groaning, anguished, failed world of broken things?
Witnessing the suicidal greed of the corporations and special interests turn our world into a burning slave-hell, even for their own grandchildren, how are we to go beyond the fear which drives this draining well of privilege and entitlement?
It appears that until we are driven to our knees by an undeniable hopelessness before the sacred mystery of life, we cannot begin to claim the divine fearlessness we continually deny ourselves.
We seem to be waiting on the sidelines for some Super-Eco Hero or Heroine, or maybe even Jesus, to save the day, not realizing that it is in the soul-saving small things that we can find, hope, sustenance and even joy.
How can the “power of the people” be effective in such a climate of stalemate divisiveness and hate?
By the small things I mean- the offering of a genuine smile of gratitude to the driver of the car that stopped to let me walk by; by offering to carry an elderly stranger’s groceries to their home from their car; the extra effort to being silently patient in the line at the bank or pharmacy; by taking all the myriad opportunities each day to be a little kinder, slightly more conscious, and a smidge more attentive to the needs of those around and close to me.
Everyday hero’s, we can become inspirations of hope, first to ourselves, then embraced by wonder, we let our light naturally shine through the fumbling veil of fleshy garments we wear.
This is the way we quietly reweave the fabric of our human/divine belonging, opening ourselves to be moment by moment conduits for cosmic grace to invisibly touch those around us, by bringing into our own ordinariness and smallness the inestimable gift of cosmic wonder.
This beats being miserable and feeling ineffectual as a super-hero!
Emptied of Myself BLOG by Andre van Zijl - musings, poetry and art 