Last night, I was awake for most of the night. The undigested fragments of my day were coming up for their rightful attention. I read a post published on Oct. 16 called "Black Student Brutalized by Police for Making a White Woman 'Uncomfortable.'" My unshed tears when I read it were arising coinciding with a gratitude that this news wasn't pushed down but was met with a powerful and peaceful protest from the Black Lives Matter activists.
I feel this is a true wake-up call arising from the dark soils of Mother Earth and Her deep cry. This "No" isn't a no that is pushing back in violence. It is a sacred "No" that is rising up to restore an equality with all of life.
At the heart of it all, I truly believe many of us living in our Western culture carry the deep grief and suffering that has arisen from our disconnection with the Earth and Her living core within us which unites us all within this creation. Plato was the first to share of the world as a living being in which we are all apart of. He termed this the Soul of the World or the Anima Mundi, the imminent and divine power within this material world.
Carl Jung once wrote that, "The development of Western philosophy during the last two centuries has succeeded in isolating the mind in its own sphere and in severing it from its primordial oneness with the universe. Man himself has ceased to be the microcosm and eidolon of the cosmos, and his 'anima' is no longer the consubstantial scintilla, or spark of the anima mundi, world soul."
What I experience most in my healing practice with others, is that people feel this core of aloneness that has arisen from the primal wound of separation, like an umbilical chord that has been severed between our soul and the world womb of the Mother. We forget that we are truly star dusted miracles, a microcosm of wonder of the great Mystery of creation. These wounds of separation and aloneness are often covered up and hidden under stigma and shame, thinking it is only "us" that feels that way. If we are single or divorced, I have noticed conditioning along the lines of, "if only I had done it right, then I wouldn't feel so alone." There is also much enculturation to believe that if we only we had a partner, it would fill this gap of aloneness.
In indigenous communities, the idea that we could fulfill all of our needs within one family unit is unheard of. Yet, in our Western culture, we are living this way and investing money in the banks to ensure our security. I intimately believe, we need to begin to reinvest in each other. To find ways where we can rely on each other and develop the bonds of trust and a safety net that comes from comm-unity. A unity that is rooted in the Earth where every part of life is held in deep reverence. Indigenous based communities still have hierarchy of roles with people carrying varying degrees of authority. But there is a deep recognition that a community is a strong as it's weakest person or creature within it.
In our culture, I believe so much have become cultural intoxicated by the belief that fulfillment of this missing gap in our lives will come when we manifest all of our personal desires or have achieved success and recognition. In this cultural dream, the Earth's resources are used blindly like a disrespected servant in an attempt to manifest all of our personal dreams and fulfill our intentions. I am curious of what could happen if we try to listen to what the dream of the Earth holds for us as Her children?
To hear the dream, we may have to open to Her from the depths of our matter and be willing to come back into union with the darker aspects of Her Nature that we once believed that we could control. We may have to open to the fierceness of Her sacred No that will shatter these false dreams and take a sword to the injustices of inequality. We may have to open to Her deep belly cry that weeps tears because of our disconnection from each other and the sacred unity of life. We may have to open to the truth of our mortality and the power of death that will eventually claim us all and will absolutely shake us off this planet if we do not change our ways. Yet, through this bonfire of a tough but total love, I believe we can truly rediscover a core of human kindness and a wellspring of compassion that arises from secret Heart that beats all of our hearts.
What happens if we were to open to this deep and instinctual grief cry that knows that we belong to each other and are united in something profoundly sacred? Can we take a moment to feel this star dusted soul-ular knowledge that still exists inside each of our cells?
We exist as part of something profoundly sacred, an astonishing compassion which holds us all. The wonder, compassion and mystery dances inside our cells as a microcosm of creation. Can we feel it, acknowledge it and honor it by reveling in the intimate wonders of life? What are the whispers that are carried in the wind? What colors make up a setting sun? What contours, feelings and colors compose the vastness of your inner landscape? What needs to be unveiled in order to feel the radiance of your inner sun? Can we grieve for the mystery of life to break open our hearts, so we live in sacred reverence with all of life?
To find out more about Courtney, her other writings, individual healing sessions and group retreats, please visit www.courtneydukelow.com.