By HariKirin
I saw a lawn sign this week declaring Faith Over Fear.
I pondered what that might mean to different people.
I felt into what it means to me. What are your sensations?
Some among us don't like the word faith.
To many, blind leaps are dangerous: only data and evidence are trustworthy.
To others, only the unseen is reliable in this earthly plane of endless entanglements.
What if both are true?
Sensations of fear can be overwhelming, as we step into a time of great unknown.
What if the future is unbearable? What if the planet collapses, due to climate, or nuclear war? Why are we pouring precious water in data centers when human lives are at risk?
Will deep geopolitical rifts bring more wars and more violence?
How much greed can people have at the expense of others?
How can we prioritize equity, health, goodness, human dignity?
How can we stop the suffering of children, everywhere?
It doesn't help our heartache to notice that there's nothing new in the world. Christianity lists the 7 deadly sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. Buddhism identifies the root cause of all suffering lies in ignorance, attachment, and aversion. Sikhism describes the 5 "thieves" who steal joy and equanimity: lust, anger, greed, pride and ego attachment. When Octavian defeated Cleopatra, when Bonaparte claimed much of Europe, it was for power, resources, and yes, all of the above.
Yet humans are survivors. We are adaptable optimists. We are creative.
The darkest moments in history are full of inspirational stories of people rescuing, caring, saving.
To what can we cling, when everything falls apart?
From where I sit, our first leap is into faith into our own biology, including
how we inhabit a human body,
and how we live with those we already love.
Can you trust your own breath, its natural flow?
Can you trust that when you cut your finger, you not only bleed, but miraculously heals?
AND your healing capacity is improved by the care of others?
We cannot survive, never mind thrive, alone.
We need friendships, loved ones, colleagues - we need to know a sense of trust and safety.
This is simple human biology (1) and how we evolved. If you have not yet found your tribe of simply good people, start looking. They do exist. You can connect.
Embracing and grounding into our own biology is a starting point to keep sane, strong, and well. Sharing grounding practices such as music, laughter, conversations, hobbies- these are not nothing. They are human necessities.
Secondly, we feel empowered when we embody faith in our personal core values: which inspire us to do hard things.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, had a dark night of the soul when his life was threatened during the Montgomery Alabama bus strike. From within depths of doubt, resolve emerged, and galvanized his mission, even as threats and assaults worsened.
He shared these words:
"A positive religious faith
does not offer an illusion that we shall be exempt from pain and suffering,
nor does it imbue us with the idea that life is a drama of unalloyed comfort and untroubled ease. Rather, it instills with the inner equilibrium needed
to face strains, burdens, and fears that inevitably come
and assures us that the universe is trustworthy and that God is concerned. " (2)
Dr. King's words may bargain the question: Is the universe trustworthy?
It's a good question! BUT, what choice do we have, as passengers on its expansion. since that first nanosecond of the Big Bang?
We can resist what is, or we can galvanize our values to unfold along with us.
Third leap: can we believe that a person whom we may not understand AT ALL, may actually have similar core values?
Ebo Patel, author, founder and president of Interfaith America, writes deeply about the American founding fathers and religious pluralism. He shares, "... the foundation of these bridges is shared values, compassion, dignity, equality, fairness, hospitality. These are values in Islam, in Christianity, in Judaism, in secular humanism. And what we need to be focusing on is how our particular traditions bring us to act upon those values, which is what we do at the Interfaith Youth Course. We're training young people to be leaders in identifying those values and then bringing people from different backgrounds together to act upon them." (3)
Bridge building groups are not unique to the current times: from the Christmas Truce of 1914 to the United Nations, to the Revolutionary Love Project, our urge to merge as one humanity is a driving force for good.
Our urge to merge circles back to leap one: our biological, fast, ancient drive for safety in community as Dr. Porges describes.
Let's hold fast that we are wired for good, for safety, compassion and community. Let's harness this power for good. Here are a few ways. Please comment and add your experience and wisdom.
How can we support and grow the three leaps?
1) Take care of your human tripod: body-mind-spirit, including rest, restoration, practices that uplift/ integrate, and bring joy. Start where you are, baby steps. Do this for yourself, and do it in community.
2) Explore the resilience of your core values: notice the sticking points, and where they flow freely.
Start with what's right: how are you living these values today? How might they grow?
Keep your personal discernment, and see if finding the edges of what you hold dear holds up in a book club, in a conversation, in social justice work? How do you support the equilibrium needed for this work? If now is not the moment to act, write. Meditate. Journal. What do you hold dear?
3) Where can bridges be built? Do you see safe opportunities?
If so, which ones can you and your community explore? What are the baby steps into your wildest dreams of a shared, kind, conscious humanity?
References:
Stephen W. Porges, Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety
Front. Integr. Neurosci., 09 May 2022
Volume 16 - 2022 |Â https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227
Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love. (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1963, 1981), p. 123
Ebo Patel. Eboo Patel On The Importance Of Religious Pluralism, an interview with NPR
October 2, 200811:37 AM ET
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