Elemental Guidance for Conscious Living in Today’s World
A quick check-in …
Select all that apply in your world these days (Note: Because we are all living in a universe of Interbeing, “your world” includes yourself and all others that you are aware of, personally and/or through the news):
So much is changing.
So many are suffering.
So little seems to matter.
So few feel engaged/tuned-in.
So long are the lists of things-to-do.
So quickly does time go by.
If you checked at least 1 of these boxes, you are awake and conscious. The more boxes you checked, the more awake and conscious you are, and, quite possibly, the more you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious, lonely, and/or cranky, or, at least, uncomfortable in your skin.
We are living in a time of (personal and global) change and transformation. It is not easy, comfortable, convenient, or tidy. Many tipping points, environmentally and otherwise, have been passed … what-has-been will be no more. That’s what transformation is: a significant, sustained change from previous conditions, beliefs, infrastructures, and ways-of-being. It’s the “goo” stage of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It’s navigating unknown territory in order to move into unknown territory. Only the imaginal cells (the yet-to-be emergents) have any idea of what’s going on.
A journey begins with having an idea of where you are starting.
We are here.
We are on this journey.
What are the qualities-of-being that we need for this particular journey? Many of them are very different from the structures that those of us raised in the dominant culture have been trained-in. Thinking in terms of linearity, permanence, predictability, rigidity, separation, exclusivity, assumptions, and hierarchies, as well as attachment to scheduling, rightness, singular identity (our own or someone else’s), and status-quo, does not work. Because it is out-of-alignment with how things (a.k.a., the Universe) works, this way of living and relating causes harm and suffering for ourselves, and for all Life forms. Social scientist and anthropologist Gregory Bateson wrote, "The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think." Think about it: There are no straight lines in the natural world. It’s just not how Life flows.
Fortunately, for those of us who have been schooled and programmed to think “this is how we are and how things get done and last,” we are immersed in teachers and guides of a different way-of-being. In fact, we are made of them – they are, literally, elemental aspects of our bodies, Earth and Universe.
I offer these elements and their teachings to you for consideration:
Water – As the source of Life (as we know it), Water teaches us Movement and Flow. Water feels the impact of running into a rock and then adapts to flow over, under and/or around it. Water is also a Shape-shifter, adapting to temperature and other conditions by changing form and going through its own cycle of ways-of-showing-up in the world. Studies indicate that water has been on Earth 3.8 - 4.6 billion years. Hmmm …, that adaptation gig seems to be working, not to mention the source-of-Life thing being quite the evolutionary leap.
Air – Absolutely essential to Life (as we know it), Air offers us teaching in Connection – it touches everything; it is associated with spirituality. Every breath is an act of reciprocity – interdependence – as we inhale the oxygen generated by the trees, plants and plankton, and exhale the carbon dioxide that is essential for the life of the trees, plants and plankton.
Fire – Everything that is touched by Fire is changed. In this way, Fire guides us in Transformation and the power that we have to do that. While we often don’t have control, we do have agency – whether that agency lies in making a difference in external or internal circumstances, the agency (and, with it, the choice) is available. Fire is also associated with Passion – what has us feel alive, energized, and fully engaged with living.
Earth – When we pay attention, we can receive Earth’s teachings of Resilience and Stability. Even the tumult and uncertainties of climate (and everything!) change can be described as the ecosystems of Earth trying to rebalance – to find a new normal that meets the current changes that have destabilized her systems.
I invite you to sense these teachings as you move through your day. Notice how these elements are alive in you – letting yourself appreciate the process-y feel of Flow, the reassuring comfort of Connection, the enlivened energy of Transformation, and the grounded rootedness of Stability and Resilience.
These elements are all components of your physical body; they are sourced in your kinship with Earth and Universe … They are potentialities that are already part of you; they are activated when you give them attention and engage them as part of who you are. The teachings of these elements come in very handy when dealing with the tumult and disturbance of personal and global change, offering us a way of sensing and evolving into a way-of-being that is coherent with how Universe is and is emerging. Each offering of Monterey Bay Meditation Studio focuses on catalyzing and cultivating these qualities as we bring conscious response and relationship into a changing world.
From the desk next to yours in Element-ary School,
Marianne
