The Time of Emergence
The image that has been coming to me in the last year or so is of a gigantic plow being dragged through the earth, pulling to the surface much that has long been buried. Whatever is down there, it would seem, needs to come up. Problem is, a lot of the stuff that is now coming up was buried intentionally, chiefly: pain, trauma, various levels of terror, and quite a few ideas, beliefs and habit patterns that we thought we’d outgrown. All of these have been part of the ground we’re standing on for a long time.
And now they’re on the surface and we’re tripping over them with increasing frequency. It’s harder and harder to avoid doing so. I don’t know of anyone who is not experiencing this in one way or another. That is how this time is supposed to work. How could it be otherwise?
The things that emerge from this Great Unearthing get various labels: We might call it ‘stress’ or ‘overwhelm’. We might call it ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety.’ We might call it ‘grief’ or ‘existential dread’. It might show up as anger, fear, or rage. There’s a strong tendency to double down on whatever coping strategies seemed to work in the past to rebury all this. But it’s like with each passing day the earth is becoming more and more fluid in its composition. Plowing might not be the right analogy much longer. More and more it’s like things are bobbing to the surface of their own accord.
Personally, my response to the emergence of these things onto the surface of my own conscious experience has been varied, but the basic pattern is: I don’t wanna deal with it. But all this means is that the avoidance pattern is one of the things now being unearthed along with all the rest. Overall, my awareness of these things is no more welcome than when they got layered into the strata of my being, heaven-knows-when. Doesn’t matter: There it is. So, more and more, I’m realizing that it’s better to deal with it, difficult as it is. Stop trying to pretend it’s not happening. Denial just takes additional energy. It doesn’t help, and might even make things worse.
When my wife was pregnant, I recall she would often express surprise at her own fatigue as she continued with her work and daily tasks. “Wow, how come I just want to lie down?”
My response was to remind her that she was pregnant. I recall saying to her: “Whatever else you think you’re doing, you’re also building a new human being inside your body. That takes energy.”
A pregnant woman is always doing two things at once – at least two! Because of this, some flexibility may be required in terms of expectations. Maybe she really does need that nap. Maybe she’s extra hungry for a reason. Maybe it’s okay to be irritable at times. And it’s not like life has to come to a stop during pregnancy—that would be neither desirable nor practical. But it probably does make sense to be a bit more flexible in terms of the way she meets her outwardly focused demands given the inner demands of being pregnant. At a certain point, it might be best not to try running that marathon or helping to carry the old couch to the curb.
I’m thinking the same is probably true now for all of us, and for much the same reasons: Something new is trying to emerge here on this planet. It’s coming in through all of us, collectively. Each person bears a part of it. We’re all pregnant with it, and we’re all one another’s midwives. So whatever else we think we’re doing today, we’re engaged in this other process, too.
It’s probably not that life and our daily routines have to stop and all we need to do is focus on the inner demands of personal growth. The outer demands are part of the process. Daily life and daily tasks and events that tax us in various ways are helping the process along, even if it gets painful at times. Sometimes when labor stalls a woman will be encouraged to get up and walk around a bit. Same principle. But overall, we also might need to make some changes in our lives, maybe even big ones, and that’s okay too. Same principle.
The main thing I’m trying to remember – because it’s so easy to forget – is that deep down, something new is developing. Something new is preparing to be born through us, right now. Yes, to go back to the image from the start of this essay, it can feel like we’re being plowed up and our lives turned upside down, but it’s also true that there’s a lot coming from the inside. Sometimes I think the growth of the new being within us is what’s pushing the old stuff to the surface in various ways, and that maybe it is also calling for help from beyond. The real task is to clear the way, stretch and open up so it can happen as gracefully as possible.
Please be kind and attentive to yourself and others at this time.