One of the meanings I have taken from our experience of being made homeless by natural disaster is that I am here to tell the tale. This is not just my tale or the tale of Golden Bay, it is the story of humanity in transition. This is what I wrote on the morning before the flood:
“It’s been raining for four days here in New Zealand and with Christmas coming up and the economy bleak, there must be millions and millions of people in the world, suffering and afraid. It’s easy to get pulled down into negative thinking, limitation and a spiral of disempowerment. As an evolutionary and new culture maker, I know that no matter how precarious my own life situation appears to be, I am still one of the most privileged people in the world, and one of the most vital services I can offer is to keep holding open the space of possibility and trust. I can choose where I put my attention and intention.”
I would add to that now, that the space of possibility has to be held from a place of clear open eyed and awake seeing of the dangers we are all in. We need to deeply and courageously know the gravity of our global crisis so that we can respond appropriately. There is no place for denial or complacency.
I’m holding together this need for the shedding of illusion with a deepening insight into the interconnectedness, and abundance of the universe. Even though the universe may appear to be an impersonal force, I had strong sense of being take care of in a personal way throughout the disaster. In a way that is quite difficult to put into words I experienced the place where the personal I and the universe intersect and influence each other. A friend referred to this recently as mystical physics. A movement arises from this meeting of little mind and Big Mind. Any sense of separation I had before the flood has been replaced by a knowing that I am interwoven with all of life. And so are you.
I know I am not separate from nature. This was not something nature did to us, rather nature is responding to the imbalances caused by the unsustainable practices of humans, so human and nature are one movement of cause and effect. Similarly I don’t see myself as separate from the generosity of people and the universe, I understand that I am creating my reality each and every moment by the thoughts and intentions I choose to have and the actions I take. I know now I am much stronger and have more resources to draw on than I thought and that reality is more mysterious than I knew. You could say that my connection with life has deepened.
I am still in the midair of transition. I know everything has changed but I’m not sure what that means in terms of actions I will take. Being homeless is “inconvenient”, it upsets one’s plans, illusions, certainties and sense of being in control. Yet it offers amazing lessons in being in the flow of an ever changing reality, in holding the complexities of life in both hands and learning how to keep finding an ever deepening truth to align with within the paradoxes. I am learning how to stand on my surfboard and ride the slipstream. Wanna join me?
