Is This the Beginning of The Great Turning?

There is a saying that when one person suffers, all people suffer. I always thought this was an obscure thought. It was a little hard to believe or even wrap my head around. Weren’t we all raised to believe in our sovereign independence and freedom? (What do you mean that I’m going to suffer if just one other person suffers??)

Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and suddenly I get it.

Now I see this terrible, terrible humanitarian crisis which has rocked the entire world as nothing less than a global catalyst to freedom. If the sheer horror of witnessing this war in real time through our copious media channels doesn’t move us back to unity…then perhaps nothing will.

But to get there, first we’re all going to have to suffer for a while,. Some of us will suffer far more than others.

For the last decade or so, many have been patiently waiting for ‘The Great Turning’, as written about in Joanna Macy’s poem  and film of the same name. The Great Turning captures the idea that the entire world must make the shift together towards a more sustainable, unified world.

Yet psychics and mystics have been talking about this kind of change for decades. As early as the late 60’s, another phenomenon–The Age of Aquarius–was touted as our age of love, peace and understanding. This Age began on the vernal equinox in March of 2021.

The Age of Aquarius tells us this massive global shift will happen through ‘sympathy and understanding’, hope and innovation. So now, given how broken the world is, how do we actually get there?

By simply watching and feeling, my friend. Pay attention, for all the crumbs are on the path, leading us towards greater global understanding and far greater compassion. Massive social transition requires we are all collectively shaken, woken up to the point of complete alertness, usually by extreme stress. Think of 9-11 in the US. Or even the first months of the pandemic when it was unclear how we would all function or even survive.

In my own life, this happened when Teal died and I was suddenly brought up short to realize just how lost I had become. Then I realized the fundamental, dramatic power of crisis to reshape who were are completely. And so I believe, in the midst of this crisis we can all be reborn. Our world can become a far better place.

Now the smeary lens of life has been washed bright and clean, and we can honestly see reality for once. The invasion of Ukraine is throwing into sharp relief just how broken, how disturbed, how shockingly clear our society-wide dysfunction is. And it is giving us a choice.

Do we get involved with the world at large?

Do we dare to feel what is happening around us? Do we let ourselves be disturbed by the suffering of another person? Or do we just turn off the video and scroll on by, shaking our head?

It is only when we allow ourselves to truly feel what is going on in the world that we can affect any kind of change. Clear evidence has already shown this in the massive movement of support for Ukraine from the West, and many parts of the East. Such an outpouring has helped to bolster the already determined Ukrainians.

For who can avoid being moved by the phenomenon of just how bad this deluge is? Given that this is the first such ground war ever captured by smart phones and shared on the Internet, we are being forced to confront it literally moment by moment. There is no lag time, which goes a long way towards invalidating state-controlled  misinformation.

The sheer force of will the Ukrainian nation has shown is pushing us all to connect with our own hearts, and ultimately discover our own passion for life. We can’t give up, not now and not ever, on finding our way back to what Teal called ‘The Unified Field of Love’.

This is the place where we all belong—all of us, regardless of race, class, ethnicity, religion. It is a plane beyond physical reality, a place of sympathy and understanding. It is where we can find it in our hearts to help others, to actually stop of feel their pain for a while in this great social scramble called life. For yes, this inward experience of compassion definitely counts. And it is the catalyst, the springboard to help us step up and get involved.

For better or for worse we are all in this together, friend. And so we turn collectively, one day at a time.

The fate of the world is in our hands.

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A place to get started:

The Washington Post’s article ‘How Americans Can Help Ukraine’ identifies viable charities that will help those on the ground in Ukraine.

 

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