Shadows

We, the residents of 2016, have been offered a grave opportunity. The shadow side of humanity is playing out before us, and we are seated at the front of the theatre. Atrocities committed across the world and at home. Venom in politics. Greed in business. Incivility and divisiveness seemingly at every turn.

How are we to deal with such realities without devolving into fear or hate, cynicism or numbness? A hint came to me the other day. It was the morning after the second Presidential debate, a spectacle so disturbing I found it hard to sleep. Still uneasy as the sun lightened the eastern sky, I sat to meditate. 

I began with Nayaz, a Sufi prayer song. I sang it through once. Halfway through the second recitation, without thought or decision made, the line, “And I pray…” changed to its plural form, “And we pray…”

What a difference that one word made! Though subtle, it produced a distinct, inner shift leading me from despair. I sang the song a third time, using the plural throughout, then moved into meditation.

As I later thought about this experience, I realized it was really quite simple. In using the word “we”, I was no longer alone. Certainly, there had been no other human being in the room with me. Yet, that small word “we” had acted as a doorway connecting me to a community of caring others.

Throughout time and across generations, there has been an interplay between darkness and light, ignorance and wisdom, the coarse and the refined. And humans have careened all across that continuum, sometimes reaching for the highest good, sometimes not. And so, too, it is today.

Goodness exists in a multitude of forms, each extending from the eternal harmony at the heart of all things, the Source that most call God. It’s easy, though, to forget that loving core when the flames of hatred are being so deliberately fanned by some. We need others to help us remember, to buoy us when we feel ourselves sinking. 

As we re-member ourselves into that larger web, we are less likely to lose heart and believe the lie that hate puts forth as truth. The seed of fear exists within each of us. In difficult times such as these, it is apt to take root and produce its deadly fruit. This is what we’re seeing now across the globe…and perhaps in ourselves, as well.

So for our struggling species, grappling with the choices that free will allows, here is Nayaz, in its plural form, for us all.

Beloved Lord, through the rays of the sun,
through the waves of the air,
through the all pervading life in space,
purify and revivify us.
And we pray
heal our bodies, hearts and souls.
And we pray
heal our bodies, hearts and souls.

Perhaps this is what healing looks like, darkness rising from the depths...so it can be seen...so we can choose. May we see clearly and choose well.

Namasté

Leia Marie