“What is it to go proactively toward a source, a practice. We walk that into the world and we actually become a destination for a different stream of life to find. That is a creation process, that is the bridging of destiny and destination. How do we make of ourselves, in our body, a destination for the life that we are calling out for and is calling for us. What is it to become findable by that which is seeking us.” Sara Byrden
Grief, Pain, and Evolution
There is a lot of grief and pain in the human world today. What does the earth feel?
Yes I feel the pain of a dying population, a new freeway, an open pit mine, or a forest fire, but earthquakes, volcanoes also cause pain. They are like a kidney stone, the pain of the human devastation is more like a swarm of mosquitoes, no particular bite is critical, but the collectively mosquitoes can suck the blood out of a caribou and kill it. But death is so intimately entwined with the birth of new life that I cannot separate them. Both birth and death are accompanied by pain. I cannot judge one as good and the other bad. I cannot grieve death without feeling the excitement of watching new life rise from the decaying remains of the old. The circle of life is unbroken, and viewing it from the center there is no grief for death or celebration for birth, only a continuous state of wonder and gratitude. Pain and pleasure remain, but I do not have a preference.
For humans, grief is an essential doorway to connect with the larger world. The human mind has evolved to focus on the survival of the individual. Every external event is judged from the position of: “How does it affect me?” “Do I like it?” “Does it make me happy?” “Does it make me more secure?” Grief serves to expand that point of view. When a loved one dies or a favorite possession is lost, the human mind recognizes that some part of itself has died. That is the essential recognition that everything is connected, that the individual is part of the whole. It is still taken personally, as some part of my individual self has died. There will come a time when the sense of identification with the individual shifts to identification with the whole. Then grief will have done its work and will no longer be a part of the emotional spectrum.
From my perspective there is neither grief nor joy at the present events. I am fulfilling and have fulfilled my role to nurture this experiment. This cycle is ending. It is a natural process. No blame. Death is inseparable from life. I cannot evolve, you cannot evolve without death, without the time, the space the chance to step back and look from a larger perspective. Life goes on no worries. It will be different. The next experiment will be for a different purpose. This experiment has been about developing the person the individual, the identity, the intellect. The next experiment will be about the heart. The beings that do that experiment may not even look like humans, that all depends on how this transformation takes place.
No mother can tell the destiny of her children. The animals, the plants , the humans all have their own destiny. I merely birth them, raise them for a time. They are here for a time then they go. This is only a laboratory, only a gym to exercise certain qualities, to gain certain experiences. Stay focused on what you need to learn. No need to struggle to save the existing system. If you have a larger role, it is a hospice worker to facilitate the death and allow the rebirth to take place on its own. You will not live to see the rebirth completed, but by facilitating the death you are facilitating the birth which is happening simultaneously.
What does it mean for the earth to evolve?
The spirit of the earth has been the great mother, loving, nourishing. In the evolution of the earth the spirit becomes more androgynous. The earth will have more fire, the heavens more darkness. A new level of precision will be required to live on and live in harmony with the earth. Resources will not be freely given, but metered out by a more exacting spirit demanding higher levels of tribute. This integration of masculine and feminine combines the heart and the intellect, the creative force and the nourishing ground. It is a harsher environment in some ways but the potential for growth is multiplied many fold.
What is required for tribute?
In this world, humans have been allowed to take the resources of the earth without respecting the living spirit of the earth. That will not happen. There must be a reciprocity as the aboriginals understood. An exchange of gratitude, prayer and ceremony for each gift from the earth. Love is the tribute.
