Dissolving

Seems like the world I knew only a year ago is slipping away if it’s not already gone!

Before Our Eyes

Each day there are changes in our world. Values we thought were cherished are being trampled on. Our society’s titans are falling in significant numbers. Information is being held back by some. Others are taking action, as things long known are only now revealed. Institutions in the US are being dismantled as are policies and rules that we thought were on firm foundations.

The curtain is being drawn back on many things not visible to us before. It is causing us to reassess the world we live in. How is the current state of our world affecting us? Are we denying what is happening? Trying to fight it? Acquiescing to it? Do we understand what is happening or finding it confusing and unsettling? Are we alarmed, resigned or uncertain how it is affecting us?

What do we do as parts of our world dissolve around us? First, we can keenly observe the things that happen. In observing, we can suspend judgement and do our best to see clearly. We can then regroup, fully in the present moment and decide how we see the current state of our world and how we want to respond to it. Best to be present to what is happening or we will be making choices in a world we do not know.

Our Inner and Outer Worlds

Both our inner and outer worlds are at play here. Within, change can be unsettling. We like our world to have some stability. The level of change occurring now is anything but stable. The changes are affecting some of us deeply, defying the values we hold and creating deep anxiety and fear about the future that lies before us. Things we thought were true are no longer so.

Outwardly, some of our lives are being disrupted and destabilized by change. Jobs may be lost. Technology, particularly artificial intelligence, is changing the way we work at a rapid pace. International alliances and agreements are being discarded without concern by those discarding them. Rules of order no longer hold, which many find disorienting.

There is a positive side. When things break down, there is room to build something new. There are opportunities that were not available before – to reaffirm the values and institutions we hold dear, to create improvements in how we govern and live in the wider world, to speak our voices on what we do not accept, to practice compassion for those affected by change.

Openings

What of Openings in times of great change and instability?  In Chrysalis, as unstable as it is inside the cocoon, the caterpillar has an Opening to transform into a butterfly. From the land to the air, from one color to many brilliant hues, from grounded existence to a lightness of being. We have the choice to see the glass as half empty or half full. As long as Openings are around, there are opportunities.