Ancient Wisdom for Uncertain Times

Grounding in Love

Nov 05, 2024

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-11:35

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” Jesus, John 14:27

As I finish this post, Election Day 2024 is on our doorstep. Many millions of us have already voted. Many of us have worked hard for the candidate/s we feel best represents us and who, we believe, will best lead our country in the next four years. Many of us are afraid of what will become of us should the other side prevail. Hope, uncertainty and fear permeate the air. Will the results be clear and resounding or drag out for weeks? Will they be accepted by some or all of us? Will there be violence, legal and social media battles or a peaceful transfer of power?

As I ponder these questions and more, I wonder what solid footing we find amid the flow of emotions, information and disinformation flooding our hearts and bodies, our communities and nation? When so much is out of our control, what enables us to live from our center in a messy, imperfect, hurting world?

I want to begin by acknowledging the reality of the challenges we are facing. As a country and as individuals in it. The consequences are real, not imaginary. This election and what unfolds matters. It is impossible for most of us not to be impacted by what happens and how it affects strangers and those we love alike.

And also, we are people seeking to walk this way from birth to death grounded in something larger, in the Love holding us all. What holds us in and through the chaos and what doesn’t? I thought I’d share a few of my practices, and I hope you’ll share yours in the comments.

Remembering to hold my small self navigating the day to day, within the love of my true self, resting in God. Getting up on the balcony to take a breather when being on the dance floor becomes too chaotic.
Grounding in the spiritual practices of silence, being in nature, sacred conversations with friends as well as mystics from long ago. Being gentle with myself and others, getting enough sleep, nourishing food and rest.
Letting go of attachment to my preferred outcome for my peace. As much as I want things to go as I hope, my ability to navigate whatever comes is best done when I’m not dependent on external circumstances for my well-being.
Being present to what is happening now rather than anticipating the future, as our human brains are designed to focus on our worst fears of what could happen, even though most of those things never materialize at all. Today is enough.
Paying attention to what kinds of information I’m consuming. (The Media Bias Chart, an excellent resource produced and updated by Ad Fontes Media. We can all strengthen our media literacy skills, recognizing how a post or article is fanning the outrage factor to get a particular response.)

In addition to being people impacted by the tide of history, we are called upon to be people who are light and salt, through whom peace and love are let loose into our hurting world. Although we may not always be able to live this, we can come back to it over and over again. For our own sake’s and the world’s as well.

Thankfully, we are not alone. Many across the globe are holding space for the power of Love in this messy but beautiful process of our human evolution of consciousness. Our individual journey makes a difference. I know having you all out there makes a difference to me.

peace, love and yes, joy, as we walk this way, my friends,

Elizabeth

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As we navigate the turbulence of this season, I thought I’d share a recent article I wrote for our local newspaper, the Estes Valley Voice, along with some resources, below, I’ve found helpful.

In this time of deep division and uncertainty in our country, many of us are searching for meaningful connection and understanding. As I reflected on what we can do to contribute to civility, locally and nationally, I was reminded of my week at Ring Lake Ranch in Wyoming learning about the stunning petroglyphs—rock carvings some 4-8,000 years old. Our leader was Craig Childs, one of the Estes Valley Library’s recent One Book, One Village authors, sharing rock art insights based on decades of first-hand study.

Craig shared much, but two things particularly surprised and intrigued me. Before walking up close, Craig stands at a respectful distance, acknowledging petroglyphs and giving them time to acknowledge him. Once he does approach, he immediately turns around, looking at what the petroglyphs face to better understand their context. I wondered how our community and conversations might be enhanced by a similar approach.

Approaching with respect. Just as we don’t really know why the petroglyphs came to be or what they meant to those who created them, each person we meet is a mystery. By fostering openness, we can embrace differences rather than fearing them. We can choose how we think about, speak about and address those who hold different perspectives, remembering they are precious fellow human beings.

Honor the context. Recognizing how our life stories create our biases and strongly held opinions enables us to turn around and see another person’s context. We are shaped by many things, including our culture, family, biochemistry, experiences and the information we consume. Even seemingly small things can have a lasting impact on us, often unconsciously, and it is easy to assume everyone should come to the same conclusions or opinions. The way I see it must be right, of course, or I wouldn’t see it that way!

Approaching with respect and honoring the context doesn’t mean we cannot hold our positions passionately or work actively for change in the world. It does mean remaining open to new ideas, perspectives, and information along the way. Each of us is limited. We have blind spots, we miss information, and we value some things at the expense of others. Only together can we reach a more holistic perspective.

Listening for the stories behind the beliefs, the values behind the opinions, the hurt behind the anger creates openings of possibility. Owning my part, being honest and vulnerable, doesn’t mean taking all the responsibility.

Years ago, a parishioner was extremely angry with me, acting out in passive aggressive ways. I remember being upset by her poor behavior and defensive about my actions as the new priest leading the parish. But when I got quiet within myself, I realized how my actions had, unwittingly, contributed to the situation. I realized her anger stemmed from hurt. I had not included her in a meaningful way in the changes the church was making.

So, I apologized for the ways I had excluded her, recognizing the validity of her feelings. I invited conversation about how we might move forward together to enhance the community we both loved. Doing this didn’t resolve everything, but it did shift the energy and the situation in meaningful ways.

The power of love. Approaching challenging social and political situations with love can be impactful when participants are committed to that end, as the many organizations in our country dedicated to fostering dialogue can attest. For example, Leap of Faith is a current movie about pastors holding widely differing beliefs who seek to forge bonds of love, not just tolerance. What happened surprised even the director.

It is true we often don’t see evidence that this approach works. And our underlying resistance to this stance of love lies in our conviction that ‘the other side’ isn’t playing by the same rules and shows no interest in doing so. As someone who has studied the lives and words of Christian mystics such as St. Francis, Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich, I’m inspired by their whole-hearted commitment to love’s transforming power. Love does what it does regardless of the outcome.

This is a deep and difficult truth, and one I certainly struggle to live into day by day. But the gift of living with our hearts open to love is that it grounds us in something solid, and we are less susceptible to the emotional roller coaster.

The petroglyphs remind us to see and hold even our current political situation within a larger context. What will always be true is: did we do what we could to bring civility, respect and an ethic of love to even the most challenging moments of our lives.