In the world where right wing extremists gain official power and demolish democracy and diminish collective compassion, where a leader of a large and powerful country launches a war against an independent neighbouring country, approving total destruction of cities and death of people from babies to elderly, where the number of people who don't believe in anything and fight against everything is abnormally large - in a world like this a dark cloud of evil presses everything low down on the ground. It becomes hard to see the light.
I spent time this week with some wonderful people. During a school day I went for a walk with two of my colleagues and we talked about good things in life and the ways of finding joy and about self-discovery and about the power of choice. During a leadership course about spiritual intelligence I sat with people who don't just get things done and aim for achievement and success, but who lift people up and help them change and through this amplify the spread of kindness and make the world a better place. The next day, during a writing course I sat with other people who dug deeply into their core, shared their stories with vulnerability and listened to each other with compassion. At one point during the writing course I suddenly felt an overwhelming need to cry, not from sadness but from something positive. It reminded me the feeling of the unexpected awe when seeing breath-taking beauty in nature, or the tight squeeze of love when you hold a baby. I looked inward to understand why the feeling arrived and what it was. I realised it was hope. With the people like the ones I just met there is hope for a better future. There is light.
Seeing breathtaking beauty, feeling the tight squeeze of love, listening with compassion. Thank you, Terje, for bringing light and hope.
ReplyDelete"A leadership course about spiritual intelligence...with people who don't just get things done and aim for achievement and success, but who lift people up and help them change and through this amplify the spread of kindness and make the world a better place." - this is so needed today! Just reading of it filled me with hope. "Awe" is my word for the year, for the second year in a row, actually, and maybe for every year from now on., for just the reason you give here. It is a burst of realization that we are part of something greater than ourselves - and makes us more altruistic. This is just what I needed to read today, Terje. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHope is the one thing we must cling to. It came out of Pandora's box for a reason.
ReplyDeleteTears.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Hold on to the feeling of awe and hope. We will find the light.
ReplyDeleteHope can be hard to make out. It can get buried, put into storage, taken out of circulation. Particularly under the conditions you describe where there is an active effort to encourage citizens to believe that they have no more choices, that their fates are already sealed, that resistance is futile. As you describe your experience, I think it shows all the ways that hope finds us. Thank you for your vulnerability and light.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there can be a lot of light. Thank you for this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. Yours is the second post I've read today about awe - "the feeling of the unexpected awe" - and hope. I feel like I'm being called to bring this with me as I go back into the classroom next week. Truly, hope is the thing we need. Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteThe juxtaposition of darkness to light as I read through this is brilliant. Thank you for putting your light into the world.
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