by Chris La Rue, Director of Communications and Formation
Photo credit: Taken during Ed Good's Contemplative Photography Winter class.
The news seems to have no shortage of devastating headlines to deliver.
We see images and videos of people in Ukraine experiencing trauma on an unthinkable level- people whose lives are changing forever before our very eyes.
We live in a time where technology can make us feel paradoxically close and yet so far from the other side of the world. How do you grieve for people whose suffering you see in great detail through a medium that is so individualistic?
The magnified detail by which we witness this suffering seems to mock us with feelings of helplessness, rage, and everything in between.
What can we do? Are we completely helpless?
As someone part of the digitally-native-Generation Z, I can’t help but think that many of us are being organized into further levels of isolation by the way we consume news. At least, that's true in my experience. Individualistic consumerism of media is so much more readily available than communal gatherings in which we ground ourselves in our bodies, honor the losses our fellow humans are experiencing, and consider how we might organize ourselves in ways that contribute to the common good.
It reminds me of the Hive Instagram conversation between Daniel Hughes and Troy Bronsink last November. They considered the question, “Each of us is either organizing or being organized. How do we integrate our thoughts, actions, and desires to work towards shared agreements for the common good?” Daniel says, "There's going to come a moment where [we] can't keep going- paralysis sets in. 'I can't move, I can't organize.' This is where you need a collective."
A group that reminds you why staying engaged is important. A group that reminds you how to come home to yourself so that you can show up in the world with vulnerability and bravery. A group that reminds you that the "great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone," as David Whyte puts it.
So, maybe we can meet our large feelings of helplessness with the question, “In what ways- even small- am I participating in organizing for a better world?”
But for those of us who aren't directly organizing or affecting change on the other side of the globe, what do we do?
This week during our lead team meeting, we named how we're showing up to this collective moment. Geralyn put it this way: “Part of me feels helpless to effect any change. And yet, another part of me knows I can send my energy out, for at least part of my day.”
I was reminded that small things like invocation, prayer, loving-kindness meditations, the Buddhist practice of Tonglen are all ancient technologies that can serve us into our connectedness in this moment.
In addition, local civic participation, acts of service and loving our neighbors can actualize that contemplative realization of our interconnectedness in small ways, keeping the inner work and outer work humming.
And I know I can't write that without admitting that I need a collective to do this work. I'd bet the same is true for you.
So, how might we gather around embodied practices that can help us honor the gravity of this collective moment we’re in?
The Hive is here to help Cincinnati and beyond keep showing up to the work of inner and outer transformation. We know we're not alone in this work; if you belong to other communities doing this, keep going!
If you need place to do this work, consider this a humble invitation to join us. We need each other more than ever now. There are trauma-informed therapists, yoga instructors, art facilitators, meditation teachers, and so many other kinds of Hive facilitators that have created a timely line-up of experiences this Spring. You're invited to Buzz, our online gathering this Saturday to hear from our facilitators directly. I am so grateful for their expertise and care in this moment, and for the Hive members and participants that are making this community a brave space for people to show up as they are.
There is so much unknown before us. Last year, we decided "Into the Unknown" would be our community theme for Spring, and it has become more relevant than we could have foreseen.
History has shown us humanity's worst when faced with collective uncertainty.
May that not be our story in this moment.
May we continue to show up- to ourselves, one another, the Earth, our associations and institutions, and the stories that connect us.
We need one another.
We've got one another.
Let's keep showing up,
And leaning on one another when it's just too hard.