I’ve resolved to not dwell so much on all the crisis we face. But it is hard to maintain hope with the escalating explosion of threats confronting us.
I’ve been reading CLIMATE SENSE: Changing the Way We Think & Feel About Our Climate in Crisis by Zhiwa Woodbury. He expresses these crises as unacknowledged fears. Fears that can paralyze us. And reminds us fear cannot withstand the light.
Our path to planetary rebirth is paved with fear. …These unacknowledged fears feed our depression, and if allowed to fester in our unconscious mind, they will eventually drown us in a sea of despair. But there is a great secret in all this that makes it a lot less intimidating. Like the darkness which is now consuming our world, fear cannot withstand the light. In this case, the bright light shines forth in the form of simple awareness. In politics, information is power. But when it comes to the climate crisis, awareness is where our power lies. Please do not underestimate it.
Consider that the only power fear has is in its unacknowledged state. As psychologists have appreciated for some time now, our actions are largely controlled by our shadow selves, and our shadow selves are shaped by our unacknowledged fears. By acknowledging, confronting, and processing these fears, through awareness we emerge from the self-imposed darkness, into the warm glow of that light, we human beings can do anything we put our minds to. Thus, in every emergency, there is the potential for emergence into some transformed state of being. That is the latent, unlimited power of awareness.
But paralyzed by fear, we will surely perish.
CLIMATE SENSE: Changing the Way We Think & Feel About Our Climate in Crisis by Zhiwa Woodbury
I look forward to worshiping with my Quaker meeting this morning. We speak of the Inner Light as the expression of the presence of the Spirit in our lives. Knowing this Spirit is in all things, human and nonhuman, helps us value everything. In our silent Quaker meetings, we seek to hear what this Spirit is telling us in the present moment. We have this awareness of the Spirit which can conquer our fears. “By acknowledging, confronting, and processing these fears, through awareness we emerge from the self-imposed darkness, into the warm glow of that light, we human beings can do anything we put our minds to.”
To practice hope is to face hard truths, harder truths than you can face without the practice of hope. You can’t navigate dark places without a light, and hope is that light for humanity’s dark places.
Quinn Norton
Quakers and Religious Socialism 