I sit alone tonight, thinking about what has happened in the election. I haven’t tuned in to right-wing radio or TV yet; it’s too early for that. At the university today, the atmosphere was somber. My class of freshmen were stunned, and subdued. I said the times felt like the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster- yet the situation is much farther reaching than that. There is a sort of gap in reality right now, that is not to be filled just yet, by any reassurance, or excitement, or protest, or something else.
Curiously, concurrently, Leonard Cohen has just left us.
And this isn’t simply about who was elected to arguably the most powerful position for an individual on the planet. It is more the choice that was made, in the experience of rising intensity, by those who would attempt to protect ourselves from that which we would rather not face; elements of the human shadow. James Hillman, quoting Carl Jung, once said “the shadow material we do not turn to embrace, will possess us.” In the current choice, the shadows that were sought to be avoided by that choice have begun to be unleashed.
It seems that this gap I spoke of earlier is an interval of grace, before the new government is in place. Time for each of us who are so inclined, to kindle an inner flame of compassion, ethics, and empathy. To shelter that inner flame in the coming gales- To fiercely love, each in our own way, never victim to circumstance or ignorance, deeply calm and certain of all the kindred spirits who are the majority in this land. The challenge of the present rising intensity is to continue to embrace, process, and release any programmed or hallucinated barriers to our common humanity and common vitality with the singular consciousness of which we are a part.
To quote Chico Marx, regarding any remaining sanity in the social contract, “Everybody knows,” he said, “There ain’t a no sanity clause…”
©2016 Anthony S. Wright, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved.
www.theonaut.com