the greater truth + where we go from here
We've been through it, friends.
I've been deep in inquiry and support mode this week with my community.
I've been finding my footing and discerning what is to be learned and discovered here.
And while I certainly do not have any answers, I have words for us to turn over together - no matter what side of the US Election you have landed.
I believe that wherever you find yourself, there are central truths that must not be overlooked:
Coexisting is the only option.
We will live with the reality of what transpires next as a people for all of time.
The work of this moment belongs to us.
And underneath it all...
While we not all be the same, we are one.
We are as healthy as our most unwell and as free as our most oppressed.
As leaders, CEOs and the visionaries of the future, creating the world we wish to exist within, together, is the only way to true freedom.
I wanted to offer you with a passage from my beloved mentor, Mark Nepo, on authenticity and truth that has helped me this week.
Mark writes about the way that Eskimo hunt bear for food and the lessons that emerge over the course of 7 days that it takes for the bear to finally reach death so the hunter may live.
"No matter what we say we will or will not do, no matter the imperious standards by which we judge ourselves and the world, we humbly can't know what we will do when starving for truth. And rightly so, for life on earth often brings us to our knees so that something can take root. When dying of cancer, I, a proud Jew who vowed never to kneel, found myself on my knees before a Catholic healer who laid hands on the tumor on my brain. While feeding on truth can disrupt the ways we like to see ourselves, it can also deeply affirm that we as human beings are resilient beyond anything we can imagine..."
"When the Eskimo, seven days out, is half-frozen as the bear finally dies, and he is forced to enter the gutted cavity of the bear to survive the cold...For those of us who search for truth in cold modern streets, we are told here that arriving at truth is not enough. We need to put it on, to inhabit it, to actually enter and wear truth..."
"So where do we begin? Well, the Eskimo also teach us how to hunt for truth in the way they fashion their bait. Not by intellectual debate or esoteric study, but by risking something of ourselves, by placing something troublesome and sweet out in the open. By offering something essential from our hunger and coating it with our vulnerability, we call the greater truth out into the open with the smaller. Humbly and unavoidably, the need for truth will lead us into unexpected living of our lives beyond all images of perfection."
- Mark Nepo - The Book of Awakening (p. 362 for the full passage)
Questions to explore:
What have you vowed to never do, and yet, when life pressed, you found yourself discovering a new understanding?
What truths have you been asked to enter?
What changed when you crossed over the threshold of entering truth to putting it on?
What greater truth awaited you when coating your hunger with vulnerability?
The most challenging aspect of this election, for me, has been putting on the truths of those I care for that conflict with my own.
A predominant part of me has wanted to be quick to clear myself of these dissonant feelings with absolutes; but, my love for my friends has been an invitation to discover new dimensions of care and understanding - while still holding the complexity of these differences.
The greater truth, which Mark's passage has invited me to enter - has allowed me to witness new dimensions while dropping my cling to perfection or absolutes.
In turning this over, I have in no way abandoned my original truth; however, this practice has allowed me to create more space within myself to move with what is.
As a mentor and someone who holds and witnesses as a fundamental part of my work, this has been a necessary and expansive practice.
And while I could go on and will in future, all of this points to the enduring knowing that we must, each and all, carry forth:
There has never been a more relevant moment in history for us to use our voices for truth, to commit fully to our respective and collaborative missions and to take bold action in the direction of what feels sacred and real.
Your voice, your words, your dreams matter - now more than ever.
Creation is the way forward.
With Love & Gratitude,
Amber