In Between Time

Dear Ones—Please stay with me on this read even if in the beginning you find it discouraging and depressing. I promise I will not leave you feeling despair.

In this challenging time, many of us are disturbed and fearful for the future.

I feel as if the blinders I have been wearing about my country and it’s political, social, and economic systems have been suddenly and irrevocably ripped off. 

I now see a truth that has been present for some time.

The story I grew up with, in which humanity was destined to create a perfect world through science, reason, and technology has not panned out. The very ideas and technologies that we thought would save us are now destroying us. And yet we keep moving forward on a catastrophic trajectory trying to solve problems with the same thinking that created them.

We live today at a moment of transition between worlds. The institutions that have borne us through the centuries have lost their vitality; only with increasing self-delusion can we pretend they are sustainable. Our systems of money, politics, energy, medicine, education, and more are no longer delivering the benefits they once did (or seemed to). Their Utopian promise, so inspiring a century ago, recedes further every year. — Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible

The frog’s in the cooking pot and the heat just got turned up to high.

We can no longer ignore the pain and dysfunction.

Perhaps profound change happens only through collapse. Certainly that is true for many at a personal level… how often does anyone change without a wake-up call, or more often a series of wake-up calls?

We need to change our habits of thought, belief and doing as well as change our systems… Unless we have done transformational work on ourselves, we will remain products of the very civilization we seek to transform.” — Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible

Sometimes it feels so big and difficult and impossible to fix, that I am tempted to simply give up and do nothing.

At other times I feel an urgent need to leap into action but I’m not sure what to do. And I know in my heart that if my actions are rooted in fear, anger, or negativity I am simply feeding the flames rather than tamping them down.

What’s a person to do?

I decided that until I could see clearly what to do, I would do nothing.

I began meditating, allowing myself to feel my sadness and anger and despair, talking with friends, reading, and praying.

I believe we are in “In-between time”

We are at the ending of one story and waiting for the next story to emerge.

Possibilities we cannot even imagine through the lens of the old story lie before us.

The challenge is to allow ourselves to be in the space of unknowing and to trust that the next story will emerge when the in between time has ended.

Allow yourself to be in the sacred space between stories.

Do nothing.

Look around, sense, feel.

Wait to act until it is time to act, until knowing arises.

There is a time to do, and a time not to do, and when we are slave to the habit of doing we are unable to distinguish between them… When you don’t know what to do, and act anyway, you are probably acting out of habit.

A good time to do nothing is any time you feel stuck… Do not be afraid of the empty place. It is the source we must return to if we are to be free of the stories and habits that entrap us. — Charles Eisenstein, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible

In the meantime—

• Look after one another, caring and protecting, and if one is not doing well, surround this person with love.

• Cultivate joy and gratitude. Do what makes you feel good. Ask yourself, “Does this bring me joy or do I feel like I need to sacrifice for it?”

• Do what makes you feel connection and belonging.

• Don’t fight yourself or force yourself because you “should” do something.

• Practice presence and mindfulness.

• Let go of struggle.

• Stop feeding on anger and division. Stop believing you are better than “them,” whoever your “them” is

• Spend time in nature.

• Pay attention to pain points. Attention by itself has the power to heal beyond any remedial action one might take.

• Bear witness to the truth.

• Reveal the connections between us as people, between us and nature. Whatever reveals connections has the potential to foster love.

• Be the eyes and ears of the world.

• Any initiatives must come from a pure intention and generosity.

• Make everything you do come from pleasure (joy), real desire, and epiphanies. Don’t get caught up in sacrifice. Don’t take action based on what someone else says is most urgent. Listen to your heart.

• Create something—draw a picture, make something beautiful, write a poem, sing a song, dance, notice beauty, play and love, plant a garden, knit, sew, sculpt. The act of creation is a revolutionary act.

Check out the book I quoted in this post—The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible by Charles Eisenstein. (It’s available from the Hennepin County Library.) I found it is helping me navigate through this challenging time.

May you walk in beauty.