Given all that is happening around us it could seem like quietness is an elusive dream. There is war in the Middle East, and in Ukraine and there is seemingly unrelenting political chaos. We witness so much heart-wrenching human destruction visited upon helpless innocents that it takes us to our knees. At home, many of our political leaders seem incapable of making sound moral and ethical decisions that might deliver us from the pain and suffering we see.
For those of us who live from the heart and are guided by spirit these events can easily create feelings of despair. We wonder if there is any way out of the mess that we humans have made. I have certainly experienced a deep sorrow that has led me to question my life and what is required of me, given my belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all life. I grieve the innocent babies who died underneath a bayonet, the women and children kidnapped and dragged from their homes, and the children stolen from their families to serve some leader’s deluded and maniacal fantasy of becoming a superpower. I have tried to overcome the grief and despair I feel. I tell myself…, get up, keep going… don’t whine about it. Get on with your work. And there is much wisdom in that sentiment.
But I am also discovering the healing balm of sitting with it … in quietness. To take my mind beyond the cacophony of blame and recrimination, the shrill of who did what and when that leaves me swirling in confusion, anger, fear and anxiety. With those distractions, I am incapable of offering my meager contribution toward making the world a better place.
In quietness, I feel a transforming spiritual and emotional calm. In quietness, I hear the call of my Soul. And I connect to that which is bigger than my finite self. In quietness, I come home to love and am guided by compassion. And from this space, I can see a way forward.
The world needs us…those of us who choose to love. Those of us who listen to that which is bigger than us and who are guided by that wisdom. It is difficult, I know, to find that deep inner calm that calls us to hope and believe in things not seen, with faith that the world we believe in is waiting to be born. And yet it is us who must take the steps, however small to make it so.
And when it seems that there is nothing, we can do…that it is beyond us. With abiding hope… like the hope of the enslaved who could see freedom, the hope of those alone and homeless that they will find a warm and welcoming hearth somewhere. Like the hope of the sick that wellness will come. We make a way when it seems there is no way.
Let us cling to each other. Find joy in each other. Commit to whatever duty may require to accomplish the good thing. Remembering that the only thing we owe each other is love. And next to love…Quietness.
You Are Welcome Here.
Lutricia (Pat) Callair