I think it’s fair to say that we’re living in a troubled time and this troubled time is more troubled than any we’ve lived through since World War ll, which ended in 1945. Not only are we facing a global epidemic with Covid-19, we’re also facing a social upheaval in the USA that’s tearing at the  very fabric of our nation’s soul. Is it any wonder that we’re feeling a bit lost, confused, tired, and discontent? What are we to do when the polarities shift and what has worked before no longer works? What are our options when we can’t hear our own and each another’s pain and suffering?

I remember the summer of 1968 when there were riots in America and social unrest was the flavor of the day. There were protests against the war in Vietnam and racial discrimination which kept on through that decade into the 1970s. The president of the USA was impeached, resigned,  and life went on. The war ended and another started, ended, and social unrest kept simmering, exploding, and continuing until more people were disenfranchised and thrown onto the dung heap of poverty, drug addiction, unemployment, and all the rest. Wars broke out in the middle East, the United States sent troops and the rich got richer while the poor got poorer. Great Huh?

We the people and our so called leaders don’t seem to understand how life works and doesn’t work. Selfishness and partisan politics seem to pull the strings of government and private enterprise while the meek don’t even come close to inheriting the earth. New policies, domestic and foreign, seem to come and go with the wind while babies die in mother’s arms and religion takes a holier than thou attitude that fans the fires of ineptitude and prejudice while might makes right. Over the past seventy plus years, there have been pendulum swings between darkness and light and more darkness and light. Fear seems to be the engine that drives us all. 

Fear of what? Fear we won’t get what we want! Have you ever had this thought? Have you ever been fearful, anxious, despondent, hopeless? If you’re honest you’ll have to say “Yes”, as we all have these disempowering emotions. We also have empowering emotions like courage, trust, optimism, acceptance, understanding, love, reverence, joy, and peace. Why then do we allow the negative emotions to take over? Why do we think we have to ‘fight’ for everything when fighting takes us down rather than raising us up? Why is our species so driven to combat, fight, and flight?

An Epiphany is a eureka moment, an awareness moment, a moment that enables us to sense ourselves and our environment as something not completed. It’s an insight into the reality that we, along with the whole of creation, are part of an ongoing process. It’s an awareness that we are called to be constantly becoming, evolving, growing, and changing. It’s an inner sense that everything is continually called to renew itself in an upward trajectory of awakening to the wonder of new life with greater understanding and, it seems to take the wilderness to awaken it.

Take a look at the quote of the week at the top of the page.  Why would the central epiphanies always occur in the wilderness? Why do we have to ‘hit the wall’ before we wake up? Why does loss facilitate gain, darkness turn to light, wilderness lead to a promised land? Do you remember the last time you became depressed, alienated, disconnected, and down in the dumps? If so, do you remember what epiphany, awareness, or awakening occurred that ushered you and or propelled you out of it? What happened? What shifted? What did you see, experience?

My sense is that we’re all being called to “Wake Up” to who we truly are and how we’re all a part of a Cosmic order that’s inviting us into a whole new evolutionary growth trajectory…….which means, “No more business as usual”. No more whining and complaining, pointing fingers, and looking for the bad guys and gals……We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for and when we awaken to this reality, everything changes. The other day, a friend asked me what my vision was for the future. Without hesitation I said, “Co-evolving human consciousness, and it begins with me”. . . 

What about you? What’s your vision and how will you achieve it? Are you ready for an epiphany?

• If you’re feeling the darkness, the wilderness, you’re in the right place for something new. Allow yourself the gift of this wilderness and give attention to the subtle shifts in your awareness and everyday musings. Be awake to your inner promptings.
• As an aid to your discernment, start your day with some free writing in a journal. Let the stream of consciousness take hold and write for twenty minutes without stopping. Simply allow what wants to show up on the page to be there. Give yourself the permission to feel the wilderness and embrace it. Remember to drop your shoulders and relax in the process!
• Take breaks throughout the day to get up from the desk, the computer, the jobs, and take a short walk to the porch, the break room, the stairs, wherever you can be alone to simply let go of your outer work to embrace your inner work……Breathe…Relax….Wonder………
• Embrace the wilderness and open to the epiphanies no matter how small….and remember,            prayer is way more than empty words. It’s a disposition, a receptivity, an openness to what is and what can be………with a loving companion presence. . . . Ahh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .