Creators, one and all.

Hopes and Fears

“We never see the world exactly as it is. We see it as we hope it will be or we fear it might be. And we spend our lives going through modified stages of grief about that realization. We deny it, and we argue with it, and we despair over it. But eventually—and this is my belief—that we come to see it, not as despairing, but as vitalizing. We never see the world exactly as it is because we are how the world is.”

Maria Popova (founder of Brain Pickings website)

“...we are how the world is.” How many times do I need to hear, read and digest this truth before I understand. Since the ancient Proverb (23:3) was spoken, “You are what you think,” we have had this information repeated to us a thousand different ways. It somehow doesn't sink in—or else, my head is just too hard to receive it.

Over the centuries, we constructed the world according to our particular brand of thinking—your worldview versus my worldview—and now we cannot cross the chasm we've created to reach one another. It's time to let this truth sink in—we create the world we live in by our beliefs. The fact that I have convinced myself that democracy is the best way of governing, does not make it so. Likewise, I am a follower of Jesus and believe his way is in the best interest of humanity, but that does not make it so. There are billions of people on this planet who believe otherwise and are just as convinced that their way of thinking is correct.

If we just agreed to disagree and went our way in peace, that would be wonderful, but we don't. Instead, we argue, and fight. We raise armies and navies to enforce our view of the world, and we turn our guns on each other. We say to one another, “Oh, the world is in shambles, these are terrible times, it's the rise of dictators and strongmen.” In the meantime, women in droves are elected to Congress, and everywhere, people in support of freedom have found their voices and are daily in the streets. There is new energy, new vitality for change. In the words of Mary Oliver:

“...Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers...” (from “Wild Geese”)

The world is still beautiful, still vital, and vitalizing. There is still love and brotherhood and friendship and camaraderie. Let us not despair. Let us think on these things and create the world anew.

                                                                 In the Spirit,

                                                                     Jane