An Evolutionary Kind of Consciousness, an Evolutionary Kind of Love

What is it to be brave in the world? What does it mean to vulnerable? We are already love on the planet.  Grief is communal. Trauma is so often invisible. May we love each other more fiercely. May we practice mindful compassion. May we see the solutions as a community of human beings.

I often wonder about humanity. Sometimes I’m perplexed. Sometimes confounded. Sometimes even horrified. Yet I still believe in Brene Brown’s Awkward, Brave, and Kind. Each day is an invitation to recognize our light. To hold our golden hearts In reverence, peace, and curiosity.

My heart was heavy yesterday. I allowed myself to feel it all. I felt the grief and grief being grief is it’s own practice. The practice of being human is a gift and a wonder, a mystery and an evolution of the soul.

We come into the world with these souls. These gifts. We all have them.

Amanda Gorman, the extraordinary and fierce black woman poet, wrote of our “One Nation Under Guns.”  I cannot get their tiny faces out of my mind. I imagine many are feeling it all.

What is the role of the poet and soul teacher if not to also practice listening. True listening is sacred. It is where our souls see each other. It is a time of recognizing our own divinity.

I’ve been listening with my heart all my life. I was often shy as a child and enjoyed story, books, and music.

Artists have been soul teachers as well as scientists and strangers on the train. And yet, see, there are no true strangers. That is just one of life’s great mysteries.

Yesterday, I told myself to stay open. To choose compassion and love. To listen.

Without effort, the practice of humility which was so eloquently explained by Liz led me to discover grace. See grace expands just like love. It is often unexpected like a blue bird just waiting to land in an open hand or a white rose blooming in the humid air of late spring or a difficult conversation with a loved one or a stranger you just met.

Thank you, Universe.

I find that in these moments of great pain, grief, and trauma is the time to stay open.  It may seem counterintuitive but I find when I surrender my fierce, open heart to the moment that grace greets me at the open sky of day and during the dark, Milky Way nights.

Yet, and open heart also means setting intentions and a practice of wise, intentional connection. It also means embracing one’s fire. This is the time for the alchemy of humanity. The time for a real catalyst of change.

As Ani DiFranco sings “Revolutionary Love”, it’s time for courageous voices and an evolutionary consciousness of what creates joy, peace, resilience, equality, and community.

Soul teacher is one of my favorite combinations of sounds. It’s simple and melodic. It’s an Oprah thing and a humanity thing. It’s time to recognize we are here as soul teachers for one another. To reach out. To embrace our brave and sacred hearts. To use our minds to elevate the conversation around guns and greed, lack and bounty, division and unity, trauma and healing, untruths and the lies that haunt so many. Guns do not make us safer. They create more violence. Yes, we need better mental health care and yes we need policies that eliminate the dangerous lie that an AR-15 is needed by anyone.

I remember when I was young, a young man had gotten a hand gun and had taken a teacher hostage. I was about 14. I was walking to school and a friend said, “You can’t get in the school. We have to go over to the junior high building. There’s a kid with a gun.”  I was shocked and skeptical. I thought for a second it was some kind of urban myth story. But it wasn’t. Physically, no one was injured or killed that day but I have never forgotten the experience of waiting in the other building silent and afraid. I just wanted to go home. Today though, humans say we need these AR-15 rifles. That it’s a right. There is no grace or beauty in the violence of the murder of children. There is only an arrogant bravado of a cult like call to arms that has led to senseless death of innocents and the probability of more violence. This is a nation built on the slavery of others and the cultivation of colonialism and nothing short of terror. Yet, we are also a nation of great promise and so many amazing moments of grace and bounty, creativity and innovation. Isn’t it time for an evolutionary kind of love?

Credit: Picasso.