No One Left Behind

No One Left Behind

I know how to not be anxious, but I don’t kAnow how not to be sad.

But a thought came to me recently that has given optimism a strong foothold in my mind.

It’ll be unpopular.

I don’t delve into politics; I never have. The vision of a world living in peace, with no one left behind, has kept blinders on me and compelled me to spend my time focused on trying to build a bridge of awareness and understanding from here to there.

Policy, systems, money, business, industry, law…

I don’t deny the benefits I have reaped over the course of my life that the above-mentioned elements of a modern society have provided. I am very grateful. But to a part of me, none of it has felt natural and every moment engaged with it felt like borrowed time.

As a result, I’ve moved through various stages of unease over the years, sensing that something was terribly off.

I chalked it up to Generalized Anxiety, eventually beat the worry, and found personal peace. Sort of. I knew how to be calm. But I still didn’t know how to not be sad, for I felt that I had failed. And to the outer world the evidence of failure is irrefutable: divorce at 50, no income, no savings, nothing to show for a life lived defending a truth that sounds hollow in a “do something” world: be still, be quiet, listen.

But I couldn’t. Not. Take this path.

See, along with my reluctance to go there when it comes to voicing an opinion in the political arena, I’ve also stayed mostly quiet about the unexplained events that have occurred in my life. I kept them in the Curious Stories lockbox that I opened occasionally for entertainment at the end of dinner, after free-flowing wine turned the key.

Who doesn’t love a good story about ghosts or ETs?

Personal encounters with the paranormal have shown me that we are much more than what we think we are, and that reality itself is also much more than what we believe it to be.

And it is the message that I came into this life to share. But I didn’t know how.

Something had to stop the train of modern life, first. Well that something is here.

We are at the point where the echo of screeching brakes and the sharp smell of hot metal still hangs in the air, and we’re looking around in shock and bewilderment.

It’s time to look more closely. Go within. And find the truth for ourselves.

Because with the awareness that we are more than a body, comes an end to the fear of death.

With an end to the fear of death, comes an end to the need to defend.

With an end to the need to defend, comes peace for mankind.

We must find the first truth in order to reach the last, but there has been an insurmountable obstacle in our way: the need to care for ourselves.

Do what must be done in order to survive. Work for money, so that we can feed and clothe the body. Fight for resources. Focus nearly all attention and effort toward maintaining something (a body) that is simply a (very convincing) projection of something ELSE that exists outside of 3-D land, something else that never dies.

Yes, the irony is thick.

But we now have time.. but we are still wrapped up in the need to protect our physical existence story and are scared to get sick.. but we don’t have much else to do being stuck inside.. but the fear is so strong.. but..

Our known way of life here and around the world is in a tailspin and shaking the core of what we think we know and trust. And many of us are beginning to point fingers at who’s to blame – somebody must pay for the tsunami of discomfort and fear – but it’s exactly that blame that sparked a new thought, the one I said would be unpopular.

You may have seen a letter making the rounds that gives the virus a voice, a voice of wisdom that suggests its presence is a gift.

I see another unexpected potential gift amidst the chaos: a growing inability of our leaders to lead.

Because ineptitude may be an equally vital piece of the puzzle.

So there’s the distasteful thought, but stay with me here..

See, reality is more than what our five senses tell us, and we are more than a body and a mind.

But we don’t know this.

And we couldn’t do what needed to be done in order to find this truth.

Which is to stop. Be still. Be quiet. And listen.

So while this virus triggers fear, in me it has rekindled hope. Because what we needed is suddenly here. The world is nearing full stop, and a very large number of people now have the time to go within.

Sigh, go within.

Something the modern life really had no use for, as quiet time was mostly a pursuit of the outliers and privileged of this world who had the time.

So Earth lent us a hand. The masses now have time.

And this perfect storm of pandemic plus crisis juvenescence may lead to exactly what we need: a global breakdown.

How far it goes depends on how quickly we reach a critical mass of awareness of KNOWING THAT WE ARE MORE.

It depends on how long it takes us to realize that we are all one and the same, that we all have temporary bodies, but we don’t die.

The need for us all to “go in the house and stop moving around the world” is an incredible opportunity and carries with it a powerful and literal invitation: go within the house (body) and stop moving around. Literally.

Be still. Be quiet. And listen.

Can you imagine how the world might change if we all knew the Greater Truth of who and what we really are? How “getting along” would require no effort in the absence of all threat?

How easy and fulfilling it would be to help our neighbors, both the ones next door AND the ones on the other side of the world?

How fun it would be to live, laugh, and explore together on a playground called Earth?

A virus doesn’t know race, color, gender, or borders. And incompetence is not our enemy. Both are here to compassionately serve the whole.

We have many challenges to face in learning how to care for each other in the days ahead.

And it’s impossible for me to reconcile wishing for a nearly complete fall apart scenario while at the same time knowing that nothing less will bring the change that we need. Both are filled with trauma, pain, and suffering.

But then again, suffering is a solely a material based experience.. but it’s all we know.. but there’s so much more to discover.. but I’m scared.. but there’s the most beautiful experience waiting for us just on the other side of what we think we know..

Trust this journey.

For in the wake of the chaos will come an awakening.

With no one left behind.