The Courage To Be With This

 

 

The world does not need more who are courageous when the battle rages, the horns sound, the swell of passionate anger rises. This fight was done a long time ago.

The world needs more who are courageous when the lights go out, the sounds of the outer world become stilled, and all that remains is the beating of one’s own heart.

The world needs those who hear the pounding of one thought after another, who can feel the burn of a tear in their eyes, who can feel the pain of compassion in their heart…and who do not run.

We have not been taught how to do this. For generation after generation, we’ve been taught that courage is standing up in the face of adversity, being brave enough to fight for our own beliefs.

But in the noise of all of the war cries, we’ve been unable to hear what is going on within. So many don’t even know what they believe in – or if what they do believe in, is real.

We are confused. We’ve all run with swords raised onto the battlefield and now stand among one another, knowing that we aren’t supposed to fight but unsure of what we are supposed to do. We look around and see the destruction we have caused by continuing this battle: political systems that make no sense, an earth – the only home we have – dying beneath our feet, educational efforts that maintain status quo at the very best, millions of our brothers and sisters suffering and dying because they don’t have what we take for granted – food, shelter, security from abuse.

Many of us are aware, and we are confused.

We are hurting.

The world does not need those who will courageously fight on amidst this pain. The world needs those – WE need those – who will lay down their swords, sit gently onto the ground, and simply listen and look around.

 

 

Before we can determine what needs to be done, we need to see what is.

We need to feel the deep pains, the miraculous highs of wonderment when we acknowledge the world as it is. In this way of being, beliefs drop away. We simply see who is within, and who is before us, and we act.

This way of being takes courage. It is easier to stand and fight what we think we know instead of acknowledging the silence and terrifying discomfort that surrounds what we do not know.

But the world needs those who are willing to be honest with themselves, to feel, to emote, to sit on in the harried rush of this world – not to escape, but to participate in a way that radiates the message, “I will no longer fight what is“.

The world needs this. We need this.