Transformation: Part IV – Reverent Transformation

Changed

I had a dream a few months ago. It was short and sweet. Three resounding knocks and that’s it. I pay close attention to my dreams because I recognize that my unconscious may have some insights that my conscious mind may not pick up on. The no brainer part of this dream is that a door needs to be opened. Stepping through thresholds in our inner world is no light matter. We are stepping from one space or way of being into another. In those times it’s a good idea to “take off our shoes” because in a sense we are stepping onto “holy ground.”

Transformational moments are holy ground. The old, in large part, ceases to be and what’s ahead is rather virginal territory. It’s a time when we recognize the old paradigms don’t work for us any longer, they may not even make sense to us anymore.

David Whyte’s audio book, What to Remember When Waking is full of wisdom nuggets for what he describes as standing on the brink of a “frontier.” He compares beginning this “new day” with beginning anew a conversation with everything we are in relationship with, and perhaps many things we have never engaged with before. Conversations of this kind may, by their very nature require courage and may very well be conversations we want to avoid. The first step, says Whyte is acknowledging where we are. The first step is “close in,” very close. It has to do in part with the farewells of what is being left behind. It has to do with the liminal space we are in at this point, the in between sense of neither here nor there. It also has to do with forming essential questions only we as individuals can ask, those that help us discover what it means to be fully human, fully alive, fully ourselves. It has to do with giving the process a lot of space and holding things “unspoken and unnamed” as Whyte says. And it has to do with “…reaching down deep to find the seed that will become your future life.”

Whyte suggests that the vulnerability we feel during this time of change is the exact facilitator we need to lead us to a deeper source. It also allows us to apprentice ourselves to the vital work of learning.

What about the role of any influence we may have as our lives become transformed? Surely there is a larger story involved beyond our own small circle. As we move with vulnerability and reverence into change, what gift are we offering that will bring nourishment and healing to the broken places of our world?

Individual transformation is essential and full of vitality. Transformation on a much larger scale is essential as well. For the first time in the history of the universe we have become self-aware. We have the capacity to choose, or at least largely shape the destiny of our planet. On the threshold of this new frontier we are in a position to see a large perspective and even begin to take in the largest perspective possible. Do we have the courage to acknowledge this place and to engage in the conversation? It entails some hard realities, realities of our planet’s struggle to maintain the health of our natural world, the struggle to find compassion for the marginalized and suffering and the struggle to find unity in the way forward. These are just a few of the hard conversations that we must be willing to have as we stand at the threshold.

There are solutions to be had and a future to look forward to. It starts with us, each individual answering the knock on the door, opening to new threshold and entering with reverence.

What conversations are waiting for you?

Writing Prompt for the Week: Deeper Source