With the oil spill and its implications – for all of life and life of the whole – at the forefront of our minds, we focused our Wisdom Writers reflective dialogue by reading “Dealing with the Notion of Source” from the book, “Work for All Children” (pp. 93-94, or www.pathofpotential.org). A few wisdoms from that paper follow:
- We, as well as the rest of creation – the observable and beyond – emanate from somewhere… somewhere, a Source beyond ourselves… a somewhat unfathomable mysterious Source, truly beyond our total grasp.
What is, however, clearly within our grasp – fully encompass-able within our minds, within our hearts, within the deepest reaches of our humanness – is the truth that we, either individually or collectively, are not the source.
Even in the presence of all our creativity, intellectual prowess and scientific magic, we find our confidence and conviction in this truth does not diminish, but rather strengthens.
Another truth, a reality of our design: we, humankind are living creatures; an essential characteristic of ourselves is our living nature, a characteristic we share with multitudes of other living creatures and with the life processes of earth.
This truth, like the truth of our not being the source, is equally clear – intellectually and intuitively – and therefore both worthy of and required to be part of any thinking regarding the whole… or any thinking that would seek to be complete.
The understanding, the embracement of this truth that we humankind are, by intent, by nature, by characteristic, members in the larger community of life, enables us to see that we are not separate from – outside of – life and the life processes of earth, but rather fully woven into life’s web.
Earth is organized by living planetary energy fields, each of which – when we are open to it, and when it is working as intended – can actually organize us. Not surprising given our membership in the community of life. We experience ourselves being organized differently by mountains, forests, prairies, deserts, seashores, estuaries, and on and on. This common experience is reflected by the often expressed, “You go to the mountains to build your mind; you go to the ocean to soothe your soul.”
Each larger landscape has an essential virtue, an enfolded virtue intended to be unfolded by the life processes within that energy field. We, humankind, as living beings, are intended to participate in, cooperate with, enhance and enable the unfolding of these virtues… an intent expressed thousands of years ago when we were given the prayer, “…Thy will be done on earth…” Taking the essential virtue of a planetary energy field as our living philosophy enables us to come together as a people in its unfolding.
And so, at our Wisdom Writers gathering, we turned to our experience of the Gulf Coast energy field by generating and sharing images of those experiences about which we would say, “These lands are truly working; they are doing their intended work; the essence virtue of these lands, their rhythmic soothing, life replenishing, intentional reminding processes, are working on us.” We turned to this reflective work, for we are seeing daily that the mind of issues and problems tends to necessarily divide everything into segmented parts in order to “solve the problem”… divisiveness, frustration and anger seem to be leading thinking, blocking the guidance of wisdom: wisdom of wholeness, wisdom of intent, the wisdom of the essential virtue. Now is a time – the time of great threat to the life of the whole – for wisdom to guide reason. And so, we reflected together with the aim of better seeing the intended way of working of this beautiful land where we have chosen to make our home.
When this land is truly working, unfolding its enfolded potential, each and all – if we are open and receptive – can and do experience this virtue – this rhythmic soothing, life replenishing, intentional reminding virtue – working on us.
Whether experiencing a hummingbird dropping to the ground from exhaustion after migrating across the Gulf, or a family arriving for a week of vacation after a hectic year of work and school, the promise of this energy field – if its processes are not blocked out by the world of our making – is rhythmically making whole our state of being… bringing us to a sense of peace, order, wholeness, serenity that enables us to pick ourselves up and go on… go on to our intended work and roles.
Reflecting on the life processes here… calls and migrations of birds, warm damp smell of earth, fragrance and beauty of flowers, frolicking of young dolphins, shrimpers returning after a night of fishing, families sharing the abundance of their fields, we experience life replenishing processes at work, and as well, our lives being replenished by this experiencing.
And as we are taking in the cleansing ebb and flow of the surf, the renewing process of hurricanes, the compassion of caring about springing to life after devastating storms, seeing everything is eating and being eaten, we are becoming awakened to the truth that we, each and all, are a living breathing part of this whole, intended to harmonize with its working. We are intended to bring the world of our making into congruence with the world of intent.
…and oh, the clouds, watching and reflecting on the process of clouds forming late on a summer day, giving replenishing rain, then moving on while the sun shines through, radiating streams of light, we experience the realness of intent, of intended ongoing unfolding creation… we are all one, one people of earth, one living earth…. all intended to participate – take up work and roles – in the unfolding. Experiencing and reflecting on migrations, tides, the life birthing processes of estuaries, we are intentionally reminded of the truth, “Touch one, you touch them all.”
Yes, the wisdom of intent expressed in the few words – rhythmic soothing, life replenishing, intentional reminding – brings us to realize that we each may have a unique path, we may not even know one other, yet we all can work together, becoming one living whole in harmony with the essence life processes of earth… by taking up the imbedded virtue of the land as our living philosophy, as our practical and practice-able philosophy of living and working. We can begin living this philosophy by our paying attention to, is what we are doing or not doing enhancing the rhythmic soothing processes of the energy field? …enabling the life replenishing processes? …making intentional reminding more accessible?
What a beautiful and miraculous gift is the seeing of essential virtue, and being able to cooperate as a community, as a people, with the intended unfolding!
