To see the world in a grain of sand

To see the world in a grain of sand
And Heaven in a wildflower
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
-William Blake

With the suffering in the world we see today, we forget at times to pay attention to what we see before us: the child playing, the sun coming out from behind the clouds, the crisp crackle of leaves against our feet, the ability to take a full breath.

We are becoming increasingly polarized across the world and here within the shores here of the United States. The forces of good and the forces of negativity are at battle and we all have ideas of how we want to take action. Both sides, regardless of the battle want victory at all costs.

Our brains want to balance all of this, for the suffering regardless of the side you are on is too much to neurologically integrate. Our left brain catalogs, processes and tries to make sense of suffering and when that does not work, the limbic emotional system and the primal hind brain kicks in wanting to take action. Action from our primal centers becomes reaction and reaction leads us to a survival based mechanism that brings us back to prehistoric times.

Yet we are evolving and transforming rapidly. Historically, since the age of enlightenment in the 1700’s, we have had an extraordinary explosion in the intellect and logical processes of the brain. This expression of intellect and logic has resulted in the rapid progression of technology and quality of living, but like most development, there will be a  collective balance. There has been a disconnect, a separation between the rhythms of the earth, of nature, and subjugation of the heart and intuition. There have been many over the last several hundred years that have maintained wisdom based practices, but they have been on the sideline.  Now as a collective whole,  we are seeing a surge toward heart based practices, and the possibilities of art and creativity as a means toward integration. In effect, the nervous system of humanity is moving toward balance, toward a collective gathering of integration not disintegration. Although it may not look that way.

Balancing suffering requires not adding to the polarity but pausing before we take action. If we stop and pause, take a deep breath in and out and focus on what is before us, over a period of time, this allows for other processes of the brain to catch up, but it also allows for the heart to have a voice.

To further balance suffering, we must also allow for the “unconsciousness” to unfurl its wings, to express in the form that is best suited for the individual, whether it is through movement, through drawing and painting, through an expression that allows it to come forward. Not a psychotherapeutic process, for this further catalogs, but a an expressive form that requires “no brain”, “no intellect” that defines the process for you. Get support yes, but only to find the means to hold the space if need be. It is for many an uncomfortable process, even artists become used to their own form and become locked in a pattern of expressing that stultifies the process. But this discomfort is something we must learn to move into to stop the polarity and suffering in the world. We are in effect giving birth to a new way, a “labor” for a collective new brain, a new humanity. It is natural to have discomfort in a place that has no shape or form. Clinging to form will only add to suffering.

We will choose a side because our humanity will require this of us. We must take action. But first. First. Let us take the time to connect with our own hearts, to have curiosity for those around us and what is inside us, to get that curiosity out on the page or in its own form, and to extend good will first and foremost to ourselves before we take action.

May we continue to evolve and transform into balance and well-being within ourselves and in humanity. May you see the world in a grain of sand…May all beings be well, may all beings be happy.