Wow, has it been wild to watch the stock and housing markets plummet in unison. Scary, bewildering, and yet at some level … exhilarating.
Some say this recession is just like every other one the world has seen. I don’t believe that. It feels to me like we are on the brink of a sea change in consciousness and in the way the world looks and operates.
This passage brings me comfort right now:
Sit quietly and look upon the world you see, and tell yourself: “The real world is not like this. It has no buildings and there are no streets where people walk alone and separate. There are no stores where people buy an endless list of things they do not need. It is not lit with artificial light, and night comes not upon it. There is no day that brightens and grows dim. There is no loss. Nothing is there but shines, and shines forever.”
Change can definitely be unnerving, but it also opens the way for new and better things to happen. I would probably be sad except for my faith that this is what awaits us:
When you have looked on what seemed terrifying, and seen it change to sights of loveliness and peace; when you have looked on scenes of violence and death, and watched them change to quiet views of gardens under open skies, with clear, life-giving water running happily beside them in dancing brooks that never waste away; who need persuade you to accept the gift of vision?
What can we do right now to move in the right direction? We can help each other. Every time we feel the temptation to judge each other, we can communicate instead. We can offer to take a friend who got laid off out to dinner. We can engage in random acts of kindness. We can make a donation online to someone who is doing peace work and could use the extra cash. We can connect people who may be able to help each other. We can think less about “mine” and more about “ours.”
The reason I blog so passionately about relationships and connection is that I believe this is the starting point for recreating a peaceful and beautiful new world.
I’d love to hear how everyone else is feeling about what is going on in the world right now.