When we ask what we can do, as tragedy rains and soaks our bones, we begin to navigate the dim waters of difficult emotions. It's a question we ask in terms of prevention and reparation, and the answers often arrive more quickly than our ability to act. I talked to a friend on Friday who passed on some inarguable wisdom from metaphysician Doreen Virtue:
We must turn these tragedies into stronger prayers and pour light upon all forms of darkness.
Virtue proposes that darkness is attempting to diminish the light, and therefore it targets the brightest lights of all - children, and those who live in service. And like a child, we ask why why why why in a cyclical refrain.* Virtue alludes to it in that same posting: the darkness feels threatened. A testament to the reach of Fear, so pervasive, persistent, and potent. In the moments when we feel this most intensely, we ask what we can do with no small measure of despondence.
But this is the perfect time to steel ourselves for the most important work we'll ever do, and there are a few approaches I feel compelled to share. I very much understand and echo the calls to make our own lights brighter - to hug our friends and family, to help someone in need, to believe in our strengths and dreams, to cultivate love, compassion and illuminated awareness. The piece that's always been challenging for me is to not ignore or reject the darkness in the process.
Obviously we want as little to do with darkness and all its faces (fear, doubt, hate, ignorance, anger, violence...) as possible. But we cannot deny that it is and always has been a fundamental part of our humanity, and that means that it is also a fundamental part of ourSELVES. It's comforting to think that we would never commit such a heinous act, or even to have the misplaced bravado that we would have prevented it from happening. However true or false those pronouncements may be, they still stand to separate us from the raw and tender reality before us. However good or well-behaved we may feel on any given day, we probably don't need to look far to find examples in our own minds of aggression or selfishness. And when we really sit with all of this, I think we can see in our hearts that it's all the same. Hating ourselves or hating a stranger - the energy that originates and propels that emotion has the same essence or quality, regardless of the object towards which it's directed.
While it's a tricky game to rank these horrible events, the weight of Sandy Hook feels so particularly oppressive. I'm hoping that means it's a catalyst for the level of transformation we truly need, and that's why - despite my own shortcomings where this is concerned - I offer that we diligently endeavor to befriend this darkness. We'll have to spend some time with it - study it, ask ourselves how and why it exists in us, acknowledge it with honesty and compassion. Pema Chodron condenses a good story about this, complete with demons in a cave:
http://nonduality.org/2010/01/12/milarepa-pema-chodron-and-a-regular-guy-oh-and-demons/
Pull towards or push away - both actions require force, and in the end, they keep us trapped in an orbit of dissatisfaction. Emma McCreary wrote this great entry on healthy strategies to wrestle (or snuggle) with your personal goblins:
http://www.taoofprosperity.com/befriending-your-inner-demons/
And I liked this therapeutic approach to thinking about this process:
http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/face-your-demons-1103114/
The more I walk the path of Eastern medicine, the more I learn that true healing comes like the Tao - with the force of water that only has to flow downhill. There's a power that comes from patience, and love, and accepting the sometimes brutal, omnipresent truth that every thing changes. In the space between doing and allowing, we can find the peace we all so deeply desire.
If you're interested in the whole cosmic timing of this work*, check this out:
http://web.nightlightnews.com/OverviewfortheMonth/WeeklyHoroscopes/index.html
Peace, pure love, and light to all of you,
Athena
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