This post is taken partly from my comments on Mark’s post about the bail-out.

Mark expresses a common sentiment along the lines of “I don’t know if our civilization will survive”.

Here’s my take on this, and I apply it both to our US culture and to our global situation:

I tend to take a very long view on our countries economy and structures, and our world’s struggle with environmental pollution.

I think of our country/culture/society, and the world at large in which we have a huge influence, as being in its adolescence. We are growing up…which means learning from our mistakes…which means we will make more, I’m sure.

I see them as part of a much longer/broader cycle. Our country as a whole is struggling to move from anger/blame/finding fault to responsibility and cooperation. So every “crisis” is an opportunity for us to grow, and I have faith that this is happening.

Civilizations mature over long periods of time. So I don’t worry so much about it on a day to day level. I focus more on my own maturity, and developing my own consciousness in order to help and teach etc, to move things along in whatever spheres I have influence in.

Like “Think globally, act locally”, I like to “Think long-term, act day to day”.

Will we survive?

I just have this faith that we will. I act as if we will.

I figure, if we don’t then we don’t, but wondering about it makes me spend energy in worry and hope/doubt, and that creates ineffectiveness.

I have a strong sense of faith that we’ll make it. And a sense that if we don’t commit to making it, if we stay hovering in fear/doubt–that this is part of the problem somehow.

I believe that the very act of having faith in ourselves and humanity given the current situation is a radical act that will help create the future where we do survive, and thrive. Because it seems to me that vision precedes action: you have to believe in something before you act toward it. So I feel that faith in ourselves is, in itself, important to have.

I almost see it as an aspect of growing up and developing maturity and responsibility: you see yourself as capable of taking on the things in your path, as being equal to your life. I see us as equal to our situation. It’s dire, but we can meet it, we will meet it, we are meeting it. Progress is slow in some areas, but it is fast in others, and it will crystallize soon. I have a solid sense in my body that this is true.

And I want to get off the fence with it, come out of the “intellectual skepticism” closet and commit. I think it’s important. I believe in us.

I want to help heal our culture and help it mature; I think one of the key aspects of a healer is that they can see the person they are helping as whole long before the person sees themselves that way. Through the healers eyes, the person begins to be able to see themselves in a new way, and then starts to believe that new things are possible.

They start to believe in themselves because they are believed in. From believing in themselves, they start acting in ways that support their own healing. Vision precedes action.

So what I see is that our culture has all the inner resources and wisdom it needs to heal (just like a person does). And it has the support of its community and the Universe, if it reaches out and asks (just like a person does). And, it has some roadblocks to realizing this (just like a person does). But it still has that potential and I want to have faith in it (like I would a person).

So when I look around, I don’t see signs of doom and reasons to be hopeless. I see a young culture struggling to grow up.  The US was founded on a very strong need to individuate and go our own way. We are still maturing into realizing that now we need to play well with others and what it takes to do that.

I see lots of people in our culture trying to learn just that. I see all the folks looking to the East and other cultures for spiritual understanding. That is happening. And it’s because as the people of our country mature, they realize that there is stuff out there that is wiser than our “rugged individualism” and our love of the marketplace above all else, and they seek it out.

This affects our culture. We are our culture. We are the cells that make up the body of our country, and we are healing ourselves from the inside out, and that will heal our country from the inside out. The idea that culture is created by someone else is bogus. I claim my culture-creating abilities and exercise them. I am blogging, I am creating community, creating art, creating life. So are millions of others.

Our culture is growing and maturing. And I have faith in it.

Tags: big ideas, healing by emma
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I am, in general, a fan of the LOA, but sometimes people use it as a “spiritual bypass” - an attempt to avoid necessary psychological work by escaping into a false spiritualism.

If you have a history of childhood trauma, your brain learned to adapt and cope by finding some mechanism by which to avoid feeling all the feelings that occurred during the trauma - so your little self could survive. It could be one or several of many things - denial, addiction, fantasy, obsession, workaholism, perfectionism, co-dependence, etc.

So it occurs to me that for folks like us, The Secret and the Law of Attraction stuff can be another means of escape. By promising this superwonderland if you just focus hard enough on what you want, and avoid thinking about “negative stuff”, it encourages a tendency that is already ingrained, and unhealthy. It’s exactly the opposite of what is needed for healing. Healing requires the confronting, accepting, re-experiencing, and integrating of the painful “negative” emotions that were repressed - and it will never happen if you are trying to avoid “negative” feelings. They will still be there - and they will run you until you process and heal them.

I think “positive thinking” is helpful - depending on the spirit in which it is done. Affirming ourselves as whole and capable and that we can create healthy and vibrant lives for ourselves is good. It creates positive pathways/habits in our brain to replace the dysfunctional ones. But if I use “positive thinking” to run from or avoid the negative, I won’t heal. Instead, I think what is needed is to create a safe, healthy container within which to embrace and heal the past hurt - and that work will finally heal the wounds and create the lasting wholeness, happiness, and freedom that everyone seeks.

The message of never feel bad again or get everything you want encourages running away - or it can easily be interpreted that way by a brain that wants to or has trained itself to.

Which is not to say that the Law of Attraction isn’t true, or isn’t helpful. Just that the way it is sometimes portrayed won’t really bring happiness if healing is required. First you heal, then you transcend. You can’t transcend what you haven’t healed - it just doesn’t work that way. (And believe me, I’ve tried). Having gone through that merry-go-round a few times, I have developed an appreciation and humility about the power of healing and the lessons that can are learned by walking through the darkness - not trying to run from it, even if you are running towards the light. The darkness will still be there until you face it and integrate the shadow side - i.e. “come to terms with it”.

Good/bad, positive/negative - these are dualistic poles. True peace emerges - naturally - after you have experienced and accepted both as part of life. And you don’t have to work night and day at it - it is the peaceful confidence that only comes from having confronted the “negative” that is inside you. You’ve walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and you’ve survived - and thrived. It didn’t kill you - in fact, you found a piece of yourself in that valley. You brought it back home with you. You now know that you exist everywhere - in the dark and in the light. This is the true spiritual homecoming that the Law of Attraction work is talking about (I think).

I don’t think it’s possible to experience this without having experienced and accepted your shadow in a “dark night of the soul” type of experience of some kind - walking through the underworld and emerging into the daylight. And I haven’t seen a book or article (yet) about the Law of Attraction that acknowledges this journey, or the need for healing and acceptance before a “negative” experience or emotion will truly be released - rather than just repressed.

Besides the one-sided nature of the LOA, there is also the issue of effectiveness. Repressed psychological “stuff” has a lot of energy that counteracts  “think positive” efforts. To be effective with the LOA, you need to dig a little deeper. I think our core beliefs have a lot more to do with what we attract than our surface emotions.

This is how I look at it: the Universe is abundant. To be able to receive and transmit Divine love/creative energy/the good stuff, I just need to clear out whatever is in the way of receiving it - whatever is in the way of connecting and living in the present moment. And that’s what spiritual traditions have been teaching throughout time. It’s not a secret!

Tags: healing by emma
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