Do you notice spiritual themes in this global crisis?
Most people are, of course, focused on health and money issues. But beyond the immediate, very pressing survival issues, you can also feel some very powerful metaphysical issues coming to a head. Such as…
1. Collective leadership. There has been a constant and comprehensive failure of leadership at the top for quite some time now. As a group, we have struggled with this and, for the most part, been unable to negate the damage, much less move forward. So, as is often the case when necessary growth opportunities are repeatedly declined, the stakes got ratcheted up and made more immediate. We are being required to take responsibility all together, all at once.
The message is this: This isn’t going to be fixed for you. You are not going to be able to just keep your head down and try to pretend that you can go about business as usual. We must all take action together. Why? Because we are all going to have to prepare for…
2. Change. I make this point all the time. In my business, among the hardest things to convince people of is how much we underestimate our aversion to change and the unknown. Climate change threatens us with the next mass extinction. And yet, as a species, we refuse to take meaningful action. So, once again, the scale and time frame must be adjusted to help us clearly perceive the stakes.
This virus is forcing us out of our collective unconsciousness. It is here to get us used to leaving our comfort zone and making significant, frightening changes that will interrupt and alter our lives as we know them. Hopefully, once we have had to move through our denial of this smaller but more immediate crisis, we will be in a better position to take action together to confront the looming existential disaster that has paralyzed us up to this point.
If we are able to do that, it will be because the virus has reacquainted us with one of the fundamental spiritual truths: All is one (1st chakra). Also known as…
3. Unity. All the technology and social media we are addicted to have allowed us to avoid intimacy without having to feel lonely. This prevents us from actually connecting to each other in a meaningful way. What the virus offers us is an amazing, rare opportunity to experience global unity. This is happening to everyone and we are all in this together. (It’s not an accident that you’ve probably already heard that enough to be sick of it.)
It’s like if 9/11 happened to the whole world this time. Remember how, even though it was horrible and scary, there was also a palpable sense of shared humanity? The challenge now is to make that the new normal (heard that one a lot too, right?), not just something we resort to when we absolutely have to.
There is an extremely heightened need to seek community, to express concern and compassion for one another, and to promote anti-fear energy without avoidance and unconsciousness. Our cycle of shock to trance (**see definition below) response amidst the escalating chaos must be interrupted and replaced with the ability and willingness to be fully present, open hearted, and interconnected.
Usually we need to be in the same location with each other to connect as deeply as possible, so why would it be that we are forced to isolate at a time like this? I believe the answer is…
4. Paradox. This dimension of reality is very much about the relationship of opposites. Many times, in order to really grasp something, we must also explore what it is not; to know our light we have to face our shadow. Another way this shows up is that what appear to be opposites turn out to be two aspects of the same thing; we can’t connect to others unless we are internally connected.
The guidance we are receiving across the world? Pause. Go be still and listen. Be with yourself. And then from that place of connection, reach out. But reach out with your energy this time. That’s why our options are being narrowed to the virtual realms (phone, video, text, etc.). If we are eventually going to proceed with a sense of oneness, we are going to have to be able to access it through energetic connection.
Our community must now expand to people we can’t see in person and those we haven’t met. Our common bond will be based on the quality of our vibration instead of the compatibility of our personalities. Each of us, individually, is being asked to resolve collectively whether we will choose to be self-centered and fearful—to hoard and worry and attack each other – or to raise our consciousness and work with this shift to act in the highest good of All.
Perhaps you are familiar with the idea that paradox is the signature of the divine. In this case, I believe that means that in order to plug into the All, we first have to go in.
This is the kind of Spiritual terrain that I help people navigate. If your Spirit is prompting you to have a conversation about the spiritual themes you are experiencing during these “Interesting Times,” I encourage you to get in touch with me.
** Shock to trance is a cycle of avoidance one gets stuck in when it’s never a good time to confront a difficult issue. When it has flared up as a crisis we freeze with overwhelm and “just try to get through it.” When it calms down, we feel depleted and traumatized by the crisis and just want to “forget about it” or “move on.” No solution is sought or action taken because we can’t escape the fight/flight/avoidance mode.