DIVINE DISCONTENT: ARISING FROM COLLECTIVE FRUSTRATION
“Many see looming catastrophe, but few of us have realized that this crisis
is driving us toward positive change, a quantum transformation.”
~ Barbara Marx Hubbard
If the coronavirus pandemic has done one positive thing, at least in potential, it has been to show us that we cannot return to business and governance as usual. We must learn to co-create new ways of being. Perhaps the disruption of this global event will lead to the kind of quantum transformation of which the late Barbara Marx Hubbard spoke and wrote about with such clarity and inspiration.
“We can’t return to normal because the normal that we had was precisely the problem”
~ Graffiti in Hong Kong
As human beings, we tend to change when we are uncomfortable in some way. I like to call this “Divine Discontent,” or the natural process of disruption which leads us to be open to seeing things in new ways and to move in new directions. While we may long to go back to the way things were before this pandemic, that is not a transformative solution. If we are aware, we know that the way things were before was not sustainable. Also, we do well to consider that the relatively small wave of the pandemic is dwarfed by the massive oncoming wave of climate change. Other significant social failings such as economic inequality, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and more must also be addressed. There is also the “only money matters” consciousness values system which has led us to lose compassion for fellow humans and to be poor stewards of our planet.
Day by day, we see stories in the news and via social media about the failure of so many governmental officials to respond to the coronavirus pandemic in a timely or effective manner. I think compassion is a critical component of an effective response. I realize that compassion is difficult when we are in fear – when we realize that there is something occurring for which we should have been prepared but are not. However, when we are in inner integrity – when we are walking our talk to the best of our ability, we have the capacity to be honest, compassionate, and gracious even when we have failed. That is generally not what we are seeing, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom at the moment.
The ignorance and arrogance (a deadly combination) shown particularly by the UK and US governments in this pandemic must awaken us and lead to action for more informed, progressive (in the sense of being future-oriented rather than past-oriented), and compassionate governance. While we do not expect our elected officials to know everything, we must expect them to surround themselves with the best team of advisors possible and, especially in times of crisis, to serve the people first, not their own interests.
“The popularity of politicians who are giving their constituents bad news and asking sacrifices of them seems to me to reveal a public craving for honesty from its politicians after three years of gaslighting (by the US Administration). We are tired of having the ground shifting incomprehensibly under us and most of us want facts and reason in the face of deadly pandemic rather than a constantly shifting narrative.”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
We are in a time where facts seem to be secondary, where statements are often “spun” to be self-serving, and where trust continues to erode in our institutions and leaders. Much of this lost trust will never be recovered, and it seems that social media is conditioning many of us to look for opportunities to play “gotcha” with those who have different opinions. The concept of working together seems to be fading into the past. Perhaps the experience of the pandemic may help to heal that issue, but it will take a lot of suffering to get people to see those with whom they disagree as necessary to their wellbeing.
“Life is occupied both in perpetuating itself and surpassing itself;
if it does nothing more than maintain itself, then living is merely not dying.”
~ Simone de Beauvoir
We are in the early stages of this pandemic, which may be with us for years to come. The future is unclear, so we are wise to set intentions for the kind of future we desire, then see what arises which is consistent with those intentions. Staying centered in spiritual awareness and realization is becoming increasingly important as well so that we survive and thrive the current challenges. We in New Thought know that our intentions form a magnetic impulse determining what we attract – let us act accordingly. The Divine Discontent of the moment awakens us to greater possibilities and potentials which we realize by expanding our consciousness to accept a greater good. The power in each now moment is never diminished. Let us cocreate something positive.
“The process of evolution tends to favor our higher consciousness, our greater freedom and
our efforts toward a win-win synergistic society.”
~ Barbara Marx Hubbard
