20 Nov Why I’ve Been Silent, and Can’t Be Any Longer (1 of 3)

It’s been a long time since I’ve written to you.

Throughout this turbulent year I’ve watched, waited, listened, learned, attuning myself to Spirit so that anything I decided to add to the public conversation would, hopefully, be vetted and valuable.

One weary refrain that came up again and again: “It’s always been this way.” Democracy is always in peril, courruption is consistently rampant, racism can never be uprooted, and minorities inevitably get scapegoated no matter how loud we raise our voices in protest.

This can seem true regardless of who’s in power and however well intentioned their aims. During the time of FDR, for example, one which is often pointed to as the most progressive in all of American history, Japanese citizens with no record of suspicious or criminal activity were rounded up and placed in concentration camps. Right here on our own soil.

Yet aligning with this perspective can create indifference to the pervasive catastrophes all around us. If it’s all “forever thus,” then let’s not get entangled in it, let’s not stick our necks out in ways that might put ourselves or our loved ones at risk. Let’s limit our toxic media consumption, focus on personal wellness and inner work.

At times I’ve definitely been tempted. I could have easily kept offering my usual retreats, work I love and that still matters. But something deeper whispered:

“Slow down. Listen harder. What’s missing? What is Love asking of me right now?”

During my pause, every time I prepared to speak, another absurd outrage would erupt. This intentional flooding of the news cycle was designed to keep us frothing, disoriented and small.

Such efforts to distort the national narrative are indeed forever thus. But this time it’s also very different. For one thing we’re closer than ever before to living in tyranny. For another, not since the Vietnam war and the military draft that came with it have the stakes been so high for so many.

Plus, the current administration’s cruelty toward people and the planet may take generations to heal, if they can heal at all.

If you love life, that’s terrifying. And it should be.

I feel that fear personally. Sending this message to the 15,000 people on my list exposes me – to misunderstanding, backlash, and the risk of being “doxxed” for caring.

Retreating from that fear is how we, unintentionally, help autocracy spread.

Instead, I choose to feel this fear so fully that it transforms.

Tomorrow, in the second of three emails, I’ll share what that transformation looks like, and how each of us can create our own unique form of loving action.