Living Large

My son is excellent at clarifying the history and interlocking power of the structures now dying in such paroxysms of violent grasping. We need people who can do this data clarification, because for many it sounds a shocking wake-up call. For others such data is an unsurprising confirmation. The question for all of us during this Great Turning is how to live. What is, at this cusp of time into which we have chosen to be born, right action?

At a lecture on Tower Time by Byron Ballard, a woman in the audience asked for suggestions on how to act, how to counter the terrible things happening in the world. Byron’s counsel to the woman bears repeating. Since violence in the service of life would be a contradiction in terms, instead of reacting to aggression with more of the same, Byron urged us to respond by creating interlocking circles of community to take care of our needs and by “living a big life!”

The same day as the lecture, I saw the history/drama film Pride, and was deeply moved by the cooperation that was forged between striking Welsh miners and a London-based group of lesbian and gay activists. The two groups built community totally outside of preconceptions and outside of systems.Their united strength emerged from each individual stretching outside their comfort zones to live a bigger life.

It’s time for those of us alive at this cusp on the planet to stop playing small, to begin opening to the greater flow. What might I offer of myself that I have never shown the world before? What might you offer? Let’s contribute our individual gifts to the hive mind. It’s time to  live large.