“May you live in interesting times.”
-A common mixed-blessing, one could say a curse, of unknown origin
No matter who you are or where you live on this spinning planet, it’s clear that so much of our world is unraveling. Climate change, extinction, war, wealth inequality, exploitive capitalism and the devastation of patriarchy are massive issues that are all converging to create “the perfect storm” of despair. Healing just one of these issues would require huge amounts of our inner and outer resources, so when faced with all of them together, the future starts to look more than a little bleak.
And when the future looks bleak, people turn to spirituality, magic, and intuition in droves. It makes sense, considering those subjects promise to deliver meaning, miracles, and foresight; rare commodities in an uncertain time.
When faced with the unknown we are confronted with the mysterious unknown within ourselves, and that can either paralyze us with fear, causing us to clutch onto the ghost of the past, or it can summon our inner resources that will require us to transform into the people we are meant to be in a world that is begging for our gifts.
This can be summarized by another popular saying: “Evolve or die.”
Every day I see thousands of people on Facebook, elsewhere on the internet, and in my private practice, who are doing their best to evolve, to remember their magic and to manifest their soul-level gifts in a world that has forgotten the sacredness of every being and the blessings each one has to offer. This plays a large role in my own work in helping people remember their magic, because I know from experience that we absolutely need each other to help us grow, heal, and to step into our full power as creative beings.
However, even with a reliable teacher and guide, the path of evolution has its pitfalls. The most common in our time is something called “spiritual bypassing” which basically means using spiritual teachings and practices to avoid the places within that truly need healing.
You know…
- the high-intensity, stressed out person who tries to melt all their problems away in hot yoga
- the “very spiritual” person who judges everyone else for their “low-vibe” choices out of deep insecurity and perfectionism
- people who blame those facing poverty and tragedy for thinking so negatively
- asking for God to take away your problems without having to personally change
- buying every crystal, smudge stick, essential oil, singing bowl, and psychic reading you can get your hands on instead of facing your underlying problems
The real danger of spiritual bypassing is that it does the exact opposite of what spirituality is truly meant to do; increase the awareness of your connection with life, with the whole, with Spirit. Instead, it distances us from life and from our own soul by denying our humanity with all of its sorrows, and learning curves, and complexities.
Too often, “love and light” has been turned into a coded phrase that essentially means “I don’t want to deal with this/my/your/our problem! Maybe it’ll go away if I think about my dream vacation in Maui doing baby goat yoga!”*
While I do say that in jest, it’s probably not hard to think of a few examples of people in your own life who do something like this. Maybe you do something like this. It’s not uncommon since we are conditioned in our society to bypass our authentic selves anyway, with or without spiritual practices.
The truth is, this kind of “love and light” is not enough.
It’s not even close to enough.
Critics of the “love and light” crowd are right when they say that it denies the real challenges we face individually and collectively. They’re right when they say that it silences the voices of the oppressed. They’re right when they say we need to stand up and face our shared reality in a way that offers real solutions, not escape into our own private fantasy.
And yet…
It takes tremendous strength and, dare I say, faith, to courageously stand up and face our issues, collective or otherwise. It requires a willingness to let go of what we think we know so that we can be inspired by a new vision, because otherwise we may very well overturn policies, practices, and governments, only to recreate them in different versions from the same distorted vision we are trying to transcend.
Where do you find that kind of strength, and faith, and inspiration?
The critics may have a few points, but they are often guilty of their own kind bypassing, which one could say boils down to nihilism: the belief that life, and pretty much anything you do to make it better, is meaningless. Since we’re facing hard truths here, let’s also face the fact that popular nihilism is pretty weak on generating strength, faith, and vision, while good at generating apathy, addiction, and paralyzing depression.
How are we going to birth and grow a new vision if that’s where we’re coming from? How can we ignite the fire of change and transformation that has led humanity through so many dark times if we don’t have any fuel to make it burn?
As trite as it may sound, the only fuel strong and long-lasting enough to feed this holy fire is love.
Radical love.
This isn’t a namby-pamby “love” that only holds up when everything is comfortable and going the way you want, nor is it an authoritarian “love” demanding adherence to dogmas and social roles. This is true love, a rooted love, as the word “radical” comes from the Latin “radix” meaning “root.” This love is the deep, nourishing, hidden heart of the soul.
It’s the love that…
- kept Holocaust survivors alive and willing to go on despite constant torture and the threat of death[1]
- empowered Harriet Tubman to make the same, dangerous journey thirteen times leading slaves to freedom[2]
- gathered together an unprecedented number of native tribes and others to defend the sacred land and the waters of life at Standing Rock[3]
- inspired Ellen DeGeneres to be the first person to bravely come out of the closet in real life and on her own national TV show, touching the lives on countless others[4]
- fundamentally shapes you mentally, physically, and emotionally from the moment you are born[5]
These are just a few examples of true, radical love that have nothing to do with baby goat yoga** and everything to do with transforming your fear and the world for the better. It is the only source of life and hope that can lead us through the chaos to something better, something more whole.
It’s the love that gives birth to the light that clarifies everything.
It’s the light that reveals the truth, even if it’s ugly; the light that shines on everyone equally and illuminates their beauty; the light that guides us through the dark to our destination, our destiny; the light that renews the green, growing Earth and feeds us with the energy we need to live and thrive.
This is what love and light are. When we say those words, we are proclaiming to ourselves, others, and the Universe, that we are willing and working to live them. When we scoff at those words, we may be rightly criticizing a superficial platitude, but we’re also demeaning the truth of real love and light by denying their powerful place in our lives or in the world. Maybe we can just respond with, “I sure hope you mean it!”
Is “love and light” enough?
It’s not only enough, it’s all that we truly have.
Grow your love and shine some light on those things that need your presence.
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” another well-known phrase that has galvanized the hearts and minds of many toward transformative action, could be the motto for true, lived, love and light.
And we can’t wait any longer.
*I actually kinda love baby goat yoga and would totally be into doing it, so no offense if you’re a baby goat yoga enthusiast!
**For real, I love it, I just couldn’t pass up the humor in it and it was working too well as a metaphor.
[1] https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/news-story/8183724-holocaust-survivor-says-he-was-saved-by-love/
[2] https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/beacon-resilience-and-love-harriet-tubman
[3] https://www.ecowatch.com/standing-rock-love-prevails-2173261043.html?page=2
[4] https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/04/20th-anniversary-of-ellen-degeneres-coming-out
[5] http://drdavidhamilton.com/why-children-need-love-to-grow/
