Nourishment for my political imagination
“We are witnesses of the collapse and therefore that makes us potential agents of the renewal.” - Michael Meade
I didn’t know what I was looking for until I found it.
I found myself, somewhat mindlessly, going from podcast to podcast looking for some take on what happened on January 6th to soothe.. some sort of need.
Was I looking for a critique on media reactions?
Found that. Nope, that wasn’t it…
Was I looking for a full-throated denouncement of all involved and game plan for accountability?
Found that too and that wasn’t it either…
And then I found it -
Michael Meade’s steady, sober voice:
“…It is our mutual fate to be witnesses to the tragic times in which we live… Part of the truth is that the things we expected to protect us and make our lives livable and less dangerous are not able to do that anymore. That’s the collapse side of it… The other side of [that] door is characterized by renewal.”
*ZING*warmth.resonance.ahhh.
My heart perked up and my body cued me to listen closely. He went on -
“This [idea that renewal is complementary to collapse] is a mythological idea. On an imaginal level it bares universal truth.. We are witnesses of the collapse and therefore that makes us potential agents of the renewal… Our job is to look for the loose thread that’s calling for us to reweave a new beginning.”
Wow, yes.
The invitation to look for even a tiny thread of renewal in our darkest moments.
By not turning away from the tragedy but rather accepting our collective fate as witnesses of these times. Turning towards what we see in ways that help us gently begin to sense something new. Huge.
Turning towards what we see isn’t easy, especially in these times of social isolation; and looking for threads of renewal in the midst of so much outrage and pain can seem blasphemous.
Wherever you are in your experience with the state of our country I welcome it and know that Circle can hold it.
Please join me on January 24th for a Healing America Circle to process what you’re experiencing and perhaps begin to feel into any semblance of renewal.
Check out Michael Meade’s Living Myth podcast to listen to his full offering of insight (episode 209, The Darkness Around Us).
Hi, I’m Liz Moyer Benferhat. Writer, facilitator, coach, and development practitioner dedicated to the subtle interplay between how inner transformation feeds the outer transformation we need in the world. Welcome 🌿