I adore this perspective articulated by two guys I trust, Rumi and Carl Jung. The genius hides behind the wound.
I’ve most often considered this insight as it applies in my personal life. Today, I’m thinking of it on a national level.
The genius hides behind the wound.
For many of us, this election and its aftermath of hate speech and attacks can feel like a wound. It feels that way to me. I’ve cried. I’ve shaken. I’ve felt a lot of fear swirling around my heart. A friend of mine in Nashville, TN, had a man grab her in the crotch while she was pumping gas last week, with the words, “You better get used to this, missy.” I’m happy to report that she kicked his ass and told him he could get used to that. These are not normal times. Last week in a writing group I’m blessed to be a part of, a woman worded it so perfectly. She said, “I feel called forth.” Do you?
If things are feeling off-kilter? Consider yourself called. Earlier this week in our Embodied Life class, a woman shared that along with all the other feelings of grief and anger, she also feels kind of excited. I feel it too. There’s a superconductive current of energy coursing through so many of us who are determined to do what we can to stand for love, for respect, for human dignity and human rights. We are rising strong. Genius is about to emerge in a big way.
We are made for times like these.
A conversation arose on a friend’s Facebook page. She said she’d be answering a question, “What does the world need from women now?” on stage in an interview and wondered about people’s answers. One woman’s response struck me like a bell. “Humility, self-reflection, defiance, radical devotion, sovereignty and no holds barred willingness to spend our privilege for the good of the world and the complete cessation of allegiance to patriarchy and colonization in all forms.” Woohoooo! Thank you, Jen Lemen. My inner life has a big YES to that. Genius is emerging.
The genius hides behind the wound.
How can we nurture its emergence and its full expression?
Here are a few thoughts:
“The world is churning all around us, overheating with climate change and intensifying conflicts, but also awash with profound problems and rising seas. We live in critical times, amidst a worldwide shaking up and breaking down, surrounded by radical changes that severely affect both nature and culture. Given the size, scope, and complexity of the problems that currently threaten the world, there can be no single idea, specific political movement, or patented belief system that can save us. All kinds of ingenious solutions are needed; all types of inspiration, invention, and originality are now required. The idea of a genius self already present and trying to awaken within each of us may serve us better than more common notions of a heroic solution. The question becomes not whether or not you are a genius, but in what way does genius appear in you and how might it contribute to your own well-being and benefit the world around you.” – Michael Meade, from The Genius Myth, a most excellent read.
“No matter how far away you feel – no matter how neurotic, confused, lost, alone, or disoriented – you are in the perfect place to take the next step: to meet whatever is arising in your experience with presence, with space, and with kindness. As you say ‘yes’ to the aliveness of the somatic world and give it room to unfold, it will whisper its secrets upon you,” writes Matt Licata. I trust the wisdom in your bodymind. If you can have the courage to stay with what you’re experiencing in an integrated, embodied way, I have zero doubts that it will lead you in the direction of your genius. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
I keep coming back to the 3 tenets of the Zen Peacemakers, which have been so damn useful for me right now. 1.Not knowing. We pause, get grounded, and wow, it’s pretty obvious, none of us knows wtf is going on! And as Dogen said, “Not knowing is the most initmate.” So we hang out, not knowing, but here. 2.Bearing witness. We continue to stay willing, while not knowing, to look this thing in the face. From multiple angles. Letting our hearts be touched by our unique perspective on “all of it.” Witnessing reality. 3.Meaningful action – we can trust that it quite naturally arises out of our willingness to not-know and to bear witness, our willingness to bring our embodied presence to all of it. Then meaningful action comes. And no one gets to judge anyone else’s meaningful action. Protesting, making soup, hugging the neighbor, organizing political action, signing petitions, writing poems, making art, random acts of kindness, reaching out to vulnerable populations, donating money, hosting a meet-up. Then, rinse and repeat. Not knowing, bearing witness, discovering and taking meaningful action. I love it. I trust the process.
Trust your funk. Trust your distress. Trust your anger. Don’t let them overwhelm you. Let them guide you. Let them lead you to the place you can make a difference. A poem from Tara Mohr:
Sometimes the world feels inhospitable.
You feel all the ways that you and it don’t fit.
You see what’s missing, how it all could be different.
You feel as if you weren’t meant for the world, or the world wasn’t meant for you,
as if the world is “the way it is” and your discomfort with it a problem.
So you get timid. You get quiet about what you see.
But what if this?
What if you are meant
to feel the world is inhospitable, unfriendly, off-track
in just the particular ways that you do?
The world has a you-shaped hole in it.
It is missing what you see.
It lacks what you know
and so you were called into being.
To see the gap, to feel the pain of it, and to fill it.
Filling it is speaking what is missing.
Filling it is stepping into the center of the crowd, into a clearing,
and saying, here, my friends, is the future.
You don’t have to do it all, but you do have to speak it.
You have to tell your slice of the truth.
You do have to walk toward it with your choices, with your own being.
Then allies and energies will come to you like fireflies swirling around a light.
The roughness of the world, the off-track-ness, the folly that you see,
these are the most precious gifts you will receive in this lifetime.
They are not here to distance you from the world,
but to guide you to your contribution to it.
The world was made with a you-shaped hole in it.
In that way you are important.
In that way you are here to make the world.
In that way you are called.
– Tara Sophia Mohr
You are called. We need you.
Free yourself, free others, serve everyday.
with love,
Erin
p.s. Here’s one more list of concrete actions you can take. Many of my friends have shared this list online. I’m grateful. I usually despise talking on the phone, but I’m fired up and more than willing to do this. Will you join me?
Political Action of the Day:
A List of Things YOU can do if you want to protest what is happening in today’s government. Note: This is the peaceful, democratic way of doing things.
Call Mitch McConnell at (270) 781-1673, Paul Ryan at (262) 637-0510, and Diane Feinstein at (310) 914-7300 and Barbara Boxer at (213) 894-5000, about racist propagandist Stephen Bannon being selected as taxpayer funded advisor to Donald Trump, and about President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court being ignored. State your demand for the rescinding of the unprecedented appointment.
Tell them you do not approve of a racist and antisemitic propagandist holding a senior advisory position in the White House, and that you call on them to demand the appointment be rescinded.
Please also call Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s office to make sure the Trump University case slated to start 11/28 is not postponed. You can talk to his secretary directly or leave a message after hours at 619-557-7667.
Call Nancy Pelosi to demand that missing votes in NC be counted. Her number is 415-556-4862.
A staffer has suggested that calling is far more effective than emailing for actually making change.
Tell me, what did you do today? What will you do tomorrow? We did not adequately protect our democracy last week. Let us begin again…
Don't miss a single post. Sign up here to get them delivered straight to your inbox.
