Like the moon reflects the sun You and I reflect each one There are forces we cannot see Deep inside us they remind us to be free – Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney
I used to take to the streets. I used to blockade corporations. Now I feed the homeless once a week and write angry letters to the White House. I sit at my altar and contemplate divinity and plumb my soul. I practice being present.
This makes me feel a bit wistful. I’m having a middle-aged moment here, I guess, thinking of that angry young woman, full of life. Have I sold out for greater comfort? Perhaps. Have I shifted tactics because I just couldn’t promote that anger anymore? Perhaps that, too. Even before I stopped taking to the streets, I stopped blockading, choosing instead to sit in meditation and support those who shouted or chained themselves to doorways. I’m still full of life, and still sometimes angry, but anger no longer burns at my core. There is something else there now and I must do the Work of This God, my True Will. I must seek out the sacred and cultivate connection. I’m not saying blockading activists are not following their True Will, I’m only saying that in following my soul’s desire, things in my life have changed. I am more present to life than I once was. I know more of the parts of my soul.
My desire is for full human liberation. This includes social justice still. This includes what we call ‘the political’, but it is also so much vaster than that. There is a cosmic scale my soul is moving toward. This is the desire my heart now recognizes: that all beings be free, inside and out, the seen and unseen, the tiny and the massive. I start with the human, because that is where my skills lie. Others start with animals, or trees. We each have our soul’s practice.
There are patterns at work I cannot yet see, but I can sense them. My desire is to keep stepping into my fullness and channeling what I can to help others do the same. My truth is that we can liberate ourselves and in liberating ourselves, we are better equipped to liberate each other. We can respect ourselves, and in respecting ourselves we can better respect the lemur and the ox, the redwood and the daffodil, Acamar and Earth.
This weekend, I stood in a circle of people practicing the work of engaging will and stepping into desire. Shifts happened among us, both subtle and pronounced. Change occurs when we support each other in the work toward greatness.
We have greatness inside, that is bigger than Monsanto, bigger than Bechtel corporation, bigger than the US Government. Can we find it? Can we cultivate it? Can we learn to love ourselves and become as big as we can be? Can we see the sacred in each other and do our best to seek out friends who will support real change? Or will we keep to our couches, computers, and small complaints, never opening the door that beckons us inside? The inner door leads to vast landscapes that mirror the forests and oceans. Recognize this: we are in unity with everything, and thus unfold the mystery of God Herself.
We have to risk, we have to love, or we will fail. Rise up, and follow the beating of desire, the drumming of liberation, the calling out for freedom.
___________ After ten year’s absence, I will be returning to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site to sing, pray, walk, and do ritual with others. Consider yourself invited.
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