Community: An Antidote To Despair
“Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them.”
Ukraine, COVID, climate change, polarization... over the coming decade(s) we will start to see more - and more intense - crises around the globe.
These interrelated crises are a direct result of our collective disconnection: from the natural world, from each other, and from ourselves.
This disconnection plays out in myriad unhealthy ways on an individual level, and because this individual disconnection and these individual crises are multiplied billions of times on a global scale, they result in myriad collective crises.
Despite my short-term pessimism about our species’ future on this planet, however, I am long-term optimistic.
I look at our global journey as a larger version of the individual journey. For myself, and many of the people I know who are on a journey of individual growth, we mostly lived unconsciously until the universe delivered us a big, painful cosmic punch to the face.
This punch to the face/wake-up call, as difficult and painful as it is, is usually the necessary precursor to growth.
For me, it took an agonizing descent into my depths, over a course of 2 excruciating years, to get me to wake up and choose a different course.
Similarly, it will take increasingly dire global crises to collectively wake us up. But they are a necessary part of the journey, and we will eventually choose a different path - one more in harmony with the earth, with each other, and with ourselves.
To prepare for the difficult phase of that journey, I am investing in my own, for lack of a better word, ‘spiritual’ preparation. This takes myriad forms which I won't get into here (but feel free to ask).
At the same time, I am surrounding myself with a community of people who are committed to developing their inner resources and leadership capabilities to help steward our planet toward a better future.
Finally, I am turning more and more toward traditional sources of wisdom from around the planet, from cultures that have survived for millennia: people that have survived unspeakable horrors because of the strength of their cultures and the wisdom of their teachings.
I'm blessed to have many mentors in this regard, from Canadian indigenous elders to Amazonian shamans, Bhutanese monks, Indonesian indigenous women, and more.
The teachings in these cultures - often passed down orally through dozens of generations - contain sublime instructions on how to live in harmony with planet, others, and self.
With my Wayfinders adventures and new retreats, it’s not just about supporting my members’ individual journeys, but ensuring that each individual journey sits within the context of a deeply supportive community and with a much larger goal in mind.
Here's to writing a new human story.