Thursday, July 23, 2020

Downloading Grace


Holy Transformation, Batman!

“Transformation isn’t a future event, it’s a present-day activity.”
Jillian Michaels

          Caroline Myss says in her video, “When Your Soul Begins to Talk to You,” that you recognize that shift when you move from “me” questions to questions about the whole. Example: “What is the purpose of my life?” to “What is the purpose of life.” I always value her opinion of what’s going on because it usually reflects my own experience.

          According to Myss, we are in the process of transformation on all levels, and its purpose is to move us collectively toward wholeness. Her thoughts on the civil unrest going on at the national level, with protests about inequality and failure of the majority to address the problems of the minority are very insightful. She said that we are trying to address the present and future by changing the past—by trying to destroy the symbols of the oppressors such as pulling down statues of Confederate generals and renaming bridges and military bases. This may be a necessary expression of centuries of rage, but it will change neither history nor people’s hearts. For that, transformation is necessary.

          It is interesting, however, that the street protests of Black Lives Matter have once again “brought out the Rebels” (Myss) in a way that we have not seen since the Civil War. We cannot dispel, change, or rewrite our history. The rage is appropriate and requires release, especially since our Constitution guarantees equality and justice “for all,” yet from the beginning those rights extended to white men only—not to women, and certainly not to black and brown people. So here we are 250+ years later, once again addressing those untruths. The chaos feels terrible, but it is not solely punishment. If we can open ourselves to the understanding that we are in the throes of transformation, it represents an opportunity. We now have a chance to put our money where our mouth is, so to speak—we cannot change our past, but we can change our future.

          Caroline Myss always connects the individual with the whole, whether it is one human being confronting his/her past, or a nation facing its past, we are always doing so in the interest of wholeness. That is why our questions have changed during this time of pandemic and civil unrest from Me-centric, to We-centric. What are we doing? What is the real problem here? What is our best strategy for moving from fractured and chaotic to whole and sustaining both for us individually, and for our nation and world?

          Myss once again recommends that we pray for grace. “I don’t care how You deliver it; it doesn’t matter, but we need You to dump a big load of grace right now!” Amen. Dangerous prayer. Be on the lookout for a big load of grace today.

                                                  In the Spirit,
                                                  Jane

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