Gazing in the Mirror

November 27 - A Relentless Dissolving Of Form

I have always been delighted
at the prospect of a new day,
a fresh try, one more start,
with perhaps a bit of magic waiting
somewhere behind the morning.
~ J B Priestly

We are all thinking, willing, knowing,
conscious centers of Life. We are
surrounded by, immersed in, and
there is flowing through us, a creative
something . . . call it what you will.
~ Ernest Holmes

Recently I read a National Geographic feature on the Mississippi Delta in Arkansas. It was about the entire disappearance of a way of life within 40 years. Not a pretty way of life but a hard way of life experienced by freed black slaves as they transitioned into sharecroppers. Theirs was a hard and spartan life. Yet it was also a deeply authentic and rooted in the soil way of living too. Technology changed all of that. Now thanks to massive machinery large fields are worked with only a handful of people.

As I write this, the United States is experiencing high unemployment. It is higher even than the official numbers tell us. There are some who have traded looking for work for disability payments or they eke by on under the table bits of income in exchange for odd jobs. When I was growing up in the 1950s, women were just entering the work force. While the migration of many women from housewife to worker is not entirely the cause for any perceived lack of employment, it can be seen as some aspect. The pressure upon familial income is such that both parents must work or a single parent often needs two jobs to make ends meet. That has been as relentless a change in human experience as is the disappearance of sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta.

It is the nature of Life and really all things to express a relentless dissolving of form, not just solid forms like buildings and roads and landscapes but also of other kinds of forms, like ways of life, forms of employment and human beliefs. People once thought the world was flat but only a few people today would seriously believe such a concept. The reality is that there is a constant and changing flow of people, goods, forms, styles, beliefs and behaviors. Resisting that flow or wasting one's time longing for the good ole days is pointless and of no usefulness because "progress" does not stop for any one of us simply because we are not personally in tune with the changes.

The changes in the Mississippi Delta are simply one more manifestation of a large migration of people from a rural lifestyle to an urban lifestyle and it is a change that is global in nature. The movement of poor people from areas of poverty in their search for a better existence is actually the effect of an energetic Spirit seeking a prosperity that is always becoming more of what people want and need. It is the law of attraction in action but seen in large scale changes to society. At the same time a rapid influx of people into urban areas can exceed the ability of local services to address such sudden changes in demand.

Those with compassionate, caring hearts continue to grapple with what is best for people in general. Market forces make small scale agriculture now untenable. The large migration of poor, rural people globally to the urban centers is only better in the volume of possible opportunities present in such an environment. In truth the slums of poverty are growing larger. Currently the number of people living in slums (approx 100 million in 2004) is expected to grow to 2 billion by 2020. Humans are a very successful species when it comes to reproduction. Some of the growth in urban areas is due to migration and some is simply population increase.

Large scale developments can seem overwhelming from an individual point of view and that is when having a spiritual perspective can help. I believe that some of us are called upon to be "visionaries". While it might appear that we visionaries are doing nothing of substance, it is my belief that visionaries can be the guiding impetus of change and that the higher the heart's values are in witnessing and seeing "potential" outcomes for good, the more that flow will tend in a beneficial direction. Certainly our human civilization needs all types of people – those that envision and those that get out and work with their physical bodies to make those visions solid. May your visions be images of improving conditions for all beings.

~ perspective

I have compassion for a desire
to improve circumstances in
whatever form I see that desire
taking shape and I encourage and
support those I encounter who
are trying to live more happily.
I have compassion for those who
seem stuck in unhappy circumstances,
realizing that the same Spirit that
has provided for my own self
abundantly is awaiting their recognition
of possibilities.
I am aware of a long flow of history,
once we could only walk or use a
wagon drawn by strong animals to
move from one place to another
but today we use the modern
technology available and it will be
ever so.
I realize certain kinds of endings
as necessary to open up the space
needed for new beginnings.
Whether I am physically doing
something or mentally dreaming of
a happier future, I bring to any
such effort the best that is within
me for it is an equally important
activity of Spirit.

#agriculture #authenticity #beneficial #compassion #flow #guidance #migration #opportunity #poverty #visionaries