Navigating Tense Times

Have you noticed that life seems to be increasingly difficult to navigate? First there was the world-wide outbreak of a still little-understood virus which has required all sorts of measures around cleanliness and protection to be put in place so that even a trip to the grocery store can become a stressful event. Now there is the surfacing of racial inequality that is—as we speak—shifting everyone’s dynamic with others, or should be. So in stepping outside of one's home one has the complicated task of navigating a world that seems incredibly confusing and increasingly tense.

It might be worthwhile to take a step back here and view the whole morass of social, physical and economic upheaval as a whole in terms of its effect. I have often had the feeling that I am walking through a world that is booby trapped, as there are so many hoops and hand washings and authority figures to be weary of that it is as if we must constantly be on guard. I think there is something else going on here, judging from the astrology of the moment. The new shapes we must take and patterns we are in some ways forced to create may point to a deeper unfolding.

We are in a liminal space, collectively. I’ve written about the change of epochs taking place, sandwiching us between the last 200 year cycle and the one that is arriving. A chunk of time like that requires quite the guard-change, so it is no surprise that we find ourselves in chaos.

Liminal space is a space between. They are tight spaces in other words—much like the one we’re navigating— where you might be forced into new patterns and faced with stressful tasks. I’ve written about certain landscapes taking the shape of liminality (you can find the published article here) and in those places, if we are listening, both the opportunity and the danger are palpable. The opportunity is in the fact that old ways or systems no longer have the hold on us that they once did, there being a bit of distance between ourselves and enmeshment in the world we’re moving away from. The danger is in stalling in this liminal world which is not a place to live perpetually, but a transition zone. It is the temporal equivalent of a rite of passage, where initiates are stripped of their former life and prepared for a new world full of social and spiritual responsibility and participation. You can see the extreme cases of getting stuck in liminal zones with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that if held properly can actually be the unfolding of a process of awakening. If the cultural context is not conducive to radical psychological changes such as the ones instigated in the powerful visions and experiences of someone experiencing the kundalini awakening that in our culture is mistaken for schizophrenia, then the individual may not escape that liminal zone which was originally intended to be temporary.

And maybe you can see how we could all go a little insane right now. It is imperative that there be a story line that can hold the dramatic changes we’re seeing in our world and experiencing personally in our life. If the story we subscribe to is that this is some sort of nightmare that we hope will end soon then we will take the stance of ‘waiting it out’ and find our personal life disintegrating in the increasing amount of tension we hold in resistance to the reality of the situation. If, on the other hand, we can cultivate a story that sees a purpose behind all of the upheaval unfolding, however gruesome and damaging it may be, then we can allow this period of time to lead us to a fundamentally new place, as all good stories do.

My suggestion is to do everything you can to get on the side of change. Be vigilant about your own patterns and the opportunities that present themselves to make substantial shifts: these may come in the form of seeds that you could almost miss if you’re not paying attention, but may contain an entire system of new life inside them with some sustained attention. Also be careful with who you surround yourself with and what they are spewing, so to speak, in terms of personal opinions about all that’s going on.

There is also something to be said for making space for everything that shows up on your (physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual) doorstep. Notice where there is resistance and spend some time with it. I would say that the way to ‘stall’ here is to become so tense and contracted that all forward movement ceases. Beware of the ways you are consistently resisting reality and inquire into what that’s about. Welcome your own difficult emotions so that you can create some space for your own experience. It’s a fascinating moment in history and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. If you are feeling stuck, know that there is something wanting to move in you and be gentle in attempting to invite it in.

And know that everyone and everything (including Time itself and babies in their entrance into the world) goes through cycles of expansion and contraction. This is a contracted moment, with a huge amount of potential to create eventual expansion.