Interesting to contemplate the “archetypal sacrifice” we need to make in this time of “epochal transformation,” as coined by Richard Tarnas in The Passion of the Western Mind. Perhaps it is our sense of separateness and specialness we have come to believe we inhabit, and our reliance almost exclusively on the visible. Do we actually believe we are primarily only connected to the thin personal genealogical history of our own forbearers, or our own country, our special ideological bent, our gated community? And do we trust only what we can see? If so, how do we support the cultivation of a consciousness of interrelatedness and meaningful connection? Though it will be excruciatingly difficult, I believe that this environmental apocalypse is going to provide some of the necessary impetus for large numbers of people to recognize our mutual co-dependence. My dream (fantasy?) is that the global community will recognize that we have a common enemy, climate devastation, and that this will bring us together in mutual support and cooperation.

What is destiny? Could it be that this whole system, the way things are, is exactly perfect and whole, and that the consciousness of humanity is just going through a natural maturing process, which by nature necessitates rupture and chaos, but will evolve into a more wholesome way of being? And those of us alive now are tasked with attending to, facilitating and supporting a healthy (re)birth? I sometimes see myself as a midwife to cultural transformation. And as someone who has given birth, I know first-hand that it can be profoundly uncomfortable, though the happy result makes it all worth the struggle. However, on the other side of that birth, to a large extent being a parent has felt quite unfamiliar to me, with almost every moment being a challenge to my flexibility, ingenuity, trust, cooperation, and humility. It certainly helps to have role models to emulate, which I happily feel is awakening here with all of you ~