By Jane Ellen Combelic
"Something wonderful is happening!"
—Lovinda Heart (aka Lucy Thomas), 1 May 2020
A new humanity is being born. After ten thousand years of a domination system, we are moving inexorably toward a global society built on love. As Charles Eisenstein puts it, we have the opportunity to move from a Culture of Separation to a Culture of Interbeing (he uses the word coined by Thich Nhat Hanh to describe the interconnectedness of all life). After building civilization after civilization on a premise of fear and separation, it is time for humanity to step into a new way of being. Or perish.
The birthing process is painful. I weep for the immense suffering of humans on the planet today, especially those in the global south and those mired in poverty everywhere, and for the suffering of the animals. I feel anticipatory grief for the loss of so much that I am attached to—the beauty of things, the people I love, the immeasurable wildness of nature, the complex web of society’s infrastructure, the small pleasures and comforts of everyday life. Sometimes I’m just plain scared.
But rather than think of this planetary transition as a laborious birth, I prefer the metaphor of the transubstantiation of the caterpillar into butterfly. First, the caterpillar, full and fattened, comes to rest in the safety of the chrysalis that it has constructed around itself. This is our modern civilization, fattened on centuries of exploitation and expansion. What happens next is that the caterpillar slowly dissolves, consumed by secretions it has created. Think climate disruption, threat of nuclear annihilation, global pandemics, catastrophic floods and wildfires. Our culture is being dissolved by the very mechanisms we have put in place.
None of this is wrong. No one is to blame. Humanity is not evil. Granted, many people in power (abusing it in large and small ways) have caused undue suffering and continue to do so. The bigger picture, however, as described by David Spangler, is the evolution of Gaia herself, of which the evolution of human consciousness is an integral part. One hundred years ago, Rudolf Steiner described this in intricate and gorgeous detail. This has also been prophesied in many indigenous traditions, and in the major religions as well. Christianity foretells the second coming of Christ. Buddhism postulates the arrival of Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be-born, which Thich Nhat Hanh says will be not an individual but a sangha, a community. For me this does not mean a select group of the chosen, but all humanity. Christ, Maitreya is in all or in none.
In the chrysalis, the caterpillar dissolves into a kind of soup that contains an “imaginal disc” for each of the adult body parts. Those discs contain the blueprint for the miracle that is to come. From them, the butterfly takes form. One day she emerges into the sunshine, resplendent and new, made of colour and movement. Her essence is joy and her substance is light.
If you told the caterpillar that this was her destiny, would she believe you? It would be far beyond her imagination. And that is one thing that humans have aplenty. Look what we’ve created from our imaginations! Every human creation, from the fork to the tallest skyscraper, from the wheel to our indispensible mobile phones, was born from someone’s imagination.
We who are alive at this time can imagine a better world for ourselves and for all of earth’s creatures. Every human being contains the “imaginal discs” for a new world. All we need to do is choose the ones we want to activate. This is not an idle task; it is an imperative. We can imagine a better world, or we can let the catastrophic stories unleashed by our fears spiral us into dystopia. It is up to us.
This means it is up to me. Yet what can I do? This is a question I have asked myself for years, more urgently in recent weeks. So, on a recent walk in the woods, I asked the Sidhe. Thanks to Jeremy Berg, David Spangler and the Lorians, I’m learning to reconnect with the Sidhe—the Faery Folk, the People of Peace, the Good Neighbours, our cousins in the subtle dimensions. I’ve known them all my life but grew away from them as a child. Reclaiming them has been a wonderful gift. On this walk I asked them exactly that question — What should I do?— and as often happens, they replied with a question of their own.
Sidhe: What does the world look like that you want to see?
JEC: People find joy in what they do, and their work brings them joy, as well as providing a decent simple living.
We find fulfillment in our environment and relationships rather than things and experiences.
We are deeply connected to the earth, living in a reciprocity of generosity and gratitude.
There are no distinctions between races or classes, and each is honoured for their unique talents, skills, and knowing.
We use thought actively to manifest what is needed and wanted, in alignment with the forces of life.
(And so much more...)
Sidhe: What needs to happen for this to become reality?
JEC: People need to be empowered and liberated, trained in the ways of the heart.
We need to learn to listen to Gaia for the solutions to all our dilemmas,to her own needs and desires so we know how to serve life, which will serve us.
Sidhe: How can you live this, right now?
JEC: DANCE PLAY LAUGH SING LOVE REJOICE with full awareness of body and earth and humanity.
Sidhe: Yes!
Keep your heart open, including to your own suffering.
Listen deeply. You will be guided at every step.
WRITE PAINT GARDEN
LOVE THOSE YOU LOVE!
So... when the night grips me with fear and sadness, I come back to my body, I breathe, I soften my belly. I open to the feelings, embracing them with tenderness, talking to them. “Reclaim imagination and feelings as your most precious gifts,” says Lovinda Heart, Findhorn’s very own tantric comedienne and Ambassador of Love. On a good night, when I manage to do that, I fall through the dark feelings into a spacious state of love and joy. As long as I can continue to practice that, I’m part of the something wonderful that is happening in our world.