Transformation

 

Chaos and Change

“When times of great chaos and change erupt in life, whether your personal life, or our collective experience of life, we look for reasons. The need to understand the greater meaning of events is archetypal…What we experience at the personal level, however, is unimaginable tension as we feel the pull of opposition within us.”

Lynn Bell & Caroline Myss, “Being Swallowed by the Dragon”

          Watching the Jan. 6^th Committee’s hearings causes us to relive the events of that day. Watching the foot soldiers of white supremacy scaling the walls of the United States Capital, beating Capital police with hockey sticks and baseball bats, smashing out windows and doors, and destroying our sense of confidence that the peaceful transition of power still exists, is brutal. Then, hearing the testimony of people who were there, who were injured and bloodied in the event brings it home to horrifying effect.

          Clearly, we are under enormous pressure on every front—from the dissent, the division, political lies and threats, gun violence, the economic and emotional devastation brought about by the pandemic, and the loss of more than a million of our citizens. And that is only in America—world events are a whole other layer of chaos and internalized stress. We may not acknowledge that we are affected by it, but there is no doubt that we are in a constant state of tension as to when the next shoe will drop. Just one of these crises would be sufficient to cause trauma to the American people, but having all of them at once has been especially devastating.

          One thing to keep in mind, which may or may not be of comfort, is the fact that these events are archetypal in nature. When certain conditions flare up in any part of the human world, such as events that throw us into an extended period of upheaval, they bring about necessary change. The need for change is rising into consciousness from the collective unconscious and demanding that we pay attention, and not only acknowledge, but act. We are now tackling all the underlying problems at the same time because we have refused to deal with them individually when they first came up.

          Chaos always precedes fundamental change. We can rest assured that America is undergoing the process of transformation. What it will look like on the other side is anybody’s guess, but we know that it will be different. Hopefully, different and better.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane